• Chris Johnston, Julia Wang, Dexter Wang Chris Johnston, Julia Wang, Dexter Wang
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The competition came to a finish with an excellent group of Pro/Am Ballroom Scholarships and the 70th birthday celebration of Dexter and Julia Wang. Both events concluded on a high note with dancing and socializing among friends and dancers.

• Open Pro-Am C Ballroom Open Pro-Am C Ballroom
• Lynn Murrel w/ Alexander Voskalchuk Lynn Murrel w/ Alexander Voskalchuk
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The pro/am scholarships were terrific, the “C” division started with a full semifinal round and here Lynn Murrell w/Alexander Voskalchuk took first in all dances. Second overall was awarded to Annie Chan w/Cristian Radvan by placing second in three dances, third in the tango, and fifth in the VW, this left third position overall to Deborah Leibow w/Alon Gilin from Canada with these marks 4,5,2,3,3, as you can see this category was fought to the last dance.

• Audrey Paek w/ Ronan Zinshtein Audrey Paek w/ Ronan Zinshtein
• Open B PA Ballroom Open B PA Ballroom
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The “B” category was just as challenging and in this heat Audrey Paek w/Ronen Zinsten took first in all dances with nearly perfect scores in all dances. Nearly because she got a second place in three dances, a third in the waltz and 2 seconds in the tango. Second went to Lily Chang w/ Andrii Mykhailov and they placed second in every dance, leaving third to Susana Yu w/Igor Mikushov also in all dances.

• Pro-Am Open A Ballroom Pro-Am Open A Ballroom
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The smallest of all the Ballroom scholarships was the “A” division where only 3 ladies entered and here the win also went to Audrey Paek w/Ronen Zinsten taking first in all dances. Second place in all dances was awarded to Susana Yu w/Igor Mikushov, leaving third to Kelly Almond w/ Tibor Kerekesh.

• Margarite Daniels Margarite Daniels
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The late afternoon finished with all the solo presentations and we must say they were possible some of the best we have seen all year long, with some very well executed routines that had everything needed - great music, great costuming, great choreography and best of all, originality. All solos were great but we must mention Margarite Daniels with her teachers Tibor Kerekesh and Iman Zhykaidar who did a terrific routine where Margarite sang live both at the beginning and the end of the routine.

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The day concluded with the 70th birthday bash for Julia & Dexter Wang, that started with a lavish dinner for over 200 people, where we saw a video presentation composed by their son and featuring the family from birth to today. After the meal Mr. & Mrs. Wang invited us to the “Imperial” Ballroom where we danced to the Brent Mills Orchestra, cut the cake, socialized and enjoyed until we took off our dance shoes and walked out of the ball!

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But like all things DBDC 2017 had to come to a "legendary" conclusion - and the the giant letters were put to bed until 2018!

Heroes are remembered, but “Legends” never die!

Over time there has been many brilliant dancers, but like every other industry there are few that have become “Legends.” Mr. Peter Eggleton is one of a kind, a Ballroom legend and icon who devoted his life to our industry.

• Alexander & Veronica Voskalchuk Alexander & Veronica Voskalchuk
• Peter Eggleton Cup Peter Eggleton Cup
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We are proud to be the holders of the precious cup given by his RH Prince Micasa of Japan for Peter’s contribution to ballroom dancing. Many brilliant dancers have won this cup and this year it was Alexander & Veronika Voskalchuck. The Professional Ballroom was not the only event on the last night at the DBDC, the Professional Rhythm was also run last night and the winners were Dmitry & Olena Nikishkin.

• Alberto Cortes & Jessa Mae Briones Alberto Cortes & Jessa Mae Briones
• Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
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The Professional Rhythm started with a full semifinal round and six couples were called for the final. After the final was run the winners were as we mentioned Dmitry & Olena winning all dances with a majority of firsts in every dance. Alberto Cortes & Jessa Mae Briones took second in every dance and Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker were third. From here down things got a little less clear when it came to the marks. Matt Hauer & Alexandra were fourth with these marks 4,5,5,6,4; fifth position was awarded to Andrei Svirydzenka & Yuliya Zubava 5,6,6,5,5, and sixth were Kristian Sese & Mae Lozada 6,4,4,4,6.

• Peter Eggleton Cup Ballroom Peter Eggleton Cup Ballroom
• Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romashkina Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romashkina
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Alexander & Veronika Voskalchuck won the honor of having their names placed next to this amazing “Icon” (Mr. Peter Eggleton), and they won all dances with a majority of firsts in every dance. Placing second in every dance were Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romanshkina, and in third position were Andrew Begunov & Anna Demidova taking fourth in the waltz and third in the other four dances. Fourth place went to Canada’s Richard Tonizzo & Clare Hansen and they were third in the waltz and fourth in the other four dances. Fifth position was awarded to Christian Radvan & Kristina Kudelko with these marks 5,6,5,5,5, and sixth were Andriy Mykhailov & Anna Bohachova 6,5,6,6,6.

• Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
• Amateur Latin Amateur Latin
• Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler
• Tal Livshitz & Ilona Keselman Tal Livshitz & Ilona Keselman
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The Open Amateur Latin was the largest event of the night and an 8-couple final was called. The winners were Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman 1,1,2,1,1. Tal & Ilana won C P,J with large majorities. Both the samba and rumba were 7 to 6 majority wins, one for Tal & Ilana and the rumba to the runners-up, Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler 2,2,1,2,2. With 3rd in all dances, Allen Rudman & Svetlana Lisna took the 3rd position. Artem Zhychuk & Klaudia Petriti took 4th 4,4,4,4,6; 5th Tony Cooperman & Rickie Taylor 5,5,5,5,4; 6th Eric Groysman & Jacqueline Pizzi 7,6,6,6,5; 7th Andrii Nikitchenko & Zlata Ptykhodko 6,7,7,7,7; 8th Max Firestein & Nicole Mtchedlidze 8,8,8,8,8.

• Dennis Rogers & Chris Johnston Dennis Rogers & Chris Johnston
• Dennis & Jackie Rogers Dennis & Jackie Rogers
• Denis Rogers & Mark Brock Denis Rogers & Mark Brock
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The other major event that occurred this evening did not take place in the spectacular “Empress Ballroom” of the Park Plaza Hotel, it took place in our dining room and it was the DBDC Lifetime Achievement award, this year given to Mr. Dennis Rogers for his tremendous contributions and accomplishments within our own dance industry. It was gathering of about 200 attendees, this included many members of his family who traveled from different parts of the US to be here for this presentation and many of his friends and admirers from our industry. After a white glove dinner affair, Mr. Rogers was interviewed by one of the owners of the DBDC Mr. Chris Johnston and this was followed by a dance with his wife of many years Jackie Rogers and then “while they were up” we took advantage and played a video composition from all his friends with lovely thoughts about him, his work his ethic and how much he meant to all of us within the ballroom dance community! The award was presented to him by MC extraordinaire, Mr. Mark Brock who was lighthearted and funny and who made the trip just to be here for this award. We were all amazed but not surprised about how many people came just for his award and we take our hat off to them. And finally we at Dance Beat want to congratulate Mr. Dennis Rogers for all his accomplishments and for his name being added to the prestigious list of the DBDC Lifetime Achievement awards!

• The black & whites The black & whites
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The theme for this celebration for the ladies was black or white and later in the ballroom all posed with Dennis before the presentation of the Peter Eggleton Cup.

• Aaron Talbert & Maggie Toth Aaron Talbert & Maggie Toth
• Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker
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There was also a terrific “supporting cast” of events in the early evening. The Rising Star Latin was won by Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker, who had a great weekend adding this win to the RS Rhythm. In the RS Smooth Aaron Talbert & Maggie Toth were the winners.

• U/21 Latin U/21 Latin
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There were truly great events in both the Youth and U/21 Latin divisions. (The youth had 3 rounds and took place in the afternoon). Aleksandr Mitronin & Olivia Agranovich won all dances in the Youth (This was a Fordney Foundation event). 2nd were Yusif Amsatr & Naomi Spektor 2,2,2,4,4 and 3rd went to Erik Linder & Shelly Meshkausk 4,3,4,2,2. In the U/21 Tony Cooperman & Rickey Taylor won all dances. Aleksandr & Olivia took 2nd 3,2,2,5,2 and Maslanka & Budniak were 3rd 2,6,3,2,3.

Yusif & Naomi were the winners of the Fordney Foundation Youth Ballroom.

• Pro-Am Open A Smooth Pro-Am Open A Smooth
• Pro-Am Open B Smooth Pro-Am Open B Smooth
• Pro-Am Open C1 Smooth Pro-Am Open C1 Smooth
• Pro-Am Open C Smooth Pro-Am Open C Smooth
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For the pro-ams it was a full day of Smooth.  Meg Gibber w/ Aaron Talbert won the Open A Scholarship, Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano won the Open B Scholarship, Jenny Dong w/ Dmitry Ilushenov took the C and Paul Duhaine w/ Daryll Sverisson took the C1

Dance Brilliant, Dance like a Champion!

Last night at the DBDC was a fantastic combination of “Brilliant” dancing in a tradition that could only be staged in the beautiful, “historical” ballroom of the Park Plaza hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bob Medeiros Memorial Professional Latin Medal was awarded by his life partner, Mr. Patrick Slattery, to Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina who took first in every dance with a majority of first from the judges in all. The Open Professional Smooth was also run this evening and current US Professional Smooth Champions, Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija won every dance with “perfect” scores from all judges (“perfect” means 1st in every dance by every judge).

• Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina
• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
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The first major event to be run Friday night was the Open Professional Smooth and as we just mentioned it was a walk in the park for Nick & Viktorija who won every dance with perfect scores from all judges. Second in this brilliant competition was awarded to Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova who almost had a perfect run of second placements from the judges but in the foxtrot and VW where Kathy St. Jean awarded them a third-place mark in both dances. Third position overall went to the brother and sister team of Slava & Valeriia Kostianets, and they took third in every dance. However, theirs was not as consistent a run as it was for the previous couples mentioned.  They received a variety of fifths or better in order to keep this position. 

• Slava & Valeriia Kostianets Slava & Valeriia Kostianets
• Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova
• Professional Smooth Professional Smooth
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Fourth place went to Aaron Talbert & Maggie Toth, who took fourth in all dances, fifth place in all dances was awarded to Viktor Tkachenko & Yuliya Lukina, and in sixth place was Christian Lightner & Kia Kennedy taking sixth in every dance.

The “Bob Medeiros Memorial Professional Latin Medal” was also fought for in a very exciting competition and this very high honor went to Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina who won every dance with a majority of firsts. Second overall was awarded to Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova, a favorite of the crowd from the balcony above, and they took this placement with a majority of second places or better in every dance. Third overall went to Ivan Mulyavka & Karin Rooba by placing third in three dances and fourth in the samba, jive.

• Ivan Mulyavka & Karin Rooba Ivan Mulyavka & Karin Rooba
• Professional Latin Professional Latin
• Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova
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Fourth place overall in this excellent Latin heat went to Nikita Malakhov & Nadezda Vlasova, taking fourth in three dances and third in the samba, jive. Fifth in all dances went to Richard Lifshitz & Laura Robinson and sixth in all was awarded to Vlad Astafiev & Annie He Xiao

A brilliant 8-couple Open Amateur final was called in the Ballroom and the winners of this competition by placing first in four dances and second in the foxtrot were Oleksandr Kalenyuk & Olena Ablitsova from Italy.  Second place overall was awarded to Dan Malov & Anna Kaczmarski who won the foxtrot but placed second in the other four dances. Third went to Florin Vlad & Natalia O’Connor placing third in four dances and fourth in the VW.  Fourth overall was given to Tony Cooperman & Rickie Taylor with these marks -  5,5,3,4,4.  Fifth went to Andrii Nikitchenko & Zlata Ptykhodko 4,4,5,5,5; sixth were Alec Zhiwei Zhang & Zhuoshi Xie placing sixth in all dances, seventh in all was awarded to Lu & Huang, and eighth was Matthew Harkins & Shannon Julian. 

• Amateur Ballroom Amateur Ballroom
• Oleksandr Kalenyuk & Olena Ablitsova Oleksandr Kalenyuk & Olena Ablitsova
• Dan Malov & Anna Kaczmarski Dan Malov & Anna Kaczmarski
• Florin Vlad & Natalia O’Connor Florin Vlad & Natalia O’Connor
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Two Professional Rising Star events took place the RS Ballroom and the RS Rhythm. In the Rising Star Rhythm, the winners of every dance were Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker placing first in every dance.  We must also point out that they won the swing with perfect scores from all the judges. Second in every dance was awarded to Matt Hauer &, third place went to Tomas Vasicek & Vitalija Tyrnova, fourth was Viktor Tkachenko & Yuliya Lukina; fifth was Zeki Maviyildiz & Isabella Libertore; sixth went to Mykhailo Annienkov & Yuliya Sinevych 6,6.5,6,7,6, and in seventh place were Simone Zat & Stephany Moujally 7,6.5,7,6,7 (Canada). 

• Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker
• Rising Star Rhythm Rising Star Rhythm
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The Rising Star Ballroom was a four-couple final and the winners in all dances were Andrii Mykhailov & Anna Bohachova. It is interesting to point out that they won the tango, VW and quickstep with perfect scores from the judges. Second overall was awarded to Slava & Valeriia Kostianets and they placed second in every dance.  Third in every dance went to Sergey Bolotnikov & Catherine Edgar and fourth was awarded to Ashan Samarasinghe & Eleanor Van Der Zwan. 

• Rising Star Ballroom Rising Star Ballroom
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There was an Under-21 Ballroom and this was a three-couple final.  The winners were Malov/Kaczmarski with these marks 1,2,1T,1,1, Second went to Samuel Hacke & Katerina Hermanova 2,1,1T,2,2, and third was awarded to Cooperman/Taylor and they placed third in every dance. 

• Malov/Kaczmarski Malov/Kaczmarski
• Under 21 Ballroom Under 21 Ballroom
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During the day we did two styles of Pro/Am dancing the Rhythm and the Latin.  The Open Scholarship winners were:  Open A Rhythm Kathryn Harper w/ Rex Jones; Open B Rhythm Gwen Bourque w/ Aaron Talbert; Open C Rhythm Joan Goddard w/ Aaron Talbert; Open C1 Rhythm Matia Matulaniec w/ Gunnar Sverisson; Open B Latin Mira Blinova w/ Clement Joly; Open C Latin Deborah Leibow w/ Alon Gilon; Open C1 Latin Vicki Sato w/ Thomas Shilivili 

• Gwen Bourque w/ Aaron Talbert Gwen Bourque w/ Aaron Talbert
• Joan Goddard w/ Aaron Talbert Joan Goddard w/ Aaron Talbert
• Rhythm Kathryn Harper w/ Rex Jones Rhythm Kathryn Harper w/ Rex Jones
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Last night was a great night for personal dancing, however. During dinner we were treated to some excellent entertainment, Mr. Brent Mills, DJ extraordinaire, set up a fantastic band and played throughout dinner while people dined and danced. We also had special performances.  Firstly from Mr. Johnston’s niece, Olivia sang a few songs accompanied by the band followed by our very own MC Daniel Tackett who sang as well. As usual, it was hard to pull everyone away from the entertainment to the competition after such a terrific social gathering.

Tonight the Open Amateur Latin, the Peter Eggelton Cup and the second leg of the Pro Rhythm Trifecta.

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Burlesque at the DBDC!

“The difference between burlesque and the newspaper is that the former never pretended to be performing a public service by exposure…….”  

For those people in "La Vida Loca" packages the day was totally filled. First stop at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where they got to see the famous dancers painting and other art work by renown artist. The to an excellent lunch and casual dancing at the Back Bay Social club. 

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Last night at the DBDC in Boston, Massachusetts, it was a night of fun and burlesque while competing in some of the most neglected dances in our industry.  In the USA and Canada, the majority of people as adults get exposed to ballroom dancing by going to a dance school to learn how to do dances like, salsa, bachata, hustle, Argentine Tango, west cost swing, and the occasional wedding dance.  People then get hooked and continue to want more (hobby), usually neglecting the dance they came originally to learn. That is not because they want to but because by learning the mother dances like the cha cha, rumba, you learn the skills to be able to do many of the social dances without much trouble. 

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At the DBDC the nightclub dances or social dances are revered, they are taken and put in a nightclub atmosphere were they flourish. Last night you were transported to a packed nightclub, and everyone socialized and danced until they literally dropped.

The theme was “burlesque” and so fun costumes and sexy outfits were all over the place, the professional pole dancers on each side of the packed dance floor provided entertainment and decor that helped make this night a fantastic success.  The night kicked off with a burlesque performance from some of the ladies both professional and amateur, from Super Shag. Then after some of the country western dances were done, a group of male students did an excellent burlesque showdance and later, the professional teachers and some of the female students of the SuperShag studio, also performed a choreography to “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” and Didio Barrera the co-organizer and theme bearer “Didio’s Hideaway” joined them on the floor, it was all in the style of “Cabaret” and the house went wild! 

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The heats were packed with a number of full semifinals in many of the heats, and the night concluded with the best of the best competition in three age categories. The “B” best of the best Caribbean Mix Challenge had a seven-couple final and this was won by Linda Miller w/Rafael Steyners with these marks 3,1,2, second in this excellent heat went to Jeannine Jodhan w/ Andrew Escolme with these scores 1,2,3, and third was awarded to Lola Gusinov w/Tibor Kerekes and they placed 2,4,1.

The “C” Best of the Best Caribbean Mix Challenge went to Kush Smith w/Andrew Escolme 1,2,1; second was awarded to Linda Miller w/Rafael Steyners 2,1,2, and in third place was Kathy Rogozinski w/Tibor Kerekes and they placed third in all dances.

The “A” category was a rule 11 decision and when all was tabulated the competition was awarded to Viviana Scrugli w/Andrew Escolm by placing 1T,1,2.  Second after the rule 11 decision went to Irina Sauer w/Tibor Kereles and they got 1T,2,5, and third was Anya Jacoff w/Vladimyr Derisier and they took third in all dances.

In the B of B dance off, Linda Miller was the winner.

Today in the main Ballroom we are seeing Rhythm & Latin, with over 7 thousand entries we expect this to be a packed day of dancing at the DBDC.