As always on a Sunday night it was a subdued night perhaps because many for the competitors have already competed and gone home. The Professional Open Rhythm and Ballroom were the main attractions of the night and although not as populated as the night before it totally drew a strong punch.

• Richard & Jennifer Booth Richard & Jennifer Booth
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Before we comment on the happenings yesterday, we have to take our hat off to the organizers, Mr. Richard and Jennifer Booth, who always do a fantastic job and cater and care greatly for pro/am dancing in general, and we are totally pleased with their well-deserved success at this year’s Colorado Star Ball.

• Ilya Velednitskiy & Mariya Ilchenko Ilya Velednitskiy & Mariya Ilchenko
• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
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The seven-couple final in the Professional Rhythm was excellent and here for us we thought was a great comeback for Ilya Velednitsky & Mariya Ilchenko from Wisconsin, who on some past outings have taken a backseat with some not so thrilling performances. We have been a fan of this couple now for a number of years and it is great to see them come back stronger than ever. Their work seems to be paying off, they won all the dances with the majority of firsts and the cha cha and bolero with perfect marks, in the other 3 dances they could have easily won with perfect scores but they lost one mark on each dance, with Mr. Ken Sloan giving those 3 second place marks.

Those 3 first place marks just mentioned, Mr. Sloan gave to Richard Kaszas & Foteini Pangea who took second overall and with the majority of judges awarding them second with the exception of Mr. Terry Sweeney who awarded them sixth in every dance. We can totally see how Mr. Sloan could have awarded a few firsts to this couple, their work was clean and very organized. Third overall was awarded to David Nyemchek & Maysen Wilder with these marks, 3,3,3,4,4; fourth went to Aaron Pierce & Giovanna Velaquez 4,4,4,3,3; fifth were David Moon & Jessica Mancini who took fifth in all dances; all sixths went to Todd Munson & Ricci-Lee Hotz; seventh was Julius Solano & Lauren Stephenson.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
• Oskar Wojciechowski & Karolina Holody Oskar Wojciechowski & Karolina Holody
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The Open Professional Ballroom was very small with only two couples competing, but their quality was good enough to keep us all interested. Oskar Wojciechowski & Karolina Holody won every dance with perfect scores from all the judges and we totally agreed with this decision. Rober Nemiro & Lydia Miner-Voigt took all seconds in all dances, however, we must point out that they got our attention in the foxtrot, they certainly did not have the stature, posture and quality of movement that Oskar & Karolina demonstrated, but we have to confess that we really like their foxtrot, it was very musical to our eyes resembling a jazz player “in the moment” sort of thing.

The Colorado Star Ball was huge with pro/am dancers and many of their closed Bronze and Silver categories in everything were filled to the max. However, the Open Ballroom events were not as popular, as you will see the open Ballroom pro/am categories were not as populated. The “C” category had 3 couples participating and the winner was Elizabeth Cramer w/ Yuriy Kravets who took first in all dances; second in all was awarded to Dee Iannone w/ Markus Cannon and third went to Tim O’Keefe w/ Natalja Waddell. There was one couple on the “B” Stacy Tilford w/Josh Tilford and Stacy also won the “A”. We must point out that the majority of entries were as we mention in the Silver and Bronze levels with huge semi and quarter final rounds in many of the scholarships and this was true in all styles.

Once again we want to congratulate the Colorado Star Ball organizers for doing such a fantastic job considering the huge increase in entries they had this year and we hope that many take notice and that when considering competing in ballroom dancing Colorado is a great place to go. Many people we spoke too are staying a few days and going to the beautiful mountains that are also a great location to visit in the spring and summer time and as you can see Colorado is not just for skiing, it’s a great destination.

Colorado Hits the 8 K Mark!

This was a great year for the Colorado Star Ball with over 8 thousand entries, it is the largest Colorado Star Ball to date.

• Richard & Jennifer Booth giving awards Richard & Jennifer Booth giving awards
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So far the days have been fully packed with competition starting promptly at 7AM and from the moment the competitions start the ballroom is full of audience and enthusiasm. You cannot beat the Colorado audience they are probably one of the best if not the best in the USA.

Obviously due to the topography of Colorado, their first day here was mainly about country and western dancing. Day two was all things Smooth finishing with the largest nightclub event we have ever witnessed. It was fun to see everyone come in some very interesting costumes making it quite fun and lively.

• Andre & Natalie Paramonov Andre & Natalie Paramonov
• Andre & Natalie Paramonov Andre & Natalie Paramonov
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Yesterday during the day all things were Rhythm. Last night to a packed audience the evening session concluded with an excellent show by Andre & Natalie Paramonov our current US Professional Rhythm finalists, who were also part of the judging panel.

The evening’s featured event was the Professional Smooth competition, here many couples showed making it a terrific event with such great support from this wonderful audience.

• Mariusz Zakrzewski & Lynnsay Rae Mariusz Zakrzewski & Lynnsay Rae
• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
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After a very contested semifinal and final in the Open Professional Smooth, Mariusz Zakrzewski & Lynnsay Ray won all dances with a majority of firsts in all. Enzo Zappia & Stephanie Betts were the runners up and they did manage to steal a number of first places from Mariusz & Lynnsay but not enough to put them on top. They took 6 firsts in the waltz, tango and Viennese Waltz and 5 firsts in the foxtrot. As you can see it was close but not enough to give them a win in any of the dances but enough to place them second overall. Third place in this Open Professional Smooth went to Brodie Kaster & Sabina who the night before won the Rising Star Smooth, they took third in all dances. Kevin & Michelle Camaratan placed fourth 4,4,6,4; Alan Barney & Megan Rund 5,5,5,5, were fifth and David Moon & Jessica Mancini were sixth 6,6,4,6.

As we mentioned earlier the first full day of competition was all about the smooth and the open scholarships were totally worth a mention.

The “A” Smooth wen to Stacy Tilford w/Josh Tilford, second was Jordyn Floming w/Braedan Smiith, and third was awarded to Jennifer Courtney w/ Peter Walker. In the “B” Stacy Tilford also took first, leaving second to Melissa Loble w/ David Moon, and third was Kami Holt w/Toby Munroe. The “C” was also terrific and here Elizabeth Cramer w/Yuriy Kravets took first, second went to Daneen Sheldon w/Roberto Nardozza, and third was Annabel Bavaud w/Eric Hudson.

The Pro/Am Rhythm Scholarships were huge in the Bronze and Silver levels but as you will see the Open were not as big. The “A” Rhythm for example had only two couples and the win wen to Jordyn Flomming w/ Michelle Youn. The “B” was better attended and here Kacey Warren w/ Jean Michelle Erol won overall, Amy Wentworth w/ Timmy Merz took second and Melissa Loble w/David Moon placed third. The “C” ended as an 8 couple final and this win went to Dana Voight w/ Randy Wilson, second was awarded to Nancy Smith w/Hays Hopkins, and third was Steve Takata w/ Harmony Munroe.

It is great to see Colorado Star Ball have so much success, the event has always had great energy from the moment you start until the moment it ends. Congratulations to Richard and Jennifer Booth for always doing such a fantastic job in hosting this unique extravaganza. Tonight we will have the conclusion of the Colorado Star Ball and we will have it all to you all here at dancebeat.com