Smooth Leads It in Denver

Photos by Charles Ryder Photography

The Pro Smooth was the leader at Colorado Star Ball last night with some great dancing in all rounds leading to a superb final.  The clear winners with large majorities for 1st places in all dances were Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija.  They only picked up a couple of 2nd places in each dance and one 3rd from Forrest Vance in foxtrot.

The race for 2nd was much closer.  Kyle & Allie Spinder were actually 2nd in all dances but the margin from the judges was a slim majority of “2nd or better” scores in each dance.  The 3rd place couple were Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova and they were just below Kyle & Allie in all dances.  However, both couples also picked up some scores in the lower half of the final.  4th in all dances were Evgeny Malko & Anna Shabazyan and they received a significant number of 3rd places in all dances.  Adrian & Hannah Dydynski were 5th 5,5,6,5 and Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft were 6th 6,6,5,6.

Kyle & Allie were also the winners of the Showdance.

The other Open Pro event of the night was the Latin, but this attracted only 3 entries.  Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokova lost a total of only 4 first places from 55 and so were easy winners.  2nd in all were Ryan Lewis & Tessa Marie Murphy and 3rd were Giorgi Khmiadashvili & Christina DuPuy.

There was a strong entry in the Rising Star Rhythm (ahead of tonight’s Star Rhythm Tour).  Igor Ustymovych & Briana Santiago won all dances, each with a majority of 1st places.  2nd in all dances went to David Moon & Sydney Petersen and 3rd were Christopher Wayne & Juanita Simanekova 4,3,3,4,3.

The final RS event was the Ballroom and this was won by Stephano DiBrino & Bianka Zubrowska 1,1,1,2,1.  The winners of the foxtrot were Cristian Radvan & Kristina Kudelko and they placed 2nd overall 3,2,2,1,2.  3rd were Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Karzukhina 2,3,3,3,3.

Tonight we gear up for the Professional Star Rhythm Tour – the first leg of this series.  Many of the top names are here.  Be sure to tune into the live feed and vote for your favorites!  Click here to watch it live!

Getting (a mile) High in Denver

We’re here in Denver, Colorado, the mile-high city, for the 19th Colorado Star Ball – just one more reason to get high in Colorado.

As usual organizers, Richard & Jennifer Booth, have everything running perfectly and the Westin Hotel in Westminster is attractive and accommodating with a spacious ballroom.  We particularly liked the change of set from daytime to evening.

Yesterday was mostly dedicated to pro-am Smooth heats and the more advanced and scholarship heats took place at night.  The Colorado Star Ball is a member of the Global Series and last night hosted the Global Closed Bronze and Silver Scholarships in Smooth.  These were well attended.  Define Dinler w/ Yuriy Kravets won the Bronze 1,1,1,1.  MaCall Berger w/ Volodia Ishchenko was 2nd, 2,2,2,2 and Sherri Hansen was 3rd, 3,4,4,3.  In the Silver Jessica Mancini w/ Golden Parker won all 4 dances.  2nd in all was Darcy Adamczky w/ Gary Dahl and 3rd was Catherine Gallo w/ David Arnold 6,3,3,3.

The pro-am divisions concluded with the Open Scholarships.  The B & C divisions were well attended.  Dawn Mersich w/ Youriy Pavlov was the big winner of the night taking both the A & B divisions.  In the B she placed 1,1,1,2.  2nd went to Thara Salamone w/ Jim Maranto 2,2,2,1 and 3rd to Kitty Sang w/ Mathias Kruschel 3,3,3,3. 

Sandra Abruzzo w/ Jim Maranto won the C, taking all dances.  Elizabeth Cramer w/ Robert Nardozza was 2nd in all and David Tippet w/ Harmony Monroe was 3rd, 4,3,3,3.

The night concluded with 2 Pro Rising Star divisions, both straight finals.  John Campbell w/ Jacki Brockman won all dances in the Smooth.  2nd in all were Misha Belfer & Julie Garczynski and 3rd were Scott Koogle & Faith Wailes 4,3,3,3.

Only 2 couples contested the Latin and the win in all dances went to Ryan Lewis & Tessa Marie Murphy.  2nd were Giorgi Khmiadashvili & Christina DuPuy.