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Their First World’s!

Last night at Embassy Ball, one couple had the satisfaction of winning their 1st World Title. 

Peter & Alexandra Perzhu of Florida won the NDCA World Professional Smooth Championship taking over from last year’s champions, Slawek Souchaki & Marzena Stachura, who have retired.  The win was not unexpected as Peter & Alexandra have won their last few competitions and they were comfortable winners today with the majority of 1st places in all dances.  

Runners-up were Mazen Hamza & Izabellla who had some 1st places in all dances but never enough to threaten the Perzhus.  In fact they had the majority of “2nd or better” scores in only tango needing to rely on “3rd or better” to place 2nd in all 4 dances.  The couple moving up the ladder today were Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija who benefited from a Rule 11 tie breaker to take 3rd with 4,3,3,4 over Travis & Jaimee Tuft who were 4th with 3,4,4,3.  We thought Nick & Viktorija had a sensational night and were not at all surprised with their improvement in position.  In fact we were not surprised either by the 2 first places awarded to them by judge, Toni Redpath.  5th spot went to Mickolay Czarnecki & Victoria Malko 5,5,5,5, who are another couple that must surely be close to a breakthrough result.  Closing this truly great final were David & Natalie Shulz 6,6,6,6.  This was a strong placement for David & Natalie as this 6th place in the final was hotly contested.  Among others we noted in the semifinal were Nikolai Pillipenchuk & Natalia Skorikova, Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft and Sergey Shapoval & Ania Tarnowska.  The stage is certainly set for quite a showdown at the US Championships this week.

Bob Long will have the full report on this championship in Dance Beat soon.

Although not a world championship, the Pro Latin was a WDC World Ranking event, as was the Ballroom the day before and it certainly attracted some of the world’s best including the current WDC World Champions, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko from New York.  Riccardo & Yulia had little trouble taking this event losing only 2 first place marks from a total of 75.  During the first round Riccardo aggravated and injury to his leg and left the floor during the paso doble, the audience let out a gasp, but they were back for the jive and danced the rest of the competition apparently without problems.  

Both of those 1st places not awarded to the winners were given to the runners-up, Stefano DiFillipo & Dasha (USA).  Sammy Stopford placed them 1st in rumba and Richard Porter in jive.  Stefano & Dasha easily secured 2nd place in all 5 dances and we at Dance Beat really enjoyed their performance today.  3rd in all dances went to Mirko Rissi & Maria Ermatchkova (England).  Since turning professional this duo seem to have acquired a new lease on life – for us their performance level and zest have quadrupled.  They had the majority of “3rd or better” scores in all dances except the paso doble.  Nikolai Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina took 4th in all dances.  In paso doble they had 7 third place marks (1 less than the majority) so were unlucky not to place 3rd in that dance.  5th in all dances fell to Manuel Favilla & Natalia Maidiuk (Ukraine).  They received mostly 4th, 5th and 6th places marks but did receive 5 second places from judge, Donnie Burns MBE.  Kamil Studenny & Anna Pellypenko (Canada) took 6th place 6,6,6,6,6.  This was a terrific competition although a few of the USA’s leading contenders were not present – perhaps saving their strength for the upcoming US National Championship.  Sergey Ryupin will comment on this division for Dance Beat soon.

The two supporting events tonight were both in the ballroom style.  The under 21 and over 35 – I guess if you were aged 21 to 34 you just had to sit down tonight!  England took the U/21 in a close contest.  Michael Foskett & Nika Vlasenko won the event 1,2,1,1,2.  2nd went to Patryk Ploszaj & Anna Kaczmarski (NY) 2,1,2,2,1 and 3rd to William Stansbury & Jenny Sokolsky (CA) 3,3,3,3,3.

In the O/35 Zingmin & Katerina Lu (NY) were the winners.

Embassy at Work!

The Embassy Ballroom Championships continues to be at work this weekend hosting and conducting some of the best international events in the USA today.

Last night in the Open Amateur Latin more than half the final was from outside the USA, there were also some couples in the professional Ballrooms and of course we had the NDCA Professional World Rhythm Championship.

The Professional Ballroom and the Open Amateur Latin had the most attendance. The Ballroom was excellent with what we will discribe as a fantastic, unconventional performance by Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva. At first we thought that it was Victor’s home turf (California) causing all the audience to keep cheering them on, but as we got drawn to their performance we realized that it was the content of their performance that was making people rise out of their seats. We must tip our hats to this world renowned couple - their artistry last night along with their “out of nowhere,” unconventional maneuvers will keep us motivated for a very long time and yes, for those questioning our opinion at the moment - Ballroom can be astronomically fun. Victor & Anastasia took second in all dances but did manage to grab a few first places in a few dances.  (2 firsts in the tango and the quickstep from Toni Readpath, and one first in the quickstep from Alan Dixon.) Their worst mark was a third in the waltz and this came from Massimo Giorgianni from Italy.

The unmistakably winners from the judges’ perspective in this event, gave us what we can only describe as their trademark perfection from beginning to end, earning them perfect scores from all the judges in both the waltzes, and the majority of first from all the judges in the rest of the dances. The Embassy Ballroom Champions continue to be the incomparable Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova’s with first in all dances. It was such a pleasure to see this two great couples of the Ballroom style go head to head in a Ballroom arena, the Californian audience and we who were there are so lucky to witness this wonderful encounter.

From what we just mentioned you would have thought that only these two couples made a splash at the Embassy, but this is not the case the rest of the final was perhaps one of the best the world can offer. Third in this spectacular heat went to Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk who were the only other couple other than Victor & Anastasia to take a first place mark away from Arunas & Katusha - in the foxtrot. Marat & Alina were third in every dance.

Fourth in this excellent final went to Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva and as you will see the judges were not quite so sure from here down 6,4,6,5,4. And in a “rule 11” decision fifth place went to Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova 4,6,4,6,5. Last in this parade of stars was awarded to Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova. It is important to note that Mikhail & Olga were placed sixth only in the quickstep the rest of the dances they placed fifth or better 5,5,5,4,6, here again this placement was sorted by a “rule 10” and for those that want to know what rules 10 and 11 are, as Mr. John DePalma says, “read the manual.”

We thought that there were some excellent couples left out of this final but they were good enough to be there and with a little more confidence they could easily challenge.

The Professional Ballroom was not the only international professional event here at the Embassy last night, the NDCA World Professional Rhythm Championship was also a feature event here last night. The panel of judges was filled with world-renowned adjudicators, we counted at least seven judges from outside the USA out of 15. It was unfortunate that some of our best Rhythm couples were not present.  It is quite a rare occasion to have such a distinguish panel of foreign judges added to the equation, you would have thought this to be a great opportunity for advancement. Nevertheless, Emmanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova, second in command at last year’s USDC but the defending World Champoions, won every dance with a majority of firsts from the judges. There were some odd marks for Emmanuel & Liana - a number of fourths and thirds were awarded to them.  Their worst judge was Richard Porter from England who awarded them 3 fourths, and he was joined by another English legend, Hazel Fletcher who awarded them 2 third place marks and a second.

Second in this NDCA World Rhythm event wen to Peter & Alexandra Perzhu and they placed second in four dances and third in the mambo. Alexandra sported a beautiful tight fitting black short dress for the final and her loose hair gave her a carefree appearance, totally sexy!  We are not sure about the loose hair though. Maybe it was Alexandra’s loose flowing hair but they too shared in some of those interesting marks from the judges.  Here Donnie Burns MBE, President of the WDC, awarded them four sixth place marks and one fifth, not far behind Richard Porter awarded them four 5th place marks and a fourth, they also manage to take a number of firsts from Emmanuel & Liane, two in the rumba, two in the swing and three in the bolero.

Third place in this World Rhythm went to Misha Vlasov & Vanda Polakova, here they placed third in every dance but the mambo where they took second overall. This was Richard Porter’s favorite couple he awarded them first in every dance but in the cha cha were he place them 2nd. Fourth wen to Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov and they placed fifth in the cha cha and fourth in the other four dances. New on the Rhythm scene Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti were fifth overall 4,5,5,6,6 and sixth was awarded to Sergei Shapoval & Ania Tarnowska who we had a hard time recognizing in the earlier rounds. They sported and outfit that was quite busy and made them both unrecognizable till the final, once here they placed sixth in three dances and fifth in the bolero and mambo. In case anyone is wondering or questioning, the US National Anthem was played at the start of the competition with all couples on the floor as all couples were from USA.

The Amateur Latin was a fantastic addition to this night of shining stars.  WDC World Amateur Latin Champions, Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova from Denmark placed first in every dance and took the Embassy trophy home. Troels & Ina won with a huge majority of firsts from the diverse judging panel, but here it was time for the US Judges to hit back.  Ronald Montez delivered the hardest punch awarding them three sixth place marks and a fifth in the cha cha and fourth in the samba. They got also some seconds, these came mainly from our Canadian neighbor, Aigars Stolcers who gave them second in every dance. Their worst dance according to the judges was the jive where even Shirley Ballas awarded them a third. Second in all dances was awarded to Ferdinando Iannaccone & Yulia Musikhina from USA, who were Aigars’s favorite, he awarded them all firsts but in the samba where he placed them third. Third was also taken by Demark, but this time by Morten Lowe & Roselina Doneva and here they placed third in every dance.

Slovenia’s Damir Haluzan & Anna Mashchyts took the fourth overall and fifth in the rumba. Yes, there were many US couples in this heat and two more in the final. Pasha Pashkov & Daniela Karagach who took that fourth place mark in the rumba from Denmark and who placed overall fifth was one of them. The sixth place in this heat also went to the USA this time to Denys Drozdyuk & Antonina Skobina and they took sixth in every dance. To our neighbors up north wondering if there were any Canadian couples in this excellent heat, yes plenty but none made the final.

As we mentioned earlier, the US National Anthem was played a number of times in the late afternoon fro the NDCA World Pro/Am Latin Championships.  One of those times for the “A” division and Cheyenne Murillo dancing with Sasha Altukhov.  They won the “A” by placing first in all dances. Cheyenne won with the majority of firsts in all dances, but here too some of the judges had the “low mark fever.” On this occasion Robert Long awarded her a 6th in the samba.  Second in the “A” went to Vera Xu w/Jakub Zeglen 6,2,2,2,2, and you can see how indecisive the panel was by the sixth in the cha.  Third was Michael Roberts w/Milana Pliner 3,4,3,3,4. Fourth in this excellent final wen to Sabrina Strasser w/Stanishlav Kochergin from Canada 2,5,5,5,3, fifth was Emily Takhtarov w/Evgeny Dyachenko 4,3,4,6,5, and sixth in this heat went to Grace Kuan w/Evgeny likhachev 5,6,6,4,6.

The “B” NDCA World Pro/Am Latin for us was very strong in numbers and in quality.  The final was quite hard-fought but in the end it all went to Russia and to Svetlanta Mukhametshina dancing with Alexander Chesnokov.  Here they placed first in four dances and second on the jive. We must point out that Svetlanta only won two dances with the majority of firsts, the cha cha and the samba, in the other three dances she only managed to capture 3 out of 7.  Second overall went to Tina Broccole w/Delian Terziev. She won the jive and placed second in the C,S,P but an unlucky third in the rumba sealed her fate.  Robert Long was her worst judge awarding her three fifth place marks. Third went to Rhonda Lee w/Daniel Gozzi 3,3,2,4,3, fourth was awarded to Maria Seragou w/Dimitrios Damalas 4,4,4,5,5, fifth was Sabrina Strasser from Canada who also competed in the “A” with Stanishlav Kochergin 5,5,5,3,4, this most have been a tough venture for Sabrina doing this competition with so many heats you have to really be in top shape and for us she is. Sixth in the “B” division went to Loan Lam w/Nikolay Voronovich and they placed sixth in every dance.

The “C” NDCA World Pro/Am Champion was Arlene Yu dancing with Nikolai Shpakov she took first in three dances, second in the jive and third in the cha cha. We must mention that Arlene only managed to win the rumba with the majority of firsts from the judges. Lisa Lowery w/Radek Wiatrowski placed second overall.  She won the jive, placed second on the cha cha, samba and third in the other two dances. Lisa tied for third in the rumba not with the Suzanne Saperstein w/Ricky Bentzen who was third but with Rhonda Lynch w/Stephen McCann who was fourth overall.  Suzanne’s marks for her third place finish were 1,3,2,2,4 and Rhonda’s marks were 4,5,3T,5,3. As you can appreciate the judges were all over the place on this one, even in the fifth place finish that was awarded to Tammy Knight w/Oleksii Lytvyn it was a bit crazy 5,4,5,4,6. Sixth was Joan Goddard w/Chris Johnston and they placed sixth in every dance but the jive where they placed fifth.

The Senior Pro/Am World Latin was also an excellent heat, here Teryl Anderson w/Marcus Johnston was first but not in every dance, in the jive they took second. Susan Sosin w/Roberto Cavallo was second in three dances and third in the jive. As you can see the Senior was a four dance Championship without the paso doble.  Third was delivered to Michaela Puno w/Slava Sergiev 3,3,3,1, as you can appreciate Michaela won the jive. From here down the judges taste for marking up and down settled a bit and fourth went to Penelope Parmes w/Mikail Watkins and they took fourth in every dance, fifth in every dance was Jane Carrus w/Edgar Osorio, sixth wen to Katie Braun w/Alexander Andreev 6,7,6,6, and seventh was awarded to Ilona Abraham w/Vadim Lyubushkin 7,6,7,7.

World Championships were also held in the pro-am junior categories and attracted strong entries.  THe winners were:  Daniel Novikov w/ Alla Novikova (PT);  Ashley Mattingly w/ Cristiano Calegari (J);  Sam Burekovich w/ Natia Kuprava (Y).

The NDCA World Amateur Smooth Title was awarded for the first time this year and it was won by Charlie Roberts & Emily Kapral

The Embassy Ball hosts the US National Formation Championships in Ballroom and Latin and this year the BYU Team won both titles as they have done for as long as the event has been run.  At the conclusion of the awards it was announced that Lee & Linda Wakefield will be stepping down this year as trainers of the team.  What a run they have had!

Also this evening long time sponsor of dancesport throughout the USA, Josie Lee was inducted into the NDCA Hall of Fame.  The presentation was made by Brian McDonald, President of the NDCA.

As you can see it, was a busy and hard tasking day for the Embassy Ballroom Championships, but as always they continue to deliver great quality to the ballroom world.            

An International Flair at Embassy

As the Ballroom section of the NDCA Pro-Am World Championships brought a more international flair to the proceedings with several competitors from overseas contributing to the mix. 

In the final tally, the 4 winners in the open categories came from 3 countries, USA, Canada and Italy.

Beginning with the A division.  The winners was Elisa Dalia Vecchia w/ Ruedeger Homm representing Italy.  Elisa placed 1,2,1,1,1.  In the dances she won, Elisa had the majority of 1st place scores and we felt she offered the best overall package of the final.  Taking 2nd but winning the tango (also with a majority of 1st places) was Melonie Krumer w/ Max Sinitsa.  You will note that these two ladies were also 1st and 2nd in the Smooth, but the result was reversed.  With 4,3,4,3,3, Jenny Kalish w/ Rafael Sabato.  We liked her dancing and judge, Taliat Tarsinov awarded were 2 first placements.  4th spot fell Jacob Tsai w/ Iveta Pauryte-Faraci 3,4,3,4,4; 5th  to Vinnie Miller w/ Anton Koukareko 5,5,5,5,6;  6th to Rebecca Kuhn w/ Andrea Faraci 6,6,6,6,5. 

Celai Chou w/ Erminio Stefano (USA) won the highly contested B division.  Celia received the majority of 1st places in all dances except the VW, although she received all 7 first place marks in QS.  Runner-up today went to Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet.  Beverly was easily 2nd in all dances, but surprisingly to us, she did not receive many 1st place scores.  Taking all the 3’s was Lilly Chang w/ Sergei Kiselev.  The judges were split on Lilly’s performance with some marking her in the bottom half of the final, but the majority placing her in the top 3.  We agreed with the majority!  5,5,4,4,4 gave Michelle Peng w/ Mikhail Avdeev the 4th place.  5th fell to Lengzi Gao w/ Kamil Urbanik 6,4,5,5,5.  This is lady we were certainly considering for a top 3 placement!  6th was Audrey Paek w/ Ronen Zinshtein 4,6,6,6,6 and 7th went to Lisa Berry w/ Rauno Ilo.

The C was the largest of the divisions with 35 entries, the event danced over 4 rounds.  The winner of this marathon was Lynn Murrell w/ Alexander Voskalchuk (USA) who placed 1,2,1,1,1.  The scoring in this final was very erratic – the judges were quite at odds.  Lynn fared the best but did not have the majority of 1st places in any dance.  In fact she won the foxtrot without receiving a 1st place from any judge.  Nevertheless, this lady has made great improvement in this style – congratulations!  2nd place went to Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski who was 2nd in 4 dances and won tango.  Lisa has also made al lot of progress in this style.  With 3,3,4,5,4  Connie Edmonds w/ Emanuele Pacchini took 3rd.  4th went to Jill Bradford w/ Gert Roslender 4,4,5,4,3.  That left 2 couples, both of which we felt could have placed in the top half of the final.  5th went to Hye Kyong Park w/ Linas Korieva 5,5,3,3,5 and 6th to Hans Stork w/ Inna Berlizyeva 6,6,6,6,6.  Both of these unlucky couples received some 1st places.

Canada took the Open Senior - Margaret Loo w/ Joel Marasigan placed 2,1,1,1,1.  The runner-up today was Susan Walter w/ Emanuele Pacchini 3,2,2,2.  The winner of the waltz placed 3rd overall 1,3,3,4, and that was Yumiko Nakagawa w/ Robert Nemiro.  4th was Takako Trenholm w/ Valdas Padriezas;  5th Noriko Ide w/ Dariusz Michalski and 6th Gail Sherman w/ Slava Stefanov.

There was some good competition in the pro-am junior and youth divisions.  Lisa Dubinsky w/ Ronen Zinshtein won the Junior and Jacob Tsai w/ Iveta Pauryte-Faraci won the Youth

The pro-am world championship divisions closed the afternoon session.  The main event of the evening was the Open Amateur Ballroom Championship, danced over 4 rounds.  Andres & Veronika End continued their US victory tour with an easy win here taking all dances with a huge majority of 1st places.  2nd went to Canada, the new partnership of James Cutler & Virginie Primeau placed 2,2,2,5,2.  From 2nd to 7th the couples had rather mixed scores from the judges.  3rd place fell to Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhitarova 3,3,3,2,3;  4th to Michael Foskett & Nika Vlasenko (England) 4,5,4,3,4;  5th Ruslan Kalyuzhnyy & Kseniya Savenko 5,6,5,6,5;  6th Nicholas & Rochelle Kharlamov 6,4,7,4,7;  7th Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Seliverstova 7,7,6,7,6.   Watch out for Igor Litvinov’s report in Dance Beat soon.

Two strong Pro Rising Star events were also featured.  The winners of the Smooth were Kyle & Allie Spinder 1,1,1,1.  2nd went to Adrian & Hannah Dydynski 2,2,2,2 and 3rd to Slava Stefanov & Jessica McMorrow 3,4,3,3.

Vitalii Proskurin & Evgenia Shatilova won all dances in the RS Latin.  Jake Davies & Alyona Kalenina (England) were 2nd 2,4,3,2,2 and Pavel Balykin & Meagen Mendoza were 3rd 4,2,4,4,3.

Only 2 couples contested the Pro Cabaret.  Travis & Jamie Tuft were the winners over Ivan Berkovic & Dena Anne Weiner.

One other feature event was the U/21 Latin.  Adam Hathazi & Morgana Lakotos-Hayward (Canada) won all dances.  Taking 2nd, and from the Ukraine, were Maksym Bodnar & Yelzaveta Vnuchkova, 2,2,2,2,2 and 3rd were Dmytry Dmytrenko & Cheyenne Murillo 3,3,3,5,3. 

Two achievement awards are customarily presented at Embassy Ball.  This year the John Ford & Marguerite Hanlon Award was presented to Michael Chapman.  Michael was unable to attend, so the award was accepted on his behalf by Rufus Dustin.  The Bill & Bobbie Irvine Award was given this year to Sammy Stopford.

A North American Draw!

Last night along with 2 renditions of the “Star Spangled Banner,” we also heard “Oh Canada” playing twice during the NDCA Pro-Am World Championships.

All the divisions were excellent so let’s look at them in order.  Melonie Krumer w/ Max Sinitsa won all dances in the A division and for us this lady is unchallenged in this category at the present time.  However, even though Melonie won all dances with a majority of 1st places she did have some judges not as impressed, most notably Hazel Fletcher who placed her 5,2,4,5.  2nd in all dances was Elisa Dalia Vecchia w/ Ruedeger Homm, but she had the majority of “2nd or better” scores in only waltz and in a vagary of the Skating System, Elisa received only one 2nd in foxtrot while still taking 2nd in that dance.  With 4,3,3,3, Christina Diaz w/ Kris Suakjian was 3rd, judge Hazel Fletcher awarded her all 1st places.  Irene Lee w/ Nick Cheremukhin was 4th 3,4,4,4, Liora Paniz w/ Leonid Burlo 5th in all dances, Elena Eroshin w/ Daniel Vasco 6th in all and Joel Jimenez w/ Lisa Cristiani Brown 7th.

The first of the Canadian victories came in the B Division as Joanne Smith w/ Sharon Levit took the competition 1,2,1,1, but it was a tight race with no competitor receiving the majority of 1st places in any dance and several sharing the 1st places.  2nd with 2,1,2,2 was Susan Sidman w/ Gleb Makarov and 3rd, Lisa Berry w/ Rauno Ilo 4,3,3,3.  The whole final was closely scored by the judges.  Sheila Davis w/ Sergey Barsukov was 4th 3,4,4,4; Kako Matumoto w/ Dave Hannigan took 5th 6,5,6,5 and Patricia Schneider w/ Slawek Souchaki was 6th 5,6,5,6.

Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet was back on top in the C Division to score Canada’s 2nd victory of the night, but it wasn’t a clean sweep, Beverly placed 2,2,1,1, with the majority of 1st places in the VW.  Lisa Lowery took the runner’s up spot w/ Radek Wiatrowski.   Her scores were 4,1,2,2.  Paige Riffle w/ Alex Zagrean was 3rd today with 3,4,3,3.  Taking 1st in the waltz, but 3,5,4 in the other dances, Lynn Murrell w/ Peter Perzhu was 4th, Monica Broch w/ Kris Suakjian was 5th 5,6,4,6 and Alla Neyshtadt w/ Erik Pali was 6th 6,5,6,5.

The second US victory was in the Senior division where Michaela Puno w/ Slava Sergiev took the title with 4,2,1,1.  This division was the most diversely scored by the judges with almost all couples taking a 1st place in each dance.  2nd went to Doreen Marchack w/ Youriy Pavlov 1,1,2,6;  3rd to Yiru Sethavanish w/ Kris Suakjian 2,4,4,2;  4th to Norio Yamamato w/ Anna Shabazyan 3,3,3,5;  5th to Kathy Boyle w/ Alexander Novikov 5,6,5,3;  6th to Sarah Spindler w/ Eddie Stutts 6,5,6,4;  7th Cher Cunningham w/ Daniel Vasco.

There were two strong Pro Rising Star events danced tonight also.  The Ballroom was headed by two new partnerships.  The win fell to Iaroslav Bieliel & Olga Tsikaliuk 2,1,1,1,1, over Vladislav Shahov & Ekaterina Popova 1,2,2,2,2.  Oscar Pedreinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova took all the 3rds.  Mechyslav Pavlyuk & Gemma Arnold were 4th 4,5,4,4,6;  Simeon & Kora Stoynov were 5th 5,4,6,6,4 and Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Kazukhina were 6th 6,6,5,5,5.

The RS Rhythm was also a strong division, we thought it was close between the top 4 couples, but agreed with the judges that Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov got the better of it.  They won all dances in the end.  2nd spot went to recent Rhythm converts Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti, although they scores 2,3,3,3,3.  Taking two of those elusive 2nd places were 3rd placed Donovan Dominguez & Rose Dimov 3,2,2,4,4 and the other 2nds went to 4th placed Andrei Svirydzenka & Yuliya Zubova 4,4,4,2,2.  All the 5ths went to Tommy Belmontez & Jessica Holty; 6th fell to Richard & Marianne Myers 6,6,6,6T,7 and 7th to Martin Barthold & Natalya Bychkova 7,7,7,6T,6.

An upset in form gave the Amateur Masters (+50) Ballroom to John Chen & Jenny Du over Hans & Ans Stork.  It was a Rule 11 tie that broke in John & Jenny’s favor.

Star Spangled

Last night at the Embassy Ballroom Championships the Star Spangled Banner was played 4 times during the award ceremony for the NDCA World Pro/Am Rhythm Championships.  Four US contenders took the honors home.

This was not an unexpected occurrence, the majority of the competitors were from the USA, and right out of hand we only spotted less than a handful from outside the USA. One of the unusual countries participating was Australia, we are sure to get other countries as the weekend continues and the international style categories draw more participation.

Out of the 4 main Rhythm NDCA Pro/Am World Championships, the C, B, and senior were the most populated with a semifinal round in each. The “A” was nearly nonexistant with only two couples participating. As you can see although there were no major rounds to these championships the competitions were still of good caliber and the competitors had a good fight for top placement.

In the “C” category Lisa Lowery partnered by Radek Wiatrowski won all five dances but not all with the majority of firsts. Lisa had a majority of firsts in the cha and rumba, but in the other three dances she only manage to get 4 out of the nine firsts that could be awarded by the judges. When looking at the marks Lisa was given quite a collection of marks down to even a sixth in the mambo from Aigars Stolcers from Canada who was perhaps her worst judge on this panel.

Joan Goddard w/Chris Johnston took second in every dance overall and did manage a number of firsts including three in the rumba and three in the swing. Joan too managed to acquire a few sixes but for her they came from Ronald Montez and Toni Redpath who both awarded her two sixes each. From second down as you will see things got a little murkier Lynn Murrell w/Peter Perzhu were third overall but not in every dance 5,4,3,3,3.  Quin Bommelje w/Misha Vlasov took fourth 3,3,4,4,5. Renee Kuwahara w/Ilya Reyzin placed overall fifth 4,6,5,5,4, and to show you how varied this panel of judges were in their marks, Renee was the recipient of three first place marks form Aigars Stolcers from Canada. Last but not least in sixth position was Sally Bard w/Steve Vasco 6,5,6,6,6.

The “B” was also an excellent event and here Susan Sidman w/Gleb Makarov became the NDCA World Rhythm “B” Champion by winning four dances out of five. Susan took three dances with a majority of firsts, and in the swing she took four out of nine firsts and won. However, in the bolero although Susan took the same amount of firsts (4) she was still second because Shelia Davis dancing with Sergey Barsukov managed to get the majority of firsts in this dance. Overall Shelia Davis placed second and in all dances but the bolero were as we said she had the majority of firsts and was first.

Third in this NDCA Worlds was awarded to Jacqueline Bequette w/Daniel Lee Tran 3,3,3,4,5. Fourth went to Cindy Wang w/Steve Vasco 4,4,5,3,6.  In fifth position was Donna Sparano w/Evgeny Dyachenko 5,6,4,5,4, and in sixth place was M’Balia Tagoe w/Mariusz Zakrzewski 6,5,6,6,3.

Out of such wonderful talent we have seen all year around at Manhattan, Wisconsin State, Empire and even NV Ball, it was a little sad to only have two couples entered the NDCA World Pro/Am Rhythm “A” category, however although this was a small heat it was still a mighty competition with two excellent ladies going head to head.  Nadia Kireyko who has turned from a junior to an incredible, highly skilled and talented lady won the category but not every dance. Nadia placed second in the cha partnered by her teacher, Daniel Vasco. Well knownn competitor Chasity dancing with renowned Rhythm dancer Eddie Ares took first in the cha cha and second in the other four dancing giving them second overall.

The NDCA World Pro/Am Senior division was also well attended with excellent ladies and certainly worth a mention. Quin Bommelje who placed fourth in the “C” division now won the Senior by placing first in all dances. Yiru Sethavanish w/Kris Suakjian placed second overall 2,2,3,2,3, and Sarah Spindler w/Eddie Stutts was third 4,3,2,3,2. The last three ladies in this final were also terrific and they were Cher Cunningham dancing with Daniel Vasco who placed fourth 3,4,4,4,4, Penelope Parmes w/Mikal Watkins took fifth in all dances and sixth was awarded to Ruby Yap w/Felipe Telona Jr.

As rumors had it, the now “Hotel Irvine” (formerly the Hyatt Regency) has ongoing renovations but arrangements have been made so that you can still enjoy a good meal as well as a fun time at the bar, now located in the lobby, for a nightcap if you wish following the competition. The hotel staff have been great and nothing has been missed, even a temporary gym has been set up.

Today we concentrate on the Smooth divisions and we are sure the NDCA World Championships are going to be great as usual.               

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Last night at the NV!

The last day at the NV Ball was a combination of Ballroom and Latin. The day started promptly at 7AM with the Ballroom categories and without a break carried on to 7PM finishing up with the Latin competitions. The evening session was packed with spectators all coming to see the professional and amateur competitions. Their feature events this night were the Professional Smooth, Latin and Theater Arts/Showdance, along with the Amateur Ballroom. All competitions were solid with semifinals being run in almost all the events.

Out of the three professional events the Professional Smooth had the most punch for us, there were at least four very strong couples with different styles and presentation. The overall winners were Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija who won all dances and who could not be missed from the start. They seem to be getting more confident and more relaxed on the floor showcasing a carefree style. Second was awarded to Mikolay Czarnecki & Victoria Malko and they took second in all dances. Mikolay & Victoria have a very playful look, going from the very dramatic to some very interesting and difficult combinations. Third was Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft who took third in all dances. Here we thought their style was very clean with no missteps, but unfortunately for them, to challenge the top they will have to venture out a little more and like the two on top develop their own signature moves. Fourth in this excellent group of finalists were Kyle & Allie Spinder who took fourth in all dances. This couple is fierce they are super trained and do not miss a beat, it would be hard to leave them out.  However, here again I think they to need to explore other possibilities in the style. Fifth in all were Maksin Leonov & Kristina Kudelko and sixth was awarded to Peter Hahn & Jude Coraldi.

The Latin final had six very strong couples but in the end Italy took the NV home by winning all dances, Emanuele Soldi & Elisa Nasato placed first in all dances and from the start they showed us a star quality that could not be ignored. Second went to Roman Italyankin & Aleksandra Bokova they took second in three dances and third in the paso and fourth in the jive, you can tell that from here down the judges were not too sure of the couples and so the marks were very varied. Third was awarded to Genya Bartashevich & Yana Mazhnikova, they took third in four dances and second in the Paso. Fourth was Evgeny Likhachev & Maria Levina who placed fourth in four dances and fifth in the jive, fifth wen to Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets who must have been pleasantly surprised to place second in the jive but unfortunately fifth in the other four dances.  Sixth place in all dances were Vinsenzo Miniri & Rosaria Vivone.

The Professional Theatre Arts/Showdance was also run this evening and here Vincenzo Minieri & Rosaria Vivone took first, Kyle & Allie Spinder took second and Ivan Berkovic & Dena Anna Weiner placed third. Artemi Okunev & Yulia Dragina were fourth, Guo Xiuhua & Lu Deng from China were fifth and Stas Chelnakoff & Tasiia Babluk from Moldova were sixth.

The Open Amateur Ballroom was also an excellent competition and here as expected Andres & Veronika End took first in all dances. Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhtiarova were second and third were James Cutler & Virginie Primeau from Canada. Jonathan Bailey & Hannah Augustine-Bailey were fourth, Casey & Kayci Treu were fifth and Dan Maneau & Mia Hu placed sixth.

The Open Amateur American Rhythm was not as well attended as the Smooth the night before here we only had two couples and Mike & Jeravae Christensen won all dances leaving second place to Mahdi & Lisa Betts-LaCroit.

The evening concluded with a fabulous after party that was a complete feast for a king. There were four food-making stations varied from vegetarian, meat lover, pastas and even a wonderful Peking duck station. It was an open bar and everyone ate and danced to the band to their hearts content. The location was a little different than the other after parties, this time it was on the second floor overlooking the beautiful Encore Hotel and pool with access to the a beautiful veranda where many of the guess stepped out for conversation or just for fresh air.

I want to once again congratulate the organizing team for putting such a lavish competition in the sister hotel to the Wynn, the Encore was superb, the suites were fabulous with great views and a relaxing lounge and work area, the spa was out of this world, and the convention facilities very grand. I was also quite impressed at the care and attention all the organizers paid to their patrons from personally giving out the awards and for their terrific support while everyone danced.  Their enthusiasm could not just be felt it was heard also and it sure is nice when an organizer becomes a part of the event and not just the face and cash register.

I look forward to many NV Balls and I am sure that in the not to distant future they will become the “NV” of a comp and one that we must all attend.   

Great Pro Ballroom at NV

Last night we had a terrific Professional Ballroom competition at the NV Ball in Vegas, Nevada. There was a semifinal round and even then it looked as if it was going to be quite difficult and quite an exciting event.

Victor Fung & Anastasia were present and they of course took first in all dances without a contest or a challenge from any of the other five finalists. The fight was on for second place here between Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova and Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa. For us siting down it was close but for the judges it was not, the judges awarded Mikhail & Olga second place in all five dances leaving Denis & Lesya holding third.

Fourth in this excellent Professional Ballroom heat went to Iaroslav Bieliei & Olga Tsikalyuk and they were awarded fourth in all dances, leaving Richard Tonizzo & Clare Hansen from Canada holding fifth in all dances and in sixth position were Vladislav Shahov & Ekaterina Popova. They took sixth in every dance. This was certainly a heat worth waiting for especially after the sad professional heat we witnessed prior to the Ballroom. Hilda Lanza one of the three former organizers of the Nevada Star Ball (Now the NV Ball) presented the award, a perpetual throphy in memory of Brian Puttock who just recently passed, Sue Puttock was invited but unable to attend.  

The Professional Rhythm heat was the second to last competition and this too had a semifinal round but it was disappointing to see. Few competitors rose beyond the Rising Star level.  The winners, Sergey Shapoval & Ania Tarnoska, won all dances and you could easily spot them from a plane! So to the runners who were also of a reasonable standing, Jim Clark & Tania Chegini, but who to my surprise placed third in three dances and fifth in 2!

The Amateur events were not huge but had great quality.  We were totally floored by the Amateur Smooth that had a full semifinal and in the final all couples were of an excellent level and quality.  Here the winners were Aaron & Katelyn Holmes who placed fourth in the waltz but won the other three dances. Second went to Alex Taylor & Alayne Wadsworth 1,2,3,3, and third was awarded to Charles Roberts & Emily Kapral 3,3,4,2. From what you can see, past first place, all couples were quite similar in quality and ability and so the judges had a harder time finding a set final.

The Open Amateur Latin was a final but an excellent final as well with at least three finalists at a championship level. Alexey Karaulov & Vlada Semedova won all dances, Nikita Malakhov & Nadezda Vlasova took all seconds and Eric Ascione & Grace Anderson placed third.

The NV Ball is held in the sister hotel to the Wynn Hotel, the Encore, and like the Wynn it too is a five star hotel.  The facilities are amazing including the casino and spa. There are about 10 gourmet restaurants on the property and the ballroom, although a little far to walk to, is grand.  The NV after parties have been the talk of all - a full buffet is served nightly for the guests of the NV ball and the set up is fantastic.

I want to congratulate the Rat Pack of Mr. Sodano, Mr. Watson, Mr. Gallker, Mr. Sinkinson & Carmen for putting such a phenomenal event in the heart of Las Vegas Nevada. Today was a full day of Smooth dancing for the pro-ams but tomorrow is the killer day of Ballroom and Latin starting at 7AM. Till tomorrow good night!

NV Las Vegas!

The inauguration for the NV Ball started with a beautiful welcome gala Wednesday night, it was a white glove affair with live music, shows and entertainment. The hosts pulled no punches to make you feel at home.  Andrew Sinkinson, Bryan Watson, Carmen, and Hans Galker all danced.

Andre partnered by Charlotte Jorgensen did a foxtrot and a passionate tango. Bryan & Carmen showed us a cha cha and a jive and they were joined by Hans in a very intricate but interesting trio rumba.

It was a cocktail party followed by a four-course meal, and in between a full band lead by our own Brent Milles played for your dancing needs. Mr. Sam Sodano, also part of this NV union, was present and he had a few words to say about the event and in his style plugged the Ohio Star Ball making everyone get  a chuckle.

During the gala the majority of the attendees were from outside the United States, down to New Zealand and Australia, Hong Kong had also a huge group, but yesterday on the American style day 90% of the entries were from Nevada, California and a few trickles from around the country.

Today will be a bigger day starting at 8:30AM and that is for the Smooth day, and tonight the pro rising stars and the usual BYU entries. The competition is a good size with way over 5,000 entries. Saturday should be a packed day of Latin and Ballroom - we have not seen any of the dancers that were at the gala perform so I figure it will be then.

The Encore Hotel is superb one of the best on the Vegas strip, the NV after parties have been great with excellent food and friendly atmosphere.

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Empire Gives 20K!

Last night there was a very happy teacher “Andrea Malleta” who took away $20,000.00 dollars, for being top teacher at the Empire. 

The second place walked away with $12,000.00 and third $8,000.00. We think this to be the highest amount paid by a single event in the country today, both the Editor of Dance Beat and staff are thinking on entering next year, that is if we can get anyone to dance with us? Congratulations to this teacher who worked hard and helped make our industry in the USA the very best!  

When it came to dancing yesterday at the Empire was Latin day, with all pro/am competition in the Latin categories being run in the morning and afternoon and in the evening the scholarships as well as the feature events the Professional Ballroom and Rhythm.  Out of the two feature events the Ballroom was the biggest in size and quality, there was more couples entered with a healthy quarterfinal and the quality of the couples was excellent.

It was basically a walk in the park for Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk from NY, who won all dances in the Open Professional Ballroom with a huge majority of first places. There was off course the odd seconds and even a fourth and a third awarded to them by Tony Dovolani, fourth in waltz and third in tango.  In defense of Tony, he did give them two firsts and that was in the foxtrot and quickstep. From here down the scores were a little more varied for the rest of the couples. Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blimova place second overall but with a huge variety of marks and not second in every dance as you will see here 4,2,2,3,3. Mikhail & Olga’s worst marks came from the husband and wife team Tony & Amanda Dokman who both placed them seventh in the waltz, and sixth in the other fourth dances. 

Third overall in this excellent Ballroom heat went to Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova 2,4,3,2,5, and as you can see this couple really had a good collection of numbers - not always high numbers but a good variety. In fourth place were Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa, possibly our very favorite this night due to their musicality and casual approach to this, very difficult skill and style. Fifth place went to our neighbors from the North, Anton Lebedev & Anna Broshch from Canada 5,3,5,5,2. And sixth place overall was taken by Igor Kobiuk & Lillia Gladiuk from Kiev Ukraine the only couple who entered from outside North America and their marks were 6,7,6,6,6. At the Empire the semifinal and final are all done per dance and in the waltz there was a 7-couple final.  Included in this final and basically placing 7th overall was Iaroslav Bieliei & Olga Tsikalyuk, and they too took seventh in the waltz.  Linas Korieva will have a full report on this division.

The Rhythm had a healthy semifinal round and in the end for us and the majority of the judges the winner was Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine & Liana Churilova they placed first in every dance. Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashov were second in every dance and Shando Stefil & Aleksandra Barsukov placed third. Fourth down was a different story from here own the marks began to vary.  Matthew Hauer & Lauren Schelfhaudt were fourth but not in every dance 4,6,4,6,4, fifth went to Jean Michel Erole & Larisa Miknyukova 5,5,5,5,5, Andrey Svirydzenka &Yuliya Zubava were sixth 6,4,6,4,6. There was seven couples called in every dance and in a couple of dances there was eight couples, so seventh place overall was Strahinja Lackovic & Irina Fedosova 9,8,7,7,8, and eight overall was Ronald & Katie Guillen 7,7,8,8,9.

The Professional Showdance also took place and here the top three were Shane & Shannon Jensen with a brand new routine to “I who have Nothing.” They won. Travis & Jamie Tuft placed second and Kyle & Allie Spinder were third.

The Amateur Latin also began as a quarter-final and brought out most of the north east's top amateur couples, plus the current NDCA US Champions, Ferdinando Iannconne & Yuliya Muskhina from Los Angeles who won all 5 dances with the majority of 1st place marks from the judges.  2nd in all dances were Pasha Pashkov & Daniela Karagach (dancing for the first time as husband and wife).  they came closest to the winners in Rumba as they had 6 first places to Ferdinando & Yuliya's 9.  3rd in all dances went to Pasha Stepanchuk & Anastasia Danilova;  4th went to Ron Garber & Liza 4,4,4,5,5;  5th Evgeny Raev & Patricia Golak 5,6,6,4,4 and 6th Nurlan Galyamov & Jessica Swietoniowsk (Canada) 6,5,5,6,6

There were only four couples in the under 21 Latin and Nurlan Gallyamov & Jessica Swietoniowski were first in all dances, Maciej Zieba & Lory-Eve Jacob placed second and third wen to Gregory Rybakov & Ellen Anshelevitch.  Gregory & Ellen were awarded the $2,000 Yulia Iveleva memorial scholarship.

The pro/am Latin scholarships were also fun to watch and here as in all the scholarships the “B” and “C” had the most entries. Sabrina Strasser w/Stanishlav Kochergin from Canada took first in all dances in the “B”, Tina Broccole & Delyan Terziev were second in every dance and Matthias Kirwald took third 5,3,3,3,3.

In the “C” Lisa Lowery w/Radek Wiatrowski took all firsts, Suzanne Saperstein w/Ricky Bentzen was second and Lisa Gardener w/Nikolai Shpakov third 3,3,3,4,4.

There were 5 couples in the “A” and this category went to Jacqueline Soccodato w/ Delyan Terziev 1,2,1,1,1. Meg Nakamura w/Nikolai Shpakov was second 2,1,2,2,2 and Patricia Mui w/Alex Samusevich was third in every dance.

The evening had a few surprises at the end the wonderful singer of the opening Gala treated us to “A Time to say Goodbye” and the team from Brooklyn Dancesport reprised their rumba!

It was a lovely evening in the stile of the Italian trio Giampiero, Erminio, and although not present, Augusto, always with the full support and hard laboring ladies Katerina, Luana and the one about to go into labor at any moment, Brigita.

Congratulations to this very hard working team and looking forward to 2015 at the Marriott right in the middle of Times Square!      

Enough of the flying sh……

Last night at the Empire Dancesport Championships the judges had enough of the flying shining steps, and so two arms were raised high in the Open professional Latin to tell the chairman of judges that the couples had committed the mortal sin of doing lifts. In the four major styles, the Ballroom, Smooth, Rhythm and Latin the rules state that one partner's feet cannot both leave the floor, if both feet leave the floor in an “assisted movement (not a jump), this is considered a lift, a mortal sin in ballroom dancing and one that can cause you to be penalized or even disqualified!!

When the judges hands went up and the chairman was summoned, we had already witnessed this beautiful sweeping action from a very prominent couple and yes it looked like an eternity as her feet were beautifully pointed but totally not on the ground. Mind, we are not sure that beautiful swooping maneuver could have been accomplished while the foot drags on the floor, scrape, scrape... However, by the time the chairman got back to the chair we had witnessed a second couple and even a possible third doing something very similar. Fingers in our mouths, we watched as the chair strode on to deal with the sinning couples and then returned to give firm instructions to the Latin judges that if in the final they were to witness such a phenomenon again they, were to mark it down and the sentence would be handed out swiftly.

Just to be fair all couples were told of the infraction immediately and warned. From what we understood, one bystander who was near the scene  reported that one of the couples said that his lady was out of balance and that he had to sweep her off her feet to keep her from falling. Fall or not the judges were not about to take it any longer so the next round all eyes were on the flying “Fernandos.”

No infractions in the final were committed, but the judges were not done, they rewarded the couples and the audience by changing the usual order of placement based on recent events in one event and even changing a result from the previous week.

Roman Kutskyy & Anna Kovalova, second in command in the USA Professinal Latin field, were demoted to second place here behind US finalists, Nikolay Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina. Roman & Anna took first in the cha cha and samba, and second in the other three dances. Nikolay & Maria won the Rumba, Paso, Jive and were crowned King and Queen (or Emperor & Empress?) of the Empire Professional Latin. We must also point out that in all the dances Nikolay & Maria hardly took anything less then first and second places from the judges, they only took a 4th in all dances from Allan Tornsberg and one other fourth from Vibeke Toft in the Jive. On the other hand Roman & Anna did take more fourths, thirds and even two fifths from Meryem Pearson in the cha and samba.

As you can see the judges, like the couples, were not missing any punches here.  Third in this heat went to Kamil Studenny & Anna Pelypenko who’s decision was reversed from last week at the Can-Am where they placed second to Jean-Philippe Milot & Laurence Bolduc.  In this competition Jean-Philippe & Laurence had to be content with taking fourth place in all dances, both these two couples are from Canada. Fifth place in all dances was awarded to Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets, sixth was Jean Paul & Lana Rossi 7,6,6,6,6 and in seventh place overall was Sergiy Samchynskyy & Yulia Besarab. Caroline Smith will be reporting on this division for Dance Beat.

It is a shame that all this interesting flying occured, because unfortunately in this report it took some of the punch out of the real story and that is the Open Professional Smooth competition, that for us was two times better than the Latin when it came to dancing and quality. Peter & Alexandra Perzhu won all dances with the clear majority of firsts from the judges, only Janet Gleeve, former WDC World Professional Ballroom Champion from England awarded them sixth in all dances. Second in this excellent final went to Mikhail & Galina Zharinov who from our perspective looked as sharp as a blade, and they took second in all dances. Third place in this mix was awarded to Travis & Jamie Tuft but here the marks got a little different, they placed third in three dances and fourth in the tango. We have to say that the variety of styles and quality in this Smooth competition even down to a semifinal was excellent. Fourth overall went to Mikolay Czarnecki & Victoria Malko 4,3,5,4,4, fifth was awarded to Kyle & Allie Spinder 5,5,4,5,5 and sixth went to David & Natalie Schulz who took sixth in every dance.  Watch out for Martin Lamb’s report in Dance Beat soon.

In the Open Amateur Ballroom Andres & Veronika End took all first places with a huge majority of firsts from all the judges. James Cuttler & Virginie Primeau from Canada placed second overall 2,2,3,2,2, Luca Balestra & Krizia Balestra took third 3,3,2,3,3. Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Seliverstova were fourth 4,4,5,4,4, Rusland Kalyuzhnyy & Kseniya Sovenko placed fifth 5,5,4,5,5, and sixth went to Nikolay Tarasov & Egle Stralckaite who placed sixth in all dances.  Watch for Andre & Yulia Klinchik’s report soon.

In the under 21 Partryk Ploszaj & Anna Kaczmarsi were first in every dance Samuel Hacke & Katerina Hermanove placed second 2,2,3,2,2T and Maciej Zieba & Lory-Eye Jacob third 3,3,2,3,2T.

The Pro-Am Ballroom Scholarships were also excellent with great quality and quarter-finals in the B & C divisions.  The “B” was possibly the most exciting for us and here Lily Chang w/ Sergey Kiselev was first 1,1,4,1,1.  Second was awarded to Tina Zhang w/ Andrey Klinchik 2,2,1,3,4, and third went to Lynn Murrell w/ Alexander Voskalchuk 3,5,2,2,2.

The “C” went to Hye Kyong Park w/Linas Koreiva, they took first in all dances. Second place in this heat went to Lisa Liao w/Andrea Faraci 2,2,4,2,4, and in third place was Rhonda Fisher w/Gianni Caliandro. In the “A” there were only three couples entered and this went to Rebecca Kuhn w/Andrea Faraci.

A Team Match was also run between USA and the rest of the world. It was a little different here - we had professional couples (both retired and competing), amateur couples, and pro/am all represented.  In the end the USA won by a small margin.  As usual they all seemed to have a good time and the majority of the audience were still in their chairs, we are not sure if is because the results for the major events were not called yet or they really wanted to see this challenge. As usual we also had a surprise visit from Augusto Schiavo and Caterina Arzenten. This time the role of Augusto who is absent from the competition due to the expectancy of a child, was played by Giampiero Giannico and the role Caterina was played by the outstanding Erminio Stefano whose attention to detail brought the house down especially when he threw the shoe at “Augusto.” For those of us that knew the real Augusto & Caterina in their time it was a comic relief like no other especially since Caterina was in the audience. Catherina was a wonderful sport even when sweeping the floor she took the broom and went out there with the other two ladies of the Empire – Luanna & Katarina (Marks).

Judges in a Quandary!

Seven couples took to the floor last night at Empire Dancesport for the Rising Star Professional Ballroom.  Now we all know that placing 7 couples without having seen them can be tough for the judges, but throw in that they were all of a high but almost equal caliber, and the poor judges were really scratching their heads.  They needed a little extra time in all dances to make their assessments.  And here’s what they were:

Placing 1st in all 5 dances were the tall, elegant duo of Iaroslav Bieliel & Olga Tsikalyuk and we must say we agreed with this result.  With 2,2,3,2,2, Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova finished 2nd ahead of the new pairing, Vladislav Shahov & Ekaterina Popova who placed 3,3,2,3,3.  4th went to Mechyslav Pavlyuk & Gemma Arnold 4,4,6,4,4;  5th to Anton Domansky & Anna Chaldysheva 6,5,4,5,5;  6th to Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Kazukhina 5,6,5,6,7 and 7th to Vasyl Makarov & Grace Fu 7,7,7,7,6.

The RS Rhythm was a larger event, beginning with a semifinal, danced in 2 heats.  We thought this provided a comfortable win to Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov and the judges agreed, awarding them first in all dances.  The remaining couples received quite a mix of placements.  Runners-up were Strahinja Lackovic & Irina Fedosova 2,4,2,2,3;  3rd Ernesto Palma & Leanne Aranza 4,2,3,5,2;  4th Sasha & Tara Barakov 5,3,4,4,4;  5th Boris Vdovine & Patricia Estay 3,5,5,3,5 and 6th Dmitri Dolgopolv & Kristen Dobson.

The pro-ams danced Smooth all day, but the Open Scholarships did not produce large entries except in the C Division that was a 7-couple final.  Comfortable winner was Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski and Lisa won all 4 dances.  2nd in all 4, and dancing very strongly today, we thought, was Janice Smith w/ David Weise and Janet took 2nd in all 4 dances.  3rd in all went to Tatiana Ignatieva w/ Mikhail Zharinov;  4th to Sharon Sanchez w/ Vladislav Shahov 5,5,4,4;  5th Cecila Gilchrist w/ Darius Mosteika 4,4,5,6;  6th Alison Allan w/ David Alvarez 6,6,6,5 and 7th Karen Shaffer w/ Dustin Jones.

Both the A & B divisions were uncontested.  Lynn Shanahan w/ Darius Mosteika in the B and Sara Jess w/ Tomas Mielnicki in the A.  Yoko Kani w/ David Rosario took the Senior from Wendy Sherman w/ Gherman Mustuc.

2 strong couple entered the Open Amateur Smooth and Paul Frietas & Kelly Glashen were the winners in all dances over Zach Lapidus & Emi Terasawa.

Beginning Rising!

The first official day of the Empire Dancesport Championships was all about Rhythm dancing and the Professional Rising Star Smooth and Latin. The evening was specifically for the Pro/Am Scholarships and the Professional Events.

Out of the two rising star events we felt the Smooth was a bit better, they both had semifinal rounds, but for us the Smooth had more excitement.

The quality of the smooth was excellent Kyle & Allie Spinder won all dances and yes to us they were the very best, with everything falling into place. But from second down it was a bit murkier the ability between second down to fifth and sixth was very minute, and you will see it from the judges’ markings below. Sehyoung & Adele Jang Don placed second overall but not second in all dances 3,2,3,2. Sergey & Yana Nelyubov took those second places from Sehyoung & Adele, they placed 2,3,2,3. Fourth placed seemed to be easier fro the judges, Matthias Kruschel & Christina Schlegel took all fourths. Robert Fernandez & Denise Sobiewski took fifth overall 5,6,5,5 and sixth overall went to Leo Mora & Christina Garced (6,5,6,6).

The risin star Latin looked for us even more difficult to decipher, the couples were basically very similar in quality and performance.  Ryan Lewis & Tessa Marie were first overall but not first in every dance 1,1,1,2,2.  Second overall went to Jake Davis & Alyona Kalinina 2,3,2,1,1. Third went to Felipe Gonzalez & Kathleen Ilo 3,2,3,3,3, and even fourth was fought hard - here Adam Katona & Bella Gubzheva took that prize home with 4,4,4,5,5. Fifth was awarded to Werner Figar & Shimkiri 5,5,5,4,4, and sixth was Dennis Sy & Mae Lozada and they took sixth in all dances.

Out of the three main pro/am Scholarships run this night the “C” had the most attendants and it was the most challenging.  Here it was an easy win for Lisa Lowery w/Radeck Wiatrowski who placed first in all dances but the mambo where she took a second place to Philip Widlanski dancing with Jolanta Mosteika, who placed second overall 3,2,3,2,1. Third was awarded to Quin Bommelje w/ Mikhail Vlasov 2,3,2,3,2.

The “B” division was also exciting but with fewer entries.  Here it was a five couple final and for us an easy win for Giovanni Fortezza w/Jolanta Mosteika, he won all dances but the swing where he took a second place. The first in the swing and the overall second placement in this heat went to Lana Lusher w/ Jose DeCamps 2,2,1,2,2.  Third in all dances went to Robyn Daly & Jean Michel Erole.

The smallest of all the Pro/Am Rhythm Scholarships was the “A” with only three couples entered, here Matthew Shimizu & Jessica Nicol took all dances.

One word, Fabulous!

One word, “Fabulous,” was the way an attendee, David Alvarez, owner of the “Hawaii Star Ball” described last’s night Opening Gala to the 2014 Empire State Dancesport Championships here in New York City, and we could not agree more with this description. Last night was superb! The attention to detail, from decorations, the band, show and even the food was amazing.

For us the Empire gives us a touch of class now almost lost to time.  It brings us back to the era of grace and beauty, where hundreds of thousands were spent on gowns, galas, balls and magical affairs. Last night as you walked into the ballroom you were transported to another dimension, another period, one full of grace, art and beauty, one that made you lost in time.

Once seated the show unexpectedly began.  The opening number was an eye opener or should we say and “ear opener!” Soprano, Megan Piccerno, was lovely, her voice took over and there was only one presence - that of her and her vocal instrument.  It was so beautiful that you could touch heaven and nearly cry as you heard even a pin drop.

Megan complemented by a well trained dance troop form the Brooklyn Dancesport Club, and directed by Eugene Katsetman and Maria Manusova, was not the only entertainment of the night. Nicholas Besnard & Ludevine Fernot an adagio team from France were a perfect combination.  Their death defying lifts made your arm hairs stand up, all this while the attendees were being served what looked like a wonderful meal, with a devilish desert.

But we cannot forget our ballroom stars, US Amateur Champions Andres & Veronika End who also perform two solo numbers, “O Mi Bambino Caro” accompanied by the lovely Megan and a dramatic tango to “Roxanne” and this went also for our US Amateur Latin Champions Ferdinando Iannacone & Yuliya Musikhina who did a terrific rumba to the “Way We Were” also sang by Megan and later treated us to a jive.

There is nothing else we can think of to say, yet there is nothing really to say except “Fabulous” and congratulations for another unforgettable Gala opening at the Empire State Dancesport Championships! 

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IGB Comes to a Close!

Last night the IGB came to a close with the last of the professional open events. The best and most attended was the Professional Smooth with five couples and here it was an easy win for Mikolay Czameki & Victoria Malko who won the W,T with perfect scores from all judges, the other two dances they had a huge majority with only a few judges awarding them second, and in the VW Anna Trebunskaya from DWT awarded them a third. Second in this heat was David Estrada & Stephanie Betts they took a third in the waltz but second in the other dances. Third overall went to Sean Brunell & Ekaterina Marshukova and they took the second in the waltz from David & Stephanie.

The Pro Latin had four couples total and this competition went to Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova who won all five dances. In looking at the marks it was a clear win but they did manage to take a few seconds from a number of judges, we our selves though that Evgeniy Likhachev & Mariya Potys could have easily taken the competition but both couples were in great form and it was a wonderful competition to witness. Third was awarded to Evgeniy Nazarov & Amy Bennett.

The third and the most attended event this final night was the Amateur Youth U/21 Championship. Here Eric Ascione & Grace Anderson placed first overall 1,1,2,2,1. Second in this event wen to Umario Diallo & Natasha Zrazhevskaya and third went to Gregory Rybakov & Ellen Anshelevich.

And as Beth Knoll said on her face book page: “Big huge "thank you" to Stephan Krauel and Denise Jourdaine for yet another wonderful weekend at the International Grand Ball! So much fun watching great dancing, seeing old friends and meeting new ones, and just generally having a good time! This competition is one of the oldest and most respected competitions in the US, and Stephan and Denise run it with class and expert attention to detail. I mean REALLY..... at what other competition can you drink diamond-infused water?”

International Grand Ball

Last night was the main evening at this grand and historic competition. With nearly 50 years under its’ belt it can still produce some excellent dancing and terrific results.

Out of the two featured professional events the Ballroom to me had the most punch. From the start it was clear as to where the top placements were going to go, a clear fight between Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa and Yarasloav Bieliei & Olga Tsikalyuk. Overall Denis & Lesya won all dances with the majority of firsts in every dance from the judges.  There was only a judge of two that did not agree and gave them seconds, but their only third came from Alan Dixon who gave them it to them in the VW. Seconds in this parade of wonderful dancers went to Yaroslav Bieliei & Olga Tsikalyuk, they placed second in every dance but not always with a huge majority of seconds. Yaroslav & Olga got some firsts, seconds and even a fourth from Judge Nadia Eftadal in their VW. Their most amount of seconds was in the foxtrot and quickstep.

Third in the Professional Ballroom went to Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti, but from here the marks got murkier 3,4,3,4,3. Fourth overall was awarded to Michal Towliszew & Tiffany Fung.  We were a little disappointed in this couple’s performance we expected a little better.   They started well but by the end for us they fizzled out 4,3,4,3,4. A clear fifth position was awarded to Evganiy Mayorov & Olga Lisovskaya.

The Professional Rhythm was also a well attended heat at this “Grand” competition. Here for us was more like a coin toss.  The winners overall were Richard & Marianne Myers, who won all dances but not with a majority of firsts, they had to rely on fifth or better to get them through. We usually love this couple, unfortunately for us their performance was not totally up to snuff today.  Richard has gained a few pounds since the last time we saw him and her zebra print outfit had for us too much going on - fringe, red sequins and her hair had just as many colors. Never mind the combination of all the judges’ marks presented them with first place in all dances.

Second in this professional event wen to Jim Clark & Tania Chegini, who for us had every thing going for them this evening, but we most also point out that they did not place second in every dance 2,3,2,2,3. This was the best work the Dance Beat Team has seen from this talented couple. Third overall was awarded to Jeremy Babagay & Carolyn Barreno 3,4,4,3,2, fourth wen to Daniel Lee Tran & Taylor Elizabeth Kinney 4,2,3,4,4 and fifth was awarded to Zach Crawford & Kate Castro 5,5,5,5,5 and Albert Ayers & Kristina Mola were sixth in all dances.

The Adult Amateur Latin was small but with great energy.  Here Nikolay Tarasov & Egle Straleckaite won all dances with the majority of firsts from the judges. Second overall wen to Umario Diallo & Natasha Zrazhevskaya and they took second in every dance with a majority, and third was awarded to Parker Lynn & Kristina Tieken and they got third in every dance.

The Amateur youth Latin Championship was better attended with a seven couple final and here Eric Ascione & Grace Anderson took first in all dances with a majority of firsts in almost every dance. Gregory Rybakov & Ellen Anshelevich placed second overall and in every dance and third was awarded to Tyler Alder & Makayla Bezzant here things got a little different - here are their marks 4,3,3,3,3.

The International Grand Ball continues to be a terrific competition to attend and it offers great music, a great ballroom and excellent prizes. Tonight we will see the Professional Latin and the Professional American Smooth, look forward to an excellent event as it was yesterday.