• View from the ballroom View from the ballroom
• Beach View Beach View
• Intracoaastal Waterway Intracoaastal Waterway
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The views from this hotel are spectacular - all rooms have a view you can look at the beach or at the Intra-coastal or you can see the sea, both views are lovely, interesting and spectacular. The pampering the organizers have also given the people is to be commended - everyone that we spoke to about it had nothing but compliments for the organizers and the venue.

Last night, the evening competitions were quite interesting with a full semifinal round in the Rhythm, a terrific final in the Ballroom and an exciting Cabaret competition. There were plenty of judges to pass around so you would think we would be in line with all their calls, but not this time.

The most shocking result for us was in the Open Professional ShowDance, where four very capable couples took to the floor each with a different style. Perhaps here lies the issue. First to go were Fedor Artemev & Ekaterina Artemeva who presented what seemed to be a very dramatic international rumba with a few lifts at the end. We have to say that although this might be a very fast couple on their feet, sometimes not every thing is about “speed and stop,” there has to be more than that to Latin American dancing. They placed third in this four-couple final, but were rewarded third in the Open Professional Latin, so maybe speed is everything for this very qualified panel of judges.

• Pro Showdance Pro Showdance
• Stanislav Morozov & Kseniia Tashkinova Stanislav Morozov & Kseniia Tashkinova
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Next to go were Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley who in our opinion did a terrific, faultless performance on an actual ShowDance demonstration of Ballroom dancing (in the USA there seems to be an issue because when you compete in ShowDance at a US Championship or World Championship, some elements of the style Latin or Ballroom have to be presented). From our perspective, this amazing performance should have taken perfect scores from the judges it was not only interesting, with a theme, but it was executed perfectly - few mistakes were noted and they managed to do quite a number of dances within the program. Nazar & Mariko were awarded second by the judges. But the most shocking part of this result is to see how many judges awarded them third place!!! There were seven total! Had it not been for a few judges that thought they should have been first or at least second, they would have placed third. Perhaps we were seated on a cheap seat and saw things others missed!

Third to perform were Alexey Smirnov & Daria Smirnova who did a well-executed routine, not really sure what it was about but all work was well executed, in fact I would have thought that with the amount of missteps rescued lifts and shaky landings the winning couple had this couple might have even moved to second position, but it was not to be they were placed fourth.

Last to go was the winning couple and the one that the judges with a full majority thought should have won - Stanislav Morozov & Kseniia Tashkinova. We have witnessed this routine a number of times and had we known in advance who the couples were, we would have agreed with the judgement but on this occasion, from where we stood, they had some very obvious mishaps. In fact a number of times we though they might not make the overhead, and as we mentioned before, even some of the landings where quite shaky and out of balance to say the least - but there you have it “results are everything” and they won with a majority of firsts last night at the Marriott Resort Fort Lauderdale Harbor Beach ballroom.

The Open Professional Rhythm was actually quite an interesting competition as well. Six couples made this final and here Senzo Makhaye & Agnieszka Strojek took all dances. We are slightly surprised that they only took the majority of firsts by one first place mark 8 out of 15 judges though they were by far the best. However, from where we were and in our opinion they were miles away from the rest of the group. Second in this heat was awarded to Brad Montagnese & Tania Trigili, who had just won the Rising Star the night before. This is a very good looking couple with lots of potential unfortunately for us their work is a little over-worked and tends to look a bit like a Latin couple doing Rhythm. Brad & Tatiana did manage to steal quite a number of firsts from Senzo & Agniezka especially in the swing where they stole 7 first place marks from the winning couple.

• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
• Senzo Makhaye & Agnieszka Strojek Senzo Makhaye & Agnieszka Strojek
• Brad Montagnese & Tania Trigili Brad Montagnese & Tania Trigili
• Alexey Smirnov & Daria Smirnova Alexey Smirnov & Daria Smirnova
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Third place went to Alexey Smirnov - Daria Smirnova with these marks 3,3,3,3,4. We felt that this couple had a better final than the semifinal where they basically walked it over. Fourth were Stanislav Morozov & Kseniia Tashkinova, we are also a little surprised with this couple’s placement, they seemed to be quite well prepared, but at times their movement could look a little “tin” like, especially in Mr. Morozov’s mambo. Fifth was awarded to Andrei Svirydzenka & Yuliya Zubava, who we have not seen dance for quite some time. Not sure the long loose hair helped their cause, but we felt that compared to many of the other couples, their Rhythm is still solid. I know they have been dancing from quite some time as a couple of judges suggested after the fact, but that is not their problem and should not be brough into the equation when judging, we figure the judges should be there to judge the dancing and not how long a couple has been dancing. In sixth place were Roberto Fernandez - Laura Paname, who I thought were a little quiet on this night but still had a riveting mambo.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
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The Professional Ballroom was quite small with only three couples entered, however, it still pulled a punch in the evening and it was quite interesting. The winners, by placing second in both waltzes, but taking first in the foxtrot, tango and quickstep were Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley. Second overall by winning both waltzes and taking second in the other three dances were Natalia O'Connor & Florin Vlad. When the competition first started we thought the second couple for sure was going to win the evening, their waltz was quite beautiful. Unfortunately, they were left behind in the tango where Nazar & Mariko made it quite clear they were there for the winning result. Third was awarded to Katia Cerboneschi - Fabrizio Nencini.

Congratulations to Mark Nocera & Helle Rusholt Yi, for giving everyone such a lovely weekend under the sun. Dance Beat is Floridian at heart and we still think this is a lovely state to run some amazing events.

Smooth but Hard!

Friday Night at the Boca Ballroom DanceSport Competition, the professional heats were excellent.

The Open Professional Smooth in particular was terrific but possibly very hard for the judges who were asked to place 7 couples in the final. The Open Professional Latin was a little more predictable but also of great standard.

• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
• Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova
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As we mentioned earlier, the Smooth for us on the sidelines was hard to watch - too many couples had wonderful nights and in the end one never knew what would happen. But a decision was brought down and Alexandra Smirnova & Aleksandar Vukosavljevic won the competition and all dances with a majority of firsts in every dance. Their Viennese was probably their weak link, here they lost 5 first place marks from the 15 panel of judges. In some of the other dances they lost 2 and in the tango 4. For us there was no one else, we felt that on this performance they were totally above the rest and we were a little surprised they did not get any perfect scores in any of their dances.

Second as we suspected was awarded to Adele & Jang Don who stole the majority of first place marks from Alexandra & Aleksandar. We felt that the first half of their programs were a lot more complete but after the foxtrot they were a little weaker. Overall Adele & Jang placed second in all dances and took that placement home.

• Jang & Adele Don Jang & Adele Don
• Peter Minkov & Yulia Sorokata Peter Minkov & Yulia Sorokata
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Third went to Peter Minkov & Yuliia Sorokata who from a technical stand are excellent to watch. However, Pavel Lebedev & Ekaterina Romashkina on this night were right on their heels and we would not have been surprised if the placements were reversed. Pavel & Ekaterina placed fourth. We most also point out that Peter & Yuliia took 1first in the tango from the winning couple and in the Viennese Waltz and that was from judge, Yulia Kornilova.

Fifth place was awarded to Kosta Trifunovic &Valeria Vasilchenko in all dances, sixth went to Esther Frances & Dmitry Krasnyanskiy, and in seventh position were Nicolas Garcia - Nora Garcia.

• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
• Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasiya Danilova Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasiya Danilova
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The Professional Latin was a six-couple final and here we could have easily read the tea leaves. Anastasiya Danilova & Artur Tarnavskyy won the competition by placing first in all dances, they also managed to win all dances with a majority of firsts from the judges. The most first place marks they lost was in the paso doble where they lost 6 first place marks, but they still won that dance with a majority. For us they were the clear winners. In fact we found them quite improved. Anastasiya & Artur moved down to Florida a year or so ago and for a while they seemed to be in vacation mode. On this outing we felt that they are back on the horse possibly the coming US championships in September is a goal that makes everyone get totally prepared.

Second in this terrific heat was awarded to Amanda Besyedin & Andriy Besyedin who placed second in every dance. Overall we find Amanda & Andriy quite disciplined and with that kind of commitment there is only one place to go and that is up. We must also point out that the six first place marks that Anastasiya & Artur lost in the paso doble were all picked up by them they also took at least two to three firsts in many of the dances from the winning couple.

• Andriy & Amanda Besyedin Andriy & Amanda Besyedin
• Fedor Artemev & Ekaterina Artemeva Fedor Artemev & Ekaterina Artemeva
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Third in this excellent heat went to Fedor Artemev - Ekaterina Artemeva with these marks 3,4,3,3,3. We think this couple to be super talented but on this outing we found them a little frantic and rushing through all their actions. Fourth place went to Caitlin Andersen - Maurizio Conte 4,5,5,4,4, and in fifth place were Vlad Astafiev - Elizabeth Zymovets 5,3,4,5,5, and last but not least in sixth position were Giorgi Khmiadashvili - Novell Loh who took sixth in every dance.