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It’s 1 & 2 Again! Once again USA took both winners and runners-up positions at the Blackpool Dance Festival – Open British Ballroom Championship.  Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova won all 4 dances (no VW in Blackpool) and Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva were 2nd in all 4.  As always the atmosphere for the final was terrific and the ending was a prolonged standing ovation. Representing England Andrea & Sara Ghigiarelli took 3rd in all 4 dances and it was a great night for Slovenian Reps, Domen Krapez & Monica Nigro who finished ahead of all their closest rivals to take 4th in all 4 dances.  With placements of 5,5,5,6, (order of dances in Blackpool is WFTQ) Valerio Colantoni & Yulia Spesivtseva had to be content with 5th place.  And in 6th were the popular Chinese team, Chao Yang & Yiling Tan placing 6,-,6,5.  As you all know, professional divisions are judged by dance from the quarter-final onwards at Blackpool.  Sascha & Natasha Karebey (Germany) placed 6th in the foxtrot. The USA continued to show great form down through the ranks of this competition.  Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk made all 4 semifinals, cementing their ranking in both the USA and the world.  But also making dances into the semifinals were Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva (W);  Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa (F);  Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova (F);  Andrea Zaramella & Kristi Simmonds (T). As a side note,  Australian photographer and Dance Beat contributor, Mark Gadsden, became something of a local hero when he dived into the chilly Irish Sea during the afternoon to save a boy from drowning.  I’m sure the temperature was a little lower than his native land – but at least there were no sharks! Don’t forget to join the members’ section of Dance Beat to read the full Blackpool report and special commentary from Barbara Nagrode Ambroz, Giampiero Giannico, Eugene Katsevman and Lindsey Hillier-Tate.

Poland Rules! Wow!  4 of the six finalists of the Amateur Ballroom at Blackpool, including the winners, were from Poland.  And there was another Polish couple in the semifinal.  Some in the audience felt it was a very even final and they loved all the couples – “Any one of them could have won!” Somebody told us.

The winners, retaining their title, were Marek Kosaty & Paulina Glazik and they won all dances.  The remaining couples in the final were shuffled a bit since last year.  Moving up were Chong He & Jing Shan (China) and also moving up were Sergiu Rusu & Dorota Makar (Poland).  Poland also took 4th and 6th, Andrzej Sadecki & Karina Nawrot and Lukasz Tomczak & Aleksandra Jurczak;  splitting them in 5th place were Dusan Dragovic & Greta Laurinaityte (England).

"I don't have attitude, I'm just REALLY good!" US aspirations ended in the quarter-final with two couples making this round – Oskar Wojciechowski & Karolina Holody were 14th and Andres & Veronika End were 17th. The USA had 4 entries in the Invitational Exhibition, but the winners were previous winners, Craig Smith & Micheline from South Africa who gave a near faultless performance.  They received a standing ovation from the audience.  Also receiving a standing ovation and the runner-up spot were Shane & Shannon Jensen from the USA.  Our Dance Beat award for “most improved” went to the 3rd place recipients, Carlos Zapata & Dora Pashkova (Canada).  4th went to South Africa, Gerhard Van Roohen & Amor Krucer;  5th to Justine Guilmette & Kimerlee Piedad (USA);  6th Ethan & Nikki White (USA);  7th Travis & Jaimee Tuft (USA);  8th Igor Alferov & Alexandra Akimova (Russia).  Margaret Burns from the USA was a judge of the division. This also marked the 2nd year for pro-am dancing in Blackpool.  Once again this year, there was a pro-am exhibition.  8 performances were split into two groups.  There were six performances from Russia and 2 from China.

Stay On the Floor! It was the same couples in all dances for the Professional Latin at the British Open, but we were really taken aback when after the competition was over, Mr. Marcus Hilton MBE asked the couples once again to “stay on the floor,” but this time it was to read the retirement letter of Sergey Surkov & Melia.

"It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance."

It was a touching moment for all, Sergey & Melia have been a fixture of the Empress Ballroom for a long time, and we were really surprised when Mr. Hilton asked them to perform an honor dance. Now that World War II has been over for a while, are we developing a soft heart on this side of the pond?  Never, since we can remember or any other English person of our age can remember, has an honor dance been executed by retiring competitors here at Blackool.  (Can anyone else help us here, has this been done before?) Congratulations to Sergey & Melia on their retirement and we wish them the best in their future goals and accomplishments. As the norm Michael Malitowski & Joanna Leunis from England won the overall competition by takig three dances the C, R, P, leaving the left over dances S, J to current WDC World Professional Latin Champions & USA Champions, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko from the USA. Third place went to Sergey & Melia but it was not a clear sweep. Canada’s Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite took two third places from the outgoing couple, but still were placed fourth overall. Fifth went to another fixture and that was Andrej Skufca & Melinda Torokgyorgy from Slovenia they placed fifth in every dance but the jive, this dance went to USA’s Stefano Di Filippo & Dariya who were sixth overall. I know there is total confusion as to who represents who and on some

"Dance for yourself. If someone understands, good. if not, no matter. go righr on doing what interests you, and do it until it stops interesting you."websites they have Stefano & Dariya dancing for Italy but as far as we know they continue to represent the USA, they possibly do most of their studies and rehearsing and competing in Alaska and Wyoming but they do represent the USA.

In the Semifinal Nikolai Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina made two dances In the 24 Sarunas Greblikas & Viktoria Horeva made all five from the USA and Canada had one couple Kamil Studenny & Anna Pelipenko who also made all five dances.

"Let us dance in the sum, wearing wild flowers in our hair..." England’s most promising couple Neil & Ekaterina Jones dropped out of the competition due to a foot injury. From the vendors report:  they seem to be happy!  They think there are more competitors than last year but attendance as a “fan” or viewer is down from last year. In looking around we do find it a little thinner on the ground, but not enough to cause alarm.  The British Open continues to be as healthy as always but we do feel bad for the vendors who have no place to go and are now spread like butter all over the Winter Gardens!  Rumors have it that by next year the space occupied this year by many of the vendors will be turned into a Blackpool Museum.

Troels & Ina Repeat in Amateur Latin Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova (Denmark) won the first of the “big 4” at Blackpool last night, the Amateur Latin.  This was a repeat of their win last year.  Last night they won all 5 dances, although, from the sidelines, we felt they have danced better on other occasions, but the judges clearly did not feel this to be the case. 

Taking 2nd in 4 dances, but dropping to 3rd in jive were Kirill Belorukov & Elvira Skrylnikova (Russia).  We liked their showing tonight, they seemed to have the most energy and attacked their dancing more than the rest of the final.  The most improved result went to another Russian team, Nikita Brovko & Olga Urumova (3,3,3,3,2). Leading the US charge were Ferdinando Iannaccone & Yulia Musikhina and they placed 4th (4,4,5,4,4).  We are sure they were hoping for a little better.  One of our favorite couples of the competition took 5th, Morten Lowe & Roselina Doneva (Denmark) 5,5,4,5,5 and 6th were Klemen Prasnikar & Alexandra Averkieva (Slovenia). Pasha Pashkov & Danniella Karagach from New York placed in the top 12, a great result for them mirroring their result of 2012 and USA also had 3 couples in the top 24, Denys Drozdyuk & Antonina Skobina, Ruslan Aydaev & Valeriya Kozharinova and Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman – so this was a strong showing for USA.

"Our biological rhythms are the symphony of the cosmos, music embedded within us to which we dance, even when we can't name the tune." The other event of the night was the Youth (U/21) ballroom and in their first adult Blackpool New York’s Patrick Ploszaj & Anna Kaczmarski took 4th.  Many in the audience felt they could have been even higher.  The competition was very close through the whole final and Patrick & Anna actually won the foxtrot.  Their full placements were 3,4,1,3.  The winners (by a Rule 10) were Michael Foskett & Nika Vlasenko (England).  They placed 1,3,4,1.  The other half of the Rule 10 were Aleksandr Kalenyuk & Olena Ablitsova (Ukraine) with 2,2,3,2. It was great to see NDCA President, Brian McDonald, on the evening panel here at Blackpool, one of very few non-British judges to have ever had that honor.

USA Has 1/2 the Pro RS Ballroom Semi!

Photos by Andrew Miller

USA had 6 couples in the semifinal of the Open British Rising Star Professional Ballroom last night in Blackpool – and 2 couples went all the way to the final.  Placing 2nd were Andrea Zaramella & Kristie Simmonds and 3rd were Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa. Our semifinalists were:  Egor Abashkin & Katya Kanevskaya, Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romashkina, Nikita Novikov & Dovile Sutaite and Ronen Zinshtein & Mariam Izmaylova.

The day before (Sunday) saw the conclusion of the Amateur Rising Star divisions.  USA’s best results came in the Latin where Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman were 2nd – a great result for them.  There were also 2 US couples and 2 Canadians in the semifinal.  For the USA – Austin Joson & Alexandria Kondrashova and Pasha Stepanchuk & Anastasiya Danilova and for Canada Nurian Gallyamov & Jessica Swietoniowski and Adam Hathazi & Morgan Lakatos-Hayward. Also members go to our photos page to see photos of the North American Dinner - coming soon.

"If you look at a dancer in silence, his or her body will be the music, If you turn the music on, that body will become an extension of what you're hearing."

Team Americas Wins Team Match Again

Once again, Team Americas won the International Teams Match at the Blackpool Dance Festival.  Congratulations to Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko, Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite and Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk – our team members. 

We were a little saddened not to see US #2 and world ranked #2 team, Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva not part of the team (especially since Victor, unlike so many of us North American inports, was actually born there).  Our team captain was Meryem Pearson of Canada. North American also had some success in the U/21 Latin Championships.  Austin Joson & Alexandra Kondrashova (USA) were 4th and Adam Hathazi & Morgana Lakatos-Hayward (Canada) were 5th.  Additionally Nurian Gallymov & Jessica Swietonioeski (Canada) and Ron Garber & Lisa Lakovistky (USA) were in the semifinal.

Great Start to USA’s BlackpoolQuest! What better way to start Blackpool week than with a win for the USA.  David & Liva Wright placed first in the Open British Senior Ballroom Championship last night in the Winter Gardens’ Empress Ballroom. Almost as good, Sarunas Greblikas & Viktoria Horeva, also representing the USA, took 2nd in the Professional Rising Star Latin.  Canadians Kamil Studenny & Anna Pelipenko were 6th in this same event. North American also had semifinalists in these competitions.  In the senior, Xingmin & Katerina Lu and Andreas & Jodi Meijer and in the RS Latin, Roman Italyankin & Aleksandra Bokova from USA and Jean Philippe Milot & Laurence Bolduc from Canada

"The problem is not making up the steps but deciding which ones to keep."

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Great Finish At American!
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American Star Ball had a terrific finish with a full show that included children, comedy and some wonderful dancing. New choreographer sensation and DJ extraordinaire, Brent Mills, choreographed the ? hour show called the “Rat Pack.”

The show included a few group numbers, including a woman’s number that brought the house down, featuring a group of excellent women dancers lead by Larinda McRaven and if you can believe it, Tibor Kerekes! There was lost of laughter heard down to the lobby, but there was not one drt eye when Beata took to the floor to mambo with the “Three-Legged Men” played by Brent Mills and Mark Brock. Laughter was not the only feature in this excellent show of shows, a singer was the link between each act and he was fantastic.  We have not herd lately a singer be this good with such a difficult repertoires from the original “Rat Pack.” There were a number of dances performed while he sang, some by well-accomplished children and some by some of our ballroom’s best, Shane & Shannon Jensen doing a breathtaking Cabaret performance, Mazen Hamza and Izabella and Travis & Jamie Tuft to name a few of the “who’s who” in these special shows. On a special note I want to tip my hat to Brent Mills who has proven himself to be not only an excellent DJ who did a terrific job this weekend of dance, but a diamond in the rough when it comes to choreographing and putting a show together. The show was well linked and thought out from beginning to end in other words, not as we often say, “just a list!” The show was not the only feature this final night of competition, the dinner party held before the evening session began that included a band, was also an event talked about during and after the competition. The flower arrangements rivaled an exclusive wedding.  This sit down meal was out of the ordinary, and once again the singer was fantastic.

Speaking of out of this world the professional events this night were also great with some interesting surprises. In the Rhythm, Andrei Svirydzenka & Yuliya Zubava from NY, who earlier in the year we saw win a number of events seemed to be going up and down.  In last night’s performance they took third overall (3,4,3,3,4). Misha Vlasov & Vanda Polakova gave an energized and clean performance, rewarding them with first in all dances with a majority of firsts from the judges. Showdance sensations, Shane & Shannon Jensen, took second overall (2,2,2,2,3). As you can see the top three alone made it all worth it.  The disappointment for us is these heat was the performance of Matt Hauer & Lauren Schelfhaudt who placed fourth overall (4,3,4,4,2).  We were really excited about their progress the last time we saw their performance.  However, in this event we can only call it a “walkover” performance and we will explain in the coming issue here if you care. Fifth in all dances were Sasha & Tara Barakov and sixth went to Egor Shalvarov & Alla Profitilova.

The Ballroom competition was also interesting.  Here too we have mixed feelings, we felt that Andrei Begunov & Anna Demidova had stepped it up an inch separating themselves from the rest and it paid off, they placed first in all dances. We still think their Tango & Quickstep need a bit of a push but we were happy to see work is being done and they are once again on the move! Second in this heat were Emanuele & Francesca Pappacena (2,2,3,3,2).  Here we were a little disappointed with this couple’s performance, they are usually full of energy but last night was the opposite we felt as if they were just going through the motions getting it done, for us they were far away from the mark, hope they get moving again. Third position wen to Ruslan & Katusha Wilder (3,3,2,2,3), here we had a well-studied performance but perhaps too studied and not enough soul.  We will give our take on these talented couples here soon in the full overall article. Fourth went to Anton Domansky & Anna Chaldysheva (4,4,5,4,4,), fifth was awarded to Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Karzukhina (5,5,4,5,5) and all sixth places in all dances wen to Michael & Diana Malek. The Amateur Latin was also a terrific event and this wen to Nikita Malakhov & Nedezda Vlasova who won all five dances, second wen to Austin Joson & Sasha Kondrashova (3,2,2,2,3) and third was awarded to Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Seliverstova (4,4,3,3,2). The Pro/Am “B” and “C” Smooth were also excellent events here at the American Star Ball. The “C” division was taken by Alla Neyshtadt w/Erik Pali (1,2,1,1), second went to Helena Kostik w/Mazen Hamza (2,1,2,2), and third was Charlene Proctor w/Mikolay Czarnecki (4,3,4,3). In the “B” division there were 8 couples in the final and top place went to Sue Gershowitz w/Mazen Hamza (2,2,1,1) in a rule 11 decision, second was awarded to Susan Cassano w/Randy Dias (1,1,2,2) and third in all dances was awarded to Angela Morrison & Peter Santiago. We want to congratulate Ilya and Amanda Reyzin for putting together such a terrific weekend of dance, we normally would have been a bit miserable being shipped to another hotel and not being able to be closer to the action 24/7, however, we are thrilled by the fact they were sold out twice.  This is great payback for the hard labor these two put out to make sure everyone is happy and to make sure their event goes as seamlessly as possible. Congratulations once a gain to a great addition to the world of organizers, Ilya & Amanda Reyzin!  Doubling Up! The American Star Ball in Atlantic City that, taken over by Ilya & Amanda Reyzin last year, has doubled up this year in entries and in attendance, to the point where most of the officials had to be shipped over to the Harrahs Hotel across the street (sold out!). This we are sure is  fantastic news for this gracious couple! The two feature events last night on their menu was the Open Professional Smooth and the Open Professional Latin, both well attended with strong semifinal rounds. Out of the two the one with the most prestigious couples in attendance was the Smooth with three US finalists in it. The fight for first place was between Mazen Hamza & Izabella and Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, it was in our opinion very close between them but at the end on paper Peter & Alexandra took the victory walk and became the American Star Ball Smooth winners by tying in the waltz for first place with Mazen & Izabella being placed second in the tango and winning the other two dances. So losing two out of four dances Mazen & Izabella placed second overall. In this year of change in the Smooth this is an important clue as to how it might come out later in the year at our US National Championships. Third in this mix on every dance went to Travis & Jaimeee Tuft. The new partnership of Mikloay Czarnecki & Victoria Malko took fourth in all dances.  The partnership looks very interesting to say the least and very promising, we were surprised to see that only a few judges awarded them higher marks but we are sure it will only be a matter of time before they can challenge for higher ground. Serge & Yanina Nelyubov were fifth and Leo Mora & Christina Garced took all sixths.

The Latin was a very difficult heat for the judges even though we had a favorite it was not clear.  First to sixth place made you look from dance to dance.  It is times like this where the skill as a judge is really needed. In the end by winning three out of the five dances Hayk Balasanyan & Emilia Poghosyan won the Professional Latin Open division (1,2,1,2,1), Jean Paul & Lana Rossi took second overall (2,1,2,1,2).  We are sure this was a disappointing result for this couple but in all honesty they too were in these difficult mix of placements. Third was awarded to Dmyto & Nina Kovaletko (3,3,4,3,3). Fourth went to Vencenzo Minieri & Rosaria Vovone (4,4,3,4,4), fifth in all dances was Serge & Yanina Nelyubo, and sixth was awarded to Werner Figar & Shimkiri. The Open Professional Showdance went easily to Shane & Shannon Jensen and second was Travis & Jaimee Tuft. The Amateur Ballroom was also quite exciting with a healthy semifinal round as well and some excellent dancing.  First was awarded to Oskar Wojciechowski & Karolina Holody and they placed first in every dance and from our opinion there was no challenge against them. Second overall was Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Seleverstova (3,2,2,2,2) from our point of view it was much closer between them and the third place Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhtiarova (2,3,3,3,3). Samuel Hacke & Katerina Hermanova took fourth (5,4,4,4,4), fifth was Daniel Vesnovskiy & Emily Thorp (4,5,5,5,5) and in sixth place was Sam Brandt & Sabrina Yakubovich who took sixth in all dances. In the pro/am divisions the “B” and “C” Ballroom had the most entries and they were excellent events the “B” was won by Carol Simmons w/Serhgei Pogonet (1,3,2,1,1), second was Kako Matsumoto w/Erik Pali  (3,1,1,2T,2) and third went to Elena Lee w/Emanuele Pappacena (2,2,3,2T,2). The “C” Ballroom division was taken by Elena Lee w/Emanuel Pappacena and they won every dance, second was awarded to Sue Gershowitz w/Nikolai Pilipenchuk (2,2,2,2,2) and third was Judy Marx w/Ihor Kravets (5,3,3,3,3). Tonight we will see the professional Open Rhythm and Ballroom and we are expectating a fabulous show by the Rat Pack - Ilya Rezin, Mark Brock, Brent Miles and Gary McDonald.  We called it the (Meat Rack) lol We are looking forward to this interesting happening.         

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25 Shades Of Green!

Last night was the culmination of the 25-year anniversary of the Emerald Ball under the direction of Wayne & Donna Eng and it all ended with a lavish celebration made for a king! The grand show “25 Shades of Green” was produced by Tomas and Izabella Lewandosky and sponsored by long-time friend and ballroom philanthropist, Mrs. Josie lee. The 25 Shades of Green presented a showcase of singing and dancing with many world and US finalists in attendance.  It started with a film that took us on a journey through the world of dancing, shown on the giant high-definition screen, center stage at this year’s Emerald Ball.  This screen also served as the main backdrop throughout the show complimenting every performance. The biggest cheer and standing ovation came to a young lady who was fantastic and who brought the house down with an astronomical solo performance, we have seen the best ballroom dancers but this young lady’s solo gave us reason for pause! The after party was also made for a king.  The lobby restaurant was closed and there was food, drinks and music to your heart’s content. All this was only fitting for this excellent 25 (silver) year anniversary for Wayne and Donna Eng and as Wayne put it in a question I asked, “There are my children, there is Donna and there is the Emerald Ball, it is a big part of our lives.”  See photos from the after party in our photo gallery.

The professional competitions earlier in the evening were also befitting this 25 years of success. The Professional Ballroom unlike the Rising Stars a few days before redeemed itself and when it came to the final it was a delight. Victor Fung & Anastasiya Muravyeva, second in the World and the US, danced with tremendous finnesse and won almost every dance with perfect scores, the only dance where they got one second was in the tango and that was awarded to them by Valentina Kostenko. The recipient of that one first from Valentina was the runners-up, Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva who placed second in every dance and third went to another excellent couple who stole a few seconds from Artem & Inna and that was Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa (3,3,3,3,4). Fourth place wen to Egor Abashkin & Katia Kanevskaya (4,4,4,4,3), fifth place was awarded to Gianni Caliandro & Arianna Esposito they were fifth in every dance.  In sixth place were Nazar Baith & Mariko Cantley (6,7,6,7,6) and in seventh place were Igor Colac & Roxane Milott (7,6,7,6,7).

The Professional Rhythm was also huge in entries and talent.  Emanuel Pierre Antoine & Lianna Churilova won every dance and took the Emerald Champions title home.  They won all dances with a huge majority of firsts from the judges. Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova continue to enthrall the audience with their charisma and they took second in every dance. The new Smooth Emerald Champions, Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, placed third in every dance. As you will see from here on the judges were not as definite. Vard Margaryan & Sofya Fill placed fourth overall but not in every dance (5,5,4,4,4). Mikhail Vlasov & Vanda Polakova were fifth but manage to take two fourths (4,4,5,5,5). Ilya & Mandy Velednitsky were sixth (6,7,6,6,7), and seventh went to Roland & Katie Guillen (7,6,7,7,6). There were 12 entries for the Open professional Showdance category but lucky for us (and for the schedule) three pulled out and only 9 took to the floor. I say lucky because even though the couples all looked prepared and there was no major fiasco on the floor while all eyes are on these solo performances, for us there was a lack of story telling and composition.  In other words you can’t just make a link of every trick and step you do well, chain it together and throw some music at it. But perhaps we are a little tired and cranky being this was near the end of a long week of dancing and we are just being a little too critical. However, we most say that some of the lift work was out of this world with some amazing tricks that required not only strength, but also timing and coordination. One couple that demonstrated all this and more was Justin Guilmette & Kimalee Piedad and they won the heart of the judges and audience and took the cup home. Clyde Harris & Summer Elkin placed second and third in this 9-couple final was Jamie Black & Robin Ray. Out of the two amateur events the Ballroom was our favorite with at least three terrific couples in the final. Andres & Veronika End won and demonstrated that this style can have life and lots of creativity in it, to the point as I said before that might be considered by some hard liner as “WDSF inspired.” On the classy side with fine movements and very “WDC style” in this final we had Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhtiarova who placed second in every dance. And somewhere in the middle a beautiful couple to watch with excellent smooth transitions was Ruslan Kalyuzhnyy & Kseniya Sovenko and they placed third in every dance.

"A star danced, and under that was I born." In the Open Latin Amateur for us there was only one clear winner from the beginning and that was Ferdinando Iannaccone & Yulia Musikhina and they took first in every dance with also a huge majority of firsts from the judges. Although there was no question in our minds that they would ultimately will win every dance we still had to look at the scores and we were surprised to find that at least one judge in every dance abstained from awarding them a first, this is quite normal. However, the fact that one judge awarded them 2 fifths made us almost chuckle over our breakfast this morning. Valentina Kostenko awarded them a fifth in samba and rumba. In this same heat Phillip Kudryavtsev & Ashley Goldman placed second (2,2,3,2,2) and Briant Leyman & Nino Dzneladze took third (3,3,2,3,3).   We understand that this was Phillip & Ashley’s last competition together as Ashley is going to concentrate on her academic studies. The Pro/Am Latin scholarships were run in the afternoon and they were excellent, The “A” went to Cheyenne Murillo w/ Sasha Altukhov and they took first in every dance, second was awarded to Michael Roberts w/ Milana Pliner (2,3,2,2,2).  This was the best finish from a man in this year’s open scholarships.  Third went to Maria Ceva w/Lubomir Asenov (3,2,3,3,3). In the “B” Tina Broccole w/Delyan Terziev won all dances.  Hilda Li w/Roland Michtchenko placed second (2,2,2,3,2), and third was awarded to Marialisa de Gasperis w/Kamil Studenny. The “C” division was very contested as usual and here Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski placed first in every dance, meaning two former Pro/Am World Latin Pro/Am “C” Champions, Beverly Moore and Joan Goddard had to settle for second and third with Beverly w/Alain Doucet taking second (3,2,3,2,3) and Joan w/Chris Johnston placing third (5,3,2,3,4). Today we have a full day of children, showcases and odds and ends.  It is Wayne and Donna’s dream to have in the future three days solely dedicated to youth and children.  We believe his dream will come true sooner or later.  Today the ballroom started bright and early at 7AM and it is going till 9PM. Not to far away from that wish of theirs! Congratulations Wayne & Donna Eng in this your 25th year, we hope to see all your dreams come true.  

Watch action video and interviews from Emerald Ball now on our video page.  (Content provided by SuperShag) A Day at the Races! In a very split race Peter & Alexandra Perzhu clearly defeated Mazen Hamza & Izabella.

Watch action video and interviews from Emerald Ball now on our video page.  (Content provided by SuperShag)

Yesterday at the Emerald Ball it was a day of interesting races in the Professional Smooth and Pro/Am Ballroom Scholarships. Last night Peter & Alexandra won all dances in the Professional Smooth but only in the foxtrot did they have the majority of firsts.  In the other three dances it was “1st or better” marks that gave them the victory. Mazen & Izabella took second in all dances but not with the left over firsts.  They were awarded some firsts but mainly had to rely on “2nd or better” to maintain the second placement in all dances. To make this race even more interesting Mikhail & Galina Zharinov were thrown into the mix and also shared in the first place frenzy, stealing some firsts as well from the two top couples. However, when all was said and done Mikhail & Galina were clearly third in all four dances. Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija took all fourths and here Viktorija was clearly unhappy with this result or just too focused on her race to “smile” when picking up the award, no curtsies or silly polite “how happy I am to get this.” Led by her happy partner Nick (who did seem happy), she just headed to the presenters and collected their fourth place award and lined up. Fifth went to Travis & Jaimee Tuft who we can almost swear also sported a minute glimmer of disappointment when their result was called. And finally, just happy to be there, Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft were sixth in all dances. This was an excellent event and we must tip our hat to all the couples.  It was clear in the semifinal round that this race was not going to be an easy walk in the park for all involved.  Many great couples were left out of this elite final. However they must all know that this was a fabulous competition and one they should have all been proud to be in.

We wish we could say the same for the Professional Latin. Here like an “old marriage” nearly everything went as usual including the dancing. Roman Kutskyy & Anna Kovalova were clearly the winners in every dance from the start and yes they won every dance with a huge majority of firsts. Nikolay Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina, who for us sported a questionable dress and hairdo, were clearly second in every dance (we are not sure their look helped their cause). The surprise in this race was the demotion to fourth place of US finalists, Ivan Mulyavka & Loreta Kriksciukaityte (3,5,4,3,4), and the elevation of Andrey Tarasov & Julia Kuznetsova to third place (4,3,3,4,3).  This maneuver was totally unprecedented from judges who we suppose were not missing any punches! Their hard work must have paid off! Interesting! We will have our take on all this mater here soon if you care. And finally in fifth position were Vitalii Proskurin & Evgenia Shatilova (5,4,6,6,5), and in sixth place Evgeniy Likhachev & Maria Levina (6,6,5,5,6).

"I was born from a boombox. My heart is a dancer." The Pro/Am Ballroom also gave us an interesting start to the evening.  The most interesting race for many different reasons was that of the “B” category.  Here two strong long-time rivals took to the floor. Former World Pro/Am Ballroom “B” Champion, Beverly Moore from Canada partnered by Alain Doucet and Celia Chou partnered by Erminio Stefano. The atmosphere was so thick with anticipation when the awards were presented that we could have cut it with a knife. Continuing to stamp her hold on her first place position this time was Celia Chou winning all five dances and we must add that all dances were won with the majority of firsts.  However, Beverly, from the judges’ perspective, was not able to challenge Celia. This time she had to be happy with just a third place overall.  However, as you will see she did manage to take second in a dance and two thirds (3,4,2,3,4). Getting ahead of Beverly this time was Lily Chang partnered by Sergei Kiselev (2,2,3,2,3).  As you can see she did get a second overall but in two of the dances she placed third. As devoted fans of the pro/am competitive scene we most point out that although Celia & Beverly are two excellent competitors and worthy of their titles and accomplishments, in all honesty, our very favorite this time around and one that had we been judging might have placed first on our pads, was Lily Chang.  On this occasion Lily danced with freedom with great grace, musicality and flair. Our congratulations to these three fabulous ladies for giving us an incredible final to watch.

Not to be forgotten or left out of the mix, were the other three competitors who were also excellent and worthy of being in this prestigious final. Ling Ma w/Edgar Gasjuns who was fourth (6,3,4,4,2), Bo Chang w/Giampiero Giannico who placed fifth (4,5,6,5,5), and Michelle Peng w/Mikhail Avdeev who has tremendously improved from previous performances, placed sixth (5,6,5,6,6).

We were very surprised that our choices for first in the “A” and “C” were almost made a reality. In the “A” Jennifer Lee w/ Serghei Pogonet who was a delight to watch on this occasion, took first overall (3,1,3,2,1) and our very favorite to win who also impressed us with her skill on this outing, Jenika Kalish w/Raffaele Sabato were second overall (2,4,1,1,3). We will have full reviews on all these pro/am scholarships as well, so stay tuned. Third went to Vinie Miller w/ Anton Koukareko (4,2,2,3,2). Ani Mkrtchyan w/Nick Cheremukhian was fourth (1,5,5,5,4), Anya Lucero w/Ikaika Dowsett was awarded fifth (6,3,4,4,5) and sixth went to Rebecca Kuhn w/Andrea Faraci (5,6,6,6,6).

The “C” division was also great and here Hye-Kyong Park w/Linas Koreiva was first (1,1,1,1,2).  Second went to Connie Edmonds w/Samuele Pacchini (2,3,2,2,1), third was awarded to Tammy Knight w/ Artem Plakhotnyi. Beatrice Wang w/Giampiero Giannico was fourth (5,4,3,4,5), Paige Riffle w/Leonid Burlo placed fifth (4,5,5,54) and Deborah Errico w/Dariusz Michalski took sixth in every dance.

"You most have chaos within you to give rise to a dancing star." As you can see this was a very memorable day at the Emerald Ball with some fantastic races. However, the most important contest was the one being judged by you, the fans of ballroom dancing. A few days ago we predicted that the Smooth would be a terrific event and so we wanted to bring you into the mix.  We asked you to vote for your favorite Smooth couple in a poll here on Dance Beat’s website. In this important and nail-biting race we are proud to announce that after three full days of voting (to the point that we surpassed our polling limits and we had to increase the amount of people allowed to vote a few times) we finally have a decision and the peoples’ choice for their favorite couple and winner of a 1-year subscription to Dance Beat’s members’ section is David & Natalie Schulz.  They had 48% of the votes.
      
Emerald Rising!
Watch action video and interviews from Emerald Ball now on our video page.  (Content provided by SuperShag)

Yesterday the Emerald Ball Championships was about the Professional Rising Stars and the Pro/Am Smooth Scholarships. The RS Latin and Smooth had the largest entries followed by the Rhythm and with a final round only, the Professional Rising Star Ballroom.

All the events had excellent professional couples with a huge amount of talent, and in nearly all the events the top placements were hard fought. In the Latin there was a first round and when it came to the final we are sure the judges were hard at work. The Rising Star Latin winners, Vitalii Proskurin & Evgania Shatilov, had an easy win in the cha cha with a huge majority of firsts, but in the other four dances it was an uphill battle with some of the judges even awarding them some fourth place marks. Second in this very indecisive heat was Evgeniy Likhachev & Maria Levina, placing second in all dances. Third was awarded to Oleg Astakhov & Olivia Wesolowski (4,3,3,3,4), this was perhaps our favorite couple, the lady is a dream when it comes to Latin dancing and we were for certain they would be in a top placement. Pavel Balykin & Meagan Mendoza placed fourth (3,4,4,4,3), Ryan Lewis & Tessa were fifth in every dance and Maksym Kapitanchuck & Elena Krifuks were sixth.

The Smooth Rising Star was also a good fight to the finish with Kyle & Allie Spinder taking first overall (1,2,1,1) but here too it was a strong fight. Kyle & Allie did manage to win the foxtrot with perfect scores and a strong finish in the W and VW with only one judge awarding them second in each dance. The tango was a different story here they had to settle for second place to the runners-up Sergey Barsukov & Maria Sidnjova (2,1,2,2). Third was awarded to Adrian & Hannah Dydynski, fourth went to Slava Stefanov & Jessica McMorrow who placed fourth in every dance. Fifth place was awarded to Radek Wiatrowski & Sonia Ragan (5,6,6,5), and in sixth place were Ben & Cheryl Seifert. Possibly one of our favorite up and coming couples was Adrian & Hannah, who bring to the floor a much needed subtlety to the style, we are looking forward to seeing this couple grow and hope they maintain this unique quality to their performance, and we are confident that soon they will be challenging for higher ground.

"There are times when the simple dignity of movement can fulfill the function of a volume of words."

The Rhythm was won by Shandor Shtefil & Alekasandra Barsukov (2,1,1,1,1), second overall were Max Lototskyy & Sarah Haworth (3,2,2,2,3). For us it was close between these two couples, however, when you see it on paper it was not. A little disappointed in one of our favorite up an coming Rhythm couples, the new partnership of Donovan Dominguez & Rose Bauer-Dimov (1,4,3,3,4). We are usually quite fans of both but last night it did not look as strong as we expected and it seems the judges agreed.  But there is great potential here! Tamas Kardos & Mariya Khristina Shurupova were fourth (4,3,5,4,2), Kurt Roberts & Anneliece Velasco were fifth (5,5,4,6,5) and in sixth position were Tommy Belmontez & Jessica Holty (6,6,6,5,6).

As we said earlier the Professional Rising Star Ballroom was only a seven-couple final making us wonder what happened to Ballroom??? Is Smooth the new Black or is dancing together without letting go no longer appealing? Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova took first in all dances, Evgeniy Mayorov & Olga Lisovskaya all seconds and third was awarded to Slave & Lara Kostianets. The Pro/Am Scholarships in the Smooth were excellent in the afternoon. The “C” division had a huge amount of entries with a strong first round of competition. The winner of the “C” was Robin Kencel w/Sergey Vasilyev and she won all dances, second in this very strong fight went to World Pro/Am Smooth “C” Champion Beverly Moore w/Alain Doucet from Canada and they really took a beating as you will see from the marks (3,2,3,2), and third was awarded to Lisa Lowery dancing with Radek Wiatrowski (2,3,2,3). Lynn Murell w/Peter Perzhu was fourth (4,4,5,4), fifth went to Sue Eldred w/Artem Plakhotnyi (5,5,4,5), sixth was awarded to Paige Riffle w/Alex Zagrean, who by the way was perhaps the most improved lady of the final in our eyes, and seventh was awarded to Monica Broch w/ Kris Suakjian (7,6,6,7). So who was tired and who pushed back? Who did what they always do and who got ahead of whom? We will have these reports from these very exciting events here soon in our next issues of Dance Beat, so stay tuned. The “B” was the second largest event of the afternoon and we ended up with six very talented ladies. Joanne Smith w/Sharon Levit from Canada was for us unmistakably the best from the word go. Her use of body in this skill was like no other in this final.  Funnily enough, the judges did not feel the same way. If you notice, by the marks (1,2,1,2). Second in this terrific heat went to a very experience competitor Susan Sidman w/Gleb Makarov (2,1,3,1), and Aiyeshas Dey with Eric Hudson placed third (3,3,2,3). Christina Donelson w/ Peter Perzhu took all fourths, Joanne Tatem w/ Mariusz Zakrzewski was fifth (6,5,6,5), and Monica Broch w/Kris Suakjian took sixth (5,6,5,6). The “A” division had a strong semifinal round and in the end six talented young ladies were called for the final. Brianna Yadgir w/Chris Germain won the competition (2,1,1,1).  Christina Diaz w/Kris Suakjian placed second overall (1,2,3,2) and Sirinda Sincharoen w/Max Sinitsa was third (4,3,2,4). Irene Lee w/ Nick Cheremukhin placed fourth (3,4,4,3), Sara Jess w/Thomas Mielnicki was fifth (6,5,5,5) and sixth was awarded to Shelby Hafen w/Sergei Shapoval (5,6,6,6). So far - no glitches everything has run as well as expected!  Tonight the open professional events will begin and the pro/am ballroom scholarships should be on the way.   

It All Starts with Rhythm!

The BEAT!

The Emerald Ball Dancesport Championships started early Tuesday afternoon with the Rhythm categories which ended late Wednesday afternoon with the Pro/Am Open Rhythm Scholarships. This year the organizers, Wayne and Donna Eng, added extra time to fit the thousands of entries their competition now enjoys and we are sure it was well appreciated by the competitors giving them a little more time to be judged and from time to time, a comfortable awards break for the hard-working Pro/Am teachers.

"Dance first.Think later. It's the natural order."

The feature events yesterday were the Open Pro/Am Rhythm Scholarships. With the exception of the “A,” all categories enjoyed first rounds. In the end the “C” and “B” categories were six-couple finals and the “A” division a five couple final.

In the “C” division Lisa Lowery with partner Radek Wiatrowski was unstoppable wining every dance with the majority of firsts in all. Former World and US Pro/Am Champion, Joan Goddard w/Chris Johnston, took seconds in every dance and Lynn Murrell with teacher Peter Perzhu placed third overall (4,3,4,3,3). Quin Bomelje & Mikhail Vlasov were fourth (3,4,3,4,4), Kathy Trice w/Radomir Pashev placed fifth (6,6,5,5,5) and sixth went to Monica Broch w/ Kris Suakjian (5,5,6,6,6).

"Dance enables you to find yourself and lose yourself at the same time."

The “B” division was also quite exciting.  Here Aiyesha Dey w/Eric Hudson took first place overall but not in every dance (2,1,1,1,2), Seasoned player Susan Sidman w/Gleb Makarov was awarded second overall and they took a few firsts (1,2,2,2,1), and third overall went to M’Balie Tagoe w/Mariusz Zakrzewski (3,5,3,5,3) perhaps our favorite lady of the night. Fourth was awarded to Dianne Dale w/Luis Detling (4,3,4,4,4), fifth went to Kelly Wain w/Gunnar Sverrisson (5,4,5,3,5) and sixth was Cindy Wang w/Steve Vasco and they place sixth in all five dances.

As we mentioned before the “A” category had only a semifinal and in the end five ladies were called back. Nadia Kireyko partner by Daniel Vasco won and was perhaps our favorite of this heat with a natural feeling for this style. Chastity Smith w/Eddie Ares placed second in every dance and Jessica Sweeney w/Jeremy Piling took all thirds. Fourth was Kelly Wain w/Gunnar Sverrison and fifth was Nicole Huerta w/Edwin Torres and they took all fifth.

"There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them."

With a new ballroom at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport we think Emerald Ball has another 25 years to come. We want to congratulate and wish Wayne and Donna Eng a happy Silver Anniversary and wish them many more!

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More Entries at Southern States Than Ever Before The Southern State Championship ended last night on a high note, the organizer Larry and Dianne Dean, announced that it was their biggest number of entries at this competition in 30 years!  They also recognize some of the people who have contributed throughout the years in helping the comp grow, last night Mrs. Jackie Rodgers received the "Frank Reagan Award".  This award was created to honor Mr. Reagan's memory and to honor the recipients.  Congratulations!

"Without dance, what's the point?

The Pro competitions continued in the evening and made it a successful weekend for 2 couples in particular.  Adding to their win in the Open Rhythm, Stephen Smyth & Vicktoriya Kleyman also won the Open Smooth, first in all dances.   The other couple was Craig Smith & Micheline , who made their trip from Hong Kong worth while by adding to their Showdance victory.  Craig & Micheline went on to win the Open Theater Arts and the Open Grand Championship. In the Open Latin, the two top couples were Serguey Samchynsky & Yuliya Besarab and Jake Davies & Alyona Kalinina, but the victory went to Serguey & Yuliya as they went on to win all dances.
"I dance, therefore I am."