Open Pro championships in Cabaret, Rhythm and Ballroom, Open Amateur Latin, Part 2 of the Show of Shows and many other competitions and special performances made Saturday night a triumph of dancing.

• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
• Andre & Natalie Paramonov Andre & Natalie Paramonov
• Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi
• Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
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The Pro Rhythm began with a quarter-final and the winners, with very little dissention from the 21 judges, were Andre & Natalie Paramonov. They had large majorities of first places in the first 4 dances and still scored a majority (12) in the mambo to also take that dance. We have been watching this couple compete for many years and in several styles (Latin, Showdance & Rhythm), and yet amazingly their performances are still fresh and exciting. In fact, they seem to be getting better and better! A true accomplishment! The runners-up, again in all dances were Danas Jaksevious & Yuki Haraguchi. They also had large majorities of “2nd or better” scores in the first 4 dances, but had to rely on “3rd or better” scores to place 2nd in mambo. 3rd spot went to Dmitry & Olena Nikishkin and once again they were comfortably 3rd in all dances. These top 3 couples seem to have their national rankings pretty much cemented. With 4,4,4,4,5, Shane & Shannon Jensen also seem secure in their position. Kevin Ubillus & Milargros Lareto took 5th spot placing 5,5,5,5,4. Mambo is their specialty dance and they took 5 first places in this dance. Ryan & Danelle Lockhart took 6th in all dances in their first appearance as Millennium finalists.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
• Iaroslav & Lilia Bieliei Iaroslav & Lilia Bieliei
• Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya
• Alexander & Veronica Voskalchuk Alexander & Veronica Voskalchuk
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The Pro Ballroom turned out to be closest fought of all the Open Pro Divisions and was decided 3 dances to 2 in favor of Iaroslav & Liliia Bieliei 1,2,1,2,1 over Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya 2,1,2,1,2. These two couples offer very differing styles. The Bielieis are tall and relay on effortless movement to sell their dancing, whereas Homm/Kanevskaya are shorter in stature and give a more nuanced performance which serves them well in tango and foxtrot. They can sometimes appear to be working a little too hard, particularly when compared to the silky action of the winners, but variety in style is what makes competitive dancing exciting to watch. Alexander & Veronica Voskalchuk took 3rd in all dances and had a significant number of 1st places in all dances. In fact they had more than Homm/Kanevskaya in Viennese Waltz, but some scores in the lower half of the final pulled their position down to 3rd. They are a classically beautiful couple to watch and for us must always be considered for first place in this company. The Rising Star winners, Maksym Savytsky & Polina Riabovil, took 4th 6,5,4,4,4. This was a great result for this couple that is new to us. They are a great addition to the Ballroom field and we expect them to go from strength to strength. Valeriu Ursache & Liana Bakhtiarova were 5th 4,4,5,6,5 and were perhaps somewhat disappointed with this result. Closing the final was the brand new partnership of Andrey Mykhailov & Ekaterina Popova 5,6,6,5,6. These have been 2 of our favorite dancers with their previous partners and so we are certainly looking forward to seeing them develop together.

• Open Professional Cabaret Open Professional Cabaret
• Shane & Shannon Jensen Shane & Shannon Jensen
• Craig Smith & Andrea Harvey Craig Smith & Andrea Harvey
• Clifton & Mar Sepulveda Clifton & Mar Sepulveda
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8 couples contested the Pro Cabaret and all were highly proficient. We did see something quite rare in that the Winners took all 15 first places and the runners-up took all 15 second places. Shane & Shannon Jensen were the winners with their “Feeling Good” piece, an older one that is still very much a favorite for many. Craig Smith & Andrea Harvey were the runners-up and gave their usual blend of artistry combined with high-risk aerial work. We thought this was one of their best performances of late. Clifton & Mar Sepulveda were 3rd and had 7 of the 15 third places. 4th Zachary Pohl & Ariel Frelich; 5th Igor Puzhevich & Tetyana Makarenko. We were impressed with both these couples. Puzhevich/Makarenko did have one noticeable error in one lift that perhaps affected their scores. 6th Nikita Zhukovskiy & Angelina Boiko; 7th Artemev; 8th Jeremy Ownby & Alyona Dorohan.

• Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
• Alexander Chernositov & Arina Grishanina Alexander Chernositov & Arina Grishanina
• Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman
• Max Firestein & Nicole Renee Max Firestein & Nicole Renee
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In the Amateur Latin two couples shared all of the first places and by placing 1,1,1,2,1, Alexander Chernositov & Alina Grishanina were the winners. They had the majority of first places in the dances they won. Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman won the paso doble and were 2nd in the other 4 dances. 3rd in all dances went to Max Firestein & Nicole Renee and Max’s youger brother, Dave, and Kennedy Eaton were 4th 5,4,4,5,4. Ron Garber & Klaudia Petriti were 5th 4,5,5,4,5 and Danny Zhelasko & Eva Tulchinsky were 6th in all dances.

• Jake Mazhar Jake Mazhar
• Mary Coombes Mary Coombes
• Maya Dang Maya Dang
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Sponsor Jake Mazhar and Yulia Besarab performed once again, this time “The 300” from the movie of the same name. Other sponsors, also performed tonight - Maya Dang with Tal Livshitz and Mary Coombes w/ Misha Vlasov. All had back-up from the Hard Drive Dancers.

In the show once again we saw Riccardo & Yulia and Fernando & Yulia plus the usual complement of dancers and extravagance.

For the pro-ams it was a day of Latin and the Open Scholarships produced the following results:

• Open A PA Latin Scholarship Open A PA Latin Scholarship
• Lena Panin w/ Artur Tarnavskyy Lena Panin w/ Artur Tarnavskyy
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A
1. Lena Panin w/ Artur Tarnavskyy 1,1,1,1,1
2. Ariel Xu w/ Daniel Hustiuc 2,2,3,2,2
3. Lori Ebinger w/ Tabish Romario 3,4,2,3,3
4. Aziza Suleymanzade w/ Aleks Nashev 4,3,4,4,4
5. Deborah Tipley w/ Paul Richardson 5,6,6,5,5
6. Kaylee Schwartz w/ Evgenii Grytsak 6,5,5,6,6

• Open B PA Latin Scholarship Open B PA Latin Scholarship
• Christine Stanko w/ Nikita Malakhov Christine Stanko w/ Nikita Malakhov
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View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1936-millenium21#sigProId126d979e55

B
1. Christine Stanko w/ Nikita Malakhov 1,1,1,1,1
2. Ekatrina Fadeeva w/ Artur Tarnavskyy 2,2,2,2,2
3. Christine Ho w/ Stephan Golubovic 4,3,4,5,3
4. Caroline Mao & Yegor Novikov 3,5,3,3,6
5. Maria Oleksandr Shtabskaya & Kamniev 5,4,5,4,4
6. Letizia DiCarlo w/ Mario Drobney 6,6,6,6,5

• Open C PA Latin Scholarship Open C PA Latin Scholarship
• Deborah Wright w/ Nikolai Voronovich Deborah Wright w/ Nikolai Voronovich
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View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1936-millenium21#sigProIdf8b6254d6f

C
1. Deborah Wright w/ Nikolai Voronovich 1,2,1,1,1
2. Lynn Magnesen w/ Tomasz Lewandowski 2,1,2,2,3
3. Nichelle Kennedy w/ Aleks Nashev 3,3,3,3,2
4. Mariana Svyatets w/ Delyan Terziev 4,4,5,4,4
5. Loraine Peoples w/ Genya Bartashevich 5,6,4,5,5
6. Isabel Collins w/ Mykyta Serdyuk 6,5,6,6,6

• Open D PA Latin Scholarship Open D PA Latin Scholarship
• Doreen Dressel w/ Genya Bartashevich Doreen Dressel w/ Genya Bartashevich
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View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1936-millenium21#sigProIdcf0a5617a6

D
1. Doreen Dressel w/ Genya Bartashevich 1,1,3,1,2
2. Scott Magnesen w/ Sabrina Bertini 2,2,4T,2T,1
3. Susann Tunick w/ Nikolai Voronovich 3,3,4T,4,3
4. Bonnie Loftspring w/ Brian McNamee 4,5,1,2T,5
5. Anna Chiu w/ Troels Bager 6,4,2,5,4
6. Windy Yu w/ Roman Italyankin 5,6,6,6,6

• Katusha Demidova Katusha Demidova
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This year's Millennium Lifetime Achievement award went to the "winningest" dancer in US History - Multiple time World & US Champion Professional Ballroom Champion - Katusha Demidova.

Special congratulations to Organizer, Michael Chapman, as it was announced during the evening that he had won a special Tony Award for his work on Broadway.

Subscribe to the members section of Dance Beat for more on Millennium Dancesport including detailed reviews by Tina Gerova, Jonathan Roberts, Igor Litvinov and Emmanuele Pierre Antoine

Never Say Never (Again)!

Last night at the Millennium Dancesport Championships Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina overtook the United States Smooth Professional National Champions, Nick Cheremukhin & Vicktoria Barashihina by winning three dances to one in the Open Professional Smooth Championship.

• Roman & Galina Roman & Galina
• Mary Murphy, Christian Caligari, Maya Dang (Sponsor), Galina, Roman, Michael Chapman (Organizer) Mary Murphy, Christian Caligari, Maya Dang (Sponsor), Galina, Roman, Michael Chapman (Organizer)
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Everyone, including Roman & Galina, were surprised and overwhelmed with emotion. While this type of de-throning happens daily in nearly every competitive sport, in the Ballroom Dance industry titles are usually awarded for life. We in Dance Beat have been around for a long time and have rarely witnessed this occurrence. Congratulations to Roman & Galina but most importantly to the judges who spoke their own mind in this 3 to 1 decision and made this a night to be remember and in the theme of the competition “James Bond” we should say you were the “Guys With The Golden Gun!”

• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
• Travis & Jaimee Tuft Travis & Jaimee Tuft
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It is easy to say that Roman & Galina won the competition but how did it go down? In the Waltz Nick & & Vicktoria won quite easily with 16 first place marks out of 21 judges. We must point out that Nick & Vicktoria and Roman & Galina never reeived anything lower than a third place and only 6 third places were awarded to them a total of 3 to each couple. The tango and foxtrot were where the fight began. Here Roman & Galina won enough first placemarks in both of these dances, 16 total in each dance, to take both and go into the lead, 2 dances to 1. The Viennese Waltz was perhaps the most contested dance and here Roman & Galina received 11 first place marks to the 9 that were awarded to Nick & Vicktoria, assuring them the Viennese Waltz. The dancing as always was amazing from these two top couples, so much so that most people perhaps did not take into account what a wonderful performance the third place couple gave to us. Travis & Jaimie Tuft were also amazing and in some cases some will say that even better than the top two, all the 2nd places lost by the Nick & Viktoria and Roman & Galina went to Travis & Jaimie Tuft, the little that we looked at them, we have to say that they were on fire. Unfortunately, the rivalry between the top two on this night overshadowed their performance. Tarvis & Jaimie placed third in all dances.

Fourth in all dances was awarded to the new partnership of Alexandra Smirnova & Aleksandar Vukosavljevic who both sported bright tangerine colored outfits in the final managing to capture everyone’s attention, whether you wanted or not. Fifth position went to Sarika Hudson & Nikolai Pilipenchuk. And extremely happy to make this final were Anastasiya & Kharyton Khomenko in sixth place, who to our surprise as they are relatively new to this style also gave an outstanding performance.

• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
• Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova
• Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina
• Francesco & Sabrina Bertini Francesco & Sabrina Bertini
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The Latin & Smooth finals took turns alternating dances, first to go was the Latin with their cha cha, and in this final there was only one couple competing for first place and that was Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova and they won all dances with a majority of firsts in every dance. Troels & Inna gave an excellent performance of solid Latin American dancing giving the full audience a different style and taste everywhere you looked. Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina took second in all dances giving us also a traditional style but with a few cheeky, more playful actions throughout the competition. Third went to Francsco & Sabrina Bertini who gave a solid performance but on this night tended to fade into the background. Francesco’s contagious personality was almost missing in action, even though Sabrina continues to be one of our favorite ladies to lookat when watching a match like this. Fourth in all dances was awarded to Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasia Danilova, who seemed a little more prepared and ready than the last time we saw them dance. Unfortunately, on this night you could not just be good you had to have something very special to sell and here for us and the judges this was a good position for this very talented couple. Fifth place was awarded to Manuel Favilla & Natalia Maidiuk and we totally agreed with this placement as well. On this night they seemed to be just walking it through compared to the recent highly energized performances we have seen from them, even though they judges really enjoyed their Rumba and awarded them 3rd in this dance and fifth in the others. Last but not least, sixth place overall went to Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler who also gave us a very correct performance although we did notice a more determined approach from Gabriella.

• Jake & Yuliya Jake & Yuliya
• Jake & Yuliya Jake & Yuliya
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Overall these were two amazing events where you had to have a “License to Kill” and use it or lose it. We most congratulate Jake Mazhar & Yulia Besarab for an excellent Cabaret performance and also for the most amazing decorations at this year’s Millennium Ballroom, and all the champagne donated by Jake and his wife Petra to celebrate not only the Millennium but the fact that we are all doing well, with great health after a hard year for all of us due to the COVID-19. Thank you Jake!!!

• Debra Fontaine Debra Fontaine
•  

We also want to congratulate Ms. Debra Fontaine on her performance and totally agree with her “Diamonds are Forever.” We also want to thank her for bringing such great performances to the Florida region through the Millennium Dancesport Championships each year. And to one of our favorite couples of all time, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko - “it was great to see you perform again!”

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Part 1 of the Show of Shows took place tonight and starred Riccardo & Yulia and Open British and WDC World Amateur Champions Ferdinand Iaacone & Yulia Muikhina. They will both dance again on Saturday night in Part 2 of the Show of Shows.

• Maksym Savytsky & Polina Riabovil Maksym Savytsky & Polina Riabovil
• Shandor Shtefil & Evgeniia Elcoro Shandor Shtefil & Evgeniia Elcoro
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Other events that ran this evening included the Pro RS Rhythm and Ballroom. Shandor Shetefil and Evgeniia Elcoro won all dances in the Rhythm and Maksym Savytsky & Polina Riabovil won all dances in the Ballroom.

During the daytime session, it was Pro-Am Ballroom time. The results of the Open Scholarships were as follows:

• Open A PA Ballroom Scholarship Open A PA Ballroom Scholarship
• Agne Naujokas w/ Martin Reinbold Agne Naujokas w/ Martin Reinbold
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A
1. Agne Naujokas w/ Martin Reinbold - 1,1,1,1,1
2. Heather Sabel w/ Ronen Zhinstein - 3,3,2,2,2
3. Thompson w/ Alexander Voskalchuk - 2,2,3,3,3
4. Tessa Kolakzenko w/ Artur Kozun - 4,4,4,4,4
5. Kaylee Schwartz w/ Adrian Nedelcu - 5,5,5,5,5
6. Mackenzie Robbins w/ Volodymyr Barabash - 6,6,6,6,6
7. Tolga Bacircioglu w/ Jessica Francis - 7,7,7,7,7

• Open B PA Ballroom Scholarship Open B PA Ballroom Scholarship
• Natasha Janey w/ Iaroslav Bieliei Natasha Janey w/ Iaroslav Bieliei
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View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1936-millenium21#sigProId48b7a67fdf

B
1. Natasha Janey w/ Iaroslav Bieliei - 1,1,1,1,1
2. Laura Shooks w/ Alexander Voskalchuk - 2,2,3,2,2
3. Brynda Insley w/ Martin Reinbold - 3,3,2,4,3
4. Patricia Schneider w/ Oreste Alito - 4,5,4,5,4
5. Janet Simsic w/ Andrea Stefano - 5,4,5,3,5
6. Tanya Charon w/ Jang Don - 6,6,6,6,6

• Open C PA Ballroom Scholarship Open C PA Ballroom Scholarship
•  

View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1936-millenium21#sigProId5753669e5e

C
1. Natasha Janey w/ Iaroslav Bieliei - 1,1,1,1,1
2. Jill Bradford w/ Andrea Stefano - 2,2,3,2,2
3. Patricia Schneider w/ Oreste Alito - 3,3,2,3,3
4. Charlene Proctor w/ Andrey Begunov - 4,4,4,4,4
5. Debra Hoag w/ Rudy Homm - 5,5,5,5,5
6. Annie Chan w/ Christian Radvan - 6,6,6,6,6
7. Shiela Zou w/ Valeriu Ursache - 7,7,7,7,7
8. Kim Bors w/ Pavel Lebedev - 8,8,8,8,8

• Open D PA Ballroom Scholarship Open D PA Ballroom Scholarship
• Amy Hardy w/ Rudy Homm Amy Hardy w/ Rudy Homm
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View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1936-millenium21#sigProId0e52caf6ca

D
1. Amy Hardy w/ Rudy Homm - 1,1,1,1,1
2. Kathy Stetler w/ Alexander Voskalchuk - 2,3,2,2,2
3. Linda Gill w/ Luca Balestra - 3,2,3,3,3
4. Fifi Wang w/ Andrey Klinchuk - 4,4,5,4,4
5. Mari Borries w/ Artur Kozun - 5,5,4,5,5
6. Ibis Wu w/ Serhey Averkov - 6,6,6,6,6.

Thursday – The Smooth Marathon!

Thursday was mostly dedicated to the pro-am Smooth divisions – and what a day it was. Beginning at 7:00 AM, the last heat entered the floor at just before 1:00 AM on Friday!

But just because we had quantity, it does not mean we didn’t have quality! All levels demonstrated some high level dancing and when it came to the Open Scholarships, there was some really excellent dancing on display.

• Open C PA Smooth Scholarship Open C PA Smooth Scholarship
• Sophia D'Angelo w/ Max Sinitsa Sophia D'Angelo w/ Max Sinitsa
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We would once again like to begin with the Open C division, as it was again the largest division, beginning with a semifinal. The comfortable winner tonight was Sophia D’Angelo w/ Max Sinitsa. Sophia won all 4 dances, 3 of them with the majority of 1st places from the judges. We thought Sophia was a clear winner, with improved quality of movement to add to her always beautiful lines. With 2,2,3,2, Nichelle Kennedy w/ Aleks Nashev matched her runner-up spot in the Rhythm with the same result here and once again we felt it was well-deserved. Taking that 2nd in foxtrot and 3rd in the other dances was Patricia Schneider w/ Salwek Souchaki, another lady dancing well tonight. 4th went to Lisa Lowery w/ Artem Merenkov 4,4,4,4; 5th Inez Inserra w/ Mayo Alanen 5,6,5T,5; 6th Janice Gonzalez w/ Aleksandar Vukosavljevic 6,5,5T,6. Janice was the only other lady to place in both the Rhythm and Smooth finals.

• Open C PA Smooth Scholarship Open C PA Smooth Scholarship
• Natasha Namen w/ Mikhail Vlasov Natasha Namen w/ Mikhail Vlasov
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In the A division, the runner-up from the Rhythm, Natasha Namen w/ Mikhail Vlasov, fended off a strong challenge to win this Scholarship 1,1,1,2. Natasha received the majority of 1st places in the foxtrot. Her challenger was Alina Sakura w/ Adrian Dydynski who won the Viennese Waltz with a majority of 1st places and was 2nd in the other 3 dances. Both ladies gave extremely good performances. Lauren Baker w/ Ilya Reyzin also impressed some judges and earned first place marks to take an overall third with 3,3,4,4 and the other lady to find some judges’ first places was Dulcinea Thompson w/ Aleksander Voskalchuk who placed 4th 5,4,3,3. Both of the ladies just mentioned were new to us. Marko Namen w/ Marina Vlasov was 5th 4,5,5,5 and Diane LaVecchia w/ Paulo DiLorenzo was 6th 6,6,6,6.

• Open B PA Smooth Scholarship Open B PA Smooth Scholarship
• Olivia Whiteside w/ Serhey Barsukov Olivia Whiteside w/ Serhey Barsukov
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Winning the B Division in fine style was Olivia Whiteside with Serhey Barsukov. Olkivoa won all dances with a majority of 1st places from the judges in all. 2nd in this 8-couple final went to Patricia Schneider w/ Salwek Souchaki 2,2,2,2, moving up one place from her finish in the C division. 3,3,5,4, gave Lorna Crevling w/ Greg Fidurski an overall 3rd place finish. 4th Kelly Prisco w/ Paulo DiLorenzo 5,5,3,3; 5th Mariana Lvoff w/ Vladyslav Kosarev 4,4,4,5; 6th Nannel Wray w/ Enzo Zappia 6,6,6,6; 7th Natalia Zavodchikov w/ Dmitry Demidov 7,8,7,7; 8th Mag Retelewski w/ Adrian Dydynski 8,7,8,8.

• Open D PA Smooth Scholarship Open D PA Smooth Scholarship
• Lorinda Belzberg w/ Genya Bartashevich Lorinda Belzberg w/ Genya Bartashevich
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The D division was the most closely contested as the final had 2 “Rule 11” tiebreaks, the first being between the winner and runner-up. Getting the better of the tiebreak rule was Lorinda Belzberg w/ Genya Bartashvich who placed 2,1,2,1. The runner-up was Linda Gill w/ Roman Malkhasyan 1,2,1,2. As the judges’ scores broke down, Linda actually received more 1st places than the winner in all dances, but had the majority of first places in only waltz. In the 2 dances Lorinda had more 1st and 2nd placements combined. With all the 3’s, Llewelyn Nielsen w/ Slawek Sochaki was third and all the 4’s gave Kathy Stewart w/ Mayo Alanen that position. The other tiebreak was for 5th and 6th positions and in this case 5th went to Connie Caruso w/ Kamil Urbaniak 5,6,5,6 over Scott Magnesen w/ Izabella Lewandowski 6,5,6,5.

• Janet Brutell w/ Dmitry Zavialov Janet Brutell w/ Dmitry Zavialov
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The S1 went to Janet Brutell w/ Dmitry Zavialov who won all dances.

After all the pro-am Smooth was completed, there remained 3 events left to dance – the Amateur Smooth and Rising Star Latin and Smooth. As these divisions started quite late, we were not sure how much energy the couples could produce. We were pleasantly surprised – all three divisions showcased some great dancing.

• Open Amateur Smooth Open Amateur Smooth
• Brandon Keck & Kaylee Christensen Brandon Keck & Kaylee Christensen
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The Amateur Smooth was a straight final, but the quality of the competitors was high. Brandon Keck & Kaylee Christensen were the favorites, having won the US Championship in this division, and they did score a rather easy win taking all dances. We were a little surprised that they did not receive the majority of 1st places in the waltz. 2nd in all dances were Sawyer Stolle & Serena Keck; 3rd in all were Arynne Cole & Savana Francia; 4th in all Blake Fox & Nicole Ascione; 5th in all George Cometa & Amelia Wills and 6th in all Chris Wedding & Jordan Mehta.

• Pro RS Latin Pro RS Latin
• Nikolai Tarasov & Sarah Nolan Nikolai Tarasov & Sarah Nolan
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Both the RS divisions began with quarter-finals. The Latin was on first and kicked into high gear right from the start. The winners were Nikolai Tarasov & Sarah Nolan whom we felt were very much on form. The judges agreed, giving them first in all dances, all except the rumba with a majority of 1st places. One expects the judges’ scores in RS events to be varied and this was certainly the case here, with most couples receiving scores all up and down the final. The runners-up were Andriy & Amanda Besyadin. They took 2nd in all dances and although they have beaten tonight’s winners before, they did not come particularly close tonight based on the judges’ scores. 3rd went to Vladyslav Babenko & Anastassia Shynjusova 3,3,4,4,5; 4th Dmitry Barov & Sarina Wright 4,6,3,5,3; 5th Casie & Kayci Treu 5,4,5,3,4; 6th Kostiantyn Samarsski & Anna Oblakova 6,6,6,6,6.

• Pro RS Smooth Pro RS Smooth
• Kharyton & Anastasiya Khomenko Kharyton & Anastasiya Khomenko
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The RS Smooth also had comfortable winners as Kharyton & Anastasiya Khomenko won all dances with a majority of 1st places. The other places were more mixed. Runners-up were Volodymr Barabash & Yulia Rudenko 2,3,3,2. 3rd Ilya Abdullin & Anastasija Jerjomina 3,2,2,4; 4th Demitry Zavialov & Arina Sokolova 4,4,4,3; 5th Bladyslav & Brianna Nalyvaychuk 5,5,5,5; 6th Evgeni Rosenfeld & Mariia Shumakher 6,6,6,6.

Lady Luck!

This year at the Millennium Dancesport Championships, you can roll “your dice” on the floor or let’s just say “your foxtrot” and see how you place.

This year’s “Casino/James Bond theme offers a “Las Vegas” feel to the competition complete with shows and entertainment – and let’s not forget the real Ferrari and Aston Martin just to make us all feel like Mr. Bond! As you can see from the pictures you can roll your dice on the floor using all your skill to get a first from the judges.

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So far it has been 2 full days packed with Pro/Am Rhythm dancing, some of the best in the country challenging each other to become a Millennium Dancesport Champion. Last night we also witnessed some terrific solo performances, many of them with props and one, two and five-men routines, all choreographed to theme songs and special effects.

• Open C PA Rhythm Scholarship Open C PA Rhythm Scholarship
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By far the largest of the Open Pro-Am Rhythm Scholarships was in the C age category. This began with a quarter-final, danced in 2 heats. The ultimate winner won all 5 dances and this was Lynn Magnesen dancing with Tomasz Lewandowski. However, Lynn faced some tough competition and had the majority of first places in only the cha cha and mambo. Lynn has a light personality on the floor, making her dancing easy to watch and enjoy. Second in all dances fell to Nichelle Kennedy w/ Aleks Nashev. We thought this was a great night for Nichelle and she certainly challenged the winner hard taking multiple first places in all dances from the judges. She actually had the most first places in the rumba (5 out of 11, just one short of the majority needed to take the dance). From 2nd down the scores were more mixed. Janice Gonzalez w/ Aleksandar Vukosavljevic had a strong night and placed 3rd with 3,3,3,5,3. Janice has a very intense personality on the floor and this large space today favored her presentation. Lisa Lowery w/ Artem Merenkov took 4th 5,4,4,3,4. Lisa is a past winner in this division on many occasions, but tonight she did not quite find her rhythm. Michelle Loeb w/ Aleko Khutsidze was 5th 4,5,5,4,5 and Tracy Hannon w/ Lurii Kora was 6th in all dances. Congratulations to all the finalists in this strong division.

• Open A PA Rhythm Scholarship Open A PA Rhythm Scholarship
• Lula Calloway w/ Nazar Norov Lula Calloway w/ Nazar Norov
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Both the A and B age divisions began with semifinal rounds. The A division had a very clear winner in Lula Calloway w/ Nazar Norov who won all dances with a majority of first places from the judges including a “perfect” 11 first places in bolero. 2nd and 3rd places were a tight race between a brother and sister and a mother and son. Sis and son took the runners-up spot by 3 dances to 2 - Natasha Namen w/ Mikhail Vlasov was 2nd (2,2,2,3,3) over Marko Namen w/ Marina Vlasov 3,3,3,2,2. With all the “4’s” Sophia Santiago-Burgos w/ Eddie Rivera was fourth overall; Rebecca Smart w/ Balint Temesvari was 5th 5,5,5,5,5 and Jill Winters-Bougard w/ Grigol Kranz was 6th in all.

• Open B PA Rhythm Scholarship Open B PA Rhythm Scholarship
• Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika
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The B division produced and 8-couple final. Maintaining his dominance over this division which he has held for several years now, was Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika. This was a strong performance from this great competitor. He won all dances and all but the bolero with the majority of first places. Another strong competitor in this division took second, 2,2,3,2,2, Mariana Lvoff w/ Vladimir Kosarev. Beatriz Colon w/ Hayk Balasanyan was third 3,3,2,4,3. This was a 1,2,3 for Fred Astaire students. 4th spot went to Natalia Zavodchikov w/ Dmitry Demidov 5,4,4,3,5; 5th Nedra Sadorf w/ Vladyslav Babenko 4,5,5,6,6; 7th Loren Rourke w/ Jhondar Lopez 7,6,7,5,7; 8th Jill Winters-Bougard w/ Grigol Kranz 8,8,8,8,8.

• Open D PA Rhythm Scholarship Open D PA Rhythm Scholarship
• Scott Magnesen w/ Sabrina Bertini Scott Magnesen w/ Sabrina Bertini
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The Open D was also a Fred Astaire contest at the top and this time another gentleman was the winner – Scott Magnesen w/ Sabrina Bertini won all dances with a majority of first places in all. We saw real improvement in this gentleman’s performance. Shari Oxman w/ Hayk Balasanyan was 2nd in all dances. With 3,3,3,4,4, Debbie Clyne w/ Jeremy Gatlin took the 3rd position. This event also produced an 8-couple final from a semifinal. 4th Connie Collins w/ Pavel Volynskiy 5,5,5,3,3; 5th Wini Kniejski w/ Sasha Tsyhankov 4,4,4,5,5; 6th Mimi Feliciano w/ Ivan Kudashev 6,6,6,6,7; 7th Cindy Lindsay w/ Sergiy Samchynskyy 7,7,8,7,6; 8th Sandy MaCarron w/ Michael Neil 8,8,7,8,8.

• Open S1 PA Rhythm Scholarship Open S1 PA Rhythm Scholarship
• Open S2 PA Rhythm Scholarship Open S2 PA Rhythm Scholarship
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There were also open scholarship divisions in the Senior 1 and Senior 2 divisions. The Senior 1 went to Janet Brutell w/ Dmitriy Zavialov 1,1,1,1; 2nd Leslie McLeod w/ Melbin De La Cruz 2,2,2,3; 3rd Sheila Ragan w/ Andrius Butkus 3,3,3,2. In the Senior 2, Sheila Ragan moved up to the winner’s position 2,1,1,1. 2nd Anne Goldstein w/ Andre Gergel 1,2,2,2; 3rd Sue Rossman w/ Erwin Rybczynski 3,3,4,4.

Stay tuned for more updates from Millennium Dancesport as the week progresses!