• Deborah Fontaine (Show sponsor) Deborah Fontaine (Show sponsor)
• Michael Malitowski & Joanna Leunis Michael Malitowski & Joanna Leunis
• Michael Chapman Michael Chapman
• Slavik Kryklyvyy & Joanna Leunis Slavik Kryklyvyy & Joanna Leunis
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As is customary nowadays, the primetime show took place earlier in the evening this time featuring former World Latin Champions Michael Malitowski & Joanna Leunis, who brought down the house more than once. Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva who danced the night before complimented the pair to perfection with a fabulous tango and quickstep this time round and Slavic Kryklyvyy & Karina Smirnov also delighted us with a heart-felt rumba. All three couples hit the top spot with their artistry in motion and unleashed feelings of passion.

• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
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Once the show was over the ballroom competitions took over, the biggest feature event this evening was the Open Professional Rhythm. Here there was a clear win for the US National and World Champions, Nazar Norov & Irina Krudyashova, who won all dances with the majority of firsts in every dance and nearly perfect scores in the swing where only Dan Rutherford awarded them a second place mark. Second overall was awarded to Andre & Natalie Paramonov who placed second in every dance with marks that varied from first to fourth place. Third position went to Vard Margaryan & Inga Demetryan they too also stole a few first place marks from Nazar & Irina and their marks varied down to sixth place.

Fourth place went to Dmitry & Olena Nikishin but with not as clear marks as the top three, here they took fourth in three dances and fifth in the rumba, bolero. Fifth overall went to Shane & Shannon Jensen, and here their marks were even more varied 6,4,5,4,6. We most also point out at this time that Shane & Shannon won the Cabaret Championship that started with a 12 couple semifinal in the late afternoon and ended with a 7 couple final in the evening. Sixth in the Rhythm category was awarded to Danas Jaksevisius & Yuki Haraguchi 5,6,6,6,5.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
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The second featured competition this evening was the Open Professional Ballroom and here Alexander Volskalchuk & Veronica Egorova won all dances with a majority of firsts in every dance. Second in all dances went to Vlad Shahov & Ekaterina Popova, leaving third to Rudy Homm & Katia Kanevskaya, but here the marks were not as clear 4,3,3,3,3. Fourth place was awarded to Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romashkina placing 3,5,4,4,4. Fifth place was awarded to Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova 5,4,5,5,5, Andriy Mikhailov & Anna Bohachova 6,6,6,6,7 were sixth and Stefano Di Brino & Bianka Zubrowska placed seventh 7,7,7,7,6.

• Shane & Shannon Jensen Shane & Shannon Jensen
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As we mentioned, Shane & Shannon Jensen won the Cabaret. Second place went to Travis & Jaimee Tuft. 3rd were Clyde Harris & Summer Elkin, 4th Craig Smith & Andrea Harvey, 5th Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez, 6th Zachary Pohl & Ariel Frelich, 7th Ivan Kudashev & Ksenia Sokolova.

• Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
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Another excellent event this evening was the Open Amateur Latin. It started with a full semifinal round and finished with a terrific final. Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladze won the event with the majority of first place marks in all dances and in two of the dances, samba and rumba, they nearly won with perfect scores. Second overall was awarded to Tal Livshits & Ilona Keselman, and they took second in every dance. Third went to Alan Rudma & Svetlana Lisna 3,3,4,3,3, fourth position was given to Aleksandr Ivanov & Maria Usanina 4,4,5,4,4, Artem Zhychuk & Klaudia Petriti were fifth 5,6,3,5,5, and Silvio Anselmi & Elenora Riccardi were sixth 6,5,6,6,6.

It was a full day of Pro/Am Latin with full heats and very contested open scholarships. The “A” division was a seven couple final and this category went to Valeria Vasilchenko w/ Dmitriy Zavialov 1,3,1,1,5, second position was awarded to Vitoshinskaya w/Troels Bager 2,2,2,2,4, and third place was Carolina Solek w/Anton Tregubov 3,1,3,5,1, leaving fourth place to Jamie Colonna w/Nikita Tsernov 5,4,4,3,5. Nicol Pierzchalski w/Vlad Astafiev was fifth 4,5,5,6,3; Zoe Antoniou/Andre Strinadko placed sixth 6,6,6,4,6 and Sibyl Yang/Alex Nashev was seventh 7,7,7,7,7.

• Open A Pro-Am Latin Open A Pro-Am Latin
• Open B Pro-Am Latin Open B Pro-Am Latin
• Open C Pro-Am Latin Open C Pro-Am Latin
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In the “C” Latin Open division Lisa Lowery w/ Roman Malkhasyan won all dances. Second was awarded to Deborah Wright w/Nikolai Voronovich placing second in every dance, third in every dance was given to Lyn Magnesen w/Tykhon Zhyvkov. Fourth was Sophia D'Angelo w/Nikolai Pilipenchuk also in every dance. Loraine Peoples w/Genya Bartashevich was fifth and Deborah Leibow w/Alon Gilin placed sixth.

The “B” division was very contested and here Marina Dzasokhova w/Ivan Statsenko won overall by placing first in the C,S,R, and second in the other two dances. Second overall was awarded to Caroline Howard w/Sasha Altukhov with these marks 2,2,3,1,1. Third went to Missy White w/Genya Bartashevich 3,3,2,4,4. Christine Stanko w/Jean Paul was fourth 4,5,5,3,3; Mirra Blinova w/Clement Joly placed fifth 5,4,4,5,5 and Jacqueline Soccodato w/Delyan Terziev was sixth in all dances.

• Emma Oswald Emma Oswald
• Emma Oswald Emma Oswald
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Each year Millennium Dancesport presents a “legends of dance” award and this year the very deserving winner was Emma Oswald the long serving competition coordinator for Millennium, Superstars and Hollywood Dancesport and also for other events. There was a well-deserved standing ovation for Emma.

Shaking the Smoothie!

The US Professional Smooth scene was shaken up a little last night here at the Millennium with a very special and dynamic final.

• Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova
• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
• Peter Perzhu & Izabella Jundzill Peter Perzhu & Izabella Jundzill
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All four aces in the full deck of the Smooth cards were present, former US Smooth Champion Peter Perzhu and US Finalist Izabella Jundzill competed together for the first time in a major event; current US Champions, Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija were also here and adding to that mix were Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova, who in the past have taken some dances from the current leaders and keep right on the heals of the present champions. We cannot leave out of this special group Travis & Jaimee Tuft, who just got back from the Blackpool Dancesport Festival where they became the runners up to the US & World Champions Nick & Viktorija, ahead of Max & Tatiana.

In looking at the marks it is clear that Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija continue to dominate the style. Last night they won three dances with a majority of firsts. In the waltz they had 18 first places out of 21 judges, in the foxtrot and Viennese Waltz they got 12 out of 21 judges and their smaller gain of first place marks was in the tango where they did not get a majority, they only managed to get 9 first place marks out of 21.

Second overall was awarded to Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova who placed third in the waltz and second in the other 3 dances. It is interesting to note that Max & Tatiana did not take the majority of firsts from Nick & Vicktorija, they placed second overall with just a few firsts and quite a number of second places. After the event some attendees and fans felt that perhaps they lacked some of their usual edgy maneuvers and interpretation. As we mentioned, in the past Max & Tatiana have won dances from the current champions, but were criticized for being perhaps a little to “sexy” for the style. However, they were very close to Nick & Viktorija in the tango where they got 8 firsts while Nick & Viktorija got 9.

• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
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Third overall and taking the most first places from the champions were, former US National and World Professional Smooth Champion Peter Perzhu, now dancing with US finalist Izabella Jundzill. Last night they placed 2,3,3,3. In looking at the marks only in the tango did Peter & Izabella not get more firsts than Max & Tatiana. In the waltz Peter & Izabella got 2 first place marks, Max & Tatiana got 1 first mark. In the foxtrot and VW, Peter & Izabella got 5 first place marks to Max & Tatiana’s 2 in the foxtrot and 4 in the VW. In the tango Peter & Izabella got less first places than Max & Tatiana. It is interesting to see that even though they got more firsts than Max & Tatiana it was not enough to put them in the second place position overall, this of course is because in T,F,VW Max & Tatiana got better marks overall.

In this complicated mix we then have Travis & Jaimme Tuft who as we mention earlier placed better than Max & Tatiana, at the Blackpool Dance Festival, but in this competition here are their marks - 4,5,4,4. As you can see that placed them overall in fourth position. This year’s Millennium might go down as a game changer, and might cement some of the positions for this style. We are thrilled to be able to attend a competition that could be a game changer in our industry all the time, with change comes excitement and I think we all want this in our industry.

Fifth place overall in this final of champions was awarded to Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smimova 5,4,5,5 and sixth place went to Kyle & Allie Spinder.

• Michael Chapman & Mary Murphy Michael Chapman & Mary Murphy
• Slavik & Karina Slavik & Karina
• Show of Shows Show of Shows
• Victor & Anastasia Victor & Anastasia
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As every year at the Millennium, Mr. Michael Chapman puts on what he now call the “show of show’s” and as always using the most accomplished couples from our industry all over the world. Last night the featured couples in the show were former US Champions and Open Latin British Champions (Blackpool Champions) Slavik Kryklyvyy & Karina Smirnoff who are considered one of a kind by many fans around the world. The second couple featured was current Open Ballroom British Champions (Blackpool Champions) and second in command when it comes to Ballroom dancing in the USA, Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva. These two featured couples were presented and supported by a troop of dancers from the Orlando area and the theme was “Love.” When it comes to love no one can express it better than the French. The decorations and the theme this year reflect Paris – the city of love. The Eifell Tower is a symbol of love and as you saw by the pictures, a center piece of the Millennium decorations. The show was short and sweet and at “prime time” with the gigantic ballroom filled to capacity. This is welcomed by all of us who travel across the world every weekend to see a competition, but these kind of shows are rarely seen and we are happy to see it unfold with the attendance to the max. Tonight we await part two and if it is one thing I know about Mr. Chapman, is that it will be even better than last night’s if that is possible.

• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
• Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova
• Nino Langella & Andra Vaidalaite Nino Langella & Andra Vaidalaite
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The second competition worth a mention was the Open Professional Latin Championship. Here the overall winners with the majority of firsts in all dances were Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova, when we say majority we really mean it! In the Cha Cha they got 2 second place marks and in the other three dances they lost 3 first place marks. The three judges awarding them second place marks were very consistent they were Chuck Danza, Aleksandra Gisher, and Tatiana Kazakova.

Second in this heat was awarded to the relatively new partnership of Nino Langella & Andra Vaidilaite from Canada and they took second in every dance. Their worst marks came from Laura Martin who awarded them 7th in every dance, but they also had a few other unusual marks, Anna Llorente for one gave them these marks 5,6,4,6,4. Third place overall was awarded to Mykhalio Bilopukhov & Maria Shchypilina 3,3,4,4,3. Fourth place was a tie that had to be broken by Rule 10, between Manuel Favilla & Natalia Maidiuk 4,5,6,3,6, and Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach 5,6,3,5,5, as you can see if you add all up, both couples had 24 points making it a tie. Once the score were tabulated and the Rule 10 applied Favilla & Maidiuk were fourth and Pashkov & Karagach placed fifth. Sixth place was awarded to Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova 6,4,5,6,4, and seventh position in all dances went to Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasia Danilova.

For the pro-ams it was a day of ballroom. The finals of all three open scholarships were danced in the evening session.

Here are the results of the 3 open Scholarships.

Open A – 1. Natalie Rezai w/ Sergey Kiselev 1,1,1,1,2; 2. Nadezhada Solzhenitsyan w/ Sergei Konovaltsev (Russia) 2,2,2,2,1; 3. Amy Liu w/ Igor Mikushov 3,3,6,4,5; 4. Irina Agaletskaya w/ Alexander Zhiratkov (Russia) 4,4,5,5,3; 5. Colette Marotto w/ Egor Abashkin 5,6,3T3,6; 6. Rebecca Kuhn w/ Andrea Faraci 6,5,3T,6,4; 7. Shannon Mahoney w/ Aida Regis 7,7,7,7,7.

• Open Pro-Am A Ballroom Open Pro-Am A Ballroom
• Open B Pro-Am Ballroom Open B Pro-Am Ballroom
• Open C Pro-Am Ballroom Open C Pro-Am Ballroom
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Open B – 1. Brynda Insley w/ Martin Reinbold 2,1,1,1,1; 2. Laura Shooks w/ Alexander Voskalchuk 1,2,2,2,2; 3. Lily Chang w/ Andrey Mykhailov 3,3,3,3,3; 4. Audrey Paek w/ Ronen Zinshtein 4,4,4,5,4; 5. Iryna Grishenko w/ Alexnader Federov (Russia) 5,5,5,4,5; 6. Carole Simmons w/ Sergey Pogonet (Canada) 6,7,6,6,6; 7. Bo Chang w/ Andrea Stefano 7,6,7,7,7.

Open C – 1. Hye Kyong Park w/ Linas Korieva 1,1,1,1,1; 2. Leilani Viney w/ Kamil Urbaniak 2,2,3,3,2; 3. Sally He w/ Enzo Zappia 3,3,2,2,3; 4. Annie Chan w/ Christian Radvan 4,4,4,4,4; 5. Sibyl Yang w/ Rudi Homm 6,5,5,5,5; 6. Eva Fong w/ Oscar Pedrinelli

A Full Day!

Yesterday was a very full day here at Millennium. At the end of the night MC, Tad Joy, signed with relief and announced that we were done “before 1 AM.” And that was true, it was busy but efficient!

• Open Pro-Am C Smooth Open Pro-Am C Smooth
• Lisa Lowery w/ Roman Malkhasyan Lisa Lowery w/ Roman Malkhasyan
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Pro-Am Smooth was the main feature beginning at 7:00 AM. The Open Scholarships were very large and brought out many of the nation’s best. Once again the Open C was the largest. Keeping her pre-eminent position in this division was Lisa Lowery w/ Roman Malkhasyan who won the division. Lisa won all dances, tango and foxtrot with perfect 9 out of 9 first places. 2nd in all dances went to the winner of the Rhythm in this category, Lynn Magnesen this time dancing with Tykhon Zhyvkov. With 3,3,4,3, Sophia D’Angelo w/ Max Sinitsa took 3rd. Helena Kostik w/ Mazen Hamza was 4th 5,4,5,5 and as you can see the judges became less certain as we progressed down this final lineup. 5th went to Sherry Dong w/ Dmitry Illushenov (Canada) 4,7,3,6; 6th Charlene Proctor w/ Victor Tkachenko7,5,7,4 and 7th Chinyn Chou w/ Pavel Volynskiy 6,6,6,7. As you can see some very strange scoring there. The event began with a first round of 34 couples.

• Pro-Am Open B Smooth Pro-Am Open B Smooth
• Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano
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Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano continued her domination of the Open B division winning all dances with perfect scores – 36 first places out of a possible 36. Congratulataions! Selene Steelman w/ Travis Tuft was the runner-up and also took 2nd in all dances. Nichelle Kennedy w/ Alex Nashev took 3rd 3,4,4,3 and Christina Donelson w/ Matt Rivers took 4th 6,3,3,5. 5th went to Beatrice Colon w/ Roman Malkhasyan 4,6,5,4 and 6th to Iryna Grishchenko w/ Aleksandr Fedorov (Russia) 5,5,6,6. This event began as a quarter-final.

The Open A was an 8-couple final. The winner was Olivia Zettergren w/ Gunnar Sverrisson 1,1,1,1. This lady received the majority of 1st places in 3 of the dances but also picked up some low scores in all dances as well. 2nd went to TJ Kyle w/ Travis Tuft 2,3,2,3. 3rd and 4th places were separated by a Rule 11. 3rd went to Stefan Tuomanen w/ Michelle Officer 4,5,3,2 and 4th to Natasha Namen w/ Aleksandr Skriptsov 3,2,5,4. 5th went to Brittany Falcomer w/ Peter Walker 5,4,4,5; 6th Samantha Dahn w/ Gene Gernsten 6,8,6,6; 7th Nadia Sicilia w/ Christopher Panasuk (Canada) 7,6,8,7; 8th Jarrett Pellicane w/ Melanie Sandvig 8,7,7,8.

• Slava & Valeriia Kostaniets Slava & Valeriia Kostaniets
• Pro RS Smooth Pro RS Smooth
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The Rising Star divisions in Smooth and Latin were also held yesterday. Due to time restraints the quarter-final of the Smooth was held in a secondary ballroom at 9:00 PM. The next round was held about 2 hours later. The winners were Slava & Valeriia Kostaniets and they won all dances with sizeable majorities. With 2,2,2,3, Enzo Zappia & Stephanie Betts were the runners-up and 3,3,3,2, gave Radek Wiatrowski & Mila Popovich the 3rd position. Morten Jensen & Ashley Mokris took 4th spot in all dances. 5th in all went to Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer, 6th in all went to Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov.

• Sergey & Daria Chyslov Sergey & Daria Chyslov
• Pro RS Latin Pro RS Latin
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Sergey & Daria Chyslov won the RS Latin. They won all dances and in all except the rumba they had the majority of 1st places. The remaining places were quite mixed. 2nd went to Riccardo Pacini & Sonia Spadorii 2,3,4,2,2. 3rd and 4th places were separated by a Rule 10. 3rd Ivan Kudashev & Ksenia Sokolova 5,2,3,3,4 and 4th Vlad Astafiev & Annie He Ziao 4,4,2,4,3. 5th were Oleksandr Kozhukhar & Oleksandra Kharchenko 3,5,6,6,5 and 6th Nikita Tsernov & Anna Obakova 6,6,5,5.

“Loving” it at Millennium

It’s the 20th anniversary of Michael Chapman’s Millennium Dancesport and this year’s theme is “Love!”

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The lavish decoration this event is known for is as spectacular as always with 4 giant TV screens as the centerpieces of a stage-wide set. The usual cluster of officials has been moved to the rear of the ballroom to create a very clean and clear look.

And it seems the “love” has spread far and wide this year with entries climbing to over 17,000 – record breaking attendance for sure!

• Pro-Am Open C Rhythm Pro-Am Open C Rhythm
• Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan
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The first 2 full days of competition have been filled with pro-am Rhythm divisions and solos, culminating in the Open Scholarships last night. The Open C was a great divisions beginning with a quarter-final round. Lyn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan was the winner. Lynn won all 5 dances and had a perfect score (1st from all judges) in the bolero. With 2,2,3,2,2, Lisa Lowery w/ Roman Malkhasyan was 2nd and placing 3rd was Quin Bomelje w/ Mikhail Vlassov 3,3,2,3,4. These 3 ladies have been head to head all year so far. 4th spot went to Diane Caracciolo w/ Nazar Norov 4,4,4,4,3; 5th to Cheryl Lysik w/ Shandor Shtefil 7,5,5,5,5; 6th Vicki Barbera w/ Jonah Schneider 5,6,7,8,7. 7th and 8th places were decided by a Rule 11 tiebreak. 7th Ana Capo w/ Luis Lopez 8,7,8,6,6 and 8th Jennifer Marre w/ Plamen Danailov 6,8,6,7,8.

• Pro-Am Open A Rhythm Pro-Am Open A Rhythm
• Gabrielle DeVita w/ Maksim Lototsky Gabrielle DeVita w/ Maksim Lototsky
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The Open A was a straight final and the winner was Gabrielle DeVita w/ Maksim Lototsky who won all dances and like Lynn in the C, received perfect scores in the bolero. 2nd fell to Levina Kasmara w/ Gleb Makarov 4,2,2,2,3 and 3rd to local favorite Jailene Espinosa w/ Eddie Rivera 3,3,3,3,2. 4th went to Samantha Dahn w/ Gene Bersten 2,4,4,6,5; 5th Sara Sharpe w/ Gunnar Sverrisson; 6th Stefan Tuomanen w/ Michelle Officer 6,6,6,4,6; 7th in all dances Ariah Avery w/ Zeki Maviyildiz and 8th in all Sophia Rosenecker w/ James Brann.

• Pro-Am Open B Rhythm Pro-Am Open B Rhythm
• Erin Hall w/ Steve Vasco Erin Hall w/ Steve Vasco
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The Open B began with a semifinal and was won by Erin Hall w/ Steve Vasco who again won all dances. 2nd spot went to Beatrice Colon w/ Roman Malkhasyan 2,2,2,2,4 and 3rd to Kelly Wain w/ Vlad Astafiev 3,3,3,3,2. With 3rd in mambo and 4th in the other dances Nichelle Kennedy w/ Alex Nashev was 4th. In her second final, Ana Capo w/ Luis Lopez was 5th 5,5,6,5,5. Tracy Hannon w/ Yura Kora took 6th 6,6,7,7,6; Tina Musico w/ Marcio DeSouza was 7th 7,8,5,6,7 and Jennifer Stockton w/ Ranko Bogasovac was 8th 8,7,8,8,8.

This year much of Millennium is being live-streamed with commentary. You can watch that here.

Stay tuned throughout the week for more information from the record-setting Millennium Dancesport 2017