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Sweet!

The last night at the Orange County Dancesport Challenge was short and sweet, the day was filled with Ballroom Pro/Am competitions as well as children, and in the evening there were only two main events running the Open Professional Smooth and Latin.

Out of the two pro events, the Smooth had the most excitement in this occasion for us, and we thought it was a walk in the park for Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija who won all dances with a majority of firsts from the judges and in the foxtrot they got perfect scores from all the judges. There were only two judges who awarded them second place marks and they were Giaccomo Steccaglia who awarded them a second in the waltz, and Cynthia Long who awarded them seconds in three dances and first in the foxtrot. Kyle & Allie Spinder placed second and where the only couple that stole the firsts from Nick & Viktorija. Third was awarded to Nathan Simler & Mirelle Gineste and they placed third in three dances and fourth in the tango.

Fourth in this Professional Smooth heat went to Valeriia Kostianets 4,3,4,4, fifth was Kyle & Christina Campbell 5,6,5,5, Kelton & Jessica Johnson were sixth 6,5,6,6, and Drew Miller & Kristina Humphrey were seventh in all dances.

The second feature event this evening was the professional Latin and here the winners were Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokova, but it was not as easy as for the Smooth winners. Roman & Alexandra did manage to get the majority of firsts in most dances but placed second overall in the paso doble with only five firsts in this dance and the rest second place marks.  However, in the other dances a few of the marks made us raise our eyebrows.  For example, in the cha cha Cynthia Long awarded them a sixth, in the Samba she gave them a fourth, and in the rumba she upgraded them to a third. Cynthia concluded her marks with a second in the paso, and a first in the jive.

In this Professional Latin event those missing firsts in Roman & Alexandra’s column went to Evgeny Likhachev & Maria Levina who placed second overall and took the paso from Roman & Alexandra. From this point on the final became and easy read from the judges. Maxim Kapitannikov & Natalya Fridmanovich were third in all, Oleksii & Carly Lytvyn were fourth, Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti placed fifth, Artemi Okunev & Yulia Dragina were sixth and seventh was awarded to Israel Pena & Lisa Holt.

Overall this year there was an increase in entries and people here at the OCDC. They are in a new venue, the Marriott Irvine, with a bigger ballroom, the hotel has been renovated and so it is a fresh look for this up and coming event. The after party at the restaurant as always was a hit with great company and excellent laughter.  Mr. Booth’s panoramic picture taking skills have improved from the last time and so we hope to get some of those shots to you here soon. Congratulations to Richard and Jennifer Booth for their success and thank you for your hospitality.   

New Faces in Rhythm!

There were quite a few new faces in the Open Professional Rhythm competition here last night at the OCDC, this made for a very interesting competition for both the judges and the audience.

The competition went to Riccardo Pappi & Sabrina Moretti who not long ago changed styles from International Latin.  They were the most clean and had no problems getting the majority of firsts to win all dances. However, some judges still feel that perhaps it’s all still looking too much like Latin. Corky Ballas awarded them all thirds and Didio Barrera along with a few other judges gave them a few second place marks including a fourth in the mambo - that came from Didio.

Ryan Lockhart  & Danelle Newman placed second in all dances and managed to steal some of the first place marks from Riccardo & Sabrina but not enough to make a difference to their scores. Here again we felt that their work was very clean but still lacks a little individuality. Some of the judges were very excited with Kevin Garcia & Giovanna Velazques who took third in all dances.  They seem to bring a fresh approach to the style, however, in speaking to one of the judges some of what is lacking is the quality of lines and posture to give them the push to be on top. This must have been a very disappointing competition for Richard & Marianne Meyers who seemed to slip down a few notches.  For some reason they did not stand out enough to be noticed either way.  They have great skills and with a little more luck we are sure they could easily do better. New to the scene, Antonio Nunes & Hadas Fisher took all fifths and sixth went to Pierro Della Santina & Alessandra Gonzelez. This competition had the most attendance, it started with a quarter final round something that has never happened before in the history of the OCDC according to organizer, Richard Booth.  He appeared to be thrilled about it.

The second Open Professional event of the evening was the Open Professional Ballroom but unlike the Rhythm it only managed to attract four couples. The competition went to Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti who won three dances and placed second in the waltz and third in the foxtrot. Igor & Roxanne had a “take no prisoners” attitude from the word go and although at times it was a little “discombobulated” they managed to have it their way and won the event. Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija placed second overall but did manage to steal two firsts from Igor & Roxane 1,2,2,1,3. Third was awarded to Stefano Di Brino & Bianka Zubrowska 3,3,3,2,2, and fourth was Valeriia & Viachelav Kostianets and they placed fourth in every dance.

The Professional Rising Star Smooth and Latin were also held last night. The Smooth had a semifinal round and here the competition went to Sean Brunell & Ekaterina Marshukova. They won three dances and placed second in the VW.  WE tjpught they really stepped up their game last night. Second place went to Valeriia & Viacheslav Kostianets they placed second in three dances and won the VW. Third place went to Nathan Simler & Mereille Gineste and they took third in every dance.

The Rising Star Latin was a five-couple final and here Maxim Kapitannikov & Natalya Fridmanovich were the clear winners they took all dances. Oleksii Lytvyn & Carly Lytvin were second overall 2,2,2,2,3, and Igor Colac & Roxanne Milotti were third 3,3,3,3,2.

The competition finished with a very nice touch, an appreciation party.  The curtain to the neighboring ballroom opened and a full spread of roast beef, cheese and pasta was offered for those with the after competition munchies. Everyone got a plate and then sat down and had a nice social get together.  Congratulations to Richard and Jennifer Booth for a successful weekend once again at the OCDC.     

Rhythm Rules at OCDC!

Rhythm ruled at Orange County Dancesport yesterday.  All day the pro-ams competed in the Rhythm style and then at night the Pro RS Rhythm was the main event, beginning with a full semifinal of 12 couples.

In that RS Rhythm final the 6 finalists were pretty evenly matched as was evidenced by the wide disparity in the judges’ scores.  The eventual winners were a new couple to us, Ryan Lockhart & Danelle Newman who placed 1,2,2,1,1 and they had the majority of 1st places in bolero and mambo.  The panel was fairly evenly split on them, some placing them in the lower half and just enough placing them in the top half.  2nd today were Richard & Marianne Myers who were perhaps the favorites to win. They scored 2,3,3,2,3 but we thought they looked in great shape overall with a new trimmer silhouette.  3rd with 3,5,1,3,2, were Kevin Garcia & Giovanna Velasquez, a new couple to us and one showing a lot of potential.  The other couple to win a dance were Antonio Nunez & Hadas Fisher who placed 4,1,4,4,4.  Great personality on the floor from these two.  Piero della Santina & Aleesandra Gonzalez were 5th 5,6,6,5,5 and CJ & Jenny Lynn Gomez were 6th 6,4,5,6,6.

5 couples contested the Pro RS Ballroom and in contrast to the Rhythm the judges were quite decided on this one.  Nick heremukhin & Viktorija won all dances, comfortably in our view.  Stefano di Brino & Bianka Zubrowska were 2nd in all, Viacheslav & Valerria Kostaniets were 3rd in all.  Jonathan Atkinson & Lorena Bravo were 4th 4,4,4,5,4 and Jerswin & Anne Poloyapoy were 5th 4,4,4,5,4.

In the pro-am Open Rhtyhm Scholarships Sally Baird w/ Steve Vasco won the largest, the C.  Nadia Kireyko w/ Daniel Vasco won the A and Sharon Powers w/ Jason Daly won the B.

In a small but high quality Amateur Ballroom, Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhtiarova won all dances.