City Lights Concludes with Rhythm and Ballroom - Sunday The City Lights Ball in San Jose California concluded last night with a terrific Professional Ballroom competition and a fun Rhythm event. The Professional Ballroom had excellent couples in the field, Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova won the event and all the dances but they were not the only ones to watch. Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa were also excellent and well deserving of the runners up spot, they placed second in every dance. It was nice to see Rober Nemiro & Olga Tskalyuk back on the floor, they placed third overall (3,4,3,3,4) and Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti were a terrific addition as well with great energy and musicality, they placed fourth overall (4,3,4,4,3). Fifth in every dance went to Simeon & Kora Stoynov and sixth was awarded to Evgeniy Mayorov & Olga Lisovskaya.

The Professional Rhythm competition had the most participants with a semifinal round and it too was very entertaining. Jonathan Chen & Nadine Messenger cemented a strong position in this style by taking first place in the open division as well as the Rising Stars, they won every dance. It most have been a disappointing finish for Slash Sharan & Meghan Anderson who we are sure wanted to take the first place finish home but like in the rising stars they placed second in every dance. Third place was awarded to Richard & Marianne Myers (3,3,4,4,3), I’m sure they were very disappointed with this placement, however, we too were disappointed with their performance and we will explain in the full City Lights article. Fourth were Alejandro & Lucelia Falcon (4,4T,3,3,5), fifth went to Tommy Belmontez & Jessica Holty (5,6,6,5,4) and sixth was awarded to Piero Della Santina & Alessandra Gonzalez (6,4T,5,6,6). Although the night before the ballroom was standing only perhaps due to the show by Arunas & Katusha and Giacomo & Melissa, for me the competition this night was terrific and very special. The ballroom was a little quiet as is customary from a Californian audience on a Sunday night, but, the finale to this City Lights Ball was excellent. My congratulations to the organizers in this their first City Lights Ball event, we wish you the best for years to come. 

New City Lights! - Saturday This was the first run for the new owners of the City Lights Ball, and as far as organization it all went without a hitch. Last night the professional events started and the two events ran were healthy finals with excellent dancing that kept the judges occupied. The most exciting of the two was the Professional Smooth. Here we had three excellent, seasoned couples fighting for first place, Kyle & Allie Spinder, Kris Suakjian & Brianna Haft and Nick Cheremukhin & Victorija. Our favorite was Kris and Brianna who looked completely prepared for this final, but that was not to be the winner in all dances was the new partnership of Nick & Victorija, who had very interesting choreography but who seemed to be going nowhere in our eyes (we will explain in our full article here soon). Third in this great event went to Kyle & Allie who took third in all dances. Fourth place was Nathan Simler & Mirelle Gineste –Tuendemann they placed fourth in every dance, fifth wen to Kyle & Christina Campbell (5,5,6,5T), sixth was awarded to Forrest Walsh & Alexandra Smirnova (6,6,5,5T), and seventh went to Piero Della Santina & Alessandra Gonzales who took seventh in every dance. The Professional Latin was as exciting but we felt that it was the most predictable.  Unfortunately, we should give up predicting! Our winner, Denis Podolskiy & Yulia Kushnirenko placed third overall (3,2,3,3,3) even though we felt they had a wonderful night and we will explain why in the coming issue here also. The clear winner of this professional Latin event was Vitalii Proskurin & Evgenia Shatilova (1,1,1,2,1). Second went to Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova (2,3,2,1,2). Simeon & Kora Stoynova placed 4th, Oleksii Lytvyn & Carly Booth were fifth, Artjom Shmigeljuk & Oceania Kashkina took all sixth and Lerey & Rebeca Bishop were seventh. The evening concluded with a professional show by Arunas Bezukas & Katusha Demidova as well as an intermission number by  Melissa Dexter & Giacomo Steccaglia. So here comes another prediction! We think for a transition event everything is going superbly and we think that in the future we will probably have one of the best events in the USA here.  As new kids on the block they have settled well on the job of running the event but I have the feeling that the “New” owners will come out with things to make it even more prestigious and special and to make it a “must” on your calendar next year.   

Boston Cup Blends Junior & Pro-Am
The Boston Cup, held Jan. 25 in Framingham, MA, was a mighty 1-Day competition that seamlessly (almost) blended all styles and levels of pro-am dancing with junior and amateur divisions.  It was 1500 entries and a full day of dancing.

The Organizers, Ronen Zinshtein & Emil Loukhnikov are known for their involvement in the junior dancesport scene, so it was no surprise that the junior and amateur segment was the largest with a packed ballroom of kids and parents – always a great atmosphere.  But the day began with sizeable pro-am heats making up almost half of the total entries for the day.  Local studio, Supershag, made up the bulk of the entries.

The highlight of the event was the Adult A Latin that began with a semifinal and pitched many of the USA and Canada’s high ranking competitors against each other.  Canada turned up the winner as Danils Kutezov & Maria Shalvarova won all dances.  2nd in all were Nikita Malakhov & Nadezda Vlasova and 3rd in all Ron Garber & Liza Lakovistky.  Watch out for a full report in Dance Beat soon from Diana McDonald. Also coming soon to Dance Beat is a report on the Junior II Latin by Bill Sparks.  The winners here were Kristers Smite & Sophie Shvartsman (1,1,2,1,2).  2nd were Joshua Lishnevetsky & Angela Gerzberg 2,2,1,2,1).  3rd Matthew Lavitman & Olivia Agranovich (3,3,3,4,4).

Other feature events were the Youth Latin and U/21 Latin won by Jaryd Farcon & Kyla Dzhaniashvili (1,1,2,1,1) and Steven Varshavsky & Karolina Loukhnikov (2,1,1,1,1) respectively.

The Ballroom divisions were not as large but the events were still noteworthy.  The winners were:  Justin Lin & Sasha Dubinsky (Youth & Junior II);  Fernando Lareu & Nicole Palagashvili (U/21).
 
The Boston Cup is a 1-day event that felt ready to move on to the big time.  Ronen & Emil decorated the ballroom well and used full lighting and sound.  The venue was the Sheraton Framingham a pseudo castle that had two blazing fires in the lobby (a welcome sight to this Miami native) and had comfortable rooms and ample facilities.

Last night we saw some jockeying for position at the first major event of 2014 in the Pro Smooth.

 

 

It was by far the best event of the night, danced over 3 rounds. Travis & Jaimee Tuft were the clear winners, taking all 4 dances with the clear majority of 1^st places. The battle was for 2^nd place and there were 3 couples contesting this placement and all had their supporters and gained ‘2^nd or better’ scores in every dance. Only in the Viennese Waltz did one of these couples receive the majority of ‘2^nd or better’ scores and this was Kyle & Allie Spinder who did achieve 2^nd place overall in all 4 dances. This was their best result to date as it placed them ahead of David & Natalie Shulz (3,3,3,3) and Vlad & Vera Kosarev (4,4,4,4). It wil be interesting to see if they can maintain this form further into the year. It was also close for 5^th place, but Rule 11 gave it to Mark Short & Alyssa Kark (5,5,6,6) over Morten Jensen & Tonja Martin (6,6,5,5). Watch out for Jenell Maranto’s report on this division in Dance Beat soon. "The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance" Click here for more

 

Travis & Jaimee also won the Showdance division which began the night.

 

The other 3 divisions were straight finals and it was a good weekend for Sergiy Samchynskyy & Yuliya Besarab, now from Georgia, who won both the Ballroom and Latin winning all 10 dances, easily in our opinion. Their toughest competition came in the Ballroom from 2^nd placed Martin & Liene Reinbold (2,2,2,2,2). 3^rd in all dances were Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Karzukhina, 4^th in all to Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer; 5^th in all to Kevin Camarata & Michelle Jones and 6^th to Brad Coutney & Elisa Seja.

 

In the Latin Matt & Maliwan were 2^nd in all dances. Vlad Astafiev & Linda Gergye were 3^rd in all; Denis & Amanda Satonin were 4^th in all and Mario Skonieczny & Mary Jester.

 

Erwin & Iwona Rybcznska had a comfortable majority of 1^st places in all dances to take the Pro Rhythm from the new partnership of Slash Sharan & Megan Anderson who were 2^nd in all. An even newer partnership, Sandor Stefil & Alexandra Barsukov were 3^rd in all. With 4,4,4,4,5, Christopher Wayne & Lisa Burghart were 4^th, Michael Foncannon & Meghan McNash were 5^th, 5,5,5,5,4 and Aaron Greer & Adrienne Hite were 6^th.

 

The pro-ams danced both international styles today and the open scholarships of both were in the evening. The Open B Ballroom was the best event, beginning with a semifinal. Jill Bradford w/ Gert Roslender was the winner over Yanina Kisler w/ Peter Walker. Brynda Insely w/ Martin Reinbold was 3^rd. Yanina w/Peter also won the Open A division.

 

Nashville Starz is the season finale for the Dancers Cup Tour, so the top prizes were awarded. Winning Top Teacher this year was Louis Bar. Louis was surprised by the secret arrival of his two children who actually presented him with his award. Louis’ student, Laren LaPointe was the top female student of the year and the top male was Russ Longley.

Put On Your Western Duds for Nashville Starz!

 

Last night was country western night at Nashville Starz, everyone was encouraged to wear their finest hats and jeans and the evening ended with a country style cookout in the ballroom.

 

But before that it was the turn of the Rising Star professionals to be the “Starz.” All four styles resulted in fairly comfortable wins. In the Smooth, Kyle & Allie Spinder took all dances followed by Mark Short & Alyssa Kark (2,2,3,2) and Morten Jensen & Tonja Martin (3,3,2,3). We thought this was the strongest of the four divisions.

 

In the Rhythm Slash Sharon & Megan Anderson also won all dances. Second in all were Sandor Stefil & Alexandra Barsukov and 3^rd were Romney Reyes & Brooke O’Donnell 4,4,3,3,3.

 

Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diener won the Latin losing only the cha cha. Winning the cha cha and taking 2^nd in the other 4 dances were Dmitry Karabanov & Daria Emelianova. 3^rd in all were Senzo Makhaye & Agnieszka Strojek.

 

Martin & Liene Reinbold won the Ballroom, the smallest of the four divisions, again taking all dances. 2^nd in all were Matt & Maliwan and 3^rd, Kevin Camarata & Michelle Jones, 4,4,3,3,3.

 

For the pro-ams it was a day of Smooth. Robert Schipp w/ Shalene Archer won the Open B Scholarship 1,1,1,1. Louise Seawright w/ David Medeiros was 2^nd, 2,4,2,3 and Donna Bade w/ Chris Germain was 3^rd, 3,3,3,2.

 

Completing the 9-Dance saw Briana Yadgir w/ Chris Germain as the winners.  She won all 9 dances.

 

 

Over 6,000 Entries for Nashville Starz!

 

David Hamilton’s Nashville Starz is in a bumper year with over 6,000 entries for 2014.

 

This despite unavoidable hotel problems when he was forced to relocate to the Marriott Renaissance as the original venue, the Sheraton was unable to accommodate the event due to renovations.

 

The first day was dedicated to the pro-am Rhythm categories. The Open Scholarships were split into only 2 age categories – A and B. The A produced an interesting result as Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika won the event over the US Open A Champion, Brianna Yadgir w/ Aaron Desotto. Giovanni won all dances and Brianna was 2^nd in all. It was a good day for the gents as Stephan Tuomanen w/ Michelle Officer was 3^rd, 3,3,3,4,3.

 

In the B Diana Best w/ Alosha Anatoliy was the winner, 1,2T,1,1,2. Roberta Fox w/ Aaron DeSotto was 2^nd, 2,1,2,3,3 and Janet Brutell w/ Michael Neil was 3^rd, 3,2T,3,2,1. As you can see – a tight race!

 

The night ended with a pizza and karaoke party for everybody - lots of laughs I'm sure!

 

Today it’s Smooth day at Nashville Starz plus watch out for results from the professional rising star divisions.