Our Sponsors

Nashville Starz              New York Dance Festival          Caribbean Dancesport

The Legend that is Sam!

Last night at BBC & C, billed in their advertising as “A Legendary Celebration,” honored Mr. Sam Sodano, with it’s 5th annual Lifetime Achievement Award. 

We at Dance Beat feel that BBC & C truly honors their recipients.  The award is presented at a banquet specifically designed for the occasion.  The elegant room is equipped with a large size video screen on which a video with tributes from friends and associates, plus a compilation of photographs and clips.

Last night Mr. Sodano was visibly moved by the tributes from friends, many of whom were present as well as from his long-time partner, Mr. Bill Sparks.  Before the accolades, Ms. Pantera presented a spectacular pole-fitness routine in honor of Mr. Sodano (The BBC & C also hosts a pole fitness event) and in true form, Sam could not help but try his hand on the pole when he got up to receive his award.

Past recipients of the award, Margaret Redmond, Pat Traymore and Peter Eggleton were also present.

Back in the Imperial Ballroom the featured events of the night were the Open Professional American Style categories and the Open Amateur Latin – all started with a semifinal round.

In the Open Rhythm, newly crowned US Champions, Emanuel Pierre-Antoine & Liana Churilova received a perfect sweep of 13 first places in all 5 dances – obviously unchallenged in this event.  The other places were more hard-fought.  No couple had a majority of 2nd places in any dance, but Azamat Evgamukov & Kateryna Angelone did have enough “3rd or better” scores to take 2nd in all dances.  Placing 3,4,3,4,3, Matt Hauer & Lauren Schelfhaudt took 3rd.  Interestingly they had 6 second places in cha cha, 1 less than the majority needed to take the 2nd place overall.  Ferenc Nemeth & Olga Kinnard took 4th with 4,3,4,3,4.  They also took a major share of the 2nd places, the most (5) in bolero.  Matthias Kruschel & Christina Schlegel were 5th in all dances and Alexandre Konovalev & Ecaterina Liubenco were 6th.

Travis & Jaime Tuft won the Open Smooth with almost a clean sweep.  Only 2 judges dissented, Margaret Redmond who scored them  2nd in 3 dances (T,F,VW) and Pat Traymore who scored them 5,5,5,4.  Sergey & Yana Nelyubov were the runners-up and they had the majority of “2nd or better” scores in all dances.  Dave Hannigan & Maggie Troth were 3rd in all dances, Aaron Talbert & Angela Maughn were 4th in all and Matthias Kruschel & Christina Schlegel were 5th in all.  With 6,7,6,6 Alexandre Konovalev & Ecaterina Liubenco were 6th and Ryan & Laura Kenner were 7th 7,6,7,7.

Danills Kutezovs & Maria Shalerova from Canada won all dances in the Amateur Latin and had the majority of 1st places in all dances.  From England, Michael Herrera & Lauren McFarland-Herrera were 2nd in all dances.  However, the 2nd places were quite spread out and they did not have the majority of “2nd or better scores” in any dance.  3rd went to Nikita Malakhov & Nadya Vlasova, 3,3,3,3,4.  They had some scores in the lower half of the final and that ruined their chance for 2nd place.  Ron Garber  Liza Lakovitsky were 4th with 4,5,4,4,3.  Arturs Voicehovics & Albina Gorbachevskaya (Canada) were 5th, 5,4,5,5,5 and Stanislav Engelgardt & Tatiana Vasilyeva were 6th.

The rest of the night session was taken up with the pro-am nighclub dances and as usual, some of the contestants really got into the act – see the photos!

During the day, it was Rhythm time for the pro-ams.  The largest of the Open Scholarships was in the C Division and it was won by Joan Goddard w/ Aaron Talbert 3,1,1,1,1.  2nd in all dances went to Renee Kuwahara w/ Ilya Reyzin.  3rd overall went to Ann Morsilli w/ Tibor Kerekes, 4,3,3,3,3.  That missing 1st place in cha cha went to Philip Widlanski w/ Jolanta Mosteika who was 4th overall but scored 1,4,5,5,5.  Maureen Andrews w/ Josh Tilford took 4th in 3 dances but placed 5th overall, 5,5,4,4,4.  6th in all dances went to Maria Matulaniec w/ Gunnar Sverrisson.

Alisa Yetter w/ Dave Hannigan won the Open B Scholarship beating out the current US Champion in this division, Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika.  Alisa placed 2,1,1,1,2.  Giovanni was the runner-up with 1,2,2,3,3.  The 1st place in mambo went to 3rd placed Gwen Bourque w/ Aaron Talbert who scored 3,3,3,2,1.  Diane Michelle w/ Gunnar Sverrisson was 4th.

The C1 was won by Ann Yearian w/ Eddie Ares.  Sharon Brown w/ Javier Buentello was 2nd.

The evening ended, as did all the others, with unlimited champagne in the Presidential Suite for package holders and for those still standing, there was even a champagne “Hair of the Boston Bulldog” brunch in the suite this morning.

Stay tuned to Dance Beat for a full report on the unusual BBC & C – a “legendary celebration!”

Gimaev/Basyuk Take Eggleton Cup

Last night at BBC & C Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk took the annual Peter Eggleton Cup in a great Professional Ballroom competition.  Another highlight was the appearance of US and World Pro Latin Champions, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko in the Pro Latin.

The Ballroom was the most contested of the divisions with 3 US finalists in attendance.  Marat & Alina were the comfortable winners, with the majority of first places in all dances and a perfect 13 in the quickstep.  We thought they appeared to be having a really good time tonight – some of their best recent dancing.  The fight for 2nd was between Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova and Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova.  The tussle went to Alex & Veronika 3 dances to 2 – 3,2,2,2,3.  They shared most of the 2nd and 3rds with Mikhail & Olga, only judge Margaret Redmond scored them in the lower half of the final and only Ieva Pauksena gave them a 1st, in VW.  Mikhail & Olga actually received some 1st places in all dances.

4th spot went to Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley 4,5,5,4,5; 5th to Ronen Zinshtein & Mariam Izmaylova 5,4,6,5,4 and 6th to Anatoli & Irina Gorolevici 6,6,4,6,6.

The competition began as a semifinal and Peter & Pam Eggleton where present to present the cup – the third time it has been awarded.

Not surprisingly, Riccardo & Yulia received perfect scores in the Latin.  It was a great treat to see dancers of this caliber (together with the ballroom) competing in such a beautiful setting.  Easily taking 2nd with the majority of 2nd places in all dances were Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets.  The tightest race was for 3rd but it went to Evgeny Likachev & Maria Levina by 3 dances to 2 – 3,3,3,4,4 over Jean Paul & Lana Rossi 4,4,4,3,3.  Tomas Vasiek & Kimberly Harris-Vasikova were 5th in all dances and Dmitry & Nina Kovolenko were 6th.

Dave Hannigan & Maggie Toth (local favorites) won all dances in the Pro RS Smooth.  Runners-up, again in all dances, were Matthias Kruschel & Christina Schlegel and 3rd in all dances were Aaron Talbert & Angela Maughn.  Matt Fortuna & Tania Munez were 4th 4,5,4,4; Ryan & Laura Kenner were 5th 5,4,5,6 and Leo Mora & Christina Garced took 6th 6,6,6,5.  This event began as a semifinal.

The Pro RS Rhythm was a straight final and this time Matthias & Christina moved up to 1st place 3,1,1,1,1.  Grey Masko & Elizabeth Hayner were 2nd, 1,4,2,2,3 and Edson Jeune & Nina Gruezo took 3rd 2,2,4,4,2.  9-dancers, Leo Mora & Christina Garced were 4th 4,3,3,3,4; Nikko Negado & Pamela Providel took all the 5’s, Ross Toporski & Sophie Cazneuve all the 6’s and Julius Solano & Simone Ousset all the 7’s.

All of  the professional finals were preceded by individual dance-ons with videos of the music being played projected on to the giant screen.

The Amateur Ballroom  was an entertaining division. The winners were Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Seliverstova and they won all dances with a comfortable majority of 1st place marks.  Only judge Pat Traymore consistently scored them in the lower half of the final.  From England, Bohdan Malov & Mariya Krivko were easily 2nd in all dances.  They had also won the U/21 Ballroom earlier in the evening and the Youth Ballroom in the afternoon. 3rd, with 3,3,3,4,3, were Fernando Lareu & Nicole Palagashvili and 4th with 4,4,4,3,4 were Samuel Hacke & Katarina Hermanova.  Cezary Dyrda took all the 5’s and Ben Moss & Esther Rheinbay all the 6’s.

The new partnership of Phillip Kudryavtsev & Dasha Ryndych won the U/21 Latin.

For the pro-ams it was a full day of American Smooth.  The big winner of the day was Alla Neyshtadt w/ Erik Pali who won both the Open B and Open C Scholarships, winning all 8 dances.  2nd in the C was Renee Kuwahara w/ Ilya Reyzin 3,3,2,2 beating Leila Zukowsky w/ Dave Hannigan in a Rule 11 decision (2,2,3,3).

2nd in the B was another student of Mr. Dave Hannigan, Kako Matsumoto who placed 3,2,2,2.  3rd went to Nadia Sicila w/ Chris Panasuk (Canada), 2,3,3,3.

Meg Gibber w/ Aaron Talbert won the Open A Scholarship, 1,1,2,2.  2nd went to Nadia w/ Chris 3,2,1,1 and 3rd to Sara Sharpe w/ Gunnar Sverrisson 2,3,3,3.

Elaine Sheresky w/ Victor Russu won the Open C1, taking all dances.

During the evening, there was a floorshow from some of the "future champions" of the dance world - how many of you recognize these offsspring of some famous dance parents?

Stay tuned for another full day from BBC & C today.  The “Legend of Dance” award will be presented to Mr. Sam Sodano in a full banquet this evening.

Champagne on Tap!

It’s time for the BBC & C, Boston’s elegant Fall celebration at the Park Plaza Hotel.   If you enjoy being treated like a President (or a king), then this event is for you.  Package holders get the chance to “party where presidents dream” as there are nightly champagne parties in the Presidential Suite – a suite that has hosted every modern era sitting president.

And when it’s time for dancing – the Imperial Ballroom at the Park Plaza is among the most elegant in the nation.
 
Yesterday was a full day of pro-am dancing in both of the International Styles, with scholarships in both held in the evening session.  We thought the Ballroom Scholarships were especially strong with a healthy contingent coming from Canada.  

The Open A Scholarship was very strong and resulted in a win for Audrey Paek w/ Ronen Zinshtein.  Audrey won all dances, although in two she tied for 1st place with the runner-up, Jennifer Lee w/ Serghei Pogonet (Canada) who placed 2,2,1T,1T,2.  Another Canadian took 3rd in all dances – Michelle Yeh w/ Anton Lebedev.  Elaine Liu w/ Gary Foster (Hong Kong) was 4th in all dances, Janice Stanton w/ Clive Phillips was 5th and Bambi Hall w/ Tibor Kerekes was 6th.

It was a great day in general for Audrey as she also won all dances in the Open B Scholarship.  Once again Canada took 2nd, Carole Simmons w/ Serghei Pogonet (2,2,2,2,2).  3rd in all dances fell to Noriko Keirnon w/ Erik Pali;  4th in all was Suki Kramer w/ Gunnar Sverrisson;  5th in all Elaine Liu w/ Gary Foster;  6th George Watt w/ Anna Borsch 6,6,7,6,6;  7th Janice Stanton w/ Clive Phillips 7,7,6,7,7 and 8th James Coltharp w/ Olga Chekhova.

Massachusetts came to the fore in the Open C Scholarship taking the top 3 places.  Alla Neyshtadt w/ Basil Issaev won all dances. 2nd in all was Annie Woon w/ Erik Pali and 3rd in all Vicki Gorder w/ Anton Gorolevici.  George Watt w/ Anna Borsch (Canada) was 4th in all dances.  Janice Stanton w/ Clive Phillips took 5th 5,6,6,5,5;  Josee Duboc w/ Sylvain Trottier (Canada) was 6th 7,5,5,6,6 and Sheila Cosby w/ Gabor Seres was 7th 6,7,7,7,7.

The Pro Rising Star divisions also began yesterday with competition in Latin and Ballroom.  The Latin began with a semifinal and the winners in all dances were Evgeny Likachev & Maria Levina.  They had the majority of 1st places in all dances and all 11 firsts in paso doble.  Runners-up today were Tomas Vasiek & Kimberley-Harris Vassikova, they were 2nd in all dances and certainly get the Dance Beat Award for the most improved couple – a big improvement here.  3rd in all dances were Dmitry & Nina Kovalenko; 4th Vlad Astafiev & Linda Gergye 4,4,4,5,5;  5th Leon Turetsky & Kim Lee 5,5,5,4,4 and 6th Manuel Trillo & Anastasia Zhitova.

The Ballroom had only 4 entries but still gave us some entertaining dancing.  The winners, all dances, were Mechyslav Pavlyuk & Gemma Arnold.  2nd went to Yuriy & Oksana Shelkovyy 3,3,2,2,2;  3rd Manuel Trillo & Anastasia Zhitova 2,2,3,3,3 and 4th Artsiom & Volka Chapialiou.

Stay tuned for more results and news from BBC & C, especially the legends award this year that will go to Sam Sodano on Sunday.