The winners - WEST COAST TEAM!

As the excitement from the team match settled, the Open Professional Ballroom and Rhythm took the floor. Professional events including the Rising Stars were small but mighty.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
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The Ballroom was a seven-couple final with Radu Sterban and Xenia Cletova winning it clearly. The second and third place couples had a closer race with Serhiy Averkov and Olena Barna becoming the runners up 23223 and Mirko Spano and Pamela Romano taking third overall 32332.

• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
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Rhythm was a five-couple final with two new partnerships debuting.  The winners were Oleksei Pigotsky and Anastasia Zhuchenko,  who decided to spread their talents across two styles as they debuted their Rhythm at IGB, in preparation for the nine dance Championships. Second went to Ryan Lewis and Meagan Mendoza. So nice seeing her back on the floor. She has such an effortless and authentic style that one simply gravitates to her dancing. Third were Tony Nunez and Oksana Kashkina, who also danced in the Smooth semi and were  third in the Cabaret division.

• Pro RS Latin Pro RS Latin
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The Rising Star  Latin was taken by Nikolay Tarasov and Sarah Nolan. A strong second were Joe and Aleksandra Hopwood with a much stronger performance compared to the Open night.

The Rising Star Smooth was the only semi of the night. Although the results seemed quite consistent from dance to dance for all couples, from a non-judging perspective it was actually very unstable, with each couple performing better in one or another dance.

• Pro RS Smooth Pro RS Smooth
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First in all were Vladyslav and Brianna Nalyvaychuk. Second - Illya Sydorenko and Tatiana Kuts. Third - Stefan Badea and Whitney Myers. Fourth - Igor Dogoter and Natalia Gorshkova. Fifth - Lukas Spisak and Eva Tibenska. Sixth - Timmy Merz and Diana Strashnikova.

Overall it was great final night at the IGB. Congratulations to the organizers, Rita and Maurice Algarra on a successful event.

Full House at IGB

Full house here at the IGB on Saturday night!

• Mr. Ray Rivers Mr. Ray Rivers
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Great youth and amateur Latin events were followed with the Open Professional Smooth and Latin and a special tribute and lifetime achievement award for one of the Legends of our industry, Mr. Ray Rivers.

The Evening was concluded with a fantastic show by Troels and Inna as well as Tal and Ilana. Troels and Inna's Rumba brought goosebumps with its simplicity, yet precise technical articulation woven into the intricacy of the chosen music.

• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
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The Smooth had seven couples recalled to the final, with Nick Chrremukhin and Viktorija as the ultimate winners 1111. Second in all dances were Nikolai and Sarika Pilipenchuk who have been showing an improvement in the consistency of their performance with every outing 2222 . Third in all went to the dynamic duo, Oleksiy Pigotskyy and Anastasiya Zhuchenko. These two have the power to trap you with their performance 3333. Fourth went to Tykhon and Yana Zhyvkov 4444. Fifth - Vladislav and Brianna Nalyvaychuk 5555. Sixth - Stephan and Elisa McCann 6766. Seventh - Illia Sydorenko and Tatyana Kuts 7677

• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
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The Latin was just a six-couple final. The winners were Nikolay Tarasov and Sarah Nolan 12111. Runners up, taking only the Samba from the winners, were Lukas and Simona Alisauskas 21222. Third - Roman Drobotov and Liya 33343. Fourth - Casey and Kayci Treu 44434. Fifth - Joseph and Alexandra Hopwood 55555. Sixth – Zsolt Katona and Timea Poyts 6,6,6,6,6.

International Grand Ball (IGB) 2021

Back at the Waterfront Marriott hotel, home of the International Grand Ball, with an outdoor walking path allowing one to nourish the self between the dance rounds, recharging through nature's beauty.

Friday was a packed day with Pro-Am Rhythm and Ballroom events, followed by the energetic performances of the youth and amateur Smooth and Ballroom in the evening, as well as two special birthday celebrations: one for the ever charming MC, Gary McDonald and another for Angelina Novikova, the cute 7 yr. old.

• Open Amateur Smooth Open Amateur Smooth
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Amateur Smooth was an all Utah, six couple final. All couples were taking it quite easy this evening, as if they were all there to have fun together on the floor instead of competing. The overall winners were Brendon Keck and Kaylee Christiansen placing 2111.

Second were Sawyer Stolle and Serena Keck 1222. Third - Tanner Cole and Savana Francia 3335. Fourth - Benson Maier and Elizabeth Thompson 4454, Fifth - Parley Ford and Natalie Jolley 5543. Sixth - Bronson Baker and Paris Waite 6666

Another great event was the Junior 2 Ballroom with a strong semifinal. The winners were Daniel Novikov and Mishella Vishnevskiy. This couple danced with much pizazz from the very first dance on, showing growth and even hints of maturity at times, at their young age. Strong second were Nathan Zaytsev and Alisa Bankova, another beautiful young couple with lovely movement.

• J2 Open Ballroom J2 Open Ballroom
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In the Junior 2 Ballroom, Daniel & Mishella were again the winners, 1,2,1,1,2.  Runners-up were again Nathan & Alisa - 2,1,2,2,1.  3rd Caleb Judd & Kyra Christensen 4,3,3,4,3; 4th Liran Lander & Julia Shvartsman 3,5,4,3,4; 5th Yegor Zhukov & Adyson Cherkas 5,4,5,6,5; 6th Jake Berg & Jaslyn Kwan 6,6,6,5,6;

Third - Caleb Judd and Kyra Christensen. Fourth - Liran Lander and Julia Shvartsman. Fifth - Yegor Zhukov and Adyson Cherkas. Sixth - Jake Berg and Jaslyn Kwan.

• Open B PA Ballroom Scholarship Open B PA Ballroom Scholarship
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The Pro-Am Open B. Scholarship went to Xiaojuan Liu w/ Anton Koukareko 1,1,1,1,1.  Sencond was Colette Marotto w/ Egor Abashkin 2,3,2,2,2; 3rd Yuying Mesaros w/ Mikhail Avdeev 3,2,3,3,3; 4th Joyce Lo w/ Guennadi Iakounine 4,4,4,4,4.

Stay tuned for more from IGB!