A Night of Rhythm

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Rhythm was the feature last night at American Star Ball.  Not only was the Pro Rhythm the biggest event of the night (2 rounds), but it was also the feature of the finale show, entitled the Havana Ballroom and choreographed by Brent Mills.

Emmanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova, current US Champions, easily won the Open Rhythm winning all dances and losing a total of only 4 first places over all 5 dances.  Equally sure were the runners-up, Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova who picked up those 4 first places and received all the remaining 2nd place scores from all judges.  Perhaps the match between these two couples was a little closer in real life than it appeared on paper.

From there on the scores were a little more mixed, particularly in the lower half of the final.  Shane & Shannon Jensen were relatively secure in their 3rd place.  They were 3rd in all dances and had the majority of 3rd places in 4 of the 5 dances. With 4,4,4,4,5, Andrei Abrashin & Mariia Gavrylova were 4th but had scores ranging from 3rd to 7th in all dances.  Matt Hauer & Lauren Schelfhaudt were 5th 5,6,5,6,4.  For us their best dances are cha and mambo.  Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov were 6th 6,5,6,5,6 and new to the final, Jonathan Green & Rachel Neilson took all the 7’s.

There were 3 live percussionists for this final.  Tom Larson (who had played throughout the weekend), Brent Mills and Eddie Melendez.

Only 4 couples participated in the Open Pro Ballroom and it was easily won by Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova.  They won all dances.  The only significant challenge came in the Viennese Waltz where the runners-up, Emanuele & Francesca Pappacena took 4 of the 13 first places.  They were 2nd in all dances.  Anatoli Repliuk & Ruslana were 3rd in all and Nenad Pavolic & Anastasia Barhatova were 4th in all.

Both open amateur scholarships also took place tonight and both were straight finals.  Sam Hacke & Katarina Hermanova won the Ballroom, winning all dances 4 with the majority of 1st places.  They certainly had the most energy of all the finalists.  2nd in all dances went to Stanislav Pavlov & Sandra Spernacka.  They had a more traditional approach than the winners.  3rd in all dances were Daniel Vesnovskiy & Emily Thorpe.  6,4,5,4,4 gave Alec Zhiwei Zhang & Ersi Nie a 4th place finish overall, Brandon Buchthai & Natasha Barrera were 5th, 4,5,4,6,6 and Sam Brandt & Sabrina Yakubovish were 6th 5,6,6,5,5.

The Amateur Latin Scholarship was a close fought affair with the first places being mostly spread between 2 couples, Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasiya Danilova and Nikita Malakov & Nadezda Vlasova.  The overall event went to Artur & Anastasiya by 3 dances to 2 – 2,2,1,1,1.  Nikita & Nadezda won the first 2 dances.  All dances wre won with a majority of first places except the cha cha.  3rd in all dances were Allen Rusman & Svetlana Lisnaya, 4th in all Stanislav Engelhardt & Tatiana Vasilyeva and 5th Raphael Matis & Jamie Dorotov.

The two remaining professional rising star divisions were also held.  The Smooth had a semifinal and was won by Adrian & Hannah Dydynsky 1,1,1,1.  Stanislav Savich & Nicole Prosser won the RS Latin 1,1,1,1,1.

We also saw the scholarship divisions in the pro-am Smooth and Latin.  The winners in the Open Scholarships were Lynn Shanahan w/ Darius Mosteika (C Smooth), Kathy Howell w/ Martin Cawston (B Smooth), Bethanie Picerno w/ Thomas Vasicek (B Latin), Sabrina Strasser w/ Stanislav Kochergin (A Latin) and Lorraine Peoples w/ Andrei Gavriline (C Latin).

Today s filled with Junior and Youth Divisions.

Smooth but Hard!
Last night at the American Star Ball the professional events were quite tough to judge, in particular the Smooth, but all three of the main featured events were fabulous.

Mazen Hamza & Izabella were the easy winners with a huge majority of firsts in all dances, only one, two or three judges awarded them second or less in different dances. Their worst mark a third in the Viennese Waltz came from Marianne Nicole. Second overall went to Travis & Jaimee Tuft and they got the majority of seconds and only a few firsts and thirds.  Their worst marks came from Mireille Veilleux who awarded them 5,6,4,4. Third in every dance went to Michael Choi & Erin Marie and they took the majority of thirds with the exception of some high and low marks, their works marks came from Keith Todd who awarded them 6,5,6,5. Fourth were Vladimir & Vera Kosarev, fifth went to Adrian & Hannah Dydynski and sixth was awarded to Jean Paul & Lana Rossi. The smooth competition was excellent with great talent and quite a number of couples, with some very talented couples being left out of the final.

The Open Professional Latin was also a terrific competition.  Here the easy winners for the majority of the judges were Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokova and they placed first in every dance.  Their worst marks came from Joe Howard who awarded them all fourth place marks. Second overall was awarded to Stanishlav Savich & Nicole Prosser 2,2,3,2,2, for us it could have been a toss up between them and the third place couple Hayk Balasanyan & Emilia Poghosyan 3,3,2,3,3.  These two couples stood out from the moment the competition got under way and either of them stood a chance for this position. Fourth was awarded to Dmytro & Nina Kovalenko and they took fourth in every dance, leaving all fifths to Nikita Tsernov & Annie He Xiao. Sixth in all dances went to Jungie Zamora & Sheena Daminar.

The Professional Open Showdance started the evening professional competitions and here there were four excellent couples, all showcasing unique numbers with great lift work and choreography. The winners overall were Shane & Shannon Jensen who won with a huge majority of firsts, only two of the 2 of the nine judges awarded them less, Didio Barrera who placed them third and Mirelle Veillleux who gave them a second. Second overall was Travis & Jaimee Tuft who took Mirelle’s first place mark with the rest of the judges awarding them second.  3rd were Canada’s Carlos Zapata & Dora Yaneva dancing their new “battle” number.  Only Didio Barrera awarded them a 1st.  4th were Jungie Zamora & Sheena Danimar.

There were 2 rounds in the Pro RS Rhythm, a strong division.  Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov won all dances.  Jonathan Green & Rachel Neilson were 2nd in all and Kosta Trifunic & Domante Padleckaite were 3rd, 4,3,3,3,3.

The pro-ams danced 2 styles – Rhythm and Ballroom.  Winners of the open scholarships were: Chastity w/ Eddie Ares (Rhythm A);  Sophia D’Angelo w/ Martin Cawston (Rhythm C);  Gretchen Fenston w/ Michael Choi (Ballroom B);  Elena Lee w/ Emanuele Pappacena (Ballroom C). 

The end of the Thursday night "Nighclub" session turned into a baby shower for organizer, Amanda Reyzin, whose baby is due in just a few weeks.

Perfect Scores to Victor & Anastasia

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The Professional Ballroom began with a tribute to Brian Puttock with all the couples danced a relaxed foxtrot to Brian’s favorite song, “Candy” to begin the night.  Brian was chairman of judges for many years at Emerald Ball, including last year, the last event he attended before his untimely and tragic death a few days later.  We all miss him so much.

Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva left no doubt about the results receiving perfect scores – 19 first place marks in all dances.  Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva had the comfortable majority of 2nd places in all dances and received nothing less than 3rd from any judge except Irina Sarukhanyan who scored them 4,3,5,5,4 and Michael Mead with 4,5,2,3,3.  Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova were 3rd in all dances, but had to work a little harder at it than we expected.  They had the majority of 3rd or better scores in only waltz.  Rudiger Homm & Katia Kanevskaya received perhaps their best result of their new partnership placing 4th in all dances and actually receiving more 2nd places than Alexander & Veronica.  The happiest couple in the final was probably the new partnership of Iaoslav Bieliel & Liliia Gladiuk who were 5th in all dances in what we believe is their first competition together.  A great start for a really promising partnership.  With 6,7,6,6,6, Andrew Begunov & Anna Demidova were probably somewhat disappointed as just 2 weeks ago they finished ahead of Rudiger & Katia.  Closing this 7-couple final were Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova with 7,6,7,7,7.

 

We saw reasonable consensus from the judges in the Pro Rhythm.  Emmanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova won all dances with a huge majority of 1st places.  Indeed they received nothing but 1st or 2nd placements from all judges.  Similarly, Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova were clearly second with the majority of the 2nd placements and a couple of 1st places in each dance.  The only judge who did not place them at least 2nd overall was Corky Ballas who scored them 3,4,4,4,4.  There was some discussion about the relative merits of both of these exciting couples at the after party from some interested observers.  

As with the first 2 couples, 3rd placed Andrei & Natalie Paramonov were easily 3rd in all dances, although surprisingly to us, they actually received only 1 first place and that was in rumba from Melissa Dexter.  Natalie sported a new slick hairdo – quite different from her look of the last few years.

The scores were a little more varied for the remaining 3 couples.  The experience of Mikhail Vlasov & Vanda Polakova paid off and they were 4th scoring 4,4,4,5,4.  The elegant Danus Jaksevicious & Yuki Haraguchi took 5th with 6,5,6,4,5 – perhaps not a clear as they would have liked.  A brand new partnership, Vard Margaryan & Mandy Carlisle was 6th 5,6,5,6,6 and they picked up a few 3rd places here and there.  Vard was a US finalist last year with Sofia Fil, and Sofia was also dancing with a new partner, Alberto Cortes and they made the quarter-final, although we could have seen them progress further.

The last of the professional events to be decided was the Showdance and this went easily to Travis & Jaimee Tuft who received 7 of the 9 available 1st places.  The other 2 went to runners-up, Jaimie Black & Robin Ray.

The two Open Amateur events also took place tonight.  The Ballroom was the stronger event in terms of ranked couples.  US Champions (NDCA), Andres & Veronika End were the easy winners tonight with the majority of 1st places in every dance.  The battle for 2nd actually produced a reverse of the placements from the US Championships in March, with Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhtiarova placing ahead of Ruslan Kalyuzhnyy & Kseniya Sovenko in all dances.  4th fell to Dimitriy Vorobiev & Sofie Elliot, all dances.  5th in all were Thomas Yim & Sophie Cheng and 6th Scott Nicholson & Evgeniya Gorobets.

Nikolai Tarasov & Amanda Herrschat were the winners in the Amateur Latin taking all dances and all except the samba with the majority of 1st places.  We were a little surprised to see some random 6th places and even 7th awarded to this strong young couple.  2nd fell to Sigurdur Thor Sigurdsson & Annalisa Zoanetti with 2,3,3,2,2 over the Youth winners, Bumchin Tegshjargal Michelle Klets with 3,2,2,3,3.  Teleryk Ianakiev & Natella Devitskaya were 4th in all; Hai Tran & Stacy Chuang 5th in all;  Jacob Murillo & Sydney Tormey 6th in all;  Cristian Solares & Whitney Myers, 7th in all.

During the daytime session it was all pro-am Latin and as in all the other divisions the Open Scholarships were definitely a highlight.

The A Latin was the only open scholarship won by a gentleman at this year’s Emerald Ball.  Jacob Tsai w/ Yuliya Kuznetsova won the division 2,2,1,1,1.  The runner-up was Vera Xu w/ Jacob Zeglin with scores of 1,3,2,2,2.  The remaining 1st place in samba went to another gentleman, Michael Roberts w/ Milana Plinar 4,1,3,4,4.  5th overall went to Sabrine Strasser w/ Stanislav Kochergin (Canada) 5,5,5,5,3;  6th Grace Kuan w/ Eveniy Likachev 6,6,6,6,6.

Tina Broccole w/ Delyan Terziev was the easy winner of the B division winning all dances with the majority of 1st places.  2nd went to Canada, Hilda Li w/ Roland Michtchenko 3,2,2,3,2 over Carolyn Howard w/ Sasha Althukov 4,3,3,2,3.  4th Katherine Kuan w/ Jakub Zeglin 2,5,5,4,4;  5th Svetlana Van Tassel w/ Kirill Nikitin 5,4,4,5,5;  6th Michelle Peng w/ Nikolai Voronovich 6,6,6,6,6.

Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski won her 3rd Open Scholarship of the week, taking the C Latin.  Lisa won all dances, but it was a fight.  In a couple of these dances she received only 2 first places and was even picking up some 8th place scores.  2nd went to Lorrain Peoples w/ Andre Gavriline 2,4,2,2,2.  Interestingly, Lorraine had the same total amount of 1st places as Lisa.  Rhonda Lynch w/ Stephen McCann was 3rd, 3,2,3,3,3 and she too had 1st places in all dances.  4th Tasha Romero w/ Evegeniy Likachev 4,3,5,6,4;  5th Tammy Knight w/ Oleksii Lytvyn 5,5,4,7,6;  6th Suzanne Saperstein w/ Ricky Bentzen 6,8,7,5,5;  7th Lisa Markovic w/ Igor Danilla 7,7,8,4,7;  8th Alicia Chung w/ Ilie Bardahan 8,6,6,8,8.

Janet Colleran w/ Aleks Nashev won the S2 and ????? Chen w/ Nikolai Shparkov won the S3

3,000 In One Day!

Yesterday at the Emerald Ball it was a day like no other, it was all about the Ballroom categories and how to squeeze 3000 entries into the approximately 17 hours the day allowed. This was not to be, although it ran mostly on time we had to borrow 2 ?  hours from the next morning in order to finish this unprecedented phenomenon.  The competitors and the remaining audience were completely out of the ballroom by 2:16AM, Saturday morning.

The 3,000 entries in one day (the size of a medium event on its own) were not the only unprecedented occurrence.  Nowadays with the use of instagram, twitter, and Facebook a desperate professional Smooth competitor wrote to her fans and friends on Facebook “Dear Emerald Ball 2015 participants and spectator!! As many of you know First Round of pro Smooth is going to be on at 12:00 am tonight :) On behalf of professionals who are dancing this late, we would like to ask you to stay in the ballroom as late as possible so we all can perform for you! You may bring your pillows and blankets :)”

It was interesting to see the different responses that she got.  A few advised her to take a nice nap, many said they would be there in spirit cheering and one just said “That sucks.  I’ll be screaming for you in my dream!” We too expected plenty of people to walk away but we were pleasantly surprised by how many did stuck it out!

Perhaps the dancing, in particular the Professional Smooth category, really brought it home for most.  Down to the semifinal round the competition was excellent and nearly every prominent couple in the country was present. Peter & Alexandra Perzhu won all dances with the majority of firsts in every dance.  We seem to think that these brand new US Champions might be feeling the heat from below and are trying to keep everything moving and improving and that is what we saw yesterday in their performance. Second overall were Mikhail & Galina Zharinov.  They placed second in four dances and third in the tango. Their scores were around the ballpark, the only anomaly we saw was that out of 17 judges only one of the highest respected Smooth style coaches awarded them a sixth place mark - Michael Mead in the VW. (The previous report that David Hamilton also awarded them a 6th place was an error on the original scrutineer sheet.  His marks in tango was 2nd).

A third place finish was awarded to Mazan Hamza & Izabella.  They placed second in the tango and third in the other three dances.  For us their performance was strong and clean, no room for mistakes here, and this was reflected by the steadiness of their 3,2,4 place marks from the 17 judges.  However, here too we had an anomaly and this was in the foxtrot where Tomas Atkocevicius awarded them 6th. We were very disappointed with Nick Cheremukin & Viktorija who placed fourth overall and who we are almost certain must have been disappointed with this result. On this outing we did not see much of the magic and spontaneity this couple brings to the floor, instead it was a little like an old marriage going through the motions.  In their defense, perhaps this couple is quite affected by the surroundings and dancing at 1:30AM is not the most conducive environment for a smoothie.

Fifth and sixth came to a rule (11) Travis & Jaimee Tuft placed fifth in both waltzes and sixth in the tango, foxtrot. Kyle & Allie Spinder placed fifth in the tango, foxtrot and sixth in the waltzes, that meant a complete tie, so now we have to dig into the rule book for a rule 11 decision that gave the edge to Kyle & Allie who placed fifth, leaving The Tufts holding sixth.

We cannot say the Professional Latin was totally worth the wait.  Maybe the couples were not motivated but for us they all seemed to look the same. With an educated audience, as most of us were, we had to look for what we liked because really nothing came to us. Our group favorites were basically taken out in the semifinal and so we ended up with what we called the rest, and we did as best as I’m sure the judges did to sort them out in our mind. The winners indisputably from our perspective and that of the judges were Nikolay Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina who won all dances with the majority of firsts in all dances.  However, we must say that this was not the best effort we have seen from this couple, perhaps they were missing the usual company here at the Emerald Ball of Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zaugoruychenko and Roman Kutsky & Anna Kovalova who, as we just mentioned, are usually fixtures at this competition.

Second overall was awarded to Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova they placed second in four dances and third in the rumba.  I think everyone is in awe of this young lady’s feet, her arches are a Latin dream and her body and back seduces the music, with a more attuned engagement they could have easily moved up. Third overall was Gunnar Gunnarson & Marika Doshoris from England 3,3,2,4,5.  Marika sported a million dollar smile, for me this is very important to draw your audience in sometimes the anguished looks does not do it for us but a pleasant smile goes a long way. Gunnar & Marika’s dancing was very well rehearsed so in just correctness we could see them having this placement.  However, here in the USA we expect more than correctness because that will be what you will get a correct result and not a win.

Fourth overall was awarded to Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets 4,4,6,5,3, what a steady couple this is, with powerful movements and a very high understanding of movement and balance, this couple has come a long way and we consider ourselves fans now.  We would not have been surprised if they had placed a little higher. Fifth went to Evgeniy Likhachev & Maria Levina 5,5,5,3,4.  In all fairness we most point out that here there was also a tie between Dmitry & Olena and Evgeniy & Maria, when the points were all counted they both had 22 each, but this tie was easily decided by a simple rule 10 and that how the results came out. To conclude this was not a welcome result for Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokova who placed sixth overall 6,6,4,6,6.

The Youth Latin was also excellent and here the winners were Bunchin Tegshjargal & Michelle Klets placing first in all dances, second overall was Michell Itkin & Natasha Shevchenko 2,3,2,2,3, and third was Murat Medzhidov & Valerie Dubinsky 3,2,3,3,2 who won the Youth Ballroom.

The Pro/Am Ballroom scholarships were super well attended, most with quarter final rounds. The “A” had an 8 couple final in the end and top placement went to Natalie Rezal w/ Sergei Kiselev 2,1,1,1,1. Second was awarded to Julia Shen w/Alexander Voskalchuk 1,2,3,2,2, and third was Yulia Rudenko w/Andrei Rudenco 3,3,2,3,3.  4th Vinie Miller w/ Denis Kutepov 5,5,4,4,4;  5th Rebecca Kuhn w/ Andrea Feraci 4,4,5,5,5;  6th Deanna Beglyarova w/ Simeon Stoynov 8,6,6,6,6;  7th Irene Lee w/ Nick Cheremukhin 7,8,7,7,7;  8th Irene Lau w/ Mikhail Avdeev 6,7,8,8,8.

The “B” Ballroom was awarded to Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano and she placed first in all dances. Second went to Carol Simmons w/ Serghei Pogonet 3,2,2,2,2, and third was Julie Zhao w/Denis Kutepov 2,3,3,3,3.  4th Ling Ma w/ Edgars Gasjuns 6,5,4,5,4;  5th Brynda Insley w/ Martin Reinbold 4,6,5,4,5;  6th Michelle Peng w/ Mikhail Avdeev 5,4,6,6,6.

The “C” division winner was Hye-Kyong Park w/Linas Koreiva, winning all dances, second was Lynn Murrell w/Alexander Voskalchuk 5,2,4,2,3, leaving third for Jenny Fong & Victor Veyrasset 4,3,2,4,4.  4th Tammy Knight w/ Artem Plakhotnyi 3,4,3,3,6;  5th Connie Edmonds w/ Samuele Pacchini 2,5,7,5,2;  6th Beatrice Wang w/ Giampiero Giannico 6,6,5,7,5;  7th Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski 7,7,6,6,7.

As we said earlier it was a very unprecedented day and night literally packed with dancing till dawn. Let’s see what today brings, we should all keep our fingers crossed for an early night!  

1-1-1-6 !!!

1,1,1,6 was the scores for one of the pro RS couples last night in the American Smooth, and where do you think they placed overall?

In a result that had the whole ballroom talking, Radek Wiatrowski & Denise Sobiewski placed 1,1,1,6 to achieve an overall 2nd place finish – one of the oddest results we have seen in some time.  The winners were Adrian & Hannah Dydynski who scored 2,2,2,1.  So was Radek & Denise’s VW really off?  Not that we noticed, but the whole final received some of the most varied scoring we’ve seen.  6 of the 7 couples had 1st places in every dance.  Radek & Denise had judges placing them 1st and last in every dance, as did all the others, in the VW a couple of judges lowered their scores a little and that resulted in the dramatic lowering of their placement.

Overall this was probably the best event of the night.  As we said, Adrian & Hannah were the winners and looked in great shape.  3rd were Slava Stefanov & Jessica McMorrow 3,5,3,4.  4th Mark Short & Alyssa Kark 4,7,4,2.  5th Morten Jensen & Anastasia 5,3,6,5.  6th Jean Paul & Lana Rossi 7,6,5,3.  We felt they could have been higher.  7th Sergey Smolin & Anna Tomasini 6,4,7,7.

All 4 RS events were held last night.  The first one to hit the floor was the Rhythm.  In this Aaron & Iryna DeSoto were the victors winning all dances but only the mambo with the majority of 1st places.  They had tons of energy and were always visible on the floor.  2nd spot went to Erwin & Iwona Rybczynski 2,2,2,3,2.  3rd were a new couple to this style, Igor Ustymovych & Briana Santiago 3,4,4,2,3.  We were impressed with this lady.  4th went to Max Lotoskyy & Sarah Haworth 4,3,3,4,5.  5th Ryan Lockhart & Danelle Newman 5,5,5,6,6;  6th Slash Sharan & Meghan Anderson 6,6,6,5,4.

A clearer win went to Vlad Shahov & Ekaterina Popova in the Ballroom.  They placed 1,1,1,1,2 but did have the majority of 1st places in the 4 dances they won.  The runners-up were Stefano DiBrino & Bianka Zubrowska and they scored 2,2,2,2,1 and they also had the majority of 1st places in the QS.  Looks like the judges got it together on this one!  3rd were Cristian Radvan & Kristina Kudelko 4,3,3,5,4.  It was interesting to see Kristina’s retro styled ballgown.  4th Yuriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson 5,5,4,4,3.  5th Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Karzukhina 3,6,5,3,5.  6th Alexey Pigotskyy & Taisiia Babiuk 6,4,6,7,7.  7th Alex & Grace Wang 7,7,7,6,6.

The clearest win of the night came in the last event, the RS Latin.  A new duo to us, Mykhallo Bilopukhov & Anastasia Shchypilina, won all dances with a majority of 1st places.  We liked them for the win also.  However, the word from those around the ballroom was that we were all glad not to be judging this one!  2nd went to Andrey Voloshko & Kateryna Kyrylenko 2,2,2,4,2.  3rd were Simeon Stoynov & Kora Stoynova 5,3,4,3,4;  4th Jake Davies & Alyona Kalina 3,4,5,5,3;  5th Adam Katona & Bella Gubzheva 6,5,3,2,5;  6th Francesco Arietta & Rosaria Vivone 4,6,6,6,6.

The afternoon session saw the conclusion of the pro-am Smooth divisions with the Open Scholarships.  All these were at a very high level.

The A was won by Yulia Rudenko w/ Andrei Rudenko who has recently moved up from the youth division.  This young lady will e very difficult to beat in this style and she won all dances here.  2nd went to Natalie Rezai w/ Slawek Sochaki 3,2,4,4.  3rd was Jessica Spink w/ Peter Walker 5,5,2,3;  4th Madison Stribling w/ Mayo Alenan 2,4,5,5;  5th Sara Jess w/ Tomas Mielnicki 7,6,3,2;  6th Irene Lee w/ Nick Cheremukhin 4,3,6,6;  7th Melissa Jensik w/ Dave Hannigan 6,7,8,7;  8th Samntha Rico w/ Morten Jensen 8,8,7,8.

The B gave as a close finish with the win going to Aiyesha Dey w/ Mayo Alanen 1,2,3,1 over Sincha Sincharoen w/ Max Sinitsa 4,1,1,2.  3rd Christina Donelson w/ Peter Perzhu 2,3,2,3;  4th Patricia Schneider w/ Nick Cheremukhin 3,4,5,4;  5th Amanda Levine w/ Morten Jensen 5,5,4,5;  6th Suki Kramer w/ Gunnar Sverrisson 7,6,6,6;  7th Lance Smith w/ Tone Jacobsen 6,7,7,7.

Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski notched up her second win so far here at Emerald by taking all dances in the C Smooth.  2nd went to Lynn Murrell w/ Peter Perzhu 2,2,3,3;  3rd Michiko Cantor w/ Evgeny Malko 4,5,2,2;  4th Sue Eldred w/ Artem Plakhotnyi 3,4,4,4;  5th Monica Broch w/ Kris Suakjian 5,3,6,5;  6th Paige Riffle w/ Alex Zagrean 6,6,5,6.

In the Senior divisions, Janice Smiith w/ David Weise won the S1, Diana Best w/ Alosha Anatoliy won the S2 and Lawrence Mitchell w/ Shalene Archer won the S3.

Today is Emerald’s longest day with about 2,700 entries in the pro-am ballroom divisions plus open professional categories at night.  Stay tuned!

Emerald Starts with 2 Days of Rhythm

The Emerald Ball kicked off its almost 1 week of dancing and 14,000 entries with 2 days of pro-am Rhythm that began Tuesday afternoon and concluded Wednesday afternoon with the Open Pro-Am Scholarships.

Of the 3 open divisions the C was the largest with 22 entries and we thought the most exciting.  There were several new players fighting for the top spots.  In the end, however, experience paid off and seasoned competitor, Lisa Lowery w/ Radel Wiatrowski managed to win all dances and we think the judges made the right decision.  Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan, a newer pairing, took 2nd in all dances and this lady with a little more work on feet and legs could be a great force in this division.  Lynn Murrell w/ Peter Perzhu was 3rd 4,3,4,3,4 and we thought she showed tremendous improvement in this style that has not always been her strongest.  Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin was 4th, 3,4,3,4,5;  Dianne Caracciolo w/ Nazar Norov took 5th 5,5T,5,5,3 and Joan Goddard w/ Aaron Talbert was 6th 6,5T,6,6,6.

The B division began with a semifinal and here the winner, again in all dances was Gwen Bourque w/ Aaron Talbert.  Gwen showed her usual soft use of arms and body.  We also liked the runner-up, Jacqueline Bequette w/ Daniel Lee Tran who indeed took 2nd in all dances.  The remaining places were less decided.  3rd went to Heidy Kellison w/ Sean Tamashiro 5,4,3,3,4.  4th was Isabel Collins w/ Slash Sharan 4,3,5,4,5.  5th went to Sharon Power w/ Jason Daly 6,5,4,5,3 and 6th went to Tracy Hannon w/ Misha Konstantynov 3,6,6,6,6.  We thought Tracy could have finished higher.

Nadia Kireyko w/ Daniel Vasco was the certain winner of the A division, we thought.  Only 4 couples entered and Nadia won all dances.  2nd in all went to Natalie Ptersen w/ FJ Abaya, 3rd in all to Jessica Sweeney w/ Jeremy Pilling and 4th in all to Ann Shaw w/ Daniel Lee Tran.

There was also a very good S2 division with 21 entries.  This was won by Susan Miller w/ Hayk Arshakian who had a new look and demeanor on the floor.  We really liked the runner-up also, Quin Bommelje w/ Misha Vlasov.  3rd went to Diana Best w/ Alosha Anatoliy.

In  the evening we began what will be 2 days of pro-am Smooth that conclude in the late afternoon if Thursday with the Open Scholarships.  Check back for more

Living up to the name!

Last night the San Diego Beach Bash lived up to its name.  What started with a bash ended up with a bash! The feature events, Professional Ballroom, Rhythm, Smooth and Latin were terrific and well attended, and the bash reception by the pool after the competition completed this bash and sent most of us home wanting to come back.

Ballroom Tour

Overall Standings Following Orange County Dancesport (Round 4)

1.  Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova        514.50 **
2.  Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova                         507.72 **
3.  Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova                  425.22 **
4.  Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti                             384.06 **
5.  Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa                         283.92 **
6.  Ronen Zinshtein & Mariam Izmaylova               238.78 **

7.  Anton Lebedev & Anna Borsh                          111.29
8.  Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romashkina             94.92
9.  Michael Towliszew & Tiffany Fung                      87.64
10.  Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova                87.50 

11. Sarosh Ahmad & Zoe Wydroug                          70.21

** Met minumum attendance requirements for grand prize - so far.

Results of Orange County Dancesport

1.  Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova                           140.43 *
2.  Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorovva        125.21
3.  Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova                    101.86
4.  Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa                           100.50
5.  Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti                                 95.43
6.  Sarosh Ahmad & Zoe Wydroug                            70.21

* Audience favorite

Results of BBC & C

1.  Alexander Voscalchuk & Veronica Ergorova    141.64  *
2.  Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova                      125.79
3.  Anton Lebedev & Anna Borsh                        111.29
4.  Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova                 98.29
5.  Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa                        86.71
6.  Ronen Zinshtein & Mariam Izmaylova              80.07
7.  Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti                            78.86

* Audience favorite

Results of IGB

1.  Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova                           134.93 *
2.  Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Ergorova         127.86
3.  Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova                    113.64
4.  Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa                             96.71
5.  Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti                                  90.71
6.  Michael Towlizew & Tiffany Fung                           87.64
7.  Ronen Zinshtein & Mariam Izmaylova                    82.50

* Audience favorite

Standings following Yankee Classic (Round 1)

1.  Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Ergorova         119.79
2.  Igor Colac & Roxanne Milotti                              119.06 *
3.  Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova                     111.43
4.  Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova                            106.57
5.  Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romashkina                 94.92
6.  Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova                     87.50
7.  Ronen Zinshtein & Mariam Izmaylova                    76.21

* Audience favorite winners

Please note the Ballroom tour total scores have now been corrected to show 2 decimal places.  On the original post here they were shown with only 1 decimal place.  This does not change any results.

Rhythm Tour

Overall standings following Volunteer State (Round 3)

1.  Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova                      544.00  **
2.  Aaron & Iryna DeSoto                                       404.65  **
2.  Andre & Natalie Paramonov                               356.72  **
3.  Emmanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova        328.72  **
5.  Daniel Lee Tran & Elizabeth Kinney Taylor          262.14  **
5.  Mikhail Vlasov & Vanda Polakova                       218.78
6.  lya Velednitskiy & Mariya Ilchenko                       98.86
7.  Mykyta Serdyuk & Anna Krasnoshapka                 98.29
8.  Christopher Wayne & Juanita Simamekova            87.64  **
9.  Slash Sharan & Meghan Anderson                        83.79
10.  Danus Jaksevicious & Yuki Haraguchi                  81.79
11.  Ivan Dishliev & Marietta Nedyalkova                   70.21
12.  Jonathan Green & Rachel Neilson                        73.86
13.  Igor Ustymovych & Briana Santiago                    69.07

** Met minumum attendance requirements for grand prize - so far.

Results from Caribbean Dancesport (Round 4)

1.  Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova                   145.29
2.  Misha Vlasov & Vanda Polakova                      118.64
3.  Aaron & Iryna DeSotto                                   106.64
4.  Dan Lee Tran & Taylor Kinney                          87.43 *

* Audience Favorite

Results from Volunteer State (Round 3)

1.  Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova                       138.64 *
2.  Emmanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova        127.93
3.  Andre & Natalie Paramonov                               117.07
4.  Aaron & Iryna DeSotto                                      109.29
5.  Dan Lee Tran & Taylor Kinney                              88.00
6.  Christopher Wayne & Juanita anekovaSimanekova                        87.64
7.  Jonathan Green & Rachel Neilson                          73.86

* Audience Favorite

Competitors can see Star Tour scores from Twin Cities Open by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Results from Twin Cities Open (Round 2)

1.  Emmanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova        141.36
2.  Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova                      140.64 *
3.  Andre & Natalie Paramonov                               125.29
4.  Ilya Velednitskiy & Mariya Ilchenko                      98.86
5.  Mykyta Serdyuk & Anna Krasnoshapka                 98.29
6.  Aaron & Iryna DeSoto                                         94.93
7.  Slash Sharan & Meghan Anderson                        83.79

* Audience favorite

Results from Colorado Star Ball (Round 1)

1.  Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova                    119.43
2.  Andre & Natalie Paramonov                             114.36
3.  Mikhail Vlasov & Vanda Polakova                     100.14
4.  Aaron & Iryna DeSotto                                     93.79
5.  Daniel Lee Tran & Elizabeth Kinney Taylor          86.71 *
6.  Danus Jaksevicious & Yuki Haraguchi                 81.79
7.  Ivan Dishliev & Marieta Nedyalkova                   70.21
8.  Igor Ustymovych & Briana Santiago                   69.07
9.  Emmanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova        59.43 **

* Audience favorite winners
* ** Time Penalty applied

The next tour event is third leg of the Rhythm Tour at Volunteer State - Nashville, TN - July 23-25, 2015

Confirmed Events & Rules

Ballroom
Yankee Classic – Cambridge, MA – June 18-21, 2015
International Grand Ball - San Francisco, CA - July 24-26, 2015
BBC & C – Boston, MA – Sept. 24 -26, 2015
Orange County Dancesport - Irvine, CA - Oct. 9-11, 2015
City Lights Ball – San Jose, CA – Jan. 29-31, 2016

Rhythm
Colorado Star Ball – Denver, CO – June 18-21, 2015
Twin Cities Open - Minneapolis, MN - July 9-12, 2015
Volunteer State Dancesport  - Nashville, TN – July 23-25, 2015
Caribbean Dancesport – San Juan, PR – Nov. 4-7, 2015
City Lights Ball – San Jose, CA – Jan. 29-31, 2016

The Purse

The purse for the finale of the Star Tours stands at $53,000.00 per style - a total of $106,000.00 for both the Rhythm and the Ballroom style. In each style $25,000.00 will go to the couple that earns the most points throughout the run and another $28,000.00 will be distributed among 2nd to 12th places as follows:

2.   $8,000.00
3.   $5,000.00
4.   $4,000.00
5.   $3,000.00
6.   $2,000.00
7.   $1,000.00
8.   $1,000.00
9.   $1,000.00
10. $1,000.00
11. $1,000.00
12. $1,000.00

The Rules

Points earned per dance in the group competition (or the qualifying professional competition) are:

A first place will earn you 6 points
A second place will earn you 5 points
A third place will earn you 4 points
A fourth place will earn you 3 points
A fifth place will earn you 2 points
A sixth place will earn you 1 point

If there is a seven-couple final, seventh place will also be awarded 1 point in each dance towards the solo performance and the wildcard couple (see below) will earn 3 points total going into the solo dance. This wildcard couple will be selected by the audience watching the semifinal of the Open Ballroom or Rhythm competition and they will participate in the showdance of the Star Ballroom and Rhythm tours only (they will not dance in the final of the group competition) and they will earn 3 points total going into the solo dance.

We also feel that in order to keep the point system as balanced and fair as is humanly possible in the Showdance portion of the competition, the highest judge’s score and the lowest score for each couple will be eliminated. Then the Showdance scores will be averaged and added to the group competition points towards the result.

In the Star Tour “Showdance” portion of the competition, each couple including the audience’s “wildcard” will perform a solo routine. Routines should be 3 minutes or less, any couple that dances over three minute will get a deduction of a point per second over 3 minutes.  (eg. if you dance 3 minutes and 10 seconds, 10 points will be deducted from your final tally during that leg of the tour) and this score carries forward. There are no restrictions on material. Props can only be used if they are attached to the dancer or costume. Nothing can be placed on the floor as “scenery” including chairs.  The seven couples will dance in order of their placements in the group event with the wildcard performing first followed by the finalists in reverse order of placement. 9 judges will be selected at random to judge the solo routine.

The judges will award 5 different scores for each couple.

1. Storyline and Artistry (was the routine more than just steps, did the routine have a storyline, did they bring their storyline forward through musicality and interpretation). 20 points.
2. Difficulty. (Were the steps easy to do or was it a difficult routine) 20 points
3. Technical performance. (entrances and exits, connections etc.) Points should be deducted for any obvious errors – missed lifts, missed connections, falls, etc. 25 points
4. Creativity and originality (is the routine clever, were there any groupings that were unique even if they were not performed well). 25 points
5. Clarity. (Was the work clear and easy to follow, both physically as well as developmentally) 10 points

As in the previous tour, we will have the audience-voting feature.  As we mentioned, the audience will be asked to vote for the couples in the semifinal and the couple with the highest number of votes, but not selected by the judges for the group final, will participate in the showdance portion of the event. The audience can vote via text or internet.  The tour will be streamed live so audience members at home can still vote.  

The audience will vote again following the solo presentations and this vote will also count toward the amount of points the couples receive. The audience vote is tabulated in percentage up to 100% meaning each couple will receive a percentage score and this will be converted to points.  If a couple receives 30% of the vote they will automatically receive half the points 15 extra points towards their final tally in the solo competition. Voting will end 5 minutes after the last couple performs their solo routine. And all scores will be added and tabulated and a winner and placements will be announced and rewarded.

The couple with the most points at each leg will win the showdance portion.  Prize money at each leg will be awarded for the Showdance section.
 
Also $500.00 will be awarded by us to the audience’s favorite couple in the solo presentations in addition to the prize money awarded for that leg of the tour by the organizer.

In the event of a tie for any position in the overall tour, a dance-off will be used. The two couples will be asked to draw for a dance then a minimum of 3 judges will make their decision.

City Lights or soon to be called “San Jose Open” (Jan 29 – 31, 2016) will be a double-point event that means double points will be given at the City Lights (San Jose Open) competition where the finale will take place, January 2016. The couples must attend a minimum of 60% the competitions advertised in each tour in addition to City Lights (San Jose Open) to qualify for the grand prize.  (For example if there are 4 competitions they must do 3. If there are 5 they must do 4. If there are 8 must go to 5.  If there are seven they must go to 5.)

Couples must be present and compete at the City Lights (Sand Jose Open) Competition in January 2016 to qualify for the grand prize of the Star Tour, and it is not counted as an event attended. Couples most attend 60% of the tour, to qualify for any money.

We also want to reiterate that everyone is welcome to support the competition and participate in the Open Ballroom and Rhythm events at the competition, regardless of whether they wish to participate in the Star Tours.  If for any reason a couple does not want to be part of the Star Tour but still want to compete in the Rhythm and Ballroom events, you just have to let us know before the competition starts, so we can make any changes necessary to our selections.