The Professional Smooth was an amazing heat with the best of everything, the group competition was better than we’ve ever seen with all the couples offering a unique perspective in this fabulous style we call Smooth, we also saw some energizing Latin and Ballroom championships as well as the Taylor Dayne show of shows!
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For us the competition was totally close and could have gone anywhere, even though we totally enjoyed Max & Tatiana who managed to showcase in every dance an artistry and shared passion no one has yet to have. This we think to be good and bad situation because it could easily be missed in a group setting with some of the judges need more impact to grab their attention (subtlety is not always a good gift). Nick & Vicktorija on the other hand did not miss a beat as always, as if on cue, consistency and correctness were in their favor and on this occasion that was all that was needed to secure the top position in this massive arena.
When it came to the Showdance, Max & Tatiana executed a tango that left us all in awe and on our feet for quite a long standing ovation. Talk about perfect artistry in motion, their tango started with a controversy where Tatiana did not want to go into the floor, so much so that even Brent Mills on music seemed unsure when to press play, Max had to leave the floor to explain to him what was going on (you had to be there to fully understand, and appreciate). This early argument between them set them up for an incredible, passionate tango, one that culminated with a major standing ovation and a first place in the Showdance portion of the program for them. Nick & Viktorija Showdance’s number started with their usual drama of a suffering girlfriend, wife or dance partner, whatever it was as usual the suffering was maintained throughout the routine, unfortunately for them a better and even more improved suffering routine surfaced, this time with Galina Detkina & Roman Malkhasyan, we have to say that although there was lots of drama in this routine they still managed to capture our minds and hearts and that of the judges’ to place second in this challenge, leaving Nick & Viktorija holding third for their Show dance.
Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova
Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova
Travis & Jaimee Tuft
Travis & Jaimee Tuft
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Fourth place in the group competition went to one of our favorite couples Yegor Novikov & Aleksandra Smirnova with these marks 4,4,4,3. We have to say that this was the best performance we have seen from them of late and Aleksandra’s hair beautifully pinned up allowing us to see her beautiful neck and shoulder lines clearly completed and complimented their performance, we can obviously see why they judges awarded them third in the Viennese Waltz. Yegor & Aleksandra did a Mowtown “sultry” routine that we would not say was the best but for sure not the worst, and on this night it for certainly did the trick and scored fifth place in the Showdance overall.
Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova
Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova
Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina
Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina
Sergey Samchynsky & Yulia Besarab
Sergey Samchynsky & Yulia Besarab
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Sixth place went to Sergiy Samchynsky & Yuliya Besarab who also gave an excellent performance even though at times we wish they would define their musicality and interpretation a little more on the dances, once they do this it really going to get really challenging in the upper tier of this final. By the way their solo routine was terrific and very cleverly “sweet” would be a word to describe their show, but perhaps it was not good enough for the judges who thought it to be the worst of the group and awarded them sixth place overall. In the judges’ defense we most say that although we have best or worst opinion on everyone’s performance, this group of Smooth dancers were the best of the night and we were so privileged to have been able to witness this competition.
Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina
Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina
Open Pro Latin
Open Pro Latin
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Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova
Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova
Alon Gillin & Anna Oblakova
Alon Gillin & Anna Oblakova
Francesco & Sabrina Bertini
Francesco & Sabrina Bertini
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When it comes to the Latin Showdances the Professional Latin will possibly go as the “worst” of all the Professional Showdances we saw at the Ohio Star Ball this year. All we have to say is that perhaps the couples could have given this challenge a little more thought like the other couples did in the other styles. The winners overall with only 3 first place marks on their score card were Francesco & Sabrina Bertini who did a fast cha cha mix where they tried to showcase fast speed and musicality, all we have to say is that the number “fizzle” out at the end, leaving us wanting more.
Second in the showdance went to Mikhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shehypilina, doing an “Native American.” The dancing in the number was great unfortunately for them there were too many “Indians” in this final with Cheyenne Murillo & Sasha Altukhov also presenting an this type of number. We can see why Cheyenne & Sasha’s “Indian” number placed third, their dancing was not as good as Mikhailov & Anastasiia and Mikhailov also had a full “Indian” outfit to match Anastasiia. Just foot note couples.
Ivan Mulyavka & Karin Rooba
Ivan Mulyavka & Karin Rooba
Sasha Althukov & Cheyenne Murillo
Sasha Althukov & Cheyenne Murillo
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Josh Tilford
Josh Tilford
Marcio DeSouza
Marcio DeSouza
Tommy Radon
Tommy Radon
Sheila Tuck w/ Tommy Radon
Sheila Tuck w/ Tommy Radon
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Place and Show!
At the Ohio Star Ball for many years now if you “place” in the final of the open professional championships of the Smooth, Rhythm, Ballroom or Latin, you automatically get to do a short and sweet “show.”
This was originally done for the television audience when it was broadcast for the PBS television but nowadays it is an entertaining feature, Friday and Saturday night at the competition. That along with an all-star show at the end of these evenings including singing sensation Taylor Dayne makes the Ohio Star Ball a different and special dance competition.
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Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler
Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler
Artem Zhychuk & Natasha Shevchenko
Artem Zhychuk & Natasha Shevchenko
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Craig Smith & Andrea Harvey
Craig Smith & Andrea Harvey
Alyenadrov Tsorokean & Maria Wheeler
Alyenadrov Tsorokean & Maria Wheeler
Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez
Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez
Open Professional Cabaret
Open Professional Cabaret
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Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi
Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi
Ilya Velednitskiy & Mariya Ilchenko
Ilya Velednitskiy & Mariya Ilchenko
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Fourth place in the group competition went to Shane & Shannon Jensen and they took fourth in every dance. In looking at the marks a few judges were really taken by this couple’s performance and they awarded them first in nearly every dance. These judges were Martin Cawston who awarded them 1,1,1,1,2, and Marianne Nicole and she awarded them 1,1,1,1,2. We were very surprised that Shane & Shannon did not do better in the Showdance portion of the competition, this being their forte, but apparently the judges crave the comedy numbers better, so perhaps next time they could wear a “rabbit” being chase by a “coyote” and they would fair better.
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Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva
Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva
Open Pro Ballroom
Open Pro Ballroom
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From here down it was not so perfect for all the other competitors. Rudy Homm & Katia Kanevskaya placed second overall with these marks 3,2,3,2,2, and in looking at their scorecard they got everything from seconds to sixth places in nearly every dance. There solo performance did not go so well, on their scorecard they did not get anything higher than a third place mark and that was from one judge. We have to agree with the judges it was hard to understand the young and old “Elvis” impersonation, or was it fat and skinny? Well, it was hard to put a finger on it literally, only they understood what went on. In this showdance performance Rudy & Katia 6th.
Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya
Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya
Iaroslav & Lilia Bieliei
Iaroslav & Lilia Bieliei
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Fourth in the group competition went to Vladishlav Shakhov & Ekaterina Popova and they took fourth in all dances. Their score card was a pot pourri of marks from second to sixth place but not one first place was given to them by any judge. In the showdance they got a place lower fifth place and here too they got a variety of marks but no firsts. However, they did get a second from Colin Hilary. Oskar Wojciechowski & Karoline Holody placed fifth overall in the group competition 5,6,5,5,6. Oskar & Karoline opted to do a “Grease” themed number and it was entertaining enough to give them a third place finish in this challenge.
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Today we should continue in Battell Hall with more exciting competition, showdances, and the show of shows, part 2, once again featuring Taylor Dayne, and we will have it all for you here tomorrow.
Smooth Operators!
Yesterday in the late afternoon and into the earlier part of the night the “Best of the Best” competitions were finally decided after an entire year of competitions around the US, with couples challenging each other to compete for the privilege of representing their competition at the Ohio Star Ball with an exhibition.
And Smoothly we then sailed into the Pro/Am and Amateur World Dancesport Series Smooth Championships, where some very skilled dancers challenged each other, to finish after midnight in the Regency Ballroom
Celine Liu with Evgeny Likhachev
Celine Liu with Evgeny Likhachev
Missy White w/ Genya Bartashevitch
Missy White w/ Genya Bartashevitch
Kim Farrara w/ Marek Gabor
Kim Farrara w/ Marek Gabor
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Robert McShinsky & Serena Keck
Robert McShinsky & Serena Keck
Open Amateur Smooth
Open Amateur Smooth
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Linda Gill w/ Roman Malkhasyan
Linda Gill w/ Roman Malkhasyan
World Dancesport Series Championship S1 Smooth
World Dancesport Series Championship S1 Smooth
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Second in this championship went to a very seasoned player and one that has won this honor in a number of division here in the same Ohio Star Ball in past years, Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet. She placed second in three dances and fourth in the Viennese Waltz. Third position in this final went to Kristi Nadvornik w/ Mayo Alanen with these marks 3,3,3,2. We were actually a little shocked to see this lady place this low in this competition, from where we stood this lady had everything to challenge the very top in this division. Fourth overall was awarded to Diana Best w/ Alosha Anatoliy, another excellent player in this competition and one that is a joy to watch as are many of these front runners. Fifth in all dances place went to Connie Caruso w/ Kamil Urbaniak and sixth was awarded to Julia Wang & Aaron Talbert.
The Open Senior 3 dance was an easy win to Penelope Rostad w/ Nikolay Karchev wining all three dances with a majority of firsts in all dances. Second wen to Lyn Riddle w/ Sergiy Samchynskyy in all dances and third place was awarded to Julia Wang w/ Aaron Talberg. Fourth place wen to Betty Seagull w/ Gage Clark 4,5,4, Joan Page w/ Gunnar Sverrisson was fifth 5,4,5, and sixth in all dances went to Anna Goldstein w/ Andrey Gergel.
World Dancesport Series Championship S2 Smooth
World Dancesport Series Championship S2 Smooth
World Dancesport Series Championship S3 Smooth
World Dancesport Series Championship S3 Smooth
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Natasha Namen w/ Aleksandr Skriptsov
Natasha Namen w/ Aleksandr Skriptsov
World Dancesport Series Championship A Smooth
World Dancesport Series Championship A Smooth
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Third in this “A” heat went to Olivia Zttergren w/ Mazen Hamza 3,4,3,3. In a surprise entry not expected in this division, Sophia D’Angelo w/ Max Sinitsa placed fourth overall 4,3,4,4. We said surprise because this lady usually enters the “B” or even the “C” category and not the “A”. Fifth in all dances was awarded to Kailee Donovan w/ Gunnar Sverrison, and sixth overall was given to Rebecca Mandell w/ Marko Urosevic 6,6,7,6, leaving seventh to Nichelle Kennedy w/ Aleks Nashev 7,7,6,7. We must also point out how difficult the decisions in this final must have been for the judges, not one of this couples got a majority of firsts in any dance.
Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano
Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano
World Dancesport Series Championship B Smooth
World Dancesport Series Championship B Smooth
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Lynn Shanahan w/ Darius Mosteika
Lynn Shanahan w/ Darius Mosteika
World Dancesport Series Championship C Smooth
World Dancesport Series Championship C Smooth
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World Dancesport Series Championship A 9-Dance
World Dancesport Series Championship A 9-Dance
World Dancesport Series Championship B 9-Dance
World Dancesport Series Championship B 9-Dance
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Today we have two ballrooms going the Regency Ballroom and Battell hall, the professional competitions will begin today and we expect to see Taylor Dayne live in full show mode in Battell Hall. We will bring you the highlights tomorrow here in Dance Beat covering the Dancesport news for generations.
The Senior Class Rocks!
The Senior or, “older adults” should we say, last night rocked the house at the Ohio Star Ball.
The Senior 1 division was the largest of all the scholarships with a huge quarter-final round and when it came to dancing, there were no “seniors” out there to be seen. We got great dancing, fabulous energy and fit artists.
Diana Best w/ Alosha Anatoly
Diana Best w/ Alosha Anatoly
World Dancesport Series S1 Open Rhythm
World Dancesport Series S1 Open Rhythm
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Leslie McLeod w/ Melbin Dela Cruz
Leslie McLeod w/ Melbin Dela Cruz
Kelly Akol w/ Jeremy Pilling
Kelly Akol w/ Jeremy Pilling
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Lynn Magnesen w/ Tykhon Zhyvkov
Lynn Magnesen w/ Tykhon Zhyvkov
Angela Fuller w/ Sasha Tsyhankov
Angela Fuller w/ Sasha Tsyhankov
Cheryl Lysik w/ Shandoe Shtefil
Cheryl Lysik w/ Shandoe Shtefil
World Dancesport Series C Open Rhythm
World Dancesport Series C Open Rhythm
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Marinda James-Heskit w/ Jeremy Piling
Marinda James-Heskit w/ Jeremy Piling
World Dancesport Series A Open Rhythm
World Dancesport Series A Open Rhythm
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The “B” division was also very interesting and here once again like year after year a man took the honor of being the World Pro/Am Rhythm Dancesport Series Champion and that is Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika placing first in all dances once again with a huge majority of firsts from the judges. In looking at the marks as we said Giovanni had a majority of firsts from the judges, however, we were very surprised to see that any of the judges dissented. On last night’s performance Giovanni in our opinion had the lead from the start of the competition, there was not a single competitor that could have surpassed his performance. Giovanni’s work was clean and easy to read, and stood out from the word go in these final. We were surprised to see the same three judges mark him down in every dance - Andrew Phillips who awarded him 3rd in every dance, Ron Montez who also followed suit and awarded him third in every dance and Sveta Daly who really surprised us awarding him 5th in four dances and fourth in the cha cha.
Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika
Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika
Nichelle Kennedy w/ Aleks Nashev
Nichelle Kennedy w/ Aleks Nashev
World Dancesport Series B Open Rhythm
World Dancesport Series B Open Rhythm
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With this the World Pro/Am Rhythm Dancesport Series came to a conclusion and tonight we should see the Smooth division at work and we expect it to be exciting and full of surprises.