The professional divisions offered a plethora of national and international stars over Friday and Saturday nights.

• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
• Morten Lowe & Rosalina Doneva Morten Lowe & Rosalina Doneva
• Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova
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This was nowhere more true than in the Professional Latin on Friday. International stars and NYC residents, Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova were the easy winners in all dances taking the lion’s share of the 1st places. They picked up an occasional second place here and there, but judge Elena Tsarev was the only judge to place them 2nd in all dances. Elena’s first places all went to runners-up, Morten Lowe & Rosalina Doneva from Denmark who were 2nd in all dances and took the great majority of 2nd places from the judges. The only judge to dissent here was Armando Martin who placed them 4,4,5,5,5. 3rd place in this international event went to Canada’s Ilya Maletin & Polina Mayer with 3rd in all dances. For the couples placed 3rd – 6th the scores from the judges were much more mixed. With 4,4,5,4,4, Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova took 4th – a strong result for them. 6,5,4,5,6 gave Manuel Favilla & Natalia Maiduk 5th place. I’m sure this was a disappointing result for this pair. They had some marks in the first half of the final, most consistently from judges, Inna Ivanenko, Armando Martin and Vibeke Toft. Nikita Malakov & Nadezda Vlasova qualified for the final but had to withdraw sue to injury. Andrii Voloshko & Kateryna Krylenko danced in their place and were 6th 5,6,6,6,5.

• Kateryna Krylenko and Mariko Dozono Kateryna Krylenko and Mariko Dozono
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The tradition of a drawing between all the ladies in the professional finals for a piece of designer jewelry from Mariko Donozo continued and in this Latin, Kateryna was doubly lucky and she picked the winning envelope.

• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
• Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina
• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
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Also run on Friday night was the Pro Smooth. Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija won easily with only a small handful of placements other than 1st. Two judges did score them 2nd overall and these were Shirley Johnson with 2,1,2,2 and Sarwat Kaluby 1,1,3,3. 2nd in all dances went to Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina. They had a large majority of “2nd or better” scores and seemed more relaxed to us tonight. 3rd, again in all dances, went to Sergey Samchynskyy & Yulia Besarab. For us these top 3 couples were well clear of the bottom 4. Jang & Adele Don were 4th 4,4,4,4,4; 5th were Slawek Roszak & Denise Sobiewski 5,5,5,5; 6th Alexandr Vukosavljevik & Nevena – a new partnership to the Smooth division 6,6,6,6 and 7th were William Proper & Jennifer Elliot.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
• Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley
• Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya
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Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya were the winners of the Pro Ballroom on Saturday night, taking all dances with a strong majority of 1st places, although they did pick up a few 2nd and even some 3rds. Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley were 2nd in all dances and had the majority of “2nd or better” scores in all dances except the VW. Sergey Izyumov & Zaver took 3rd, 3,4,4,3,3; 4th Evgeny Mayorov & Olga Lisovskaya 4,3,3,4,4; 5th Alexander & Aida Skriptsov 5,5,5,5,5; 6th Artur Kozun & Natasha Barrera 6,6,6,6,6.

• Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova
• Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
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Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova won the Pro Rhythm taking 71 of the 75 first places. (Only in the cha cha did they receive the perfect 15 first places). Almost as clear in 2nd spot were Dmitry & Olena Nikishkin who were easily 2nd in all dances. 3rd spot went to the still new partnerships of Shandor Shtefil & Tabolina 3,3,3,3,3. With 4,4,4,5,4, Anton Tregubov & Ashley Sanchez took 4th. 5th and 6th were decided by a Rule 10 tiebreak and the result went to the new partnership of Ryan Lewis & Vanda Polakova 5,6,5,6,5 over Jang & Adele Don 6,5,6,4,6. Vanda, of course a former US finalist.

• Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
• Austin Joson & Nino Dzednaladze Austin Joson & Nino Dzednaladze
• Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman
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Newly crowned US National Amateur Latin Champions, Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladze won the strong Amateur Latin division. They had the majority of 1st places in all dances but were pushed hardest in jive where they received 8 of the 15 first places available. Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman were 2nd with 3,2,2,2,2 and they took 6 first places in jive. Alexandre Chernositov & Arina Grishanina took that 2nd in cha cha and 3rd in the other 4 dances. For us, these 3 were well clear of the remaining field. 4th were Bruno Miguel Neves Rochara & Caterina Barara Araujo from Portugal 4,4,4,4,4; 5th Ron Garber & Klaudia Petriti 5,5,5,5,5; 6th Vladislav Krupskii & Valerie Dubinsky 6,6,6,6,6.

“Vibing” in Miami!

It’s the time of the year when we pack ur bags and drive all of 10 minutes to the Eden Roc for Andrew Phillips’ Miami Vibe.

It’s always great to go to a competition in your home town, and this one certainly qualifies for the Dance Beat Team! The fully restored Eden Roc, designed originally by Maurice Lapidus (who incidentally also designed the Dance Beat headquarters building), is a great venue for a beachside competition.

Yesterday we kicked off the event with the pro-am Ballroom divisions during the day and the nightclub divisions at night. Closing the night were all 4 Pro Rising Star divisions.

• Jang & Adele Don Jang & Adele Don
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It was a great night for Jang & Adele Don who won both American Style divisions. They actually won 8 of the 9 dances and placed 2nd in mambo. They had the majority of 1st places in all the dances they won and actually had the most 1st places in mambo, but not the majority and some marks in the lower half of the final in that dance lost them that dance.

• Pro RS Smooth Pro RS Smooth
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2nd in the Smooth were Daniils Rostvinschii & Yulia Rudenco 3,2,2,2. Fairly close behind them in 3rd place were Slawek Roszak & Denise Sobiewski 2,3,3,3.

• Pro RS Rhythm Pro RS Rhythm
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In the Rhythm, Eddie Rivera & Marta Lyszkowicz 2,2,2,2,1. Senzo Makhaye & Agnieszka Strojek were 3rd 3,3,3,3,3.

• Pro RS Ballroom Pro RS Ballroom
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Sergey Izyumov & Oksana Zaver won all dances in the Ballroom and had the majority in all. 2nd were Artur Kozun & Natasha Barrera 2,2,2,2,4 and 3rd were Dmitry Solomakha & Gabriella Sevillano 3,3,3,3,2.

• Pro RS Latin Pro RS Latin
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The new partnerships of Roman Drobotov & Liya Kazbekova won all dances in the Latin and had the majority of 1st places in all. 2nd went to Felipe Edmiston & Darinka, 2,3,3,2,2 and 3rd were Howard Wang & Doris Hsieh 3,2,2,3,3.