A Killick Night!

It was a Killick Night and day (Fabulous) at the Killick Klassik, it was a full day of Ballroom dancing during the day fro the Pro/Am’s and in the nighttime three spectacular competitions followed by a fabulous after-party.

The night included renditions of YMCA and Raining Men by Shirley, Paul and a select group of hte judges - plus of course an enthusiastic audience.  Later in the evening, Derek Hough and Corky Ballas led the ensemble in an impromptu cha cha line dance.

The most impressive of the three featured evening events of the night was the Professional Latin competition, a healthy quarterfinal with over 20 couples on the floor for the start, but this was not about quantity it was more about quality. Down to the quarter final the majority of the couples were of excellent quality, we have not seen a Professional Latin event this great in a little while.

When it came to the final with the exception of Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko and the heir apparent Roman Kutsky & Anna Kovalova, it was a who’s who of the Latin American style world. US World Latin representatives Stefano DiFilippo & Daria Chesnokova from New Jersey were present and the audience were thrilled to see their charismatic performance rewarding them with applause at every turn. They as expected won all the dances and took the trophy home. When looking at the marks closely Stefano & Daria nearly got perfect scores from the judges but two judges deferred, Dan Rutherford who awarded them 3rd in every dance and DWTS featured star guest, Derek Hough who awarded them three 2nd places in the C,S,P.

Second in this fantastic final were Nikolay Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina who placed second in every dance and got all the three firsts from Derek and three from Dan on the S,P,J. Nikolay & Maria were also favorites on the floor and they also got the audience moving and screaming even when they announced the final tally.

From third down to sixth place the marks were more varied, even the third place couple shared on a couple of sixth places from a few judges. Third position was awarded to Mirko Risi & Svetlana Borisova from Italy, who placed third in four dances and fourth in the rumba.  Fourth position went to Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova and here the marks could not have been more varied 4,5,3,4,4. Fifth place was awarded to Andrei Kazlouski & Asta Sigvaldadottir who placed 5,4,5,5,5, we must point out that Dan Rutherford’s other two 1st place marks were awarded to them.  In sixth position were Dmitri Nikishkin & Olena Shvets and they placed sixth in every dance.  Their best marks came from Derek Hough who awarded them 2 thirds, 2 fourths and a fifth.

The Professional Smooth was also an impressive heat and here the winner in every dance was Peter & Alexandra Perzhu who got perfect scores in both the waltzes and nearly perfect scores on the other two dances. In the tango two judges awarded Peter & Alexandra seconds - Louise Garvie and Forrest Vance, and in the foxtrot they got a second from Dan Rutherford. Second in all dances went to Yegor Novikov & Sasha Smirnova, and they won the two first place marks in the tango from Louise and Forrest, and the first in the foxtrot from Dan.

Jean Paul & Lana Rossi placed third overall 4,3,3,3, Vladimir & Vera Kosarev took fourth 3,4,4,4, Radek Wiatrowski & Denise Sobiewski were fifth 6,5,5,5, and Maksym Lototskyy & Sarah Haworth were sixth 5,6,6,6. As you can see the judges were very unsettled with the waltz, we wonder why?

The Open Amateur Ballroom was a straight final, easily won by James Cutler & Virginie Primeau.  Every judge marked them to win except Corky Ballas who placed them 2,4,2,2,1.  With 3,2,2,2,2, Daniel Vesnovskiy & Emily Thorpe were 2nd.  3rd were Brandon Buchthal & Natasha Barrera 2,3,3,3,3.  This pair were Corky’s winners.  4th in all dances were Andrew Sim & Emily Cobb-Hines.

Energy and Glamor at the Killick Klassic!

Yesterday here at the Killick Klassic was all about the glimmer and glamour of the competition, so perfectly fitted to the ambiance of this this iconic hotel.

First in the early afternoon, it was the “Meet and Greet” with Derek Hough.  For those of you that don’t watch TV he is one of the celebrity ballroom dancers on the now iconic show, “Dancing with the Stars.” We were a little late for the affair as most Floridians or should I say South Beach Floridians are, but it was a good thing.  We got to ride in the elevator with Derek’s own personal entourage and looked totally part of the “Elite.” When he first entered the room you could hear the cameras clicking away and I just hope we, the Dance Beat team, are not in half your pictures, LOL.

Derek was a delightful guest and entertainer answering every question for his adoring fans, (mostly women).  He managed to answer the questions and elaborate into some very interesting things we did not know about him. He talked about some of his personal challenges and how he prepares before going out on the floor and how he copes with different challenges every week (in our words, he takes it all in stride one step at a time).  He said a wonderful thing to the fans many of them dancers, “you create your pain you create your fears, no one does it for you.  If you can talk yourself out of it, you will just be fine.” I wish many of our dances will take this very sound advice from this young man, because it is the truth, we create many of the obstacles we see and they don’t need to be there.

He talked about what the show has done for him personally and in his life, some of his explanations were very detailed making him seem real and almost like your best friend. The attendees were treated to some champagne and food before Derek got there and some beautiful views from the 25th floor suit where it was being held. As we looked out we thanked heaven for Florida, we sure love our home state, not one cloud in the sky, just blue all over from the sea to the sky, you could see for miles across the Intracoastal Waterway.

Later in the ballroom, Derek led a high-energy conga line with most of the audience and many of the judges joining in!

In the ballroom sparks flew with some of the best professional ballroom dancers form across the world in attendance.  Also in Rhythm we had some excellent couples and the Amateur Latin had some wonderful couples but we were a little surprised that it was only a semifinal round considering both the organizers are Latin Stars and Icons in their own right.

In the Ballroom it was an easy job for Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva who placed first in all dances with perfect scores from the judges in every dance. Perhaps this mix of international and national judges tended to lean more towards the Latin genre, but as we have always said, judging is overrated, the most important thing when you are being judge is honesty and in our opinion these Ballroom couples got and excellent panel of judges. Second in this who’s who of a final were Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk, and they took second in every dance but unlike Victor & Anastasia, not from every judge, they got three 4th and a 5th in the waltz, two 3rds and a 5th in the tango, three 5th and three 3rds in the VW, two 5ths and a 3rd in the foxtrot, and in the quickstep a 6th,  a 5th  and a 3rd. Their worst marks came from Leisa Howard who awarded them that last 6th place and some of the other very low scores.

With 4,3333, Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova were 3rd. They did receive the majority of 3rd or better scores in the T,VW,F,Q.  They also received a handful for 2nd places over the 5 dances a few 5ths but no 6ths.  Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova were 4th with 3,4,4,4,4.  They also received the majority of 3rd or better scores in the waltz.  With all the 5’s Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova were 5th and Gianni Caliandro & Arianna Esposito were 6th.

Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova won all dances in the Rhythm and dropped very few 1st place marks.  They received perfect scores in the mambo.  Their lowest score was a 4th in  swing from Louise Garvie.  Mikhail Vlasov & Vanda Polakova were 2nd in all dances and were the only couple to take a few 1st places away from the winners.  Their worst scores came from Karen Hardy who awarded them 4,3,5,5,4.  For us the top two couples were well clear.

3rd tonight with 4,4,3,3,3 were Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov and splitting the 3rd and 4th places with them were Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti 3,3,4,4,4.  Obviously a tough call for the judges between these two couples.Rising Star winners Maksym Lototskyy & Sarah Haworth were 5th in all dances, Erwin & Iwona Rybczynska were 6th in all and Pavel Volynskiy & Anastasia Levadnia were 7th in all.

The Amateur Latin was easily won also by the current ABC US National Champions, Ferdinando Iannaccone & Yulia Musikhina who lost very few first place marks and had perfect scores in cha cha and jive.  With the majority of 2nd or better scores in all dances, Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach were also easily 2nd.  In fact, although the judges sprinkled their scores around quite freely most of the couples earned their placements with the majority scores.  3rd in all tonight were Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler.  4th in all were Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasia Danilova.  5th were Kiki Nyemchek & Magdalena Fialek 5,6,5,5,5 and closing the final, from Italy, were Cristian Priori & Eleonora Riccardi 6,5,6,6,6.

5 couples entered the Showdance/Cabaret division and the winners were Mykhailo Azarov & Tetyana Makarenko.

The pro-am Latin took up all of the daytime session and the open scholarships were danced at night and were the best so far here at the Killick Klassic.

Tina Broccole w/ Delyan Terziev won all dances in the B.  2nd in all was Maria Seragou w/ Dimitrios Damalas and 3rd, Tomoko Fujiwara w/ Rangel Spirov.

Results from A and C divisions coming soon.........

Killing It With Klass At KK!

The 2015 Killick Klassic is underway in the world famous Boca Raton Hotel, in Boca Raton, Florida.  This iconic hotel is so suitable for a dance competition and especially one run by Latin icons, Paul Killick & Shirley Ballas.

The event began with a very successful Dance Camp, Monday and Tuesday that concluded with a cruise on the Intra Coastal Waterway for camp members and competitors who arrived early.

The first 2 days have been about American Style pro-am with all the heats for Smooth and Rhythm taking place.  Last night concluded with the rising star professional divisions in all 4 professional styles.  Not surprisingly, the Latin was the strongest but the Rhythm also began with a quarter-final.

For us 2 couples really stood out in the RS Latin and the judges seemed to agree as these 2 couples were awarded 1st and 2nd places.  The winners with 1,1,1,2,2 were Sasha Althukov & Cheyenne Murillo and the runners-up, with 2,2,2,1,1, Sergey Chislov & Dasha Chislova.  For us this result could have gone either way and we would have been happy.  3rd in all dances fell to Jake Davies & Alyona Kalinina and they too showed great improvement.  Ryan Lewis & Tessa Marie took all the 4’s.  Jonas Kazlouskas & Kathleen Ilo were 5th, 5,5,6,6,5 and Stefan Glubovic & Uliana Maslovskaya were 6th 6,6,5,5,6.

Maksym Lototskyy & Sarah Haworth won the Rhythm placing 1,1,2,2,1.  In their second outing the Rhythm field, Jean Paul & Lana Rossi were the runners-up, 3,2,1,1,2.  They also won the Smooth, so this must place them in a strong position for the US National 9-Dance next month.  3rd place in the Rhythm went to Erwin & Iwona Rybczyski 2,3,3,4,4.  Strahinja Lackovic & Irina Fedosova were 4th 4,4,4,3,5;  Tamas Kardos & Mariya-Khristina Shurupova were 5th 5,5,5,5,3 and Eddie Rivera & Meghan McNash were 6th in all dances.

As we mentioned above Jean & Lanna won the Smooth and they won all dances.  The rest of the final were all from Florida.  2nd were Andrei & Elena Rudenco 2T,2,2,2.  3rd was the new partnership of Roman Malchasyan & Viktoriya Kleyman 2T,3,3,3.  Radek Wiatrowski & Denise Sobiewski were 4th in all dances, Maksym & Sarah were 5th 5,6,5,6 and Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov were 6th 6,5,6,5.

The Ballroom was the only straight final and it was won easily in our view by Vladislav Shahov & Ekaterina Popova who did indeed win all dances.  2nd went to 10-dancers Jonas & Kathleen 2,3,3,3,2.  We liked 3rd placed Anatoli Repliuk & Ruslana Mamaysur who scored 3,2,2,4,4.  In this close event, Aleksandr Skriptsov & Aida Skriptsov were 4th 4T,4,4,2,3 and Dmitry Solomakha & Gabriela Sevillano were 5th 4T,5,5,5,5.

The largest of the open pro-am scholarships so far was the Senior Rhythm.  In this Quin Bomalje w/ Misha Vlasov won all dances with a great performance.  2nd went to Susan Miller w/ Hayk Arshakian again in all dances and 3rd in all was Beverly Marsh w/ Nazar Norov.

The action was hot in the ballroom but just as hot in the bar later when several of the judges attracted non-dance hotel guests with their energetic salsas and merengues!  That was certainly something to see.

The Florida weather has been great and many of the dancers are enjoying the 5-star luxury this hotel offers - a grea pool, spa and everything else you would expect.  A great dance-vacation with an all-star panel of judges and fabulous pro and amateur competitions.

Stay tuned for much more from the KK, with the open pro and amateur events beginning today.