So is this a signal that things are about to flare up in the Smoothies world for 2019? What a Holiday that would be!
There are too many things happening at the moment in this style to ignore. The current United States Champions, Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija, just recently lost to the second in command Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seleverstova at Hollywood Dancesport and then just about a week ago the winners last night, Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova beat Nick & Vicktorija in Moscow, Russia!
Open Pro Smooth
Open Pro Smooth
Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova
Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdc53c46ea47
Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina
Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina
Sergey Samchynsky & Yulia Besarab
Sergey Samchynsky & Yulia Besarab
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId8d573748ce
Fourth overall was awarded to Nikolai Pilipenchuk & Sarika Hudson and very deservedly so. In fact as we mentioned in their score column contained a lot of 3rd places marks. From here down for us the final separated and left the last three couples that made it to the final, fighting for the rest of the positions. Radek Wiatrowski & Zhenia placed fifth with these marks 6,5,5,5, Stephen & Elisa McCann were sixth 5,6,6,6,6, and seventh in all dances was awarded to Pavel Lebedev & Dinara.
We must point out a pet peve of ours and that is the desire by so many of this women to eliminate their last name from their existence as if to trying to enlarge their stature when it totally does the opposite. All we have to say now is what Tina Turner once said “when everything is said and done all you have is your last name and I intend to keep mine.”
Open Pro Latin
Open Pro Latin
Andrei Kazlouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir
Andrei Kazlouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId4dbb3bbf00
Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova
Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova
Lukas & Simona Alisauskas
Lukas & Simona Alisauskas
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId13dfe70e19
Alon Gilin & Anna Oblakova took fifth in all dances and all we can say about their performance at this time was that it has potential, we know it has not been that long since they got together and being a ten-dance couple might take a little bit to get it all settled where they want to be. There is an abundance on talent in this couple and so we for sure expect to see great things from them. It was sad to see that Przemyslaw Modrzynski & Magdalena Zybura from Poland took all sixth places. We know their work might be a little outdated but it was still solid and in our opinion could have been placed a lot higher even a fourth place finish could have been appropriate for this couple in some of their dances.
In the Pro/Am Ballroom Categories there continued to be some surprises in the results leaving some of us nearly gasping for air in some of the categories.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId8d01c478ad
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIda856fd43a1
Open PA Ballroom C
Open PA Ballroom C
Jill Bradford w/ Andrea Stefano
Jill Bradford w/ Andrea Stefano
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId3167f0d5ed
Agnes Mah w/ Julius Seniauskas took second 3,2,2,2,2, and we have to agree with this one as well. Agnes was terrific and a joy to watch. Third was awarded to Mike Brown w/ Anna Oblakova 4,3,4,4,3. It is so great to see two men make this final, we have come a long way from when the women dominated the pro/am arena, and in this event we had another man who placed fifth, Hans Stork w/ Inna Berlizyeva 5,5,3,5,4. Now going back to fourth place Sabrina Lee w/ Fabrizio Cravero 2,4,5,3,5, and in sixth position was Monica Yoon w/ Victor Veyrasset and she took sixth in all dances.
Open PA Ballroom C
Open PA Ballroom C
Jill Bradford w/ Andrea Stefano
Jill Bradford w/ Andrea Stefano
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId3167f0d5ed
The usual Holiday show that started the trend in doing shows on the last night where the judges dance along with the professionals was nearly shot down by the NDCA as Wendy Johnson organizer and for both the show and the competition explained before introducing what should have been a watered down version of what the Holiday Dance Classic used to be. As she explained in her monolog before the show began, she decided to let the judges have a go at the show and if worst came to worst it would at least be entertaining. Well? She hit it right on all counts!
The show opened with Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk and Eugene Katsevman & Maria Manusova doing a combined quickstep and samba routine where they changed partners in between and ran around the house bringing the audience to a hardy applause when it all ended. This set the stage for Victor DaSilva who had just walked in the room and was still taking his tennis shoes and socks off when Victor & Hanna Karttunen were called! It all looked and possibly was, quite impromptu, but what took place on the floor brought tears to many eyes and in the end a long and prolonged standing ovation and we must say this was one of the best performances we have seen this well known Cabaret couple! It was amazing!
Victor DaSilva & Hanna Karttunen
Victor DaSilva & Hanna Karttunen
Jonathan Roberts, JT Thomas & Ed Simon
Jonathan Roberts, JT Thomas & Ed Simon
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId02b9d5a6e5
Once the “Queen” was addressed with the England number it was time for mambo mania and the Latin quarter - Tony Meredith and Ron Montes took on to the floor for their mambo duo, they were later joined by Hanna Karttunen who danced with both and applied the final touches.
The rest of the judges opted to just do an introduction with an impromptu dance, and a walk off finishing with all judges on the floor taking a bow.
We must point out that what might have started as a watered down show came out a complete hit. Congratulations to Wendy Johnson for her extremely great effort putting such an entertaining show together, especially dealing with the judges who are not always the most cooperative people.
We also want to congratulate her, Sam Sodano and Mary Murphy for such a fantastic Holiday competition. For many it is always the last competition before the year’s end and it is always such an iconic and relaxed event to finish your dancing year. The after party as usual was a complete hit in the velvet room, with plenty of food and drink as well as a complete dance area if you did not have enough dancing or just wanted to cut up!
Burn Baby Burn!
“The reason for the alarm is being investigated.”
Last night half way through the competition the fire alarm of the “Luxor”, Las Vegas where the competition is being held, went off! Ballroom dancers being used to many distractions, the competition continued without any issues with just the occasional announcement about the alarm. However, the competitors were totally burning the floor, particularly in the Professional Ballroom where there were some terrific competitions going on between the couples.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId108252debe
Second in this excellent competition was awarded to Valdishlav Shakhov & Ekaterina Popova and they were the recipients of the two firsts that Bielieis lost in the Viennese and the foxtrot, in the other three dances Vladishlav & Ekaterin took second place. This was a great result for Vladishlav & Ekaterina who from our perspective could have pushed a little more and maybe just won one more dance, but not on this night, on this night we found their performance very correct but with not enough passion to bring that wall down.
Vladislav Shakhov & Ekaterina Popova
Vladislav Shakhov & Ekaterina Popova
Radu Sterban & Xenia Cletova
Radu Sterban & Xenia Cletova
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdda19812ea5
The one couple we were very impressed with because of their creativity and innovation was Andres & Veronika End. Their talent and creativity have absolutely no “end,” and we wish more couples would experiment a little more with the choreography, musicality like they do, because this is a style that at times, unless the couples are of excellent quality, could be quite boring to put it lightly. Unfortunately, for them the work has to have the same quality of movement as the very top if not they will be fighting a no win battle. In last night’s performance some of the quality of movement was a little questionable when doing some of this interesting material, for example in the Viennese Waltz when doing the closed changes they tended to look more like bumper cars than smoothly we go! It is quite a shame the work still has some bumps in it because if all is done right they could have easily rivaled the Bielieis and we would all be experiencing some interesting moves in future competitions for this style. These were Andres & Veronika’s scores 3,4,5,3,4.
Another excellent couple that we were keeping our eye on but in the end fizzled out slightly was Andrii Mykhailov & Anna Bohachova and they placed fifth with these marks 4,5,4,5,5. They still were an excellent addition to this terrific final. In sixth position were Serhiy Averkov & Olena Barna and they took sixth in all dances. This was an excellent competition to witness and perhaps the best so far in this weekend of dancing. We look forward to tonight and we hope another will be as interesting as this one was for us.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId2f3fe3fb33
Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi
Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi
Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdca9ebda785
Open Amateur Latin
Open Amateur Latin
Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler
Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId5e095789d9
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId18f7020b10
Today we expect to finish the Pro/Am Ballroom Scholarships and the conclusion of the Holiday Dance Classic with the Professional Smooth and Latin. Stay tuned, we will bring all this to you tomorrow here on Dance Beat.
Holiday Brightens the Latin Spirit!
The Holiday Dance Classic has been great so far and yesterday it was the turn for the Pro/Am Latin to shine.
And it sure did with some incredible heats in both attendance and in quality. From C to shining A’s took to the floor and they all fought hard until we had a result and this is how it all stood at the end in the Open Scholarships.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdb9a50bba9a
Ada Fung w/ Andre Kazlouski
Ada Fung w/ Andre Kazlouski
Marina Svyatets w/ Aleksandr Vukosalveljic
Marina Svyatets w/ Aleksandr Vukosalveljic
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId5c23b60cea
Fourth place in this heat went to Rebecca Wong w/ Kamil Studenney from Canada 4,3,6,5,3, this lady like the majority of these ladies has been doing this for quite a long time and we can see it in the quality of their performance. Fifth place was awarded to Tasha Romero w/ Mykhalio Bildpokov 6,5,1,4,6; Sophia D’Angelo w/ Nikolai Pilipenchuk took sixth 5,4,5,6,5, this was not a very good result for this lady who in the past has done a lot better in this category. Her talent is endless, this lady can do anything she wants but you have to have a very strong foundation to walk away with it every time. And in seventh position was Sherry Dong w/ Dmitry Ilyushenov (Canada) taking seventh in all dances.
Tina Broccole w/ Andre Kazlouski
Tina Broccole w/ Andre Kazlouski
Gaelle Benchetrit w/ Dillon Lehman
Gaelle Benchetrit w/ Dillon Lehman
Irma Tan w/ Aleks Nashev
Irma Tan w/ Aleks Nashev
Open PA Latin B
Open PA Latin B
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId626c857240
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdb723cd5f2a
Angelina Evseeva w/ Aleksandr Skarlato
Angelina Evseeva w/ Aleksandr Skarlato
Deborah Tipley w/ Paul Richardson
Deborah Tipley w/ Paul Richardson
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId582bb1be4c
Vera Gutierrez–Clellen w/ Danas Jaksevicius
Vera Gutierrez–Clellen w/ Danas Jaksevicius
Susan Lunson w/ Cristiano Callegari
Susan Lunson w/ Cristiano Callegari
Vanessa Wilson w/ Andrey Tarasov
Vanessa Wilson w/ Andrey Tarasov
Open PA Latin Sen.
Open PA Latin Sen.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdb797cc3a06
Mikhail Vorobiev & Natalia Kozhevnikova
Mikhail Vorobiev & Natalia Kozhevnikova
Alex Dubovyk & Rickie Taylor
Alex Dubovyk & Rickie Taylor
Stefan Badea and Madalina Varlam
Stefan Badea and Madalina Varlam
Open Amateur Ballroom
Open Amateur Ballroom
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdfbe1cc50f5
Tomas Vasiek & Vitalija Tymova
Tomas Vasiek & Vitalija Tymova
David Nyemchek & Maysen Wilder
David Nyemchek & Maysen Wilder
Antonio Nunes & Ksenia Kashkina
Antonio Nunes & Ksenia Kashkina
Pro RS Rhythm
Pro RS Rhythm
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId797e97ac06
Igor Afonkin & Meghan Anderson
Igor Afonkin & Meghan Anderson
Stephen & Elisa McCann
Stephen & Elisa McCann
Dmitry Zavialov & Katt Baumgartner
Dmitry Zavialov & Katt Baumgartner
Pro RS Smooth
Pro RS Smooth
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdda83763bcc
Oreste Alitto & Valeria Belozerova
Oreste Alitto & Valeria Belozerova
Alon Gillin & Anna Oblakova
Alon Gillin & Anna Oblakova
Pro RS Ballroom
Pro RS Ballroom
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIda78ac0427f
Przemyslaw Modryzynski & Magdalena Zybura
Przemyslaw Modryzynski & Magdalena Zybura
Pro RS Latin
Pro RS Latin
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId7be30bc4e4
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdea4fecb6dc
Great Smooth at Holiday!
Yesterday was Smooth day all day long, and it did not disappoint.
The quality of the dancing was perhaps some of the best we have witnessed from Bronze to Gold and the Open Scholarships categories. The Open Scholarships were danced at the end of the evening and even when the place was not as full as it was during the day, the dancers did not disappoint.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId40eea271dd
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdb988a9287f
You must be wondering where the other first places went? Well, they went to Sherry Dong w/ Dmitry Ilyushenov who placed third overall with these marks 4,3,3,3. She took two firsts in the tango, and one in the foxtrot and Viennese Waltz. Fourth place overall went to Karence Chan w/ Paul Cloud 3,5,4,4. Karen also took part in the first place distribution and she got 3 first places in three different dances, one in the waltz, one in the foxtrot and one in the Viennese Waltz. Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto was 5th 5,4,5,5 and 6th was Nancy Rapoport w/ Sergei Shapoval 6,6,6,6.
Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano
Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano
Seleene Steelman w/ Travis Tuft
Seleene Steelman w/ Travis Tuft
Joanne Smiith w/ Anton Lebedev
Joanne Smiith w/ Anton Lebedev
Open PA Smooth B
Open PA Smooth B
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIda0901cd58f
Fourth overall in the this excellent “B” division was awarded to Thara Salamone w/ Jim Moranto 6,4,4,4; fifth went to Patricia Schneider w/ Slawek Sochacki 4,6,5,5, and sixth was Nichelle Kennedy w/ Alexs Nashev 5,5,6,6.
Linda Gill w/ Roman Malkhasyan
Linda Gill w/ Roman Malkhasyan
Elizabeth Cramer w/ Yuriy Kravets
Elizabeth Cramer w/ Yuriy Kravets
Diana Best w/ Alosha Anatoly
Diana Best w/ Alosha Anatoly
Open PA Smooth Sen.
Open PA Smooth Sen.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId94fbe9d4be
Fourth was awarded to Kathy Steward w/ Mayo Alanen 6,4,4,4; fifth went to Janice Eggert w/ Mariusz Zakrzewski 5,5,5,7; Liz Conklyn w/ Darousz Michalski was sixth 4,7,6,6, and seventh was awarded to Sue Gershowitz w/ Mazen Hamza 7,6,7,5.
Maddie Berkley w/ Mariusz Zakrzewski
Maddie Berkley w/ Mariusz Zakrzewski
Irene Lee w/ Egor Bezukladnikov
Irene Lee w/ Egor Bezukladnikov
Open PA Smooth A
Open PA Smooth A
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdf10285ff7c
Tonight the Professional Rising Star events will begin and today we will also see the Pro/Am Latin Scholarships come to a conclusion.
Happy Holidays!
Charlie Brown once said, “It’s not what’s under the Christmas tree that matters, but who’s around it” and that is so true here at the Holiday Dance Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The iconic holiday competition, now bigger than ever has began with the pro/am Rhythm competition yesterday, and with a day so packed with entries that the awards had to be given at an awards center.
The competition is also known for its very varied panel of judges creating an excitement about who might place where and there is never a dull moment nor business as usual. Last night in the Pro/Am Rhythm Scholarships we had some very interesting surprises with different people moving up the ladder, and as a bystander said, “if most competitions had this feeling of not knowing who will place where, we would probably have had television a long time ago.”
Open PA Rhythm B
Open PA Rhythm B
Ana Capo w/ Luis Lopez
Ana Capo w/ Luis Lopez
Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto
Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto
Celia Torres w/ Eddie Rivera
Celia Torres w/ Eddie Rivera
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId852d3c4dfb
As you can tell from Cecilia’s marks things got harder for the judges after third place. Nancy Rapoport w/ Sergiy Shapoval placed fourth 4,5,3T,4,4; Monica Brosh w/ Kris Suakjian was fifth 5,6,6,3,5; Gail Komar w/ Serhiy Komar took sixth 6,3,5,5,6, and seventh in all dances was awarded to Steve Takata w/ Harmony Munroe.
Kacey Warren w/ Jean Michael Erole
Kacey Warren w/ Jean Michael Erole
Open PA Rhythm B
Open PA Rhythm B
Nichelle Kennedy w/ Aleks Nashev
Nichelle Kennedy w/ Aleks Nashev
Thara Salamone w/ Jim Maranto
Thara Salamone w/ Jim Maranto
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProIdf342fc60bc
From fourth place down things got a little more varied with the marks, fourth place was Lara Feldman w/ Tony Santana 4,5,4,3,3; fifth place went to Cindy Wang w/ Steve Vasco 6,6,5,5,4, leaving sixth place to Yumie Honkura w/ Daniel Lee Tran 5,4,6,6,6.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId502988f1b9
Leslie McLeod w/ Melbin Dela Cruz
Leslie McLeod w/ Melbin Dela Cruz
Evelyn Lamden w/ Daniel Vasco
Evelyn Lamden w/ Daniel Vasco
Diana Best w/ Alyosha Anatoli
Diana Best w/ Alyosha Anatoli
Open PA Rhythm Sen.
Open PA Rhythm Sen.
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1690-holiday18#sigProId30b20a5eec
Three other excellent ladies closed this final with also varied marks - Sharyn Mathieu w/ Decho Kraev 3,3,6,4; Lois Fein w/ Aleksandar Vukosavljevic 5,5,4,5 and sixth overall was awarded to Barbara Rolison w/Andrei Padivakhin. We must also point out that in this heat like in the “C” division not one lady got the majority of firsts.
Today is a Smooth day here at the Holiday as we move towards the conclusion of the 2018 Holiday Dance Classic.