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“A” is for Audience!  “A” is for Attitude!  “W” is for Wonderful!”
The WI State – Saturday! It’s hard to find a better Saturday night at a competition than the one every year at Wisconsin State.  That’s why it is always sold out.  Literally!  I overheard the front desk telling a disappointed audience hopeful – “We might be able to find you one seat!”  And the audience is loud and appreciative – great for the dancers, just ask them!

"We should consider everyday lost in which we don't dance."

The night featured all 4 open pro events and a great show – yet didn’t run too much over 3 hours. First on the floor was the Rhythm semifinal and it promised great things with a head to head conflict between 2 of the nation’s best – Andre & Natalie Paramonov and Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova.  In the final analysis Andre & Natalie took it 3 dances to 2 – 1,1,2,1,2.  6 to 3 was the order of the day for the judges.  All dances were won by a margin of 6 first places to 3 with the exception of mambo that Nazar & Irina took 8 to 1.  But let’s not write off the rest of the final.  Shane & Shannon Jensen took 3rd in all dances, Erwin & Iwona Rybscyznski were 4th (4,4,4,5,4);  Jonathan Chen & Nadine Messenger were 5th (5,5,5,4,5) and Dustin Donelan & Kirsten McCloskey were 6th.  Check back soon – Kimberly Mitchell will have a report on this division in Dance Beat soon!

"The body says what words cannot." Next up was the Ballroom – the only straight final of the night.  Ruslan & Katusha Wilder were untouchable in first place and easily won all dances.  We also felt 2nd place was a sure thing – Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer took all the 2’s.  From there it was more uncertain – at least for us.  Dmitry & Cristina Durante were 3rd (3,3,4,3,3);  Vance Mabry & Samantha Simmons were 4th (4,5,3,4,4);  Bradley Courtney & Elisa Seja were 5th (5,4,5,5,5) and Eric & Deborah Gillitzer were 6th.

The largest event of the night was the Smooth with 3 rounds.  Again we found 2 of the nation’s leaders in a duel for the top place, but here it was not so close as the Rhythm.  Mazen Hamza & Izabella easily won all 4 dances losing a total of only 6 first place marks.  Although they did not challenge the winners today in the judges’ eyes, Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija looked strong to us and were easily 2nd in all 4 dances.  Taking the majority of ‘3rd or better’ scores in all dances, Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft looked great today we felt.  They certainly have made some dramatic improvements of late.  Kyle & Allie Spinder took 4th in all dances, David & Natalie Shulz were 5th in all and Adrian & Hannah Dydynski were sixth in this great final.  Watch out for Steven Dougherty’s report in Dance Beat soon.

Genya Bartashevich & Yana Maznikova won all dances in the Latin and again lost very few first place marks.  It was our first opportunity to see 2nd placed Roman Italyankin with new partner, Alexandra Bokova.  They looked impressive at this early stage of their partnership and were easily 2nd in all 5 dances here.  The remaining 4 places were very hard fought.  3rd went to Riccardo Pappi & Sabrina Moretti (3,5,3,4,3);  4th to Vartan Zakhariants & Tania Reis (5,4,4,3,4);  5th to Nikita Savva & Anna Milana (4,3,5,5,6) and 6th to Gene & Elena Bersten (6,6,6,6,5).

"Dance is the hidden lenguage of the soul." We found it very interesting that 6 of the 8 top teachers were ladies – we’re not sure if that has ever happened before at an NDCA competition.  Congratulations to Ann Garvey, Shalene Archer (not pictured) and Nadine Messenger who were the top 3.

The pro-ams had a big day competing in both international styles.  In the Open Ballroom, B division, Jill Bradford w/ Gert Roslender was the comfortable winner taking all dances.  2nd went to Pamela Bolling w/ Ben Ermis (2,2T,2,2,2) and 3rd to Miwa Rifu w/ Peter Minkov (4,2T,3,3,3).  Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski completed her hat-trick and gained her 3rd title of the weekend, taking the Open C and winning all dances.  We felt she has improved dramatically in this style.  2nd went to Nancy Malik w/ Arturas Narbutas (2,2,2,3,2) and 3rd to Susan Lowe w/ Yuriy Kravets (3,3,3,4,3).  That elusive 2nd in foxtrot went to Rick Brooks w/ Shalene Archer who finished 6th overall. Later this same day it was the turn of the Latin ladies and gentlemen.  It was a good afternoon for teacher Genya Bartashevich as two of his students were the victors – Leigh Miron in the Open A (1,1,1,1,1) and Missy White in the Open B (1,1,1,1,1).  2nd in the A was Jennifer Przybyl with Andrzej Przybyl (2,2,2,2,2) and 3rd, Emilia Kokoszka w/ Gene Bersten (3,3,3,3,3).  2nd in the B was Cindy Mishlove w/ Vartan Zakharinats (2,2,2,2,2) and 3rd, Elizabeth Rocco w/ Eric Hudson (3,3,3,3,3).  Janet Colleran w/ Aleks Nashev won the Open C (2,1,1,2,1) and Lisa Lowery had to settle for the runners-up spot this time (1,2,2,1,2).  Joanmarie Vanaski w/ Andrej Przybyl was 3rd (3,3,3,3,3).

"Eat, sleep, breathe...dance!!" As I said at the beginning of this report, the evening ended with a great show “Ballroom Blitz – Revisited!”  This show was artfully put together by Brent Mills and all numbers were backed by video on 3 giant screens.  The show featured a lot of comedy – who can forget the rock and roll boys (Brent, John DePalma, Mark Brock and Michael Mead) or the deck captain impersonators (Brent as Justin Deher and Nadine Messenger as Andrea Ringgold).  But many in the audience loved the touching “Ghost” routine by Shane & Shannon Jensen, Kris Suakjian & Brianna Haft and Kyle & Allie Spinder.  More about this show in the full report later in Dance Beat.  If you are not a member right now – be sure to subscribe here.  Members can see more show photos right now in the Photo Gallery PS.  Dan Messenger – you will be getting an additional bill from Dance Beat for making the judges (including me) dance on to the floor!

Rhythm Time! Yesterday was “rhythm time” for the pro-ams at Wisconsin State and we had 2 double champions. 

"Dance is music made visible."

The first of the Open Scholarships gave a double victory to Julia Vaysfield w/ Nikolai Karchev in the A.  She had won the A Smooth the day before.  2nd tonight was Tiffany Sullivan w/ Dustin Donelan. The B went to Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika who took the event with 1,1,1,2,1 in a strong field.  Winning bolero and placing 2nd in the other 4 was yesterday’s Smooth winner, Kathy Howell w/ Martin Cawston.  3rdin all dances, Aiyesha Dey w/ Eric Hudson.

Lisa Lowery was another double winner, adding the C Rhythm to her Smooth title.   She placed 1,1,2,1,2 ahead of Philip Widlanski w/ Jolanta Mosteika who scored 2,2,1,3,1.  Hope Huber w/ Troy Baeton was 3rd with 3,3,3,2,3.

3 professional couples entered the Showdance and the performances were varied and all high quality.  The winners were the thrilling Shane & Shannon Jenson.  2nd were Genya Bartashevich & Yana Maznikova and 3rd, Kyle & Allie Spinder. Kyle & Allie also danced the RS Smooth tonight and in this they won all dances.  2nd were Jimmy Mulligan & Dani Atkins (2,2,2,3) and 3rd Igor Afonkin & Rachel Mercedes (3,3,3,2).

There was also a strongly contested RS Latin and this went to the West Coast as Riccardo Pappi & Sabrina Moretti from California were the winners, 2,1,1,1,1.  2nd were Gene & Elena Bersten (3,2,2,2,2) and winning the cha cha but placing 3rd overall were Nikita Savva & Anna Milana (1,3,4,3,3).

Smooth Scholarships do not disappoint at WI State Wisconsin State has always been known for the high standard of pro-am dancing and last night the Open Smooth Scholarships certainly did not disappoint.  All were well contested and difficult to judge.

The Open A was the smallest, but still had some great dancing.  2 very different styles of dancing vied for the top spot but the win, in all dances, went to the vivacious Julia Vaysfeld w/ Nikolay Karchev.  2nd in all was the very willowy and elegant Aiyesha Dey w/ Eric Hudson and 3rd fell to Genevieve Parker w/ Michael Koptke. The Open B began as a large semifinal, run in 2 heats, ending with a final of 7.  We felt the top 3 all had a lot to offer but agreed with the final outcome.  1st in all dances was Kathy Howell w/ Martin Cawston;  2nd went to Elizabeth Rocco w/ Eric Hudson (2,2,2,3) and 3rd Lynn Shanahan w/ Darius Mosteika (3,3,3,2). The Open C was the largest division, beginning with a quarter-final.  Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski won all dances despite what we felt was a strong challenge from Hope Huber w/ Troy Baeton.  Janet Colleran w/ Martin Cawston took 3rd (3,4,3,3).

There were also 2 Pro RS events last night, both straight finals.  The Rhythm was the stronger division with the top two places obviously clear to us.  The winners in all dances were Shane & Shannon Jensen, who certainly show improvement in this genre.  2nd in all were Erwin & Iwona Rybczynski who certainly could have taken a dance or two in our view.  3rd tonight were Dustin Denelan & Kristen McCloskey who also show improvement. Only 3 couples contested the RS Ballroom and the level of dancing was not especially high.  The winners were Dmitry & Cristina Durante (1,1,2,1,2) over Bradley Courtney & Elisa Seja (2,2,1,2,1) and Erik & Deborah Gillitzer. Amazingly, the Wisconsin State is still held in the charming and elegant Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee, its home since its inception over 20 years ago.  I think is the only competition on the NDCA calendar that has never moved!