For us it was freezing outside where you could almost feel it inside the common areas of the Hilton Hotel. But lucky for us we were all reunited for the North American inside the ballroom where it was steaming hot with great dancing and fun times, from Pro/Am to professional dancing and in between.

• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
• Travis & Jaimee Tuft Travis & Jaimee Tuft
•  

Last night was hot commencing with the Professional Smooth where some of the best in the country went once again head to head. The winners in all dances were Travis & Jaimee Tuft who unlike in a few of their previous performances we witnessed, had it all - great quality dancing but fully connected emotionally with the dance the music and the audience and best of all, the quality of their technical movements. Travis & Jaimee lost only two marks out of 13 in the waltz, two marks in the foxtrot, two marks in the Viennese Waltz. Their challengers, Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova who were also in good form and who placed second in all dances stole the most firsts in one dance and that was in the tango with three first place marks going to them.

On this evening we enjoyed Aleksandar & Alexandra quite a lot, their performances are always interesting to watch with some unique perspective in their interpretation of the four dances and this we truly enjoy and admire; however, last night’s performance at times lacked the clarity of technical movement in some of their risk-taking transitions. On this performance this made them fall a little behind Travis & Jaimie who for many of us were perfectly, technically sound. We love Aleksandar & Alexandra’s approach to the style and we think this could easily push them to the top, but it has to be done to perfection. You can see by some of their marks the judges are struggling to understand their unique style and interpretation. We don’t see how, but in the waltz they got 5 thirds, in their tango that for us is their best dance they were awarded 3 first but they also got three 3rds and a 5th. Their foxtrot got one first, three thirds and a fifth, and in their Viennese they go three thirds, a fourth and a fifth. We have to say that in the not so recent past we have seen a better performance, one that could have easily won over Travis & Jaime, but this was not it!

• Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova
• Tykhon Zhyvkov & Yana Zhyvkov Tykhon Zhyvkov & Yana Zhyvkov
•  

Third in this wonderful final were Tykhon & Yana Zhyvkov who as usual gave a strong technical and correct performance. This is a couple that always does the correct thing but perhaps they need to get a little more edgy and make us wonder why? Instead of “It all looks good.” Yes, they did manage to steal once first from Travis & Jaime in every dance, but they also got a number of sixths on their scorecard from a few of the judges. So obviously they are not interesting or impressive enough for the judges to place them way above Aleksandar & Alexandra.

Kharyton & Anastasiya Khomenko placed fourth in all dances but for us on this outing they could have easily been fifth. Their usual soft carefree approach for us was not there, instead we got some well executed routines and for that we have Tykhon &Yana with a stronger technical merit. Fifth were Volodymyr Barabash & Yulia Rudenco, this is perhaps the couple to keep an eye on. Their programs are excellent, at the moment they lack an emotional connection to fully place them as a unit, but they are getting there. In sixth place were Vladyslav & Brianna Nalyvaychuk. We were happy for them to be there and so were they. This was a final that was totally worth being on either end of the scale. As far as their performance it was good, for us there were quite a few couples that could have easily taken their place in their final but we were happy to see them there.

Looking at the finalists we noticed most of them are married couples, is this better for success or not? In the past couples had to hitch up in order to be taken seriously. Many couples are now no longer married with some even choosing a different gender to love. We like an emotional attachment to dance, is this more convincing when you share a last name? This questions will always be there and for us it’s interesting to ponder.

Since we are talking about the American Style dances, let’s go to the Open Professional Rhythm and see how it fared in comparison. We hate to report that yes there were a few excellent players but the majority of the final was in hibernation. Perhaps next year we will get a firmer group and not just some. The winners overall were Gene Bersten & Elena Bersten by winning 4 dances and placing second in the mambo. Gene & Elena up to recently have been quite popular in this field, their contagious smile and great nature on the floor as well as their quality of dancing has placed them quite high, but as of late and in looking at the marks from yesterday, we can see that many of the judges are looking somewhere else. I n the chacha for example Gene & Elena had to depend on seconds or better marks in order to win, they were only awarded 5 firsts out of 15 judges. And who got the most firsts in this dance? Their challengers Roger Romero & Arismel Naya they were awarded 6 firsts from the judges, had they gotten a few more seconds they might have won this dance.

• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
• Gene & Elena Bersten Gene & Elena Bersten
• Roger Romero & Arismel Naya Roger Romero & Arismel Naya
• Dymytrii Goncharov & Veronika Shapar Dymytrii Goncharov & Veronika Shapar
•  

For us Roger & Arismel who placed second overall, were the clear winners and perhaps the closest to American Rhythm style we have seen in quite some time, and a good proof is the fact that they won fair and square the mambo, the true mother of all Rhythm dances. The rumba was a clear win for Gene & Elena here they had the majority of firsts with 11 of the judges awarding them first - that is a full majority. Gene & Elena won the swing but here they too had to depend of second or better marks since only 6 judges awarded them first. Roger & Arismel were awarded 5 firsts just one shy of 6. In the bolero Gene & Elena also had the eye of the judges with 11 of them marking them first that is a full majority. And we all know what happed in the mambo a clear win for Roger & Arismel.

As we mentioned, for us the clear winners although a little flat footed at times were Roger & Arismel, but for now they took second overall. The couple that cannot be discounted in this final were Dymytrii Goncharov & Veronika Shapar who placed third in all dances. Dymytrii & Veronika also stole firsts in all dances but the mambo and the rumba. I think Dymytrii & Veronika has some clear dancing but have a hard time characterizing every dance. Alexey Smirnov & Daria Smirnova placed fourth and here also we too have a good clean performance. For them to get ahead they need a little more confidence and impact in what they are doing. Renzo & Andrea Zegarra took fifth, with clean work but the partnership has to be balanced physically and technically, and 6th went to Slava & Kristin Polubneva.

• Open Pro Cabaret Open Pro Cabaret
• Zachary Pohl & Ariel Freilich Zachary Pohl & Ariel Freilich
• Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser
• Jay Holmes & Andrea Rupley Jay Holmes & Andrea Rupley
•  

The Cabaret was quite thrilling and in some ways very interesting. The clear winners for us and the majority of the judges even though they lost three first place marks, were Zachary Pohl & Ariel Freilich. They performed a Cabaret routine with plenty of overheads, thrills and frills and very well-executed lifts. Second in this heat went to Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser who thrilled the judges with a dress and a paso doble. There was not much to this routine except the fact that it was clean and tight as a whistle, you could not poke any holes in it. Third overall went to Jay Holmes & Andrea Rupley, who also did a cabaret routine with some major lifts but unfortunately they had a major miss in one of their lift and that we think might have cost them a few marks. Fourth was awarded to Devan & Brooke McClish, this was also a well-executed cabaret routine with many lifts, the issue here is that at times it can look a little like hard work or if they might not make the lift, this is a problem when it comes to doing Cabaret work because you have to give the audience and the judges confidence and here there was very little confidence given. Had both these cabaret routines been executed perfectly, they probably would have been marked above the red dress and the paso doble. Fifth was awarded to Alexey Smirnov & Daria Smirnova, who did a perfectly executed half cabaret half showdance routine, the problem here is there are few thills making it just good enough and clean enough to say it was good. Last were Arthur Sigmund & Azure Hall in sixth position.

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
• Valerio Colontoni & Anna Demidova Valerio Colontoni & Anna Demidova
• Radu Sterban & Xenia Cletova Radu Sterban & Xenia Cletova
• Igor & Valeriia Mikushov Igor & Valeriia Mikushov
•  

In the Professional ballroom the current WDC World Professional Champions, Valerio Colantoni & Anna Demidova won all dances with perfect scores from the judges and we must say that although it was not the best effort we have seen from this talented couple it was good enough to win and win clearly. Placing second in all dances were Radu Sterban & Xenia Cletova. This might have been a clear second in all dances for this couple but when you look at the scorecard you can see that they did get the majority of seconds especially in the quickstep, but in the other dances they just scraped 7 second marks and had to depend on thirds or better to place second overall. With the exception of the quickstep where Radu & Xenia by far outweighed the others, our favorite was Igor & Valeriia Mikushov who placed third in all dances. Vladislav Shakhov & India Phillips took fourth and we have to agree it’s an excellent partnership but still green around the edges 4,4,4,4,5. A great performance was given by Dan Malov & Anna Bohachova who placed fifth overall 5,5,5,5,4. And sixth in all dances was awarded to Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley.

• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
• Andriy & Amanda Besyedin Andriy & Amanda Besyedin
• Sasha Porozov & Arina Sokolova Sasha Porozov & Arina Sokolova
•  

The Professional Latin was a little predictable but here Andrey & Amanda Besyedin took all five dances with the clear majority of firsts in all dances. Second in all dances was awarded to Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser, this was the only couple in the final to steal first place marks from Andrey & Amanda, we feel that Andrey & Amanda were clearly the best when it came to the work and performance; however, Andrey is perhaps the most talented gentleman of this group. If they sort the partnership and their work a little more they might be able to challenge in future outings. Third overall went to Sasha Porozov & Arina Sokolova 4,3,3,3,3, Dmitrii Chopenko & Valeria Khrapak placed fourth 3,4,4,5,4, Mishiko Bregvadze & Alena Khoroshevtseva took fifth overall 5,5,5,4,5, Nazar Zakharchenko & Anastasiia Rozdabara were sixth in all dances, Illia Berezhnyi & Yuliia Lozovska took seventh overall 8,8,7,7,7, and Vladyslav Batareyniy & Yelyzaveta Vyshnevska placed eight 7,7,8,8,8.

• Open Amateur Ballroom Open Amateur Ballroom
• Roman Shchochka & Marta Tyutyunnyk Roman Shchochka & Marta Tyutyunnyk
•  

The Open Amateur Ballroom was also a great showing and here Roman Shchochka & Marta Tyutyunnyk won all dances. Second was awarded to Vlad Knight & Julia Shvartsman and that was in all dances also and third went to Jonathan Liu & Oleksandra Basko. Oskar Rybczynski & Daniela Koretska placed fourth, fifth were Yuliy Sannikov & Michelle Chen, Brian Noon & Anastasia Tatarenko were sixth and seventh went to Alan Burns & Kelly Batchelor.

• Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
• Mykyta & Lyndsey Vasylenko Mykyta & Lyndsey Vasylenko
•  

In the Open Amateur Latin, Mykyta & Lyndsey Vasylenko won all dances with a majority of firsts. Second overall was Sean Lama & Vlada Kovalenko 2,3,2,3,3, third went to Oskar Rybczynski & Daniela Koretska 3,2,3,4,2. Igor Horobchenko & Alina Lisova were fourth 4,4,4,2,4, Alexander & Alissa Vladimirov placed fifth in all dances and sixth were Kye Rivers & Olivia Stozynska.

The organizer of The North American Championships once again this year was multi-time World & US Champion, Katusha Demidova