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Miami Spice!

Miami lived up to it’s Latin heritage last night at Grand Nationals as the Professional Rhythm was the best professional competition of the week.

Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova were the undisputed champions, receiving perfect scores in all 5 dances.  The competition was really from there down and it was tight!  Runners-up were Maksym Lototsky & Sarah Haworth and they placed 2,3,2,2,2 but had the majority of 2nds in only cha cha.  In fact they took 2nd in mambo despite having only two 2nd places in that dance.  That gives you some idea about how varied everyone’s marks were.  3rd with 3,2,3,3,3 were Tamas Kardos & Mariya-Khristina Shuropova.  4th in all dances were the new partnership of Eddie Rivera & Meg McNash.  We were a little surprised with the 5th place finish of Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov.  We saw them higher in this final.  They were 5th in all dances.  Closing the final were Jhondarr Lopez & Amber Osborn from Texas, the only non-Floridian couple in the final.

Also on tonight was the Pro Ballroom.  This attracted only 3 entries but all were of a high level.  The winners were Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Ergorova.  They won all dances with only two judges, Shirley Johnson and Alexander Mueller, placing them lower.  2nd in all dances went to Vlad Shahov & Ekaterina Popova and 3rd to the new pairing of  Marta & Anastasia Kazmina representing Italy.

5 couples contested the Showdance and it was the usual mix of cabaret and more traditional showdance routines.  Cabaret won the day as Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez won the day with an adagio routine that had some interesting and fast paced liftwork.  They received 7 or the 9 first places.  Vlad Shahov & Ekaterina Popova gave a showdance style routine and they took 2nd.  3rd were Slava Panakshev & Datia Cebotaru;  4th Alfred Perratta & Sloan Cobb and 5th Richard Ortiz & Hannah Pickard.

Keep checking Dance Beat for reports on these professional divisions from former US Champions, Bill Sparks, Shirley Johnson and Susie Thompson and former World Champion, Wolfgang Opitz.

The pro-ams danced two styles today – smooth and Latin.  In the Open C Smooth Scholarship Beverly Marsh w/ Sergey Barsukov was the winner 2,1,1,1.  2nd went to Renee Kuwahara w/ Ilya Reyzin 1,12,3,2 and 3rd to Dee Iannone w/ Markus Cannon 3,3,2,3.  Chris Wilson w/ Emilia Goldberg won the Open B Smooth 1,1T,2,1 with another gentleman, Terry Anderson w/ Olga Bogdanov taking 2nd, 2,1T,1,2.  3rd was Anna Trull w/ John Abrams.

Astrid Rush w/ Radim Lanik won the Open B Latin, winning all dances.  2nd in all went to Lisa McKee w/ Clement Joly and 3rd in all to Alice Lekht w/ Igor Derimov.

Throughout the day the audience was vastly entertained by the young dancers from Dance Town in Miami, mostly partnered by professional, Ivan Mulyavka.

Dancing Through the Ages!

As many of you may know, The Grand Nationals Dancesport Championships is one of the longest continuing running competitions in the USA – celebrating, we believe, 47 years in 2014. 

Last night we were amazed to see gentlemen professional competitors in the Open Pro-Am Rhythm C Scholarship who have been finalists in the Rhythm and other styles, representing almost every decade of those years including current finalists.  We’ll spare their modesty and not say who represented each decade – but guys!  You all looked great!  Here are the results:

1st, Renee Kuwahara w/ Ilya Reyzin (1,1,1,1,1);  2nd Janet Brutell w/ Michael Neil (3,4,2,2,2);  3rd Becky Kirby w/ John Abrams;  4th Beverly Marsh w/ Nazar Norov;  5th Dee Iannone w/ Markus Cannon (6,5,5,5,5);  6th Linda Marcus w/ Brian Smith (5,6,6,7,6);  7th Kathy Williams w/ Alan Williams (7,7,7,6,7);  8th Sharon Albert w/ Darren Cupp (8,8,8,8,8).

Another good Open Scholarship last night was the Open C Ballroom that began with a semifinal.  The winner here was April Haims w/ Ruslan Meskkov (1,1,1,1,1).  2nd went to Rosann Bonotto w/ Alain Doucet (2,2,2,2,3);  3rd Frances Yu w/ Paolo DiLorenzo (3,3,3,3,2);  4th Diana McDonald w/ Alex Koulik (4,5,5,4,4);  5th Yusuf Mihaylov w/ Elena Simonova (5,4,4,5,5);  6th Annina Nosei w/ Lina Korieva (6,6,6,6,6).

There were 2 open professional divisions also danced last night and the Smooth produced a very tight race decided in fact by a Rule 11 tiebreak.  Taking the title with 1,1,2,2 were Kirill Gorjatsev & Daria Zotova.  They won their two dances with the majority of 1st places from the judges.  They received mainly 1st and 2nd placements with only 2 judges, Alexander Mueller and Ron Troy marking them further down the field.  The runners-up with 2,2,1,1, were Mark Short & Alyssa Kark.  They had the majority of 1st places in the VW and for them too it was mostly 1st and 2nd places from the judges except Wolfgang Opitz and Oksana Zolotarevskaya.  3rd in all dances were William Proper & Jennifer Elliott;  4th in all Martin Pickering & Natalie Botes;  5th Vadim & Karla Boldirev.

For us and the judges the Latin was more clearcut with Dmitry Nikishkin & Oleans Shvets winning all dances.  We were surprised, however, to see a few 3rd places in their marks column.  They did receive perfect scores in the jive.  2nd were Dmitry Zavialov & Ashley Sanchez 2,3,2,2,3;  3rd Aleksey Alekseev & Ekaterina Dareleva 3,2,3,3,2;  4th in all dances, Srdjan Mikuljan & Carolina Avila;  5th Hector Quiles & Maria Balashova.

The current venue for the Grand Nationals is the splendid Ritz Carlton on Key Biscayne in Miami.  This area and the hotel is beautiful almost with the feel of a tropical island while being basically in Miami.  As one would expect the service and hotel amenities are superb.  

The ballroom décor is also superb with the showcase LED programmable light backdrop always adding so much to the ambiance.

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And the Viennese Waltz!

Last night at the Autumn Dance Classic the Professional Ballroom competition came with a twist. It was the “Professional Ballroom and the Viennese Waltz,” meaning that the Viennese Waltz was a separate competition from the Ballroom that was then a four dance competition.

Are you still confused? So were we, and many of the entrants including Gary McDonald who questioned this from the standpoint of NDCA regulations. We are not sure as to what or how it all was resolved, except we concluded once we got going, that perhaps this was not a Championship since the event is just a competition and so not a championship, so the rules may not apply! Nevertheless, this broke the usual routine of a normal competition and made it very interesting for the viewers and for the competitors who got to make some extra “money” now participating in two separate competitions. It was very unique and from our point of view a win, win situation for everyone involved.

The winners of the Viennese Waltz were Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova, second was awarded to Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blimova and third was awarded to Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa. Fourth in this fun event was awarded to Gianni Caliandro & Arianna Esposito, fifth was Vladish Shakhov & Ekaterina Popova, and in sixth position were Stefano Di Brino & Bianra Zubrowska.  11 couples entered.

As you will see the actual Ballroom competition had a slightly different result.  First of all it ended up being a seven couple final as 13 couples entered. The second difference was a major one, the overall winner of the four dance combined was Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blimova who placed first in three dances and second in the quickstep. Second overall was awarded to the winners of the VW competition Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova who placed second in three dances and won the quickstep. Like in the VW, Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa placed third in all dances, and from here down was the exact result as in the Viennese Waltz with the exception that Stefano Di Brino & Bianra Zubrowska who were sixth in the VW were also sixth in this competition but tied for 6th in the foxtrot with the additional couple who placed seventh overall, Yuriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson 7,7,6T,7.  Youriy & Sarika did not participate in the VW.  

We think this was an excellent competition and we were glad the organizers thought of something new to separate them from the rest - promote, motivate and entertain their guests, some who, we are sure, are now a bit “jaded” with the same scheduled routine. It is great that regular competitions are able to try new things and make things a little different, otherwise the calendar of over 100 competitions a year would look a little bleak in excitement.

The Open Rhythm competition was also featured last night and here Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti, placed first in every dance taking the trophy home. Romney Reyes & Brooke O’Donnell were second in all dances and third was awarded to Jeremy Babagay & Carolyn Barreno 3,3,3,3,4. Fourth in this category went to Richard & Marianne Meyers 5,4,4,4,3, Daniel Lee Tran & Taylor Elizabeth Kinney were fifth 4,5,5,5,5, C.J. & Jenny Gomez were sixth in all dances and Zach Crawford & Kate Castor seventh.

The Amateur Latin, like the day before in the Ballroom, was also quite an excellent event.  Here Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabrielle Sabler won all dances.  A new pairing from New York of two experienced dancers. Kiril Kulish & Orsoyla Horvath took second overall but placed third in the Jive.  Another new partnership, this time from California.  Russia’s Michael Koptev & Alexandra Atamantsev placed second in the jive but overall placed third.  It is interesting to note that here we noticed a glimpse of surprise in their faces when this was announced.  Perhaps they are used to placing higher in their country or thought they would have an easy pass here.  We are not sure but they looked surprised when they were called for third place. Fourth overall was awarded to Teleryck Ianakiev & Natalla Devitskaya 4,4T,5,4,4.  We really liked this couple in particular the lady, Natalla, who we thought was perhaps the best lady on the floor last night. Fifth went to Umario Diallo & Natasha Zrazhevskaya 5,4T,4,5,5, and sixth was awarded to Italy’s Luca Di Pumpo & Laura Sassi and they took sixth in every dance.

World & US Champions, Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova performed their show, many of the routines new and very artistic.  Many observers were very impressed wit not only the incredible level of dance but also the sense of showmanship they exhibited.

The evening concluded with the results and we all went to the “after party” where everyone casually enjoyed they rest of the time.      

It’s All About the Music!

Last night at the Autumn Dance Classic it was all about the music! Composer Georges Lifermann (a lifetime friend of pro-am competitor, Catherine Gallo) with the assistance of our own DJ extraordinaire, Brent Miles, who arranged M. Lifermann’s original scores, porvided the music played for the Professional Smooth last night.

The 5-couple final was terrific especially the 2 top couples, US Champions Peter & Alexandra Perzhu and Nick Cheremukin & Viktorija. The composer presented the award at the end of this excellent final.  Peter & Alexandra won all dances, Nick & Viktorija were second in all dances.

The rest of the Professional Smooth final was also excellent.  Leading the way in third position were Nikolai Plilipenchuk & Natalia Skorikova.  Fourth were Nathan Simler & Mireille Gineste 4,4,4,5, and fifth position was awarded to Slava & Valeriia Kostianets 5,5,5,4. The professionals seemed to enjoy the Smooth music.  A first since John Montenegro in the 70’s composed the music for the US Championships.

In the Open Professional Latin all firsts went to Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova.  Second in all was awarded to Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina and third in all were Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokona. In fourth place was Evgeny Likhachev & Maria Levina, fifth was Arjom Shmigeljuk & Oxana Kashkina and in sixth position were Zsolt Katona & Timea Potys.

The Professional Rising Star ballroom was the largest pro event of the night beginning with a semifinal.  The winners were Vladislav Shahov & Ekaterina Popova, a new partnership now based in Florida.  They won all dances.  It was quite tight between 2nd and 3rd with the victory going to Stefano Di Brino & Bianra Zubrowska 2,2,3,3,2 over another new team, Yuriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson 3,3,2,2,3.  Alex & Grace Wang, new professional up from the amateur ranks were 4th, 5,4,4,4,4;  Slava & Valeriia Kostaniets were 5th 4,5,5,6,5 and Dmitry Solomakha & Gabriella Sevillano were 6th 6,6,6,5,6.

The Professional Rising Star Rhythm was also a 5-couple final and here Rommey Reyes & Brooke O’Donnell took first in all dances.  Second went to Jeremy Babagey & Carolyn Barrerto who placed second in four dances and third in the cha cha.  Daniel Lee Tran & Tayloe Elizabeth Kinney were third overall 2,3,3,3,3. Fourth place in all dances went to C.J. Gomez & Jenny Lynn-Gomez and fifth were Zach Crawford & Kate Castor.

The Amateur Ballroom was also a terrific event, a seven couple final was called at the end and Dusan Dragovic & Greta Laurinaityle, from England and recent International finalists took first in all dances. Second in all dances went to the NDCA US Amateur Champions, Andres & Veronika End and third was awarded to Rusland Kalyuzhnyy & Kseniya Sovenko 3,5,3,3,3.  Taking that 3rd in tango were Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhitarova 4,3,4,4,4.  Russia scored the 5th place, Michael Koptev & Alexandra Atmantseva 5,4,5,5,5;  Michael Vorobiev & Sonya Tsckanovsky were 6th 7,7,6,6,6 and from the Ukraine, Sergey Averkov & Oleana Bariva were 7th 6,6,7,7,7.

The Pro/Am Ballroom was also a highlight of this weekend of dance and here the Pro/Am Ballroom “A” was awarded to Julie Zhao w/Denis Kutepov, second was Rebecca Kuhn w/Andrea Faraci and third went to Irene Lau w/Mikhail Avdeev.

In an in an interesting twist, the “B” Scholarship was awarded to Michelle Peng w/Mikhail Avdeev, they took first in all dances. In second place was Julie Zhao w/Denis Kutepov and third went to Lily Chang w/Sergey Kiselev.

In the “C” division Lisa Liao w/Andrea Faraci won all dances, second was awarded to Takako Treholme w/Valdas Padriezas 2,2,2,2,3 and third went to Margaret Loo w/Joel Marasigan 6,3,3,3,2.

There were two other interesting performances, the Boy Band, Innovate (featuring the son of pro-am teacher Louis Bar) gave a high energy and well-rehearsed performance.  A bit earlier, Dad, Louis gave a Peabody exhibition dressed as Charlie Chaplin with well-known pro-am competitor, Lauren LaPointe.

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Mahalo!

The Hawai’i Star Ball finished with a superb gala affair on Friday night, a sit down dinner was served while the excellent 14 piece band played for the pleasure and dancing of the packed ballroom.

This was complimented by a terrific Taiko drum section followed by Peter & Alexandra Perzhu’s Rhythm show and a special presentation of “Say Something” by Felipe & Carolina Telona dedicated to David Alvarez the new organizer of the Hawai’i Star Ball.

During the cocktail party and in the interlude, many of the judges and attendees, purchased their fresh leis, many of them beautifully crafted with intricate patterns made by the different plants and flowers of the islands. These beautiful lands of the State of Hawaii are so unique in culture and traditions that to many of us it almost seems as if we are in another country, quickly to be corrected by the locals who keep pointing out that we are in the USA.

On a side note, it is one place that we totally enjoy playing general dancing. Here in Hawai’i we actually have plenty of generals that get up and dance every dance, making it a pleasurable experience and not just killing time (scheduling error as I usually call it) playing music to people that have no interest in getting up to dance with anyone.

During the gala there was what we would call a formal passing of the stewardship from Geoffrey Fells to the new organizers, David Alvarez and John Fishpaw. Geoffrey was brought to the floor and was honored as the organizer for the past 25 years or more.  A standing ovation was appropriate and then everyone as customary came on to the floor made a circle holding hands, like a lei without end or beginning for the song “Hawai’I Aloha” and with that the 2014 Hawai’i Star Ball came to a conclusion with great energy and great prospects for many years to come for a successful Hawai’i Star Ball…… 

Simply Hawai’i!

What can one say today about the Hawai’i Star Ball, but simply Hawai’i?

There are few words to explain paradise, but here in Honolulu yesterday all day was paradise. In the ballroom it was ballroom day but outside the ballroom it was beach time and for us some pool time.  The adult infinity pool at the Sheraton is magnificent. At first sight the pool mixes with the sea where the turtles pop up and down giving us all an orchestrated show while sipping on your chi chi, or maitai and reclining in the many floating bean bags that are provided to the guests.

For those not at the pool or beach inside the ballroom was a day filled with Ballroom dancing and at night the Professional show by Peter & Alexandra Perzhu was excellent and totally well received by the welcoming audience. Here in Hawaii Ballroom and Latin seem always to be more prominent than Smooth and Rhythm, but by the turn out and the audience reception to Peter & Alexandra, it seems by all accounts that Smooth and Rhythm fever has finally reached the state of Hawaii.

More proof that Smooth and Rhythm are on the rise is the fact that both lectures by Marianne Nicole and Linda Dean on Rhythm were packed with over 30 participants. We personally were not fully present due to the fact that somebody had to manage the infinity pool and take all the sun, but it certainly was reported to us by a few of the attendees that the lectures were excellent and that they were glad to get this type of excellent knowledge here in the islands.

Today it is a marathon day in the Sheraton’s ballroom with the Rhythm style. During breakfast we noticed many ladies sporting rhinestones in their hair, so not sure we will be able to suck up as much sun today. We will report both from in and out of the ballroom and keep you posted as the competition progresses and on the last meeting of the LPP. In a foot note it was great to see the LPP get back to business after a one year hiatus, and we are pleased to report that there are many new members and plenty of old ones including us.

Tonight Peter & Alexandra will do their Rhythm portion of the show and according to the organizer, David Alvarez, we are supposed to have a few extra surprises. Our leis have been purchased, our tuxes have been ironed now for the gala…..  keep tuned in for more on this wonderful competition in paradise, and simply Hawai’i!

Aloha!

It is so great to be back in Honolulu for the Hawai’i Star Ball!

Last night, overlooking Diamond Head, a luau reception was held with music and entertainment a true feast. The hula dancers were awesome and we were quite impressed with the fire dancers down to the smallest of them all, a 2 ? foot tall child, who could work the fire as good as his siblings. The adult hula dancers were also super both men and women could move with the control and beauty that would make “Pele” proud.

The new and improved Sheraton was an improvement from the Hawaiian Village where it was held 2 years ago, the hotel as well as all the rooms have been improved, the pool area is gorgeous, especially the adult pool overlooking the bay. The new organizer, Mr. David Alvarez, was very gracious and in a few words greeted us making us welcome and extended his happiness for the future of this unique and wonderful event. Geoffrey Fells, the previous organizer, was present and seemed very supportive of the new organizer and was there as in previous years welcoming everyone and helping in the passage of stewardship.

From last night’s show and luau we cannot wait to see what else Mr. Alvarez has in store for us. We know that the recently crowned US Smooth Champions and continuing 9 Dance US Champions, Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, will be here to perform a show starting tomorrow, but from what we can tell Mr. Alvarez is very motivated and excited to continue to make the Hawai’i Star Ball a must competition in your calendar year.

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Watch the finalists perform on our Video Page

And a Fond Farewell........

And so we come to the final day of the 6-day extravaganza that has become the USDC.  The featured divisions today were the WDC Super Series Professional Divisions in Ballroom and Latin.

For the most part these were repeats of the US National divisions with a couple of additional couples from foreign parts, but several withdrawals from some US couples.

In the Latin Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko were once again the victors in all dances, but they did not have the perfect scores that they had in the National Championship.  They lost a few first place marks to the runners-up, Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite (Canada).  The closest scored dance was the paso doble that was won by 9 firsts to 4.  Third in all dances were Nikolay Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina.  4th went to Dorin Frecantanu & Maria Sergeeva (Moldova) 4,4,4,4,5;  5th to Aleksandr Skariato & Yulia Lesokhina (Ukraine) 5,5,5,5,4 and 6th Gunnar Gunnarsson & Marika Doshoris.

Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva were the winners of the WDC World Super Series Ballroom winning all dances and losing only 1 single 1st place mark out of the 65 available.  US Champions, Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova did not compete.  2nd in all dances went to Domen Krapez & Monica Nigro (Slovenia).  3rd in all to Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk and 4th in all to Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva.  5th and 6th places were a little closer.  5th went to Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova 5,5,6,6,5 and 6th to Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa 6,6,5,5,6.

There was a little shuffle in the World Professional Cabaret, in comparison to the national event.  Tonight, with their new routine, the winners were Shane & Shannon Jensen – up from 2nd in the national.  2nd this time went to Justin Guilmette & Kimerlee Piedad which left 3rd place to the 2014 Blackpool Exhibition Champions, Craig Smith & Micheline (Hong Kong).

In the afternoon the US National Professional Showdance Championships were decided.  These are world championship selection divisions.  The Classic Showdance division was the larger with 8 entries and the two representatives are 1st, Pavel Cherdantsau & Svetlana Rudkovskaya and 2nd, Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova.  In the South American division, the reps are 1st, Andre & Natalie Paramonov and 2nd, Genya Bartashevich & Yana Masnikova.

The Pro-Am US Open Cabaret Championship was won by Nicole Haute w/ Justin Guilmette and the US National Mambo Championships by Kia Malone w/ Eddie Rivera.

New this year was a Professional Grand Championship between the winners of the US National Championships.  This was judged by audience applause with a “clapometer.”  The winners were Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko.  Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova did not compete.

In the evening two prestigious awards were presented.  The John Monte Award went to Martin Chiang, CEO of American Ballroom Company and United States Championship Hall of Fame Award went to Bruno Collins & Luann Pulliam. 

$100,000 in Top Teacher prize money was given out this week and the big prize winner overall was Siniza Vasic.

Many try - few have made it!

A long time ago it was simple time, a time of no separation, a time when you danced everything and dance gods like Larry & Betty Silvers won everything - 10 Dance, Latin and Ballroom. You also had long-time legend Frank Regan dancing with Victoria Regan (who is here this weekend) winning the Latin and the Ten dance.

And when the big bang came and the American Style separated Charles & Jean Penatello won both the Smooth and Rhythm, shortly followed by Joe Lozano and Jan Mattingly who also won these two styles.

Then came development and changes and the first couple to win the Smooth and Nine Dance was David & Carrie Kloss. We then had our first World Champions, Gary & Diana McDonald who won the US Latin plus the World and US 10 Dance. Ben and Shalene Ermis were the last of the few to win a duel multi-dance event in the same year, they won the Smooth and the Nine Dance in 2006.

Since that year the US has not had any other duel Multi-Dance Champions, but that was all changed last night at the United States Championships in Orlando, Florida when Peter and Alexandra Perzhu became the US National Professional Smooth Champions adding to their previous collection of 5 consecutive gold medals as US Nationals Professional Nine Dance Champions.  But this year for the first time they also won the vacant crown as the US National Professional Smooth Champions.  They won all 4 dances.  As a note we most point out that Peter & Alexandra won three dances with the majority of firsts but in the waltz they got 8 firsts out of the 17 judges.  Having these two titles is an accomplishment that as you read in our opening paragraphs, many try for but few have accomplished in the multi-dance arena.

With the exception of the new US Champions Peter & Alexandra Perzhu the competition for us was very close between the other couples in the final. A big surprise for us and I think to many in the independent world, was the ascension to runners up of Mikhail Zharinov & Galina Zharinov who had never occupied this spot. Mikhail & Galina are the Fred Astaire National Champions and you could see by the President of Fred Astaire’s face (he was presenting the awards) and by a huge crowd jumping off their seats, that they were pleased to have their heroes promoted to this high position. Mikhail & Galina took a few first place marks in every dance from Peter & Alexandra, but not enough to make a huge dent and not enough to be second comfortably.  They placed second in both their waltzes but third in the other two dances. It is also fair to say that this panel of 17 judges had only one or two judges from the Fred Astaire organization, this as far as we can tell was a very independent panel.

Third in this excellent final went to Mazen Hamza & Izabella Jundzill who placed second in the tango, third in the waltzes and fourth in the foxtrot. This most have been a very disappointing result for this couple who until last year had been so close to the mark. Fourth in this heat went to what we would say was our true favorites of the night, Nick Cheremukhin & Victorija Barasihina who placed fourth in three dances and second in the foxtrot. We could not agree more with the judges in the foxtrot decision this couple has a very unique style but one that with every outing keeps blossoming. Travis & Jaimee Tuft took fifth in every dance and Mikolay Czarnecki & Victoria Malko were sixth.

Olga Foraponova will have the report for Dance Beat.

What can we say about the US Professinal Latin? Very little, for us it was more of the same and it did not bring the crowd to excitement levels as did the Ballroom on the night before. Unequivitable and clear winners from the first round Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko won all dances with perfect scores from all the judges, not a second was place in their box. Second in all dances went to Roman Kutsky & Anna Kovalova, but here they did get a few lower marks than second place, specifically noted were the scores of Ms. Shirley Ballas who awarded sixth in both the Paso and Jive and fifth in the samba and rumba, only to upgrade them in their cha cha to a fourth position.

Third in this professional Latin heat went to Nikolay Voronovitch & Maria Nikolishina who placed third in every dance. Nikolay & Maria did not get any major drasticly varying marks but there is definitely some tension between them and Roman & Anna.  We are not quite sure what’s going on between these two couples, but this is the second or third time that we have witnessed some, should we say, horseplay between the men. This was caught on tape from what I hear and we cannot wait to dig in.  Hey!  It’s all great fun for us but we most caution the couples in question that some judges may not like this type of behavior.  Just after the awards we were accosted by two judges who asked us what’s going on? So if anyone knows what their issue is let us know we would love to have the insight!

Andrey Tarasov & Yuliya Kuznetsova were fourth and here it became a little more difficult for the judges to decide 6,5,4,4,4.  Fifth was awarded to Vitalii Proskurin & Eugenia Shatilova who for the Dance beat Team gave an excellent performance one that we would said deserves better than some of the marks they received 4,4,5,5,6. Sixth position was awarded to Ivan Mulyavka & Loreta Kriksciukaityte, 5,6,6,6,5. We think this to be a very disappointing finish for this couple who we are sure wanted to move up a little in the ladder of the final

Nadia Eftedal will have the full report for Dance Beat members.

The Pro/Am competition, although it did not have the massive entries we are used to seeing in the afternoon, in some ways was quite exciting.

The “A1” US Open Ballroom went to Carley Chik from Hong Kong, partnered by Domen Krapez, and they won all dances, second in this heat went to Denise Evens w/Artem Plakhotny but here it was not an easy placement as you can see by the marks 2,2,3,3,2, and third was awarded to Jennifer Lee from Canada with Serghei Pogonet 3,3,2,2,3. Rebecca Kuhn w/Andrei Faraci was fourth in all dances, Irene Lau w/Mikhail Avdeeev placed fifth 5,5,6,5,5, Lin Meng w/Kamil Urbaniak was sixth 7,6,5,6,6, Rachel Schans w/Garry Gekhman was seventh 6,7,7,8,7, and in eighth place was Estefania Papadpulos w/Ben Seifert 8,8,8,7,8.

The “A2” US Open Pro/Am Ballroom was also a terrific event and here Celia Chou w/Erminio Stefano took first in all dances, second went to Canada’s Beverly Moore w/Alain Doucet, however this was not an easy second overall Beverly was awarded two thirds one in tango and one in VW. Third in this same heat went to Langxi Gao & Kamil Urbaniak and they took the two seconds away from Beverly, 4,2,2,3,3. Fourth overall wen to Bo Chang w/Giampiero Giannico 3,4,4,4,4. Fifth was Audrey Paek w/Ronen Zinshtein 5,8,5,6,5. Sixth was awarded to Michael Peng w/Mikhail Avdeev 7,6,6,5,7, seventh was Lily Chang w/Sergey Kiselev 6,5,8,7,6, and in eighth place was Brynda Insley w/Martin Reinbold 8,7,7,8,8.

As you can see all US Open Pro/Am Scholarships Championships were difficult for the judges making them bring back at times more couples than they were asked for and in the “B” it was no different here too the judges brought back 8 couples. The winner was Leilani Viney w/Kamil Urbaniak they took three firsts and placed third in the waltz and fourth in the quickstep. Lynn Murrell w/Alexander Voskalchuk was second 1,4,2,4,2. Beatrice Wang w/Giampiero Giannico took third 4,2,4,2,3. From here down keep and eye on the marks - Connie Edmonds w/Samuele Pacchini was fourth 2,3,5,5,1. Paige Riffle w/Iaroslav Bieliei placed fifth 6,5,3,3,5. Deborah Errico w/Dariusz Michalski was sixth 5,8,6,7,6. Tammy Knight w/Artem Plkhotnyi placed seventh 8,6,7,6,7 and Suzanne Lee w/Igor Suvorov was eighth 7,7,8,8,8.

The “C1” and “C2” were also great competition and here in the “C1” Susan Walter w/Samuele Pacchini won every dance.  In the “C2” Sandy Fortier w/Richard Tonizzo (Canada) won the overall and placed first in three dances but third in the quickstep, this was still good enough to give Sandy the US title. 

The US Open Amateur Championships were disappointing, attracting few entries.  The winners of both the Latin and Ballroom, however, certainly deserve a mention.  Andres & Veronica End in the Ballroom and Alexey Karaulov & Vlada Semenova in Latin.

As you can see although not the most thrilling night it was a night of making history and a night of solid entertainment. Tonight the open to the world events should be fun but we expect a repeat of all the other national competitions with one or two people pulling out and maybe even one or two couples coming in from outside the US. Saturday is like a box of chocolates you never know what you’re going to get!     

“At Last!”

“Our waiting days are over…….” They had a dream and last night Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine & Liana Churilova’s dream came true, they are officially the current United States Professional Rhythm Champions.

The road has not been easy for this couple with many years spent preparing for this day and a number of stumbling blocks in their way, but after all they still standing and now on top of the world.

Congratulations Emmanuel & Liana from the Dance Beat Team, and in looking at the marks, they won every dance with a huge majority of firsts only a handful of judges’ dissenting the decision.  Their worst marks came from Linda Dean who awarded them 3,4,3,3,1 and Melissa Dexter 2,3,2,3,1.

Second place in this very phenomenal competition and somewhat of a surprise to all following the “caravan” over this summer, went to Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova who took second in all dances. We said “surprise” because up until now every competition we have witnessed has been won by the third place awardee’s here at the United States Championships Andre & Natalie Paramonov, who just about a year or so changed styles from the International Latin to the Rhythm.  (This was the first time Andre & Natalie had competed against Emanuel & Liana). But the marks say it all, the only dance where the Paramonovs came close to second was the rumba where they tied the ‘second or better’ scores with Nazar & Irina and second in this dance was decided by “third or better.” All fourths were awarded to Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, fifth overall but not in all dances was awarded to Mikhail Vlasov & Vanda Polakova 5,5,5,6,5 and sixth went to Vard Margaryan & Sofya Fill 6,6,6,5,6.

Dan Rutherford will report on this division for Dance Beat soon.

The US Professional Ballroom was run head to head with the Rhythm, but here there was also no lack for excitement.  Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova continue to be our reigning National Champions, (their 7th consecutive title together and Katusha’s 17th consectutive title) but in the final and especially when the marks were being called out, the audience favorites were Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva. Unlike the previous week at the Embassy Ball, Victor & Anastasia to the delight of the educated public, took two dances away from Arunas & Katusha, the tango and quickstep, this was well received by Victor & Anastasia whose smiles ran from ear to ear. In looking at their marks we must also point out that Victor & Anastasia took four, first place marks in the waltz, two in the VW and six in the foxtrot. It is quite reassuring to see this huge improvement in our second place couple.  This positively reinforces the United States of America’s superiority in this style in the world today.  Congratulations to both these wonderful couples!

Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk took third in all dances, Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva were fourth 4,4,4,5,4, Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova fifth 6,5,5,4,5, and in sixth place was Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova 5,6,6,6,6.

Watch for Irina Suvorov’s report on this division.

The 2014 National Ballroom Championship was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Brian Puttock.  American Ballroom Company presented Mrs. Sue Puttock with a Lifetime Acheivement Award for her husband and partner.  The whole ballroom rose in salute.

The third national title decided on this night was the Professional Mambo.  The winners this year were Matthew Hauer & Lauren Schelfhaudt.  Jonathan Chen & Nadine Messenger were the runners-up and Timothy Polaschek & Katie Hutchinson took 3rd.

The atmosphere in the ballroom last night was electrifying to the point that we did not want to leave our seat for fear of missing a beat. The excitement carried over to the US Open National Pro/Am Latin Scholarships in the afternoon and early evening.

The Open “A1,” a straight final this year, went to Cheyenne Murillo w/ Sasha Altukhov with first in all dances. Second in this category was awarded to Saina Hadden w/ Daniele Gozzi 3,3,2,2,2 and third to Vera Xu w/ Jakub Zeglin 2,2,3,3,4.  Fourth Grace Kuan w/ Evgeny Likachev 5,5,4,4,3;  fifth Maria Ceva w/ Lyubomir Asenov 4,4,5,5,5;  sixth Shelby Wadsworth w/ Paul Richardson 6,6,6,6,6 and 7th Estefania Papadpulos w/ Ben Seifert 7,7,7,7,7.

In the Open “A2” first place was awarded to Tina Broccole w/Delyan Terziev 1,1,2,1,1, second went to Svetlana Van Tassel w/Andrey Tarasov 4,2,1,2,3 and third was Maria Seragou w/Dimitrios Damalas 2,3,4,6,2. Fourth place, Elizabeth Rocco w/Eric Hudson 3,4,5,4,4, fifth Khuong Pham w/Jessie Mineau (Canada) 5,6,3,3,6, sixth was awarded to Jeanine Steward w/Cristiano Callegari 6,5,6,5,5 and seventh was awarded to Mattias Kirwald w/Leanne Aranza, seventh in all dances.  

The “B” Champion was Lisa Lowery w/Radek Wiatrowski, they placed first in every dance.  Suzanne Saperstein w/Ricky Bentzen took all seconds and Lynn Magnesen w/Caleb Aleman was third 5,4,3,3,3. Nora Fox w/Plamen Danailov was fourth 4,3,5,5,4, Agnes Brzeski w/Cristiano Callegari placed fifth 6,6,4,4,5, Sara Switzer w/Shandor Shtefil was sixth 3,7,6,6,6, and Linda Ciabatoni w/Slava Sergiev was seventh 7,5,7,7,7.

In the C1 and C2, the C1 was awarded to Olga Bassett w/Petr Dubovsky, and the C2 went to Janet Carrus w/Edgar Osorio.

Yesterday we predicted this to be a terrific night but it overpassed our expectations, the afternoon and night events were supurb. We hope tonight will as exciting with the Smooth title up for grabs and the Latin showcasing some of the world’s best. I’m sure tickets are still available so come join the fun!             

Birds of a Feather Flock Together!

The evening crowd is beginning to thicken as the weekend approaches and the Open US and National Championships are almost upon us. Even the birds want a piece of the action!  Yesterday during the afternoon session two birds flew into the ballroom and from what we were told one even made a dive at judge, JT Thomas. We think she or he wanted to be scored on how smooth his flight was during the smooth section of the competition. In the evening the birds all went to sleep and all that was left was fierce competition on the “Dance Floor”

The US National Ten Dance took place and after two days of competition the winners were Sergiy Samchynskyy & Yuliya Besarb they won all the Latin dances, placed second in three ballroom dances and third in the waltz, and foxtrot.  The winner of all five Ballroom dances were Igor Coloc & Roxanne Milotti.  This might have given them a great start but unfortunately in the Latin they placed third in every dance, giving them a second overall in all ten dances. Third in this excellent 10 dance heat was awarded to Simeon & Kora Stoynov and here they took second in all the Latin dances but fourth in four Ballroom dances and third in the tango.

Fourth in the US National 10 dance was awarded to Russ & Katusha Wilder 2,4,3,2,3,4,4,4,4,4, fifth were Pavel Cherdantsau & Svetlana Rudkosvakaya 5,5,6,5,5,6,5,6,6,5, sixth went to Jang & Adele Don 6,T8,5,T7,6,7,6,5,7,6, seventh position was Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer 7,T8, T8,9,9,5,7,7,5,7, Eighth position went to Manuel Trillo & Anastasia Zhitova 8,6,7,6,7,8,8,8,8,T8, and in ninth place was Dmitriy Solomakha & Gabriela Sevillano 9,7,T8,T7,8,9,9,9,9,T8. As you can see the ten and nine dance are calculated and per dance not overall. This makes these events quite interesting when it comes to the results.

Speaking of interesting the US National Nine Dance Championships was also run this evening here the winners with a perfect run in all dances was Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, (first in all dances). Second in all dances in this nine dance championship and second overall was awarded to Sergiy Shapoval & Ania Tarnowska. Third went to Matthias Krushel & Christina Schlege, and here things got a little different 5,4,4,4,3,

T4,T3,6,3.  Stephen Smyth & Viktoriya Kelyman were fourth overall 3,3,3,3,7,6,6,T4,5; Jan & Adele Don were fifth 4,5,5,5,5,3,5,T4,6. Sixth was Justin Guilmette & Kimalee Piedad 7,8,6,6,4,T4,T3,3,4, and in seventh position was Dustin Donelan & Kristen McCloskey 8,7,8,8,6,7,7,7,7, and finally in eighth position was Leo Mora & Christina Garced 6,6,7,7,8,8,8,8,8.

The US National Cabaret Championship also took place this evening and it was an unprecedented 9-couple final, not sure if this has been done in previews US championships but I suppose it has. With a majority of firsts Justin Guilmette & Kimalee Piedad won the event again, they only had a couple of marks lower than second place a fifth from Richard Booth, and a third from Marianne Nicole. For us Justin & Kimalee’s routine was perfectly executed with some excellent combinations of overhead lifts and dancing. Second overall went to Shane Jensen & Shannon Jensen their performance to “Cry Me River” was also worth a standing ovation, and here they took seven first places out of the 15 judges. Shane & Shannon’s worst marks came from Olga Foroponova who placed them 4th and from Glen Weiss who too had them fourth. Third in this mix was awarded to Travis & Jaimee Tuft, they did not get any first place marks from any of the judges but they did get a fifth and that was from Linda Wakefield. Fourth was Brandon Baker & Chelsey Cherie, fifth was awarded to Clyde Harris & Summer Black Elkin, sixth place went to Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez, seventh went to James Brann & Sayra Vazquez, eighth place was awarded to Richard & Laurie Collect and in ninth place were Chris & Shelly Eckert.

The US National Pro/Am Smooth Championships also took place this same day, and we must say the competition was excellent.  The “A1” was won by Melonie Krumer with teacher Max Sinitsa.  Melonie won three dances with the majority of firsts but in the VW she only manage 5 first places.  Melonie’s worst judge was Inessa Strellniikova who awarded her 2 fifths and a fourth. Here are Melonie’s marks 1,1,1,2. Second place wen to Julia Vaysfeld w/Nikolay Karchev 2,2,2,1. We must point out that Julia took at least 4 firsts away from Melonie in every dance. Third was awarded to Christina Diaz & Kris Suakjian 3,3,4,3; fourth was Brianna Yadgir w/Chris Germain 4,4,3,4; fifth place went to Sara Jess w/Tomas Mielnicki 7,5,5,6; sixth was Liora Panis w/Leonid Burlo 6,7,6,5; seventh was Irene Lee w/Nick Cheremukin 5,6,8,8, and eighth was Megan Strong w/Sergey Smolin 8,8,7,7.

The “A2” was also a great event to mention and here Elizabeth Rocco partnered by Eric Hudson was the winner overall by placing second in the waltz and first in the other three dances.  Lisa Berry w/Rauno Ilo took the waltz, placed second in the T,F, and third in the VW, this combination awarded her a second overall. Third overall went to Susan Sidman w/Gleb Makarov 4,3,3,2, as you can see Susan got a much higher placement in the VW. Fourth was Kim Hardin w/Billy King 3,4,4,4; fifth was awarded to Christina Donelson w/Peter Perzhu and they were fifth in every dance, and sixth place went to Lance Smith w/Tone Jacobsen taking all sixths, we must note this was the only man amateur in this final heat.

The “B” was a very disputed heat and the largest heat for the Pro/Am Smooth events with 40 couples entered. At the end it all came down to a top six and the championship went to Canada’s Beverly Moore with teacher Alain Doucet, but it was not an easy task for them, Beverly placed first in T,VW, second in the W, and third in the F. Beverly’s worst Judge was Urs Geisenhaimer who awarded them fifth in the W, and sixth in the VW. Second on this very contested heat was Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski 1,2,2,3, for this judge Inessa Streinkova, awarded them their worst scores two sixths a five and a fourth. Third was Robin Kencel w/ Sergey Vasilyev and as you can see by her scores this too was not an easy task 3,3,1,2, however, this was a lot better than last week at Embassy Ball where she was left out of the final. Fourth was Paige Riffle w/Alex Zagrean 4,5,4,4; fifth was Sue Eldred w/Artem Plakhotnyi 5,4,5,5 and in sixth position was Gracelyn Tuoti w/Andrei Abrashin and they were sixth in all dances. 

The C1 Division went to Penelope Rostad w/ Nikolay Karchev, her 2nd Open title so far this week, and the C2 fell to Georganna Beuerman w/ Jonathan Atkinson.

The professional Rising stars were the last events run last night and they finished way after midnight.  This must have made a few competitors a little testy and on edge since a medal was thrown out to the side by a competitor apparently not satisfied with her results. The US National Rising Star Rhythm was the largest and the last to be awarded.  Here Shane & Shannon Jensen took the honors home by winning every dance, however not with a majority of firsts in any of the dances. Second in this very contested heat went to Sergiy Shapoval w/ Ania Tamowska, and they had marks from sixth to first, the majority of these first place marks were handed down by Eddie Simon who awarded them first in three dances and second in the bolero.  Their overall scores were 4,3,2,2,2.  What shocked us the most was during the prize presentation Ania seemed very perturbed by her second place finish. She seemed to be holding back with a fixed smile as she collected her award but as all pictures were taken and the party dissolved, many of the judges saw her disposing of her medal by throwing it to the side. Third in this very heated and contested competition was Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov 2,2,3,4,3.

The US National professional Rising Star Ballroom was not as dramatic when it came to the awards - they all took it well we did not notice anyone visibly displeased. Iaroslav Bieliei & Olga Tsikalyuk placed first in all dances, Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova took second in all dances but the waltz were they placed third and third in this final was awarded to Vladislav Shahov & Ekaterina Popova, they placed second in the Waltz and third in the other four dances.

So there you see it - there were a few birds popping up on the floor but not so many that could not be handled by the judges and officials. Good luck to all today’s competitors!

Best Rhythm of All Time!

Dance Beat has been covering Ballroom and Dancesport dancing for over 20 years and we the team agree that yesterday’s US Open Pro/Am Rhythm Championships were about the best we have covered so far.  

The US Open “A” was brilliant and there was not one lady or gentleman who was not in complete shape ready for the task of becoming a US Champion. Viktoriya Trverskaya dancing with former Professional National 10-Dance Champion, Ilya Reyzin, was fantastic, their energy as well as their quality of performance we would say rivaled even some of the professional heats at other events. Viktoriya won the overall by placing first in four dances and second in the bolero, and all the dances she won she had a majority of firsts from the judges, we most also point out that even though she lost the bolero she still manage to take four firsts out of the 11 panel of judges.

Julia Vaysfeld w/Nikolay Karchev won the bolero in this “A” category but in the other dances she had mixed marks, placed second in C,R,SW and what we think might have been a disappointing third in the mambo. Second in this mambo was awarded to Natalia Crandal w/Decho Kraev who placed third overall and third in the other four dances.  All the other couples in this category were excellent and worth a mention - Brianna Yadgir w/ Aaron DeSoto were fourth in every dance; Matthew Shimizu w/Jessica Nicol placed fifth overall 7,7,5,5,5; Rachel Sayotovich w/Ilya Velednitsky were sixth 5,5,6,7,6 and seventh was awarded to Chasity Smith w/ Eddie Ares 6,6,7,6,7.

The “A2” Rhythm Open US Championships was also excellent here as in the past four years or so Giovanni Fortezza partnered by Jolanta Mosteika took the Open US Pro/Am Rhythm title home, and in speaking with Giovanni he was quite thrilled but best for him is that he won every dance.  According to Giovanni, in the past he has won the overall but always lost a dance or two, but not this time, he had a clear sweep and this was quite special for him. Susan Sidman w/Gleb Makarov was awarded overall second place, but not in every dance in the swing they took third. Third in this impressive heat went to Julie Korsog w/Mikhail Vlasov and they placed second in the swing and third in the other four dances. Fourth was Kia Malone w/Eddie Rivera 5,4,4,4,4, Fifth went to Darcy Ehrlich w/Aaron DeSoto 4,5,6,6,5, and sixth was awarded to Cindy Wang w/Steve Vasco 6,6,5,5,6.

In the “B” Rhythm Lisa Lowery w/Radek Wiatrowski took the US Championships home, and she won all dances. Quin Bommelje w/Mikhail Vlasov was second overall but not in all dances they got a third place in their bolero. Darla Davis w/Jim Maranto was fourth 3,5,4,4,4; Gracelyn Tuoti w/Andrei Abrashin was fifth 5,6,6,5,5, and Renee Kuwahara w/Ilya Reyzin placed sixth 6,4,5,6,6.

The US Open Rhythm had to “C” categories the “C1” and the “C2.” The “C1” was won by Penelope Rostad w/ Nikolay Karchev and the “C2” went to Sharree Hannah w/Forrest Vance.

The US National Open Professional Compulsory Theater Arts took place this evening it was a very small heat with only three couples entered. We felt this to be a very difficult song to dance to and choreograph to, even the recording of this song is quite questionable. We recommend ABC puts a little more care when it comes to selecting the music in order to draw more couples to this Open Championship. The winners were Shane & Shannon Jensen, second was awarded to Justin Guilmette & Kimalee Piedad and third went to Travis & Jaimee Tuft who we felt were a little unlucky.

The US National Rising Star Compulsory Theater Arts also took place and here we had 2 couples, Clyde Harris & Summer Black Elkin who won the category and Chris & Shelly Eckert who took second.

For us here at Dance Beat out of the two professional feature events the US National Professional Rising Star American Smooth was the best from a viewing perspective. There was more stuff going on and the couples were very close in talent and performance and so this made it for a nail-biting experience. The winners were quite surprised when the runners-up were called, the lady literally started crying and big “oohs” with very emotional tears went up all the way up to the lineup podium. The 2014 US National Rising Star Smooth winners are Sergey Barsukov & Maria Sidnjova, they won overall and most of the dances but in the waltz they took a second place. With the exception of the waltz Sergey & Maria won with the majority of firsts from the judges and even in the waltz they manage to still receive 7 first place marks.

The winners in the waltz and overall second place in the competition were also quite touched by the spectacle and they were Kyle & Allie Spinder. This must have taken a lot of mental stress as well as physical strength for the couples. Kyle was gracious to be in this position but Allie was emotional as well, her tears flowed down her face standing on the podium. Third overall were Adrian & Hannah Dydynski who took third in every dance.

The US National Professional Rising Star Latin event ran side by side with the Smooth but although for us did not have much spark it was still a competition with excellent skill and quality. Here for us and the majority of the judges the easy winners were Vitalii Proskurin & Eugenia Shatilova and they won all dances.  However, in looking at the marks the cha cha was not won with a majority of firsts like the other for dances. Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets seemed to be quite disappointed and understandably so, all couples work hard for this moment in time at the US Championships and to be almost there as vice-champions must be very moving. Third in this heat went to Ryan Lewis & Tessa Marie 4,3,3,3,4.

Today we will be keeping and eye on the Pro/Am Smooth categories and later in the evening more professional events.