As MC Mark Brock said at the close of last night’s competitive session – “Thank you New York!” Indeed, the New York Audience was a huge part of the success of this night, they stayed enthusiastic and rowdy until the very last dance!

Headlining the night were two splendid open professional divisions, the Latin and the Smooth. Both events began with a quarter-final and were hotly contested at every stage.

• Andrey Kazllouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir Andrey Kazllouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir
• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
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The Latin was won by Andrey Kazlouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir who placed 2,1,1,1,1. However, while they did have the most 1st places they did not have a majority in any dance except the paso doble and it is worth noting that every couple in the final received at least one 1st place in the jive and the winners even received a 6th place in that dance from one judge. With 1,2,2,2,3, Canadian champions, Kamil Studeny & Anna Pelypenko were the runners-up. Mykhalio Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina received some rather mixed scores from the judges with 1st to 6th in all dances. Overall they placed 3rd with 3,3,3,4,2. The 2nd Canadian couple to make the final, Ilya Maletin & Polina Maier were 4th 4,4,5,3,5. Yesterday’s rising star winners, Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach took 5th with 6,5,4,5,4. Closing this great final were Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova 5,6,6,6,6. We must point out that so many great couples were left in the semifinal of this event!

• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
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US Champions, Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija retained their dominance in the Smooth, winning the division 1,2,1,1. They had the majority of 1st places in the 3 dances that they won. Max Sinita & Tatiana Seliverstova must have been pleased with their performance and their win in the tango and they also received a majority of 1st places in that dance. Their final scores were 2,1,2,2 to take the runner-up spot. Travis & Jaimee Tuft were 3rd in all dances and the only couple apart from the top two to take some 1st places. 4th in all dances went to Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova; 5th in all went to Segey & Maria Barsukov and the RS winners, John Campbell & Jackie Brockman were 6th in all dances.

• Open Pro Cabaret Open Pro Cabaret
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15 judges scored the Pro Cabaret and the result could hardly have been closer! 8 judges placed Travis & Jaimee Tuft 1st and 7 placed Shane & Shannon Jensen 1st ! All we can say is congratulations to Travis & Jaimee on their win and we were glad not to judge this one! 3rd spot went to Mykhalio Azerov & Tetyana Makarenko and 4th to Roel & Cynthia Rens from Holland.

• Open Amateur Ballroom Open Amateur Ballroom
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The Open Amateur Ballroom also took place tonight and the winners once again were Dan Malov & Anna Kaczmarski (they were the winners in the u/21 the night before). Once again they won all dances with a majority of 1st places. Runners-up in all dances were Lech & Kopaczynska from Poland a couple with great movement around the floor. With 3,3,3,5,5, Fernando Lareu & Nicole Palagsahvili took 3rd. Kingsley Lin & Michelle Yiu were 4th 4,4,5,6,3; 5th Florin Vlad & Nataila O’Connor 5,6,4,3,6; 6th Brenton Mitchell & Alexandra Sevastianova 6,5,6,4,4.

• J2 Latin J2 Latin
• J1 Latin J1 Latin
• Youth Latin Youth Latin
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There were 3 separate junior and youth divisions danced tonight all in the Latin style – youth, J1,J2. All were sponsored by the CBZ Foundatiion. The top 3 in each division were: Youth 1. Zhigue Liu & Shanlin He (China) 1,1,1,3,2; 2. Aleksandr Mitronin & Olivia Agranovich 2,2,2,2,1; 3. Andrei Boldyrev & Daniela Roze Kuttischev 3,3,3,1,3. J2Wei Lin & Zhoshi Xie (China) 1,1,1,1,1; 2. Yan Leyzerovych & Kyla Dzhaniashvili 3,2,2,2,2; 3. Kevin Filipczak & Danielle Malpa 2,4,3,4,3. J1 Maksim Berenshteyn & Kennedy Eaton 1,1,1,1,1; 2. Joshua Ginzburg & Sophia Kouznetsov 2,3,2,2,2; 3. Kirill Budagovskiy & Galit Zilbervarg 3,2,3,3,3.

• Open A PA Ballroom Open A PA Ballroom
• Open B PA Ballroom Open B PA Ballroom
• Open C PA Ballroom Open C PA Ballroom
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In the daytime it was pro-am ballroom. The open scholarships finished the afternoon. The A was won by Annitte Matyszczyk w/ Andrei Klinchik 1,1,1,1,1. 2nd in all went to Nina Ouzdenova w/ Sergei Bezrodnov, 3rd in all to Pat Franzino w/ Igor Gayenko and 4th in to Anoushka Senevirantne w/ Adam Kent.

The Open B was won, again in all dances, by Lengxi Gao w/ Kamil Ubaniak. The runner-up was Linda Dillman w/ Arturas Misurenkovas 3,2,2,2,2. 3rd went to Susana Yu w/ Igor Mikushov 4,3,3,4,3; 4th Patricia Chai w/ Sergei Bolotnikov 2,4,4,3,4; 5th Sammy Sugawar w/ Lisa Vegas 5,5,6,5,6; 6th Susana Sanrangaya w/ Pavel Kuzmin 6,6,5,6,5.

The Open C went to Annie Chan w/ Christian Radvan 1,1,2,2,1. Sally He w/ Enzo Zappia took 2nd 2,2,1,1,2. 3rd went to Janet Simsic w/ Andrea Stefano 3,3,3,4,3; 4th Alla Neystadt w/ Bassil Issaev 4,5,4,3,4; 5th Denise Layfiend w/ Emmanuele Pappacena 5,4,5,6,5; 6th Viki Sato w/ Nazar Batih 6,6,6,5,6.

Rising High!

Last night at NYDF the Pro RS divisions were on fire!

• Alberto Cortes & Jessa Mae Briones Alberto Cortes & Jessa Mae Briones
• Pro RS Rhythm Pro RS Rhythm
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We saw some of the best RS divisions in the last few months – quarter-finals in most. First up was the Rhythm and we saw a fairly easy win for Alberto Cortes and Jessa Mae Briones who won all dances with large majorities of 1st places from the judges. With 2,2,3,2,2, Kristian Sese & Mae Lozado took 2nd and 3,3,2,3,3 gave Ryan Lockhart & Danelle Newman a 3rd place finish. The closest race was for 4th and this was decided by a Rule 10. Jean Michele Erole & Sasha Nissengolts took it by placing 6,4,4,5,3. Dmitry Zavialov & Mariya-Khristina Skurupova were 5th 4,5,5,4,4. A new couple to us, Todor Kondov & Kristen Dobson rounded out the top 6 with 5,6,6,6,6.

• Luca & Krizia Ballestra Luca & Krizia Ballestra
• Pro RS Ballroom Pro RS Ballroom
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The RS Ballroom gave us a much more mixed result with no couple receiving a majority of 1st places in any dance. The winners were Luca & Krizia Balestra whose final scores were 1,1,3,2,1. They had 7 first places in 3 dances but there were 15 judges. 2nd spot went to Lucasz Chockuba & Angelina Oh 2,2,1,1,3. With even more mixed scores, 3rd spot fell to Jonas Kazlauskas & Kathleen Ilo 5,3,2,3,4. Sergei Bezukladnikov & Sandra Spernaka were 4th 4,5,4,6,2; 5th Anatoliy Repliuk & Ruslana Mamaysur 6,4,5,4,5; 6th Serhiy Averkov & Olena Barna 3,6,6,5,7; 7th Slava & Valeriia Kostaniets 7,7,7,7,6. As you can see some very mixed scoring.

• John Campbell & Jaki Brockman John Campbell & Jaki Brockman
• Pro RS Smooth Pro RS Smooth
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The RS Smooth produced a Rule 11 tiebreak situation with 2 couples each winning 2 dances. The tiebreak awarded the decision to John Campbell & Jaki Brockman who scored 2,1,2,1. The Kostaniets, who also competed in this division, took 2nd with 1,2,1,2. All the 3’s went to Enzo Zappia & Stephanie Betts. With all 4’s Morten Jensen & Ashley Mokris took that position. 6,5,5,5 gave Ilya Abdullin & Tara Barakov 5th place and Drew Miller & Krista Humphrey took 6th 5,6,6,6.

• Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach
• Pro RS Latin Pro RS Latin
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Recent professionals, Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach made easy work of the RS Latin winning all dances with large majorities of 1st places. And equally clearly 2nd in all dances were Sasha Althukov & Cheyenne Murillo. 3,3,3,4,3 gave Vlad Astafiev & Annie He Xiou 3rd place. With that 3rd in paso and 4th in the other dances, Ivan Kudashev & Ksenia Sokolova were 4th. 5th fell to Aleksandr Vukosavljevic & Jessica Li 5,5,5,5,6 and Danny Arbour & Justine Rainville were 6th 6,6,6,6,5.

• Rafael Fleishman & Yael Pasternak Rafael Fleishman & Yael Pasternak
• U/21 Latin U/21 Latin
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The Amateur U/21 had a somewhat international flair and indeed the winners were from overseas – Rafael Fleishman & Yael Pasternak from Israel were the winners, placing 1,1,2,1,1. They had the majority of 1st places in cha and jive. 2nd place wento Bumchin Tegshargal & Michelle Klets 2,2,1,3,5. Nazariy Blagy & Vikova Marketa were 3rd 3,3,3,4,2; Andrei Daniela Roze Boldyrev & Kuttischev were 4th 4,4,4,2,3. A Chinese duo, Zhiguo Liu & Shanlin He took 5th 5,5,5,5,4 and Mitchel Itkin & Natasha Shevchenko were 6th in all. This event also began with a quarter-final.

• Dan Malov & Anna Kaczmarski Dan Malov & Anna Kaczmarski
• U/21 Ballroom U/21 Ballroom
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The U/21 Ballroom was not quite as big, beginning with a semifinal but the quality of dancing was still very high. The very impressive new partnership of Dan Malov & Anna Kaczmarski easily won all dances. 2nd in all went to Kinglsey Lin & Michelle Yiu. This couple have seen an improvement in their scoring of late after a rather indifferent period. With 3,4,3,3,3 another new partnership Tony Cooperman & Rickie Taylor placed 3rd. 4th Alex Maslanka & Christine Budniak 5,3,4,5,4; 5th Gregory Rybakov & Eva Tulchinsky 4,5,5,4,5; 6th Daniel Melnik & Maria Volski 6,6,6,6,6.

• Open Amateur Smooth Open Amateur Smooth
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The Open Amateur Smooth was a battle between 2 couples from Provo that had to be settled by a Rule 11 tiebreak. Brandon Keck & Kaylee Christensen took the title 2,1,1,2 over Joseph Nugent & Kyla Zenger 1,2,2,1. 3rd went to Tyler Harding & Devri Ray 4,3,3,4. 4th and 5th were also separated by a Rule 11. 4th Steve Torres & Nicole Barron 5,5,4,3; 5th Robbie Cromwell & Jenna Southard 3,4,5,5. 6th Stephen Rallison & Danyelle Morely 6,6,6,6.

• Open A PA Smooth Open A PA Smooth
• Joanne Smith w/ Chris Sochaki Joanne Smith w/ Chris Sochaki
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In the afternoon there were some really terrific pro-am Smooth divisions. The Open A Scholarship was won by Joanne Smith w/ Chris Sochaki and Joanne won all dances with a majority of 1st places. 2nd in all went to Olivia Zettergren w/ Gunnar Sverrison. 4th Veronica Maoli w/ Greg Fidurski 4,3,3,3; 5th Alegha Sardina w/ Anton Grigoryev 5,5,5,5; 6th Jen Sauter w/ Jose Solano 6,6,6,6.

• Open B PA Smooth Open B PA Smooth
• Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano
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Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano won all dances in the Open B, despite not having placed this well in the events before the Scholarships, so congratulations to her on a good comeback. 2nd and 3rd were decided by a Rule 11 and the decision went to the A winner, Joanne w/ Chris 3,2,2,3 over Aiyesha Dey w/ Mayo Alanen 2,3,3,2. 4th Suki Kramer w/ Gunnar Sverisson 4,4,4,4; 5th Mary Lemmer w/ Thomas Mielnicki 5,5,5,5; 6th Angela Morrison w/ Peter Santiago 6,6,6,6.

• Open Pro-Am C Smooth Open Pro-Am C Smooth
• Lynn Shanhan w/ Darius Mosteika Lynn Shanhan w/ Darius Mosteika
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There was a similar comeback in the Open C. Lynn Shanahan w/ Darius Mosteika came through to win the event 1,1,2,1 despite not placing so highly in some other divisions earlier in the day. With 3,1,3,2, Lynn Magnesen w/ Thykon Zhykov was 2nd and the new pro-am pairing of Sophia D’Angelo w/ Max Sintisa took 3rd 2,3,2,3. 4th and 5th were separated by yet another Rule 11. Audria Hill-Mitchell got the 4th spot with 5,5,4,4 over Andria Flink w/ Val Grebenin 4,4,5,5. 6th Denise Layfield w/ Kirill Gorjatsev 6,6,6,6 and 7th Donna Nolan w/ Tomas Mielnicki 7,7,7,7.

In a New York State of Mind!

New York baby! That’s the place to be for dancers this week at the New York Dancesport Festival

• Roosevelt Hotel Roosevelt Hotel
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This is Eugene Katsevman & Maria Manusiva’s second year at the helm of the New York Dancesport Festival and if the first day is any measure, then it promises to be even better than last year.

The iconic and historic Roosevelt Hotel, adjacent to Grand Central Station, is once again the setting and last night it was abuzz as the ballroom filled with elegantly dressed dancers for the welcome Gala Night. An what a night it was! A great dinner was served and for entertainment and dancing we had the Bronx Horns – a phenomenal Latin band. This band is so good that guess who showed up to dance a scintillating cha cha? Well our hosts of course, Eugene & Maria, but they were joined by two other Latin greats, Marcus Homm and Slavik Kryklyvvy! Plus Argentine Tango greats, Michael Nadtochi & Eleonora Kalganova performed alone and with Eugene & Maria, plus taught a mini class for everyone to enjoy.

It wasn’t all play on this first day of the NYDF, however, there were some great pro-am Rhythm competitions during the day culminating in 3 Open Scholarships 2 of them starting with semifinals.

• Open A PA Rhythm Open A PA Rhythm
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The Open A was the only straight final and this went to Launa Lusher w/ Jose DeCamps who won all dances. 2nd in all was Tanuja Tharani w/ Adrian Persad and 3rd went to Jen Sauter w/ Jose Solano.

• Open B PA Rhythm Open B PA Rhythm
• Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika
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Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika was on form and won the Open B, again winning all dances. He faced some stiff competition and the runner-up, Kelly Wain w/ Vlad Astafiev took 2nd in all dances and more significantly quite a few 1st place marks in all dances. 3rd in all dances went to Erin Hall w/ Steve Vasco; Sheila Davis w/ Shane Jensen took 4th 4,4,4,4,6; Lauren Albert w/ Jose DeCamps was 5th 5,5,5,4; Donie Burch w/ Kosta Trifunovic was 6th 6,6,6,5 and Tanuja Tharani w/ Adrian Persad was 7th.

• Open C PA Rhythm Open C PA Rhythm
• Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan
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In the open C, Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan won all 5 dances with strong majorities in all. 2nd went to Quin Bommelje w/ Misha Vlasov 2,2,2,3,2. Joan Goddard w/ Aaron Talbert took 3rd 3,3,3,2,3. 4th in all dances was Shiela Davis w/ Shane Jensen. 5th in all was Yuriko Shimamoto w/ Steve Vasco. 6th and 7th places were separated by a Rule 10 tiebreak that ended with Lois Fein w/ Aleksnadr Vukosavljevic 6th 6,6,8,6,7 and Lisa Lacroix w/ Jeremy Babagay 7th 7,7,6,7,6. Scott Magnesen w/ Zhyukov placed 8th 8,8,7,8,8.

For a real feel of this event don’t forget to visit our video page! Our brand new Dance Beat Update and Comp Crawl videos are playing now. Click here to watch!