The Open Professional Ballroom was the most exciting with the new partnership of Valerio Colantoni & Anna Demidova debuting and in the Professional Rhythm, the fierce competition continued after the Millennium, between Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin and Francesco Arietta & Jessa Mae Briones for the US runner up position. But the Open Amateur Latin was not left, it held its own in quality and quantity with a full first round of competition.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
• Valerio Colontoni & Anna Demidova Valerio Colontoni & Anna Demidova
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In the Open Professional Ballroom we saw the new partnership of Valerio Colantoni & Anna Demidova who were from our perspective and that of the judges unbelievable, winning all dances - a perfect score in the waltz and a full majority in the other four dances. We could not keep our eyes of this very promising couple, Valerio is an amazing ballroom dancer and Anna complimented his every move. To add to this Ballroom “Divine” couple’s dancing, Anna’s model looks kept our attention from start to finish.

• Rudy Homm & Katia Kanevskaya Rudy Homm & Katia Kanevskaya
• Valeriu Ursache & Liana Bakhtiarova Valeriu Ursache & Liana Bakhtiarova
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Second in this wonderful heat went to Rudy Homm & Katia Kanevskaya who placed second in four dances and third in the quickstep. Third overall was awarded to Valeriu Ursache & Liana Bakhtiarova 4,3,4,3,4, and if you look into the marks you can see that the judges did not know where to go with this couple they got marks from first to sixth place on their scorecard.

Radu Sterban & Xenia Cletova placed fourth overall 6,4,3,4,2. From our perspective here we see another sign that the US is one more time on the way of continuing to be a power house when it comes to Ballroom dancing around the globe. We most also mention that the quickstep that Radu & Xenia did was fabulous.

There was a tie for fifth place between Andrii Mykhailov & Ekaterina Popova and Maksym Savytskyi & Polina Riabovil, but a use of (Rule10) was enough to break this tie and Maksym & Polina ended up in fifth place after the rule was used leaving Andrii & Ekaterina holding sixth place. Maksym & Polina placed 5,5,5,6,5 and Andrii & Ekaterina 3,6,6,5,6.

Every couple apart from the winners had placements from 2nd to 6th in every dance. The couples were so close in quality that this race really could have gone any way.

It was a little disappointing that the current US Champions Iaroslav & Lilia Bieliei were not competing – it would have been great to compare the complete current field.

The Professional Rhythm was once again a nail-bitter affair, with Francesco Arietta & Jessa Mae Briones and Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin fighting for the runner-up position. The winners of the event were Andre Paramonov & Natalie Paramonov who won all dances with a majority of firsts in every dance. Second in four dances and third in the swing went to Francesco & Jessa, leaving Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin holding third place and they placed third in four dances and second in the swing.

• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
• Andre & Natalie Paramonov Andre & Natalie Paramonov
• Francesco Arieta & Jessa Mae Briones Francesco Arieta & Jessa Mae Briones
• Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
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We have to say that this was a great night for Rhythm in general the last three couples mentioned were very accomplished and so the future of this style is not only secure but quite healthy, giving this style in our industry great hope of progression. In this disputed style we are quite enthralled with Francesco & Jessa’s interpretation of the Rhythm style with great quality and beauty of movement. As far as musicality goes, the Paramonovs still lead the way and no one has more power and energy that Dmitry & Olena.

Fourth in this pro Rhythm competition went to up and coming stars, Ivan Kudashev & Ksusha Sokolova, who placed fourth in three dances, tied for fourth in the bolero and placed fifth in the mambo. What a wonderful addition to this final Ivan & Ksusha are! On last night’s performance we even thought they could have easily placed third in the cha cha. Fifth place in this final went to  Ilya Abdullin & Anastasija Jerjomina 5,5,6,4T,4 and sixth went to Canada’s Dmytro Gurkov & Celeste Bailey and they placed sixth in four dances and fifth in the swing.

The Amateur Latin was also a terrific heat but here we have to disagree with the judges, who placed Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladze to win every dance with a majority of firsts in all dances. For us, the night belonged to Alexander Chernositov & Arina Grishanina who placed second in all dances and who we felt danced amazingly in every dance, including Austin & Nino’s best dance the rumba. Here we had to agree with the minority of about 5 judges who felt the same as we did. In the past we have seen Austin & Nino really excel but this was not it, even their perfect score in the rumba was questionable on this night and we usually have no eyes for anyone else in this dance.

• Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
• Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladze Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladze
• Alexander Chernositov & Arina Grishanina Alexander Chernositov & Arina Grishanina
• Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman
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Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman placed third in all dances and they too took a few first placements from Nino & Austin but not enough to affect their scoring. Fourth overall went to Max Firestein & Nicole Mtchedlidze with these marks 4,5,5,4,4. In fifth place were Tagir Mansurov & Liza Lakovitsky 5,6,4,5,6 and sixth was awarded to Dave Firestein & Kennedy Eaton 6,4,6,6,5.

• Open Professional Cabaret Open Professional Cabaret
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Travis & Jaimee Tuft received a standing ovation and unanimous first places from the judges to take the Professional Cabaret division.

• Open Amateur Smooth Open Amateur Smooth
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There was a straight final in the Open Amateur Smooth also on the schedule last night and the comfortable winners were Benson Maier & Elizabeth Thompson who won all dances with the majority of first places.

In an extraordinary accomplishment, yesterday, 4 of the 5 Open Scholarships in the Pro-Am Latin were won by students of Nikolai Voronovich. Deborah Wright won both the Open B and C and Susann Tunick won the Open S1 and S2.

• Open C Pro Am Latin Scholarship Open C Pro Am Latin Scholarship
• Irene Caredis w/ Francesco Bertini Irene Caredis w/ Francesco Bertini
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Irene Caredis w/ Francesco Bertini won the Open A Latin Scholarship, placing 1st in all 5 dances and she had the majority of first places in all dances. Kaylee Schwarz w/ Evgenii Grytsak took 2nd placing 2,2,3,2,2. Julia Lokey w/ Art Tsaturyan was 3rd with 4,4,2,3,3. 4th Anvelyn Pi w/ Pasha Stepanchuk 3,3,4,4,4; 5th Adrian Kaiser w/ Evgeniia Elcoro 5,5,5,5,5; 6th Kathy Guo & Miroslav Randelovic 6,6,6,6,6.

In the first of her wins, Deborah Wright won all dances in the Open B, but it did not come without a fight. Deborah had the majority of first places (5 of 9) in the PD and J but it came down to “2nd or better” scores in the other 3 dances. Kathy Guo w/ Miroslav Randelovic was the runner-up, once again in all dances. Also in on the mix and taking some 1st places in the first 3 dances was Leonie Biggs w/ Kostiantyn Samarskyi who placed 3rd in all dances. 4th Bethanie Picerno w/ Andrew Escolme 5,5,4,4,4; 5th Deborah Altizio w/ Nikita Malakhov 4,4,5,5,6; 6th Lacey Sadoff w/ Oleksandr Kozhukhar 6,6,7,6,5. There was a tiebreak for 7th and 8th places resulting in – 7th Irina Myrtceva w/ Artur Tarnavskyy 7,7,8,7,8; 8th Margarita Yablokova w/ Manuel Favilla 8,8,6,8,7.

• Open B Pro-Am Latin Scholarship Open B Pro-Am Latin Scholarship
• Open C Pro Am Latin Scholarship Open C Pro Am Latin Scholarship
• Deborah Wright w/ Nikolai Voronovich Deborah Wright w/ Nikolai Voronovich
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The Open C was even closer. Here Debroah won in a 3 to 2 decision placing 2,1,1,2,1 for the win. With 1,2,2,1,2, Lyn Magnesen w/ Tomas Lewandowski was the runner up. All these dances were close, but the two ladies won their respective dances with slim majorities of 1st places from the judges. In fact, between them these 2 ladies took all the available first places. With 3rd in all dances, Kimberly Bottini w/ Aleksandar Vukosavljevic took 3rd place. 4th Lorraine Peoples w/ Kostiantyn Samarskyi 4,4,4,4,4; 5th Amy Jay & Adam Katona 5,5,5,5,6. 6th and 7th was decided by a tiebreak. 6th Jamie Barrett & Stefano Placidi 6,6,7,6,7; 7th Scott Magnesen & Sabrina Manzi 7,7,6,7,5.

Susan Tunick won her Open S1 by placing 1,1,2,2 the runner-up was Joan Goddard w/ Andrew Escolme 2,2,1,3 and 3rd was Scott Magnesen w/ Sabrina Bertini 3,3,5,1. 4th Jennifer Marre w/ Plamen Danailov 5,4,3,4; 5th Beth Kaplan w/ Genya Bartashevich 4,5,4,5; 6th Anna Chiu w/ Troels Bager 6,6,6,6.

• Susann Tunick w/ Nikolai Voronovich Susann Tunick w/ Nikolai Voronovich
• Open S1 Pro Am Latin Scholarship Open S1 Pro Am Latin Scholarship
• Open S2 Pro Am Latin Scholarship Open S2 Pro Am Latin Scholarship
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In the Open S2 Susan won all 4 dances. Susan Miller w/ Ricky Bentzen was the runner-up, once again in all dances. Alice Lekht w/ Igor Derimov was 3rd in all dances. 4th Susan Sordoni w/ Francesco Arietta 5,4,4,5; 5th Pamela Melton w/ Stefano Placidi 4,5,5,7; 6th Toni Mullins w/ Tomasz Wlodarski 6,6,7,4; 7th Diana Knight w/ Nikolai Shpakov 7,7,6,6; 8th Ram Viswanathan w/ Sarika Pilipenchuk 8,8,8,8.

A Knockout Night!

Last night at the Manhattan Dance Championships the excitement started right from the beginning with two excellent Championships, the Open Professional Smooth and the Open Professional Latin.

The in between event, The Open Amateur Ballroom Championship, was also terrific with some great dancing and some great performances, this gave the two professional styles a little break, but for the audience it was all a ‘Knockout Night” filled with wonderful dancing.

• Volodymyr Barabash & Yulia Rudenco Volodymyr Barabash & Yulia Rudenco
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Speaking of knock out’s - during the semifinal of the Professional Smooth Championship, one of the competitors, Yulia Rudenko, was accidently “knocked out” unconscious during the first minute of competition of the waltz. The competition was stopped and doctors ran to her aid. Once Yulia was taken off the floor and the doctors attended her it was decided that there would be a switch of competitions and the semifinal of the Professional Latin was called to order. By the time the semifinal was done, slightly shaken but in good spirits, Yulia decided she was ready to continue in the competition and the semifinal of the professional final went on without any delay.

• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
• Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina
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All three finals were terrific but on this punchy night we will start with the Professional Smooth, where Roman Malkhasyan & Galina Detkina won every dance with almost perfect scores from the judges. We say “almost” because there was only one judge that dissented from this majority decision and that was Robin Short from England who awarded them the following marks 2,3,2,3. All Mr. Short’s first place marks went to Travis & Jaimee Tuft who placed second in all dances and got all seconds from the rest of the judges. For us on the sidelines it was a great and very close contest when it comes to the material performed, where we perhaps feel Roman & Galina have an edge is in emotion and musical interpretation where they truly make you feel every step they take. On the other hand we feel that Travis & Jaimee have all the skills but are a little more subtle in their interpretation, perhaps we need to be able to “see it from a plane” at one point we were on the short side looking in and it was hard to find them, so perhaps drama class 101 - when on a live stage you have to exaggerate for us to feel what you’re feeling and hearing. When it came to second place as we mention before Travis & Jaimee Tuft took all seconds and one first in every dance that came from Mr. Short and they placed second in every dance.

• Travis & Jaimee Tuft Travis & Jaimee Tuft
• Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova
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Third in this excellent final and in every dance wen to Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova who could not be missed due to their height and their outfits, the red jacket along with her red, white and blue outfits were very appropriate for the competition and the time of the year celebrating Independence Day! Unfortunately, there are still a few basic problems in their partnership in order to tackle the very top in this style, one of them in particular the tango where they possibly got the their worst marks. We think there is to much intent coming from the gentleman to lead the lady, at this point all this beautiful dancer needs is for you to just go and stay elegant showcasing that beautiful jacket once there is too much lead or intent the shoulder lines and back of the jacket begin to take unwanted shapes.

Fourth on this night and in our opinion and that of Mr. Robin Short who awarded them 3,2,3,2 Tykhon Zhyvkov & Yana Zhyvkov, could have easily been third overall. This couple were on last night displaying not just good quality but also excellent musicality of every dance to every song played.

We have to tip our hats and cheer and a “hip, hip hurrah” to Yulia Rudenco for her incredible sportsmanship, and the way she conducted herself once it all got going, there was no drama, is was as if never happened. We hope Yulia checks to make sure everything is well with her and congratulations to Volodymyr Barabash & Yulia Rudenco for their fifth place finish considering all that happened! That was more than they signed up for! And concluding this final with sixth place in every dance was Vladyslav Nalyvaychuk & Brianna Nalyvaychuk, who were the winners of the RS the night before!

• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
• Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova
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The Professional Smooth was not the only knockout of the night, there was also an open Latin Professional Championship, and here too we had a parade of stars beginning with Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova who won all dances and four with perfect scores. In the paso doble they got a second place from Mr. Rufus Dustin. We totally have to agree with the majority on this one, Troels & Ina with the right music and the right atmosphere are a gift from the “Gods” to Latin dancing in the world, and this performance was it! Second in all dances and dancing quite confidently were Andrei Kazlouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir who took the majority of seconds and that one first place in the paso doble from Mr. Dustin. We think this couple to be just at the doorstep of Troels & Ina, making this style always exciting at the high ranks - one slip of the “at the door” and the door will be fully opened for Andrei & Asta to move up!

• Andrei Kazlouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir Andrei Kazlouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir
• Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina
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A secure third in every dance went to Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina and as always they gave a comfortable performance. Fourth went to Manuel Favilla & Natalia Maidiuk. In their opening dance-on samba Natalia took a nasty unexpected fall, but to her credit we had a “flash dance” moment with her rolling on her back, fanning her legs up in the air and she was up making the audience go wild with applause, great recovery Natalia! Manuel & Natalias scores were 4,4,4,4,5. Fifth overall with these marks went to Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasiya Danilova 5,5,6,5,4 for us they gave a good performance but still lack some of the spontaneity this couple used to have and for us what made them so special at the beginning of their professional career.

Sixth but not in all dances went to Nikita Brovko & Tatiana Seliverstova 6,6,5,6,6. We have to say congratulations their improvement from competition to competition is amazing, last time we saw this couple we said that “If you cannot sing, sing loud!” meaning they were still quite a long way to making this partnership gel. On this occasion we are looking twice and we like what is being produced! We still not sure about the hair “choice,” but all that is minor detail. We think on this couple we have an incredible future for the Latin division and watch out third second or first, I don’t think Nikita or Tatiana are ones to walk away without the top prize! Nikita has won a lot of titles on the book and Tatiana is not far from that. What amazing talent this couple have and best of all I think a lack of fear. We so look forward to seeing Nikita & Tatiana grow with every outing and bring new energy and interpretation to this style of Latin dance.

• Mark Brock Mark Brock
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The Professional Latin was dedicated to the late great Mark Brock who MC’ed this competition for many years. In his honor and in the name of “Rock n’ Roll” the last jive was danced to ZZ Top – a favorite of Mark’s who was a rocker to the last!

• Open Amateur Ballroom Open Amateur Ballroom
• Danylo Dobrovolskyi & Anastasiya Malovana Danylo Dobrovolskyi & Anastasiya Malovana
• Andrei Cutasevschi & Anna Vasina Andrei Cutasevschi & Anna Vasina
• Vladyslav Komelkov & Alexandra Sevastianova Vladyslav Komelkov & Alexandra Sevastianova
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The Open Amateur Ballroom was danced over 3 rounds and was dominated by two young couples from Arizona, both of whom were new to us. Danylo Dobrovolskyi & Anastasiya Malovana won all 5 dances with strong majorities of first places from the 13 judges. Their hometown partners, Andrei Cutasevschi & Anna Vasina were 2nd in all dances. We believe these are two new couples to US shores and what an addition they are! Both move tremendously well and will be hard to beat in this division. Canada’s Vladyslav Komelkov & Alexandra Sevastianova, another couple who feature slick “movement” in their dance arsenal took the third position, again in all dances. For us, quickstep is their best dance. With a more “classic” style, Sweden’s Alieksandr Lavrov & Vilhelmina Lavrov took 4th in all dances. This is a tall, elegant pair who never appeared under stress tonight. For us these 4 couples were well clear in this final, leaving 5th and 6th placements to be decided between the 2 remaining finalists. Robert McShinsky & Jenna McShinsky got the better of it taking 5th in all dances, leaving 6th to Danylo Yanchyshyn & Dascha Wright. We must note that both of these last couples appeared to tire by the end of the final.

• Dave Firestein & Kennedy Eaton Dave Firestein & Kennedy Eaton
• U/21 Latin U/21 Latin
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The Manhattan Dance Championships are the penultimate stop on the Ballroom Spirit U/21 Latin Tour. The finale will be at the DBDC at the end of July, where six couples will compete for $9500 in prize money. The fifth couple were selected tonight by winning the U/21 Latin and it was Dave Firestein & Kennedy Eaton. Dave and Kennedy scored a comfortable win, taking 1st in all dances with a majority of firsts from the judges. The runners-up were Kevin Filipczak & Sophia Marriott and they were 2nd in all dances. (Kevin and Sophia qualified for the finale of the Tour by winning this event at Emerald Ball). 3rd and 4th positions were decided by a Rule 11 tiebreak. Sebastian Lennox & Veronica Baranova from Canada ended up with 3rd spot 4,4,5,3,3 over Benson Maier & Elisabeth Thompson 5,3,3,4,4. 5th Mark Karmalita & Rumi Dolmaya from Canada 3,5,4,5,5; 6th Michael May & Pallany English 6,6,6,6,6. The DBDC will also hold the final leg of the Tour to select the 6th couple to compete in the finale.

Today it was the turn of the Ballroom competitors in the pro-am divisions.

Natalie Rezai w/ Sergey Kiselev won the Open A Scholarship by placing first in all 5 dances. Natalie had the majority of first places in all dances. Anvelyn Pi w/ Dan Malov similarly took 2nd in all dances to secure the runner-up position and Cathy Dorego w/ Andrii Mykhailov took 3rd in all dances. 4th Ah Fong Li w/ Serhey Lazunkov 4,5,5T,4,4; 5th James Deng w/ Yuliya Klinchik 5,4,4,5,5; 6th Jen Mo w/ Karlis Treijs 6,6,5T,6,6.

• Open C Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship Open C Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
• Natalie Rezai w/ Sergey Kiselev Natalie Rezai w/ Sergey Kiselev
• Open B Pro-Am Ballroom Scholarship Open B Pro-Am Ballroom Scholarship
• Janet Simsic w/ Andrea Stefano Janet Simsic w/ Andrea Stefano
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The Open B was a little tighter race. The winner was Janet Simsic w/ Andrea Stefano who placed 1,1,1,2,1. Janet had the majority of firsts in the waltz and tango. Taking 1st in the foxtrot and 2nd in the other dances, Haily Ng w/ Andrii Mykhailov was the runner-up. 3,3,4,4,3 gave Lisa Liao w/ Valerio Colantoni an overall 3rd place finish. 4th Vivien Bryce w/ Stefano Soldati 4,4,3,3,4; 5th Monika Ruszkowski w/ Gunnar Sverrisson 5,5,5,6,6; 6th Ah Fong Li w/ Serhey Lazunkov 6,6,6,5,5.

• Open C Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship Open C Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
• Jill Bradford w/ Andrea Stefano Jill Bradford w/ Andrea Stefano
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Jill Bradford w/ Andrea Stefano scored her second big win in less than a week, taking the Open C quite easily. Jill won all dances with the majority of first places. With placements of 3,2,2,2,2 Rebecca Kuhn w/ Andrea Faraci took the runner-up spot and with 2,3,3,3,3 Annie Chan w/ Cristian Radvan was 3rd. 4th Sabrina Kirkpatrick w/ Oscar Pedrinelli 4,4,4,4,4; 5th Charlene Proctor w/ Andrey Begunov 5,6,5,5,5; 6th Paula Cowpland w/ Andrey Kitsun 6,5,6,6,6.

Paige Riffle w/ Iaroslav Bieliei won all dances (4) in the Open S1, two of them with the majority of first places. Linda Gill w/ Luca Balestra took 2nd placing 2,2,3,2. Llewelyn Nielsen w/ Oreste Alitto was 3rd 3,3,2,3. 4th Ann Pepe Haeussler w/ Yuriy Nartov 4T,4,5,4; 5th Mike Brown w/ Anna Oblakova 6,5,4,5; 6th Pei Lin Jiang w/ Slaveyko Baylov 4T,6,6,6.

• Paige Riffle w/ Iaroslav Bieliei Paige Riffle w/ Iaroslav Bieliei
• Open S1 Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship Open S1 Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
• Linda Dillman w/ Igor Gayenko Linda Dillman w/ Igor Gayenko
• Open S2 Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship Open S2 Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
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The closest race of the afternoon came in the Open S2. Here a Rule 11 tiebreak was needed to decide 1st and 2nd places – often this happens when there are an even number of dances (4 in this case). The result went to Linda Dillman w/ Igor Gayenko 2,2,1,1. The runner-up was Leilani Viney w/ Kamil Urbaniak 1,1,2,2. Third place fell to Laura Solomon w/ Oscar Pedrinelli 3,3,3,3. 4th Helen Kent & Rudy Homm 4,4,4,4; 5th Pamela Melton & Stefano Placidi 5,5,5,5; 6th Jeanette Thor & Igor Litvinov 6,6,7,6; 7th Dexter Wang w/ Liene Apale 7,7,6,7.

On a side note, we must say that we were very impressed with the quality of the gentleman students all day. Congratulations to them and their fine lady teachers!

Bumper Year for Manhattan Dancesport

With over 9,000 entries, it’s a great year for Manhattan Dancesport Championships.

New York City looks beautiful in summer!  And for those who can take a little time while here at the Manhattan Dance Championships, a walk by the East River lends beautiful views of Manhattan.  For those who aren't here - here are some of our photos.

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So far we’ve been through all the pro-am divisions for Rhythm and Smooth and we’ve seen some great competition at all levels – plus all the Pro Rising Star styles.

Rhythm was first up beginning on Wednesday.

Marko Namen w/ Marina Vlasova was the clear winner in the Open A Rhythm Scholarship. He won all dances with clear majorities of first places in all dances. Equally clear in the runner-up position was Chastity Smith w/ Eddie Ares. Chastity took at least 2 first places in each dance and had the majority of “2nd or better” in all dances. Adrian Kaiser w/ Evgeniia Elcoro was 3rd in all dances and he also took at least 1 first place in each dance. 4,4,5,4,5 gave Joanna Gorski w/ Vlad Astafiev a 4th place overall. 5th Ma Lang w/ James Repetti 5,5,4,5,4; 6th Cristina Diana w/ Jean Simboteanu 6,6,6,6,6.

• Open B Pro-Am Rhythm Scholarship Open B Pro-Am Rhythm Scholarship
• Open A Pro Am Rhythm Scholarship Open A Pro Am Rhythm Scholarship
• Marco Namen w/ Marina Vlasova Marco Namen w/ Marina Vlasova
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Only 3 couples contested the Open B and in a 3 to 2 decision the winner was Lila Winiarski w/ Vlad Astafiev 1,1,1,2,2 over Johanna Medina w/ Dmitri Dolgopolov 2,2,2,1,1. Qin He w/ Gherman Mustuc was 3rd in all dance

• Open C Pro Am Rhythm Scholarship Open C Pro Am Rhythm Scholarship
• Lynn Magnesen w/ Tomas Lewandowski Lynn Magnesen w/ Tomas Lewandowski
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The Open C went to Lynn Magnesen w/ Tomasz Lewandowski and Lynn won all dances losing very few first places. Louise Shah w/ Andrew Escolme was 2nd in all dances and Marguerite Pinard w/ Ilya Reyzin was 3rd in all. In fact, all competitors finished in the same position in all dances. 4th Angela Morrison w/ Evgeny Dyachenko; 5th Scott Magnesen w/ Sabrina Manzi; 6th Natalie Kerr w/ Mykhaylo Konstantynov; 7th Ingrid Pessa w/ Jean Michel Erole.

The Open S1 was fairly close between 2 ladies, but the win went to Marguerite Pinard w/ Ilya Reyzin 1,1,2,1 over Joan Goddard w/ Andrew Escolme 2,2,1,2. These two ladies shared most of the judges’ first places in all the dances. Shari Oxman w/ Hayk Balasanyan took 3rd in all dances. 4th Scott Magnesen & Sabrina Manzi 4,4,4,4; 5th Karen McDougall w/ Evgeny Dyachenko 6,5,5,5; 6th Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto 5,6,6,6; 7th Diane Coyne w/ Ivan Kudashev 7,7,7,7; 8th Robie Grana w/ Ian Folker 8,8,8,8.

• Marguerite Pinard w/ Ilya Reyzin Marguerite Pinard w/ Ilya Reyzin
• Open S1 Pro Am Rhythm Scholarship Open S1 Pro Am Rhythm Scholarship
• Susan Miller w/ Hayk Arshakian Susan Miller w/ Hayk Arshakian
• Open S2 Pro Am Rhythm Scholarship Open S2 Pro Am Rhythm Scholarship
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Susan Miller w/ Hayk Arshakian was the winner of the Open S2 and she won all dances. Susan Sordoni w/ Francesco Arietta was the runner-up 3,2,2,2. There was a tiebreak between 3rd and 4th places and the end result was Julia Wang w/ Andrew Escolme placed 3rd 2,3,5,5 and Diane Coyne w/ Ivan Kudashev placed 4th 4,4,4,3. 5th Patricia Mooney & Slawek Roszak 5,5,3,4; 6th Linda Varas w/ Vesko Matakov 6,6,6,6.

The Open Smooth Scholarships were larger than their Rhythm counterparts.

Marko Namen w/ Marina Vlasova made it a double in the Open A division placing first in all dances as he did in the Rhythm. He had the majority of 1st places in all dances. Mackenzie Robbins w/ Volodymyr Barabash was the runner-up and was 2nd in all dances. Aurora Ghorab & Travis Tuft came 3rd with placements of 3,3,5,3. 4th and 5th places were separated by a tiebreak. 4th Kim Norberg w/ Kirill Gorjatsev 5,4,4,4; 5th Lily Mckenzie w/ Darian Chancellor 4,5,3,5; Molly Madigan w/ Michael Odikadze 6,6,6,6.

• Open A Pro Am Smooth Scholarship Open A Pro Am Smooth Scholarship
• Marco Namen w/ Marina Vlasova Marco Namen w/ Marina Vlasova
• Open B Pro-Am Smooth Scholarship Open B Pro-Am Smooth Scholarship
• Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano
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Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano won all dances in the Open B. Celia had a perfect 9 first places in the waltz and large majorities of firsts in the other dances. 2nd and 3rd positions were separated by a Rule 11 tiebreak with the result falling in favor of Mila Pavlichenko w/ Dmytro Gurkov from Canada who placed 2,2,3,3. Patricia Schneider w/ Slawek Sochacki was the other half of the tie and she finished 3rd with 3,3,2,2. 4th Adriana de la Huerta w/ Kirill Gorjatsev 4,4,4,4; 5th Bo Chang w/ Peter Perzhu 5,6,5,5; 6th Terri Camesano w/ Erik Pali 6,5,6,6.

• Open C Pro Am Smooth Scholarship Open C Pro Am Smooth Scholarship
• Patricia Schneider w/ Slawek Sochaki Patricia Schneider w/ Slawek Sochaki
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Patricia w/ Slawek moved up to the winner position in the Open C, she placed 1,1,2,1. This was a very close race with the runner-up, Sophia D’Angelo w/ Max Sinitsa who placed 2,2,1,2. However, only the VW was won with a majority of first places (5 to 4), all the other dances went to “2nd or better” to determine a winner. 3rd place went to Kimberly Bottini w/ Aleksandar Vukosavljevic 3,5,3,3. 4th Charlene Proctor w/ Mikhail Zharinov 5,3,5,4; 5th Amy Brewer w/ Gunnar Sverrisson 4,8,4,5; 6th and 7th places were separated by Rule 11. 6th Lynn Magnesen w/ Tomasz Lewandowski 7,7,6,6; 7th Angela Morrison w/ Evgeny Dyachenko 8,4,7,7; 8th Marguerite Pinard w/ Ilya Reyzin 6,6,8,8.

In the Open S1 there was a very interesting result. For the most part, 3 ladies were sharing the judges’ first places except in the foxtrot where Simona Bebi w/ Nazar Norov received all 9 firsts. However, the final result was a win for Helena Kostik w/ Nikolai Pilipenchuk whose final placements were 2,1,2,1. Simona took 2nd with 3,2,1,2 and Llewelyn Nielsen & Slawek Sochacki was 3rd 1,3,3,3. This was a very closely scored division at the top of the final. 4th Marguerite Pinard w/ Ilya Reyzin 4,4,4,4; 5th Kristi Nadvornik w/ Mayo Alanen 5,5,6,5; 6th Scott Magnesen w/ Izabela Lewandowska 6,6,5,7; 7th Linda Katz w/ Travis Tuft 7,7,7,6.

• Helena Kostik w/ Nikolai Pilipenchuk Helena Kostik w/ Nikolai Pilipenchuk
• Open S1 Pro Am Smooth Scholarship Open S1 Pro Am Smooth Scholarship
• Connie Caruso w/ Kamil Urbaniak Connie Caruso w/ Kamil Urbaniak
• Open S2 Pro Am Smooth Scholarship Open S2 Pro Am Smooth Scholarship
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Connie Caruso w/ Kamil Urbaniak won the Open S2, 1,1,1,2. Connie has been a successful competitor in the Ballroom divisions for some time and is now showing well in Smooth. The runner-up was Judi Markell w/ Pavel Cherdantsau 2,2,2,1 and 3rd was Mark Eberle w/ Veronika End 3,4,3,3. 4th Willie Grana w/ Yuliya Besarab 4,3,4,4; 5th Susan Sordoni w/ Francesco Arietta 5,5,7,6; 6th Patricia Mooney w/ Slawek Roszak 7,7,5,5; 7th Barbara Keiser & Gunnar Sverrisson 6,6,6,7; 8th Michael Lahue w/ Asta Sigvaldadottir 8,8,8,8.

• Mirko Spano & Pamela Romano Mirko Spano & Pamela Romano
• Miroslav Randelovic & Dakota Pizzi Miroslav Randelovic & Dakota Pizzi
• Jeffrey Benarao & Therese Quilaton Jeffrey Benarao & Therese Quilaton
• Vladyslav & Brianna Nalyvaychuk Vladyslav & Brianna Nalyvaychuk
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We also saw all of the Professional RS divisions last night. All but the Ballroom began with a quarter-final round. The winners were: Mirko Spano & Pamela Romano (Ballroom); Jeffrey Benarao & Therese Quilaton (Rhythm); Miroslav Randelovic & Dakota Pizzi (Latin); Vladyslav Nalyvaychuk & Brianna Nalyvaychuk (Smooth).

Stay tuned for more pro-am results and reports on the fabulous Open Professional and Amateur events scheduled for Friday and Saturday here at Manhattan Dance Championships.