Let’s start with the dancing.  All 4 open pro divisions attracted some of the nation’s leading contenders, so let’s look at them in 

order.  First up was the Rhythm, a semifinal round.  To no great surprise, Emanuel Pierre-Antoine & Liana Churilova won all dances and took the night.  But hot on their heals were the ever improving Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova who were 2nd in all dances, but stole some first places in all – up to 4 in the swing that Emanuel & Liana took by 5 to 4.  3rd in all 5 were Misha Vlasov & Vanda Polakova and they too took a couple of the judges’ 1st places.  We thought they were showing a new level of attack the whole night.  Ivan Disliev & Marieta Nedyalkova were 4th in all, Josh Tilford & Ashley Merino were 5th (5,5,5,6,5) and Alejandro & Luciella Falcon were 6th (5,5,5,6,5). "Dance isn't something that can be explained in words; it has to be danced"

The Ballroom was next, another semifinal and once again is was a west coat duel between Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva and Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova  that again went to Artem & Inna by 4 dances to 1.  Mikhail & Olga won the Viennese Waltz.  The winners had a comfortable majority of 1st places in the 4 dances.  Mikhail & Olga took the VW by 6 to 5.  We thought this was a better showing for the runners-up than in CA Open a couple of weeks ago.  3rd in all were Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa, 4th in all, Igor Colac & Roxanne Milloti;  5th were Michael Towliszew & Tiffany Fung (5,6,5,5,6) and 6th, Simeon & Kora Stoynov (6,5,6,6,5).  Lorain Barry will have the report in the members’ section here on www.dancebeat.com soon.

There were 3 rounds in the Smooth and it provided the biggest shake up in form and we saw little consensus from the judges, with the exception of the winners.  Those winners were Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorijawho had a strong majority of 1st places in all dances, including a perfect 11 1st in foxtrot.  Placing 2nd were Sergey Barsukov & Maria Sidjnova (2,2,2,3) and 3rd, Kyle & Allie Spinder (3,5,5,2).  The judges were fairly evenly split on these two in the RS.  (In fact that result was amended to an unbreakable tie for 1st place.  The day before it had been incorrectly given to Sergey & Maria.)  Tonight they favored Sergey & Maria more heavily although they never achieved a majority of ‘3rd or better’ scores.  Both couples were on fire tonight and we look forward to more!  Placing 4th were David & Natalie Shulz (4,4,3,4) who were obviously still in the mix and placed ahead of Kyle & Allie in 2 dances.  Also finding support among the judging panel was Sergey Shapoval & Ania Tarnowska who were 5th (5,3,4,5) but did receive some 1st and 2nd placements.  Closing the final were Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft who also received some 1st and 2nd placements.  What a final!  Watch for a full report from Michael Mead & Toni Redpath in the members’ section soon.

The final pro event was the Latin, a semifinal round.  Many of the same couples that contested the CA Open were here, but the results were not the same.  Winning today, and taking all dances, were Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova who impressed the judges enough to receive the majority of 1st places in the last 3 dances.  Vitalli Proskurin & Evgenia Shatilova dropped a notch to 2nd placing 3,2,2,4,2.  Both couples are doing great and we look forward to many more good contests.  We did not see any weakening of Vitalli & Evgenia.  3rd tonight were Yegor Novikov & Tetyana Oliynik (4,4,3,3,3).  This was actually a Rule 10 tiebreak between them and Evgeny Likachev & Mariya Levina who placed 2,5,4,2,4 – 2nd in 2 dances!  This must have been encouraging for them.  5th were Denis Podolyskiy & Yuliya Kushnirenko (5,3,5,5,5) and 6th were Simeon & Kora.  Giocomo Setccaglia & Melissa Dexter will have the report. "Dance is music made visible"

We must mention the great live music provided for these professional events by Brent Mills and the “Vegas Open All Stars.”  Live music can be hit or miss, but when you have dancers in control, there’s a much better chance that things will go smoothly.  In addition to Brent on drums & piano the band included Mark Weiss, guitar, trumpet, congas, vocals and Eddie Melendez, timbales.  Also guesting on guitar was organizer, Mikal Watkins.  The band moved on to also play for dancing at the fabulous after party.  Everybody danced!  Look for a lot of candid and fun photos in our members' photo gallery! There were also some good quality amateur divisions, swelled by entries from BYU.  Andres & Veronika End (CA) were again winners in the Ballroom taking all dances and Ruslan Kalyuzhnyy & Ksenia Sovenko (WA) were 2nd in all and Jordan Qintana & Grace Wang (CA) were 3rd in all.  The same final results as in CA Open. In the Amateur Latin, the audience were treated to a viewing of one of the world’s leading couples (they were recently 3rd at the UK) – Ferdinando Iannaccone & Yulia Musikhina, who represent USA.  They showed their incredible speed and control – certainly another wow!  Philip Kudryatsev & Ashley Goldman (CA) were 2nd (2,2,2,3,2) and Dmytry Dmytrenko & Cheyenne Murillo (UT) were 3rd (3,3,2,3,3). The pro-ams danced Smooth and their open Scholarships took place in the afternoon session and were among the best of the week.  Sirinda Sicharoen w/ Max Sinitsa won the A (1,1,1,1).  This lady is really improving we thought.  Shelby Hafen w/ Sergey Shapoval was 2nd (2,2,2,2) and Irene Lee w/ Nick Cheremukhin was 3rd (3,3,3,3). In the B Beverly Rocco w/ Eric Hudson won all dances.  Cherie Hassenflu w/ Eddie Stutts was 2nd (2,2,2,3) and Joanne Tatum w/ Mariusz Zakrzewski was 3rd (4,3,3,3,2) with a very emotionally committed performance. Beverly Moore maintained her dominance in the C division, winning all dances.  2nd was a greatly improved Marina Sanchez-Torres w/ Max Sinitsa (3,2,2,2) and 3rd Janice Smith w/ David Weise.

International Night Again? Well not quite!  But although it was Rhythm day for the pro-ams, it was interesting to see some “international” couples dancing last night here in Vegas.  Namely, several amateur couples from the Peoples’ Republic of China plus a professional couple from the Philippines. But as I said above it was Rhythm day for the pro-ams.  Professional, Misha Vlasov from Florida had a good day in the Open Scholarships as two of his students were classy winners.  Tatiana Gonzalez was great in the A to run out an easy winner, we thought, and Julia Korsog was equally secure in the B.  Both ladies won all dances. 2nd in the A went to Nicole Huerta w/ Edwin Torres, all dances and 3rd, all dances, Bernadette Straatsma w/ Felipe Telona.  Bernadette was 2nd in the B in all dances and Anush Boyajian w/ Mariusz Zakrzewski was 3rd, 3,3,4,4,3. 

The winner of the C was Nancy Rapoport w/ Sergei Shapoval, again in all dances.  2nd in all was Sally Baird w/ Steve Vasco and 3rd was Pat Bodin w/Antonio Conde (4,3,3,3,3). Probably the most exciting division of the Vegas Open so far was the Pro RS Latin, a 2-round event featuring some of the nation’s up and coming talent.  Winners were Vitalii Proskurin & Evgenia Shatilova who won 4 dances and were 2nd in paso doble.  This relateively new team is certainly creating a stir.  Also strong were the winners of the paso doble, Evgeniy Likachev & Mariya Levina.  They were 2nd in the remaining dances.  Still maintaining the form we saw in CA Open, Simeon & Kora Stoynov placed 3rd, 3,4,3,3,3.

5 couples contested the Pro Showdance and it was Kyle & Allie Spinder who were the winners, with a classic adagio style Viennese Waltz.  We also liked a new “James Bond” tango from Sergey Shapoval & Ania Tarnowska that earned them 2nd place.  Alejandro & Luciella Farcon were 3rd, ironically also in James Bond mode with “Skyfall.”  Misha Belfer & Julie Garczynski were 4th and Adam Herhandez & Stacy Breedon, 5th. The other pro event of the night was the RS Ballroom, a straight final.  We liked the winners, Evgeniy Mayorov & Olga Lisovskaya (1,1,2,1,1).  2nd went to Slava  & Lara Kostianets and 3rd to Jerswin Polyapoy & Anne Montserrat from the Phillipines.

China scored a victory in the 2-round pre-champ Latin.  Zhongjian Liu & Yuljie Qi placed 1,1,1,4. We were again impressed with Phiip Kudryatsev & Ashley Goldman who won the U/21 Latin.  There was also a good duel in Senior Ballroom with the top three couples all dancing well.  Angus Sinclair & Daria Campbell won all dances, Turtle Brennen & Regina Pareigis were 2nd and Hans & Ans Stork were 3rd. All in all it was a great night in the ballroom with a really enthusiastic audience cheering on the couples and making them dance even better.  We’re looking forward to tonight’s open pro divisions and the live music by Brent Mills and the band!

"Dance is my passion and no one can never ever take that away from me"
 
Vegas Open Starts with an International Flair Unusually Vegas Open began this year with both styles of the International for pro-ams, beginning with the Latin.  The freestyle heats took place during the day and the Open Global Scholarships were at night. It was a mixed day for the doyen of Canadian pro-am, Beverly Moore and her teacher Alain Doucet.  Beverly romped to victory in the C Latin, winning all dances, but had to be content with 3rd in the B Ballroom, often her stronger style.  Tammy Knight w/ Oleksil Lytvyn took 2nd in the C Latin (2,2,2,2,2) and Jenny Fong w/ Yiri Kosydar was 3rd (3,3,3,3,4).  Both the A and B Latin also offered great competition.  Brittni Goonzalez w/ Radomir Pashev won all dances in the A.  2nd spot went to Vera Xu w/ Jakub Zeglin (2,2,2,2T,2) and 3rd went to a very promising males student, Michael Roberts w/ Milana Pliner.  We thought Michael could definitely have placed better in a couple of dances.

The B Latin was won by Tina Broccole w/ Delyan Terziev.  Tina won all dances and we felt saved her best dancing for the final.  2nd, from Canada, was Marialisa DeGasperis (2,3,2,2,3) and 3rd, Svetlana Van Tessel w/ Andrey Tarasov (3,2,3,3,2).

The winner of that B Ballroom was Lily Chang w/ Sergey Kiselev, who took all dances with soe strong aggressive dancing.  2nd went to Ling Ma w/ Edgar Gasjuns (3,2,2,2,2).  Beverly took her 3rd place with scores of 4,3,3,3,3.  Michele Peng w/ Mikhail Avdeev took the 3rd spot in waltz. A new lady to us took the A Ballroom in fine style – Jenika Kalish w/ Raffaele Sabato (2,2,1,1,1).  The 2nd spot went to Irene Lau w/ Mikhail Avdeev (1,1,2,2,3) and 3rd was Lisa Liau w/ Andrea Feraci (3,3,3,3,2). Jeannine Cutter w/ Giocomo Agrello was the victor in the C, placing 2,1,1,1,2.  Deborah Erico w/ Dariusz Michaelski was the runner up (1,2,2,2,1) and Emily Wang w/ Eddie Stutts was 3rd in all dances.

A Rule 11 decided the result of the Pro Rising Star Smooth and the win went to Sergey Barsukov & Maria Sidnjova 2,1,2,1.  The other half of the tie was Kyle and Allie Spinder 1,2,1,2.  We thought both couples were in tip top form tonight and a tie was almost a fair result.  But there has to be a winner!  3rd were Jean Dobre & Daniele Bammer 5,3,3,3,3.

The RS Rhythm was a straight final.  Josh Tilford & Ashley Merino were the winners here, placing 2,1,1,1,1.  Leo Mora & Christina Garced were 2nd, 1,2,2,2,3 and Alejandro & Luciela Falcon were 3rd, 3,3,3,3,2. This year's Vegas Open, with 6500 entries is the largest in its history.  It has also moved this year and is at the Luxor Hotel & Casino on the Vegas Strip.