No doubt drawing much of the crowd was the show by US & World Latin Champions, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko who received a very warm welcome indeed from this capacity crowd.
It was also the turn of the Open Professional Competitors to strut their stuff and Dmitry & Olena Nikishkin certainly did that winning both the Open Rhythm and Open Latin divisions and winning all 10 dances and all except the international rumba with a majority of 1st places. We were a little surprised to see some much lower scores for them from a few judges in both styles.
2nd in the Latin went to Nikita Malakhov & Nadezda Vlasova 3,2,2,2,2, a strong result for them. Hayk Balasanyan & Emilia Poghosyan were 3rd with 2,3,3,4,3 and a new couple to us, Ivan Kudashev & Kseniya Sokolova took 4th 4,5,5,3,4. Another duel rhythm/Latin pair, Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker took 5th 5,4,4,5,5. Vlad Astafiev & Annie He Xiou were 6th 7,7,6,6,6 and Aleksandr Vukosavyevic & Jess Li took the 7th place in this final from a 13-couple semi with 6,6,7,7,7.
In the Open Rhythm Ilia Abdulin & Tara Barakov took 2nd in all dances. Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker moved up a spot from their RS result to take 3rd 3,3,4,4,3 while the RS winners were 4th 4,4,3,3,4, Alberto Cortes & Jessa Mae Briones. Kristian Sese & Mae Lozado were 5th 5,5,6,5,5 and Andre Svirydzenka & Yulia Zubova were 6th 6,6,5,6,6.
The Open Smooth was a close fought event both from the quarter to the semi and then into the final. Once in the final no couple received a majority of 1st places but Aaron Talbert & Maggie Toth won the event as they had won the RS the day before. Whereas the RS was a rule 11 tie, tonight they won 3 dances – 2,1,1,1. Runners-up were Morten Jensen & Ashley Mokris 1,2,2,2. Ilia Abdulin & Tara Barakov, one of two 9-dancer couples in the final were 3rd in all dances. Marko Urosevic & partner (the lady’s name is not listed) moved up place from their RS position to take 4th 4,4,4,5 and Kosta Trifunovich & Dinara Khayrulina, the other 9-dancers, slipped a place to 5th 5,5,5,4. Charles & Emily Roberts took the hotly contested 6th place.
The Open Ballroom was the only straight final. Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova won all dances with the majority of 1st places. 2nd in all wet to Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley. Dmitry Solomakha & Gabriella Sevillano took all the 3’s and Manuel Trillo & Anna Belyavtseva all the 4’s. 5th went to Nenad Pavlovic & Anastasia Barhatova, again in all dances and Chris Debiak & Kate Woolfe took 6th.
8 couple contested the Showdance and all gave some strong, if varied performances. The judges had a seemingly impossible task and every couple received widely spaced scores. Finally the winners were Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantly with a clever ballroom showdance. However, they received only 1 first place (and also 1 eighth place incidentally) but had enough 2nd’s to win. 2nd went to Dimitriy & Andrea Kuzmenko with a cabaret routine and 3rd to Ivan Kudashev & Kseniya Sokolova performing a Latin style showdance.
Both of the Open Amateur Championships had semifinals and once again featured mainly the u/21 couples. Winning the Latin as in the u/21 were Artem Zhychuk & Klaudia Petriti 1,1,1,1,1. 2nd went to Yevgeni Orlov & Marina Yerina who were not in the u/21 2,2,2,3,3. 3rd fell to Mitchell Itkin & Natasha Shevchenko 3,3,4,4,2. Samuel & Katerina easily won all dances in the Ballroom. 2nd went to Alec Zhang & Zhuoshi Xie 2,2,2,2,4 and 3rd to Dadi Gudjonsson & Marta Carasco 4,3,3,4,2.
Today Eastern continues with pro-am Ballroom and junior divisions.
Celebrating 10! – Eastern United States Dancesport Championships
This year Eastern United States Dancesport Championshipst, organized by Mark & Dawna Nocera, is celebrating its 10th Anniversary.
It was also a new venue for the event this year, the Marriott Long Wharf in downtown Boston, right by the harbor. It is also a good year for entries as the event is a full 1/3 larger than last year necessitating some long days of pro-am dancing.
Yesterday was a full day of Rhythm for the pro-ams commencing at 7:00 AM. We also saw all the pro RS events, the Amateur Ballroom and an amateur team match between Iceland, South Africa and USA. The team match was divided into 2 segments, USA won the Latin and Iceland won the Ballroom.
The RS Rhythm began with a semifinal. The winners, in all dances, were Alberto Cortes & Jessa Mae Briones. They had the majority of 1st places in all dances except the cha cha. 2nd went to Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker and again this was in all dances. 3rd in all went to Kristian Sese & Mae Lozado. Dimitriy & Andrea Kuzmenko took the 4th spot with 5,4T,4,4,4; 5th were Kosta Trifunovich & Dinara Khayrulina 4,4T,5,5,6 and 6th to Ciprian Popa & Alexandra Kopelovich 6,6,6,6,5.
Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker moved up to 1st place in the RS Latin that also began with a semifinal. They placed 2,1,1,1,1 but had the majority of 1st places only in paso doble. With 1,2,4,2,3, Ivan Kudashev & Kseniya Sokolova. This was a close contest and 3rd spot went to Aleksandr Vukosavyevich & Jess Li 3,3,2,3,2. Vlad Astafiev & Annie He Xiou were 4th 4,4,3,4,4. 10-dancers, Dmitry Solomakha & Gabriella Sevillano took 5th in all dances and Howard Wang & Doris Hsieh were 6th.
The RS Smooth was the largest of the 4 events and had a 7-couple final. The reults included 2 Rule-11 ties, the first of which decided the winners. Aaron Talbert & Maggie Toth took it placing 1,1,2,2 narrowly besting Morten Jensen & Ashley Mokris 2,2,1,1. 3rd and 4th places were also determined by Rule 11 and this time Kosta Trifunovich & Dinara Khayrulina got the best of it 4,4,3,3 over Marko Urosevic & partner 3,3,4,4. 5th went to Ryan & Laura Kenner 5,5,5,5; 6th to Evgenii Rozenfeld & Samamtha Jeanne 6,6,7,6 and 7th to Christian Lightner & Kia Kenney 7,7,6,7.
Only 2 couples contested the RS Ballroom and Dmitry Solomakha & Gabriella Sevillano won all dances. Manuel Trillo & Anna Belyavtseva were 2nd.
There were 5 couples in the U/21 Amateur Latin and the result was quite close for 1st and 2nd. The winners were Artem Zhychuk & Klaudia Petriti with 1,1T,1,2,1T. Samuel Hacke & Katerina Hermanova were 2nd 3,1T,2,1,1T. 3rd spot went to Mitchell Itkin & Natasha Shevchenko 2,3,3,3,3. 4th in all dances went to Daniel Gudbjornsson & Soley Hilmarsdottir and 5th to Leano Brown & Carmen Davids.
Samuel Hacke & Katerina Hermanova moved up to 1st in the U/21 Amateur Ballroom, winning all dances with perfect scores. Daniel Gudbjornsson & Soley Hilmarsdottir were 2nd in all and Leano Brown & Carmen Davids were 3rd.
Tonight features all the Open Professional events plus a show by US and World Champions, Riccard Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko.