Upset of Form in Pro Standard

Date: Sun, Sep 5th, 2010 1:40:01 pm
Author: Dance Beat USA

Before a completely full house at Embassy Ball last night, we witnessed a reversal of current form in the Pro Standard World Cup, less than a week before the US Championships.

Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova were secure on the top, losing only 5 out of a possible 75 first place marks an receiving perfect scores in Viennese and quickstep.  But it was what happened next that had the crowd mezmorized.  Giampiero Giannico & Anna Mikhed placed 2nd in Waltz, 2nd in tango, 3rd in Viennese, 2nd in foxtrot and 3rd in quickstep to wrest 2nd place from Victor Fung & Anastasia, a reversal of form.  Victor & Anastasia placed 3,3,2,3,2.  Giampiero & Anna took the waltz and tango by 9 '2nd or better' scores to 7 and the foxtrot by11 to 5.  Victor & Anna took Viennese by 11 to 6 and the quickstep by 9 to 6.  Between them these two couples accounted for most of the 2nd and 3rd although both received a smattering of lower place marks most notably Giampiero & Anna received 4 5th places, 3 from Jonathan Wilkins and 2 from Greg Smith.

Overall, this pro division was the best received so far by this California audience who were much more enthused tonight than they were by the IDSF Standard the night before - either this is a comment on the dancing or the audience?  4th place tonight went to Paulo Bosco & Silvia Pitton (Italy) 4,4,5,4,4, 5th to Domen Krapez & monica Nigro (Slovenia) 5,5,4,5,5 and 6th to Urs Geisenhainer & Agnes Kazmierczak (Poland).  Stay tuned for commentary from Luana Conte in Dance Beat soon.

For the IDSF it was Latin time and the Grand Slam.  Zoran Plohl & Tatsiana Lahvinovitch (Croatia) won all 5 dances (the solos tonight were rumba and paso).  They had the majority of 1st place marks in all dances.  2nd in all 5 were Martino Zanibellato & Michelle Abiltrup (Denmark).  As at the German Open we saw tremendous improvement in this couple who seem to be going for broke nowadays.  These 2 couples were well clear of the chasing pack.  Taking 3rd overall were Valentine Chmerkovskiy & Daria Chesnokova (USA) 3,4,5,3,3.  (The order of dances was R,S,C,J,P).  We thought Val & Daria had a great night and were a little surprised that they did not take 3rd in all 5 dances.  4th went to Vitaly Panteleev & Daria Glukova (Russia) 4,3,3,4,4.  This was a 7-couple final and the last 3 places went to Italy.  Pavel Pasechnik & Francesca Beradi (5th), Gabriele Goffredo & Francessca Tocca (6th) and Vincenzio Mariniello & Sara Casini (7th).

Here's today's essay question!  Although the Grand Slam Latin did not have the star power of the previous day's Standard, it was much better received by the audience.  Discuss!  We will soon in Dance Beat World and Nicola Nordin will also report for us.

And what about those flesh colored panties for the ladies!  Quite a discussion on the head table during the first round of the IDSF Latin.  But is this appropriate discussion?  Do we have to wait for the ladies to spin to find out if they're breaking the rules?  There must be a better way!!

In the afternoon there were some great junior divisions.  The Junior II Latin was won by Nunzio Rizzo & Grazia Paradiso (Italy) 1,1,1,1,1.  2nd was Kevin Morales & Anna Odessky (USA) 2,2,2,2,2 and 3rd Denis Bykov & Sasha Kondrashov (USA) 5,3,4,3,3.  In the Junior I Latin Jaryd Farcon & Dasha Ryndych were the winners 1,1,2,1,1, Briant Leytman & Natasha Shevchenko were 2nd 2,2,1,3,3 and Edgar Khachaturov & Daniela Olevsky were 3rd, 3,3,3,2,2.  all 3 couples from the USA.  It was Canada's turn to dominate in the Youth (under18) taking 1st and 2nd.  Vladyslav Bohdanov & Maryana Dudcheko were the winners, and Winson Tam & Anna-Nina Kus were 2nd.  Austin Joson & Gabriella Sabler (USA) were 3rd.

The Hanlon/Ford award for 2010 was presented to former US Rhythm Champion, Forrest Vance and the Bill & Bobbie Irvine award 2010 was presented to Alan & Hazel Fletcher.

For Day 1 - click here

For Day 2 - click here

For Day 4 - click here

Best of IDSF in California

Date: Sat, Sep 4th, 2010 12:26:01 am
Author: Keith Todd

70 couples dance IDSF Standard at Embassy Ball, California

Most of the world's top 6 in the IDSF Standard showd up in California last night for the Grand Slam event at Embassy Ball.  Benedetto Ferruggia & Claudia Koehler (Germany) retained their ranking easily in the adjudicators' eyes taking 50 of the available 55 first place marks.  From there on it was a tougher fight.  Denmark's Emanuel Valeri & Tania Kehlet were 2nd in all 5, but received the majority of 2nd or better scores in only foxtrot and tango.  The form reversed from the GOC 2 weeks ago for 3rd place that this week fell to Sergei & Olga Konovaltsev (Russia) who actually took 3rd in all dances over Simone Segatore & Annette Sudol (Germany) who were 4th in all 5.  We thought Sergei & Olga were especially on form tonight although others in the non-voting crowd thought they were too wild.  So which was it?  We'll have a report in Dance Beat and Dance Beat world soon and Luca Barrichi will also comment.  Italy took both 5th and 6th places in a tight race.  Marco Cavallaro & Joanne Clifton were 5th, 5,6,5,6,5 and Rosario Guerra & Grazia Benincasa were 6th 6,5,6,5,6.

There were 2 other good events yesterday evening.  In the Under 21 Latin it was a battle between the USA and Canada.  USA came out on top as Kiki Nyemchek & Magda Fialek won all 5 dances.  We felt they were the clearest in the final and deserved the win.  They had the majority of first palce marks in Samba paso and jive.  Canada took 2nd and 3rd.  Vladyslav Bohdanov & Maryana Dudchenko were 2nd, 2,2,2,3,2 and Winson Tan & Anna Nina Kus were 3rd, 3,3,3,2,3.

The Over 50 Standard was another USA/Canada battle with 3 couples from each country in the final.  Once Again USA took the day as Hans & Anne Stork won all dances from Canada's George Lindholm & Deborah Wong who were 2nd in all.  3rd in all dances were Glenn Okazaki & Anne Ho.

For more on Embassy, visit our US website: www.dancebeat.com

For Day 1 of Embassy - click here

For day 3 - click here

For Day 4 - click here

Embassy Is On!

Date: Fri, Sep 3rd, 2010 11:52:27 am
Author:

Embassy Ball, the USA's premier event to showcase the world's talent in dancesport with IDSF Grtand Slams and Professional World Cup events got under way yesterday

Embassy Ball is held in Irvine, California and features and international adjudicating panel and competitors from around the world.

First on the bill were the Pro-Am Latin divisions.  These culminated in the World Cup Open Pro-Am Scholarships in 4 age categories.  Hunter Stephens w/ Inna Berlizyeva was the easy winner in a strong A division, winning all dances and also going on to win the Best of The Best Challenge.  We also liked the the 2nd place contender, Calin Dixon w/ Roman Kutskyy who was 2nd in all dances.  3rd spot in this 8-couple final went to Amanda Erikson w/ Eric Cyr - 4,3,3,3,T,3.  The B was the largest event and it went to Loan Lam w/ Yiri Kosyday who won all dances.  We were also impressed with Kim Hardin w/ Billy King who placed 2,2,2,2,3, although we felt she could have taken the paso doble.  3rd was Marina Suyatets w/ Paul Richardson, 4,3,3,3,2.  The C was a duel between 2 longtime rivals, Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet and Joan Goddard w/ Chris Johnston.  Today's round went to Beverly who won all dances.  Joan was 2nd in all.  We thought Beverly definitely had the better day.  3rd was Wes Stengel w/ Dmitry Kurakin 3,4,4,3,3.  The C1 went to Vita Hanley w/ Marcus Johnson and Maggie Liu w/ Grigori Sedrakyan was 2nd.

The feature events of the evening were the Pro RS Standard and Latin.  The Latin was the bigger event and it went to what we believe is a new partnership, Danny Arbour w/ Jessie Mineau (Canada), 1,2,1,2,1.  We have always liked this young man's dancing and the new partnership looks promising.  2nd in this close race went to Igor Ustymovych & Olga Ginzburg (CA), 2,1,2,1,2.  3rd spot went to another new partnership, Raimondo Todaro & Antonella Goffredo (Italy) 3,3,3,3,4.  We're not sure if this was the pair's first event, but you will remember that Antonella until recently danced in the amateur division with her brother.

The Standard was also a close race and Max & Lesya Sinitsa (CA) were the victors placing 1,2,2,1,1 over Andrew Begunov & Anna Demidova (NJ) 2,1,1,2,2.  These 2 couples are very different physically and stylistically.  We preferred Max & Lesya tonight.  In 3rd spot were Russ & Katusha Wilder (NJ), 3,3,3,3,3.

For Day 2 - click here

For day 3 - click here

For Day 4 - click here

 

Live TV and Alive on the Floor!

GOC – Day 5

 

Date: Sat, Aug 21st, 2010 10:19:26 pm
Author: Keith Todd

It was possibly the best event of the 2010 GOC – the IDSF Grand Slam Standard!  And it was all aired on live TV

photos by Andrew Miller www.dancefotoman.co.uk

Everyone was here (except Ghigiarelli/Andrachio who have a 9-month suspension from IDSF events because they danced at Blackpool in defiance of their national federation).  The event was aired live on TV and it was a great showcase for DanceSport.

World Champions, Benedetto Feruggia & Claudia Koehler (Germany) wowed the crowd and the judges, taking all 5 dances with comfortable majorities and with a perfect 11 out of 11 in tango.  In second place were Emanuel Valeri & Tania Kehlet (Denmark) who were 2^nd in all dances and were certainly equal favorites with this non-partisan audience.  We loved their musical interpretation and feel for the dances.  3^rd were the sartorially elegant Simone Segatore & Annette Sudol (Germany) who placed 3,4,3,3,4.  4^{thplace fell to Sergey Konovaltsev & Olga Konovaltseva (Russia), 4,3,4,4,3.  This is the most athletic couple on the floor!  We feel they do best when pushing the limits!  The most traditionally styled couple in the final, Marek Kosaty & Paulina Glazik (Poland), were 5th , 5,6,5,5,6 and the dramatically improved Marco Cavallaro & Joanne Clifton (Italy) were 6th, 6,5,6,6,5.}

Don’t miss our take on this spectacular event in Dance Beat World and Robert Wota will also offer his opinions.  Coming soon!

In other events, Eor Sivkov & Ekaterina Vidgof (Russia) won the Juvenile I Standard, Victor Burchuladze & Valeria Agikian (Russia) took the Youth 10-Dance, Michael & Beate Linder (Germany) won the Senior II Standard and Gwenael Lavigne & Stepahnie Godet (France) took the Senior I Latin.

By the way, we noticed 1 great similarity between the GOC and Blackpool.  At both competitions it seems the MC is tasked with the job of ensuring that everyone is sitting in their correct seat.  Wouldn't this be best left to the security guards?

Be sure to read our full report on the GOC soon in Dance Beat World!

 

Franco & Oxana - Perfect!

Day 4 - GOC

Date: Fri, Aug 20th, 2010 8:18:11 pm
Author: Keith Todd

With 55 first places out of a total of 55, Franco Formica & Oxana Lebedev of Germany won the WDC World Series Latin at the German Open.

photos by Andrew Miller www.dancefotoman.co.uk

The judges felt it was a perfect night for Franco & Oxana and we agreed.  Both technically and artistically they were clear winners, we felt.  BY winning tonight, they took the last WDC World Series Title that will ever be held at the German Open.  We were informed today by President of the WDC, Mr. Donnie Burns MBE, that the World Series titles would not be offered here next year. (For more on this, watch out for our report on the deteriorating political relationships between the WDC and the IDSF and what it means for the future - coming soon.)

Second tonight in all dances went to Andrej Skufca & Melinda Torokgyorgy (Slovenia).  We felt that Andrej & Melinda danced a great final, but we did have trouble finding them in the earlier rounds.  There scores were quite consistent, but there was one judge who disagreed.  We'll let you know who in our full report in Dance Beat World.

3rd and 4th places were a Rule 11 tie that actually went to Markus Homm & Ksenia Kasper (Germany) - 3T,3,3,4,4, over Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite (Italy) - 3T,4,4,3,3.  I must compliment the German audience for their non-partisan support of Maurizio & Andra who received the loudest and most prolonged applause of the night.

A much improved, we thought, Emanuele Soldi & Elisa Nasato (Italy) were 5th in all dances and Przemek Lowicki & Asta Sigvaldottir (Poland) were 6th.

The Amateur Rising Star Standard was also held in the main ballroom tonight and it was, just as the Youth, an excellent event with a very even level of dancing.  But guess what!  We almost agreed entirely with the result.  The winners were Alexey Glukhov & Anastasia Glazunova (Russia) 1,1,1,1,1.  2nd were Paul Lorenz & Ekaterina Leonova (Germany) 2,2,2,2,2 and 3rd were Ronalds Abols & Santa Vitenberga (Latvia) 3,3,5,3,4.

In other events Vladimir Tkachuk & Polina Mamykina (Russia) won the Junior II Latin, Vladislav Kolesnikov & Anna Isakovich (Russia) the Junior I Standard;  Semen Khrzhanovsky & Vitalina Bunina the Juvenile II Latin and Nervano Tondini & Laura Galasso (Italy) the Senior II Standard.

During the evening, MC, Harry Korner, made a public apology to Donnie Burns for comments he had made on the microphone earlier in the week.

For Day 1 - click here

For Day 2 - click here

For Day 3 - click here

 

 

Silde/Firstova Create Space in IDSF Latin

GOC Day 3

 

Date: Thu, Aug 19th, 2010 9:26:01 pm
Author: Keith Todd

IDSF Grand Slam Latin dominates day 3 at GOC.  336 couples compete

 

photos by Andrew Miller www.dancefotoman.co.uk

In a magnificent IDSF Grand Slam Latin tonight we felt Alexey Silde & Anna Firstova (Russia) pulled clear of the chasing group by the quarter-final.  It seems to us they have made a clear space between themselves and runners-up, Zoran Plohl & Tatsiana Lahvinovitch – at least on tonight’s showing.  They did cede the paso doble to Zoran & Tatsiana, however, so it was not a total victory.  The judges gave them the rumba by a margin of 10 first places to 1, samba 8 to 3, cha cha 8 to 2, jive 10 to 1.  In the paso the 2 couples each had 5 first places but Zoran & Tatsiana had 1 more 2^nd place than Alexey & Anna and so took the dance.  Read Dance Beat World soon for our opinion on what made the difference.  Is it all about creating space?

With 3^rd in all 3 dances, Andrey Zaitsev & Anna Kuzminskaya, the 2^nd of 3 Russian couples in this final, were comfortably 3^rd overall, but was this their best performance?  Receiving the loudest ovation of the night for their solo paso doble, Martino Zanibellato & Michelle Abildstrup (Denmark) were 4^th, again in all dances.  For us this was a personal best performance from this couple who performed especially well in the two solo dances, rumba and paso.

Placing 5^th in 4 dances and 6^th in paso, Aniello Langella & Khrystina Moshenska (Italy) were 5^th and Timur Imametdinov & Ekaterina Nikolaeva (Russia) were 6^th but took 5^th in paso.

We really liked one other couple in the semifinal who we felt sure would be in the final, but alas not!  We’ll let you know who they were in the full report in Dance Beat World Magazine.

The other headline event of the night was the Youth Standard and this also went to Russia and once again there were 3 Russian couples in the final.  Winning all dances were Igor Kruglov & Olga Shcherbina. This was perhaps one of the best Youth Standard events we have ever seen.  The quality of the couples was remarkably even all the way back to the quarter-final.  In the final the judges scores reflected this and most couples received a mixed bag of scores.  The exception was the winners who received a comfortable majority of 1sts in all 5 dances.

Russia also took the 2^nd spot – Victor Burchuladze & Valeria Seliverstova – 2,2,2,2,2.  Although 2^nd in all 5 dances, they had quite a disparity in their scores.  Patrick Rucinski & Ella Nusenbaum (Canada) were 3^rd, 5,3,3,3,3.  They perhaps created the most excitement of the finalists on the floor, but perhaps need to tame some of their more extreme moments.  Moldova had 2 couples in the final and they placed 4^th and 5^th.  Cristian Radvan & Tatiana Seliverstova 3,4,4,4,4 and Valeriu Ursache & Tatiana Sceghirova 4,7,5,5,7.  As you can see the scores started to get wild here!  6^th were David Manukyan & Karolina Maevskaya (Russia) 6,5,6,7,6 and 7^th were Salvio Tubelli & Carmen Di Palma (Italy) 7,6,7,6,5.

Per Palmgren will have a report on this division also.

In the other ballrooms it was also busy tonight.  Daniele Gozzi & Cecilia Giovacchini (USA) won the Professional Rising Star Latin, 1,1,2,2,1.  Yaroslav Brovarskyy & Yelyzaveta Gyzhko (Ukraine) won the Junior I Latin, 2,2,1,1,1.  In this final their were 4 couples from Russia and 2 from Ukraine.  The Juvenile I Latin went to Latvia, Nikita Mjaksins & Luize Kascejeva, 1,1,1,1, and the Juvenile II Standard went to Semen Khrzhanovsky & Vitalina Bunina (Russia) 1,1,1,1.

So don’t forget to download Dance Beat World – the free downloadable magazine.  You can download the current and all archived editions now.  Click here!

 

For Day 1 blog – click here.

For Day 2 blog – click here.

For Day 4 blog - click here

 

German Open Day 2

Date: Wed, Aug 18th, 2010 8:55:31 pm
Author: Keith Todd

The Wave but not the Reverse Wave! IDSF Senior I Standard!

photos by Andrew Miller www.dancefotoman.co.uk

The wave was certainly a feature of the IDSF Senior I Standard tonight here at the German Open – but it wasn’t the reverse wave in the Foxtrot.  MC Harry Korner started a Wave with the audience before the final foxtrot, but obviously French competitor, Pierrre Payen was unimpressed with his vigor and began his own wave on one side of the room.  This progressed to another side, then another and finally the whole room again.  A lot of waves!

On the serious side the Italians continued to dominate the Senior division with 7 of the 12 semifinalists and 3 of the finalists.  Favorites, Stefano Bernadini & Stefania Martinelli (Italy) winning 4 dances, but losing the waltz to runners-up, Tassilo & Sabine Lax (Germany) – 1,3,2,2,2.  So was Stefano & Stefania’s waltz weaker than their other dances or was Tasilo & Sabine’s that much better.  We’ll have an opinion in Dance Beat World soon.  3^rd and 4^th places also went to Italy.  Mirko Francesconi & Milena Cervelli 4,2,4,4,4 – 3^rd – and Marcello Daga & Marina Pau, 6,4,3,3,3 – 4^th.  Aleandr Vanchugin & Oxana Skripnik (Russia) were 5^th, 3,6,5,5,6 and Monsieur “Wave” & Isabelle Reyjal were 6^th, 5,5,6,6,5.

The other highlighted event in the main ballroom was the Rising Star Amateur Latin, a huge event with 281 entries.  We have to admit we found some truly Rising Stars in this division – especially one couple who were not the winners.  The winners were Vincenzo Mariniello & Sara Casini (Italy) 2,1,1,2,1.  They beat out the home town favorites, Pavel Zvychaynyy & Sarah Sophie Ruiz from Germany, 1,2,2,1,2.  These two couples were definitely the most experienced in appearance on the floor.  Yesterday’s Youth runners-up, Joel Lopez Gomez & Kristina Bespechnova (Spain) took 3^rd tonight, 3,3,3,3,3.  Incidently they were 1 of 3 Spanish couples in the semifinal – rising stars indeed!  Gennady Bondarenko & Ilona Cutenco (Germany) took 4^th, 5,4,5,4,4.  Luca Urso & Alessandra Tripoli (Italy) were 5^th, 4,5,4,5,5 and Dmitry Marchenko & Anna Voronina (Russia) were 6^th.

So who are our true rising stars?  You’ll have to wait until the article in Dance Beat world to find out, but we will say that 1 adjudicator agreed with us – placing them 5 firsts!

Earlier in the evening in the second ballroom there was a stellar Junior II Standard.  The winners were Sergey Rozhkov & Marina Zakharova (Russia) who won al 5 dances despite being the smallest couple on the floor.  There will be a full report on this division soon in Dance Beat World.

Oliver Rehder & Jasmin Rehder (Germany) won the Professional Rising Star Standard, taking all 5 dances and Semen Khrzhanovsky & Vitalina Bunina (Russia) won the Juvenile II 8-Dance, winning all 8 dances.

Stay tuned for tomorrows fabulous IDSF Grand Slam Amateur Latin – it should be great!

Click here for Day 1

Click here for Day 3

For Day 4 blog - click here

 

 

Why Do Italian Men Love To Dance?

Day 1 at GOC

 

Date: Tue, Aug 17th, 2010 8:26:01 pm
Author: Keith Todd

“Because it’s the only time they get to be boss!” Harry Korner

 

photos by Andrew Miller www.dancefotoman.co.uk

During the final of the WDC World Series Standard we learned why Italian men love to dance – “Because it’s the only time they get to be boss!” At least that’s according to Harry Korner, Director of the GOC and MC for the evening.  He discovered this during banter with Mirko Gozzoli about the naming of his baby daughter.  You can find out more in our full report, soon in Dance Beat World.

Anyway – Mirko led his partner, Edita Danuite 
all the way to the top tonight winning the Pro Standard and taking all 5 dances from Italian teammates, Domenico Soale & Gioia Cerasoli who were second in all 5.  The individual judges were fairly unanimous on those two positions.  Placing 3^rd in all 5 were Germany’s Sascha & Natascha Karebey and they again received strong support from the judges.

Giving what we thought was a personal best (so far) performance were Valerio Colantoni & Yulia Spesivtseva (Russia) and in keeping with the night they were 4^th in all 5 dances.

For us, these 4 couples were well clear of the remaining 2 finalists – Eldas Dzhafarov & Anna Sazhina (Azerbaijan) 5,5,5,5,5 and Kota & Nami Shoji (Japan), 6,6,6,6,6.

Find out who cut the Supadance logo off their number!

Spain Challenges Mighty Russia

Youth Latin at GOC

The final of the Youth Latin – a 14 hour competition – was comprised of 5 couples from Russia and 1 lonely couple from Spain!  Joel Lopez Gomez & Kristina Bespechnova forced the event to a Rule 11 tie as they placed 2,2,1,2,1 to win the silver medal.  The winners were Evgeny Kuzin & Elina Popova who placed 1,1,1,2,1.

The judges’ were highly undecided in this event and almost every couple received at least 1 first place and 1 sixth in all dances.  And we could honestly see why!  There was no great disparity in quality from first to sixth place.  All couples had their good moments and their bad.

3^rd fell to Kirill Kolpashchikova & Angelina Sibaeva – 3,3,3,4,2;  4^th Victor Burchuladze & Valeria Agikian – 4,5,5,3,4;  5^th Nikoaly Andrushchenko & Daria Seyko 5,4,4,5,5;  6^th David Manukyan & Karolina Maevskaya – 6,6,6,6,6.

Find out soon in Dance Beat World downloadable magazine which young lady was perhaps too sexy for her partner and which young lady was ultra sophisticated?  And who did we think could have placed higher?  Click here to download our previous magazines.

In other divisions:  Vitam & Barbara Kodelja (Slovenia) won the IDSF Senior III Standard.  Sergey Rozkov & Marina Zakharova (Russia) won the took the Junior II 10-Dance.  Vladislav Kolesnikov & Anna Isakovich (Russia) won the Junior I 10-Dance.

Check back tomorrow for more news from the GOC, one of the few events to host both WDC and IDSF events!

Click here for Day 2

Click here for Day 3

For Day 4 blog - click here

 

WDC Press Release

Date: Tue, Jul 27th, 2010 1:59:01 pm
Author: World Dance Council

IDSF refuses WDC offer to meet.

Press Release July 2010

The World Dance Council wishes the following facts to be clarified accurately in the public domain:

Having received bona fine applications for membership from the International Dance Union (IDU)) and the International Dance Sport Association (IDSA) thee World Dance Council considered at great length the issues on their merits. Contrary to statements made at different times from members of other organizations, the World Dance Council did not accept these other applicants as members, but instead left the applications “on the table” in the interests of peace in the Dance World at large, and with deference too our relation with the International Dancesport Federation (IDSF) at that time. Today the situation remains the same.

Following the court case in Alcobendas, Spain inn January 008, the costs to be paid were awarded by the court and indeed were promptly settled in full by the World Dance Council.

The World Dance Council, for the avoidance of doubt, has never at any time opposed or indeed refused to comply with the World Anti-Doping Code and indeed fully supports the aims, logistics and moral values implemented in the Code at all times.

The World Dance Council furthermore, does also, in common with all Western societies completely, have a policy of zero tolerance on racism.

It seems most important, at this particular juncture in time, too reiterate the WDC’s intent and commitment to support and encourage freedom to compete and teach, to organize and trade, and therefore we intended to meet with the IDSF in accordance with our letter as published recently, for the benefit of dancing worldwide, and the Presidium therefore wishes to act with absolute transparency and wishes to dispel any allegations and rumours, that could have been misused to, or even may in future be used to impede this process .

The World Dance Council announces with the deepest regret the IDSF refusal at least to talk, this decision allegedly fought for at the Annual General Meeting of the IDSF by their current President, Carlos Freitag.

A copy of our invitation to enter dialogue per the decision at our Annual General meeting in June of 2010 and the IDSF subsequent refusal are enclosed with this Press Release.

Hannes Emrich General Secretary & Company Secretary, WDC Ltd.

On behalf of the President and Presidium of the World Dance Council

The Letter from WDC to IDSF dated June 9th, 2010

To:  Carlos Freitag The President International DanceSport Federation

by email

Formation of a joint committee

Dear Mr. President,

Dear Carlos,

May I take this opportunity to wish you a successful Annual General meeting this weekend.

At the recent AGM of the World Dance Council, the Members through vote have mandated the Presidium of the World Dance Council to contact you and the IDSF to form a Joint Committee of four individuals from both the IDSF and WDC in order to explore the possibility of achieving peace and cooperation in the Dance World for the benefit of all dancers worldwide.

We therefore would ask you to consider our proposal to meet, without agenda, in the above format at a neutral location in Europe to discuss said possibilities.

We look forward to receiving your earliest and hopefully favourable reply .

Hannes Emmrich General Secretary & Company Secretary, WDC Ltd.

On behalf of the Presidium of the WDC Ltd.

IDSF Reply, dated 22nd June 2010

To:  Hannes Emrich General Secretary & Company Secretary, World Dance Council Ltd

Dear Mr Emrich,

Thank you for your letter to Mr Carlos Freitag, President of the IDSF dated 9 June 2010.

I regret to inform you that the motion for the formation of a joint committee between IDSF and the WDC was not approved by the delegates at the AGM in Vienna.

As you know, IDSF is continuing to develop DanceSport and fulfill all our obligations and responsibilities as an International Sports Federation including Anti-Doping.

Although our bodies are developing in different directions, I hope that we will one day be able to find a pathway to enable a fruitful relationship.

Kindly Regards,

Sean Tay

IDSF General Secretary

IDSF in Palm Springs

Date: Sat, Jul 10th, 2010 5:11:31 pm
Author: Dance Beat USA

Igor & Irina Suvorov's Desert Classic in Palm Springs California, features IDSF Open divisions.

 

 

Sammy, Shirley, Corky!

Date: Sun, Jun 27th, 2010 1:08:28 pm
Author: Dance Beat USA

A Reunion at Millennium Dancesport, St. Petersberg, Florida

It was a historic moment at Millennium Saturday night.  Sammy Stopford, Shirley Ballas (Stopford) and Corky Ballas were all called onto the floor at once to receive the Millennium Hall of Fame Award from Millennium Organizer, Michael Chapman - the first time in many years that the much-storied trio had shared the stage.

The spirit of detente continued the next day when all 3 actually danced in a lecture during the congress!!  you had to be there!

Millennium also hosted a Show of Shows featuring Slavik Kryklyvyy & Anna Melnikova, Eugene Katsevman & Maria Manusova, Victor DaSilva & Hanna Kartunnen, Jose DeCamps & Joanna Zacharawiecz (American Rhythm) and Tomas Mielnicki & JT Thomas (American Smooth).

For much more on Millennium Dancesport, visit our US site: www.dancebeat.com

 

Date: Mon, Jun 7th, 2010 9:11:11 am
Author: Dance Beat World

Just 2 days after placing second in Standard at Blackpool, Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Danuite danced in their first IPDSC competition.

Get an overall look at the Dancesport Grand Prix Video

Download the full report in Edition 0610-3

Last night in Rimini, Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Danuite became the highest profile couple so far to make a jump to the IPDSC circuit.  The audience was at its most vocal, yelling stamping and blowing horns as Mirko & Edita took the floor for the Standard alongside IPDSC favorites, Paulo Bosco & Silvia Pitton.  Without doubt this division generated the most excitement here in Rimini.  FIDS President, Feruccio Galvagno made an impassioned speech after the first round.

Mirko & Edita won all dances leaving 2^nd for Paulo & Silvia who managed to snag only 4 first places in total.  Both couples represent Italy.  So were Paulo & Silvia pushing too hard?  We’ll have a full review in Dance Beat World soon.  3^rd in all dances were Angelo Madonia & Alessia Betti (Italy) with a classically understated style that earned them some second places from some judges.  4^th were Isaia Beradi & Cinzia Biraelli (Italy);  5th Luca Bussoletti & Tjasa Vulic (Slovenia);  6^th Francesco Dcandia & Sabrina Laconi (Italy).  Keep reading Dance Beat World for a review of this division by Sami Yli-Plipari.

There was some horseplay between Paolo & Mirko.  Does this belong in dancesport competition?  Well anyway the crowd loved it!  Click here for a look.

In the IDSF Latin another Blackpool traveler, Zoran Plohl & Tatsiana Lahvinovitch, took the night losing only 9 first place marks total.  Zoran & Tatsiana represent Slovenia.  Italy took 2^nd and 3^rd in what we thought was the toughest call of the night.  The judges were quite divided as well, but ended up placing the couples in the same position in every dance – second to Aniello Langella & Khrystyna Moshenska and third to Gabriele Goffredo & Antonia Goffredo.  4^{thspot went to Charles Guillaume Schmitt & Elena Salhova (France) 4,4,4,5 (J),4;  5th Yuriy Simachev & Anastasia Klokotova (Russia);  6th Ferdinando Iannoccone & Yulia Musikhina.  Read our report in Dance Beat World to see who we liked in the bottom half of this final.}

It was also the night for the Senior I Standard, and we have to confess that something very rare occurred in this competition.  We exactly agreed with the adjudicators’ placement of the couples!  Has this ever happened to us before?  We’re not sure!  The winners were, Stefano Bernadini & Stefania Martellini who won all dances.    They represent Italy as did all 6 finalists.  2^nd, Mirko Francesconi & Milena Cervelli;  3^rd, Andrea Becherelli & Alessia Scuderi;  4^th, Fabio Schina & Nastascia Cristini;  5^th Andrea Rigon & Barbara Remondini.  Only these 5 couples danced, the sixth couple withdrew before the final and they were, Marcello Daga & Marina Pau.

Half way through the night there was an international team match with teams representing 8 countries with team members from both the amateur and professional divisions.

We must once again compliment the wonderful music from the Mirko Casedei Beach Band who handled the demanding job of playing for dance competitions with great style and aplomb.  Congratulations also go to the organizational teams from FIDS for solving the daunting operational problems involved with a dance event of this size and to their President, Ferrucio Galvagno, for his vision in creating such a revolutionary form of dance congress and competition that included so many types of dancing.

Be sure to read the full article on this event in Dance Beat World soon. Go to the download area now to read past articles.

For Rimini Day 1 - Click Here

For Rimini Day 2 - Click Here

 

 

Date: Sun, Jun 6th, 2010 5:00:01 am
Author: Dance Beat World

Saturday in Rimini and we witnessed an incredible night of dancing in the IDSF World Standard, IPDSC Latin and IDSF Youth Latin.

Get an overall look at the Dancesport Grand Prix Video

Download the full report in Edition 0610-3

Incredibly there are over 30,000 entries here at the Dancesport Grand Prix in Rimini, Italy. But it isn't just all about the numbers as we saw last night, especially in the IDSF Standard.  Almost everyone who is anyone was here and the event began at 9:00 AM with over 100 couples.

World Champions, Benedetto Ferrugia & Claudia Koehler (Germany) won the event with their customary free-flowing movement.  We certainly agreed with that placement but felt the "dance of the night" award went to runners-up, Emauele Valeri & Tania Kehlet (Denmark) for their solo quickstep in the final.  What musicality!  A big thank you also goes to the wonderful live orchestra, especially for their rendition of "Hello Dolly" they played 6 times for the finalists' solo quicksteps.

Taking 3rd were Simone Segatore & Annette Sudhol (Germany) who we thought a little lacklustre this evening although wonderfully presented as always.  Straight from their first open Blackpool final 3 days before, Marek Kosaty & Paulina Glazik (Poland) took the 5th place.  This couple has exploded onto the international scene this year.  We ask the question, are all their dances world class, or are they specialists?  Look for the answer i Dance Beat World soon.  This was a 7-couple final and 6th were Roberto Cavalaro & Joanne Clifton (Italy) and also from Italy, Rosario Guerra & Garzia Benincasa were 7th.  Download Dance Beat World soon for our full report, plus the impressions of Fabio Selmi.

We were a little confused about the Pro Latin division.  It was listed on the schedule as the "IDSF Professional Division" but was announced at times as the IPDSC.  Well whatever it is called, the dancing was good and with 4 rounds was one of the largest IPDSC (or IDSF Pro) we have seen.  There was no doubt from round 1 about the winners.  Stefano DiFillipo & Olga Urmova (Italy) were head and shoulders above the rest.  The competition was really for 2nd and it turned into a tussle between 2 couples from Russia.  The result went to the more traditional style of Andrey Prosvirin & Julia Rogozina who were rising star finalists in Blackpool last week.  The much more "out there" duo Mikhail Kolomiets / Alexandra Pakhmutova were 3rd.  You can get our view on this result in Dance Beat World soon.  But I will say now that it was a bit of a love/hate relationship.  4th place went to Peter Majzelj / Maja Gersak from  Slovenia. 5th place were Alessio Di Veronica & Llaria Manganiello (Italy), 6th were Ruslan Ramazanov & Nataliya Adam (Russia).  Read our review in Dance Beat World soon and see which of the lower placed couples we felt could have placed higher.

The third final danced this evening was the IDSF Youth Latin, a great event filled with exuberance.  We'll have the full report in Dance Beat world soon.  we loved the winners but did not quite agree with the whole result.  You can form your own opinions by looking at some of the videos.

First Vito Coppola & Vera Bondareva from Italy. Second Erik Testa & marta Cogno from Italy. Third Syefano Grassi & Giulania Ardizzoni from Italy. Fourth Dmytro Yevtushenko & Olena Dudka from Ukraine. Fifth Jader De Pazzi & Jessica De Bona from Italy. Sixth Giacomo Lazzarini & Roberta Benedetti from Italy. Seventh Emanuele Caruso & Carlotta Fucci from Italy.

In the afternoon there was a great IDSF Junior II Latin.  some of the finalists went on to dance the Youth in the evening - but did they give the same performance?  We'll have the full report in Dance Beat world soon, for now here is the result: 1. Sandro Mazzuferi / Valentina Fiorini from ITALY,  2. Artem Martynov / Polina Lisechko from RUSSIA,  3. Nunzio Rizzo / Grazia Paradiso from ITALY,  4. Lorenzo Molitierno / Chiara Bertuccelli from ITALY,  5. Matteo Sulas / Marta Frassetto from ITALY,  6. Salvatore Termini / Ornella Marretta from ITALY.

Don't forget to check back soon for the final day's report featuring the IDSF World Latin and IPDSC (?) Standard.

For Friday in Rimini click here

For Sunday in Rimini click here

 

Blackpool finishes with a high STANDARD!

Blackpool Friday

 

Date: Fri, Jun 4th, 2010 9:26:01 pm
Author: Dance Beat World

 

The concluding event of the 2010 Blackpool Festival was the Professional Standard and Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova became the first couple from the USA to win a professional title at the Open British Championships!

Full Blackpool report in Edition 0610-2

 

 

With ease, Arunas & Katusha placed first in every dance, hardly looking like they even broke a sweat. Continuing their winning streak after capturing such titles as World Champions and UK Champions, and amidst a swapping of partnerships among other finalists, Arunas & Katusha could not be denied their rightful place at the top!

Crowd favorites tonight though seemed to be former Blackpool and World Champion Mirko Gozzoli from Italy with new partner Edita Daniute who placed second in every dance. We weren’t on our feet cheering after watching them dance several rounds, but they certainly had everyone else standing!

Third place went to finalist Victor Fung and new partner Anastasia Muravyeva from the USA, placing third in W, FT, T and fourth in the Q. Unfortunately this couple didn’t have the same crowd support, did that affect their performance?

Fourth place overall went to Domenico Soale & Gioia Cerasoli from Italy, placing fourth in W, FT, T and third in the Q.

Fifth place overall went to the new partnership of Giampiero Giannico & Anna Mikhed from the USA who placed 5^th in W, FT, T. They also had quite the cheering section around the ballroom. Seeing Giampiero return to the dance floor was a welcome site to many spectators and dancers alike.

Other finalists included Sascha & Natasha Karabey from Germany who placed 7^th in the W, T and 6^th in the FT, Q; Domen Krapez & Monika Nigro from Slovenia who placed 6^th in T and 5^th in Q; and Warren & Kristi Boyce from England who placed 6^th in W.

It was an exciting end to the championships and the audience was encouraging until the very end, applauding the fine dancing we had seen this final evening!

The Latin Formation championship was won this evening by Brigham Young University from the USA who once again danced like champions!

 

 

Putting the “Grand” in “Grand Prix”

Rimini 2010

 

Date: Fri, Jun 4th, 2010 7:08:09 pm
Author: Dance Beat World

Grand Prix means “Big Prize” and FIDS Dancesport Grand Prix is certainly “Big!”  Spanning 11 days and with 4 separate ballrooms running consecutively, this is a monster event!

 

Get an overall look at the Dancesport Grand Prix Video

Download the full report in Edition 0610-3

We have just arrived in Rimini, Italy for the last 3 days of the Grand Prix.  Most of the competitions prior to this were 
national events, but 3 years ago FIDS began including International IDSF divisions and that is what we are here to see.

There were also IDSF Open events yesterday (Thursday) but the vagueries of air travel caused us to arrive too late to see them.  We will bring you the results soon.

The competition is being run in the Rimini Fiera exhibition center – a large modern facility.  The competition occupies 4 pavilions (ballrooms) and encompasses not just ballroom but hip hop, ballet, flamenco, Caribbean, showdance and some traditional Italian dances such as the Mazurka.

The evening events are danced to a wonderful live orchestra – the Mirko Casadei Beach Band.

This afternoon 2 IDSF Open events were decided.  The IDSF Youth Open Standard was won by Michelangelo Longo & Maria Luisa Longo from Italy who placed 2,1,1,1,1.  Second were Soponar Rares & Alice Rusnyak from Romania (1,2,2,2,) and third were Krzysztof Mika & Malgorzata Kowalski from Poland (3,4,3,3,4).

There were 5 Italian couples in the IDSF Senior II Standard but it was a German couple that won – Heinz Josef & Aurelia Bickers who won all dances.  Second were Roberto Destri & Giuseppina Lentini (3,2,2,2,3) and third Umberto Luchetta Mattace & Filomena Perri (2,4,3,3,5.

The evening events were all Senior.  The Senior I Latin was won by DANIELE FERRARIS / ANTONELLA CICCARELLI from Italy who we thought were the clear winners. (Names will be coming soon but in the meantime, enjoy the videos).  However, for us the rest were up for grabs!!  We actually picked only 4 of the finalists.  You can get our view in Dance Beat World soon.  The results were:

2. JORDI MAYRAL / EVA AGUILERA  Video

3. VINCENZO CIPRIANI / ROSA SALVEMINI   Video

4. ULISSE RICCARDI / BARBARA PISCHIANZ   Video

5. FEDERICO GASSANI / FRANCESCA MORI BARIGAZZI Video

6. MASSIMO REGANO / SILVIA PICCIRILLI  Video

If you thought we did badly in that, we only managed to pick 3 in the Senior III Standard. Overall we felt the standard was good for this age division in the semifinal and truthfully there were a lot of couples that could have been included.  You’ll have to read our report soon in Dance Beat World to see which 3 we picked!  But for now here’s the result:

1. ROBERTO STRACCINI / MARISA PEPPOLONI ITALY Video

2. MAURIZIO CARUGATI / MARIAGRAZIA GIOVENCO ITALY Video

3. ALFREDO ANSELMI / ANNA MARIA PIETROBELLI ITALY  Video

4. DLETER KEPPELER / MANUELA SCHRAUT GERMANY

5. SILVIO BETTINELLI / CINZIA DEL SANTO ITALY

6. ANTONIO SALVATORE / ANNA MARANO ITALY

The final senior event run tonight was a new one to us!  The IDSF Over 35 Professional Latin.  Actually we have seen a couple of senior professional events run in the USA, but there were very few pros willing to admit their ages.  Here there was a semifinal but it didn’t remind us too much of the Golf Masters Tournaments, there were no ex-world champions in this competition.

Stay tuned for more from Rimini over the next 2 days.  There are IDSF Open events in Standard and Latin as well as professional divisions.  The rumors are that a certain controversial couple will be competing in the Pro Standard on Sunday!  Stay with Dance Beat World.

For Sunday in Rimini click here

For Saturday in Rimini click here

 

A night of standing O's!

Blackpool Thursday

Date: Fri, Jun 4th, 2010 6:52:01 am
Author: Dance Beat World

Those in the Winter Gardens got plenty of exercise during the final rounds of Thursday’s events.  Up and down, the standing ovations were given … freely.  Full Blackpool report in Edition 0610-2

 

 

In the Amateur Ballroom Championships, 2nd time champions in Blackpool, Andrea Ghigiarelli & Sara Andracchio from Italy received a standing ovation for their defiant win. Displaying the best performance of the night, Andrea & Sara will be happy to keep this title in their repertoire. The results continued as such:

2^nd – Emanuel Valeri & Tania Kehlet, Denmark

3^rd – Simone Segatori & Annette Sudol, Germany

4^th – Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk, Russia

5^th – Marek Kosaty & Paulina Glazik, Poland

6^th – Chao Yang & Yi Ling Tan, China

The second standing ovation was given to 4^th place finishers Marat & Alina from Russia, as seen in the included photo. While their dancing was lovely, it was their standing up, that won the standing o.

Will these political ‘outside spin turns’ have a long term affect on these couples?

Our favorite couples of the evening were actually Chao & Yi Ling from China and Marek & Paulina from Poland who demonstrated understated potential for great things. Poland had 4 couples in the semi-final, is this where we should be looking for the future?

The other event of the evening was the invitational Exhibition championship. Without question, the title was given to Craig Smith & Natalie Woolf from South Africa, as was indicated by the prolonged standing ovation at the conclusion of their performance. Craig & Natalie always find a way to defy what you think is humanly possible and do it with precision and grace.

The only other standing ovation given during the exhibition event was for USA cou

ple Eric Luna & Georgia Ambarian. They also demonstrated some creative and physically demanding moments that had the audience responding

“how did they do that”? However, in this case, the audience’s reaction did not play into the final result. Eric & Georgia placed 4^th overall which left many spectators confused.

In second place was Jesse Beneditti & Kimalee Piedad from the USA, Johnny & Alexandria Francoviglia from the USA were third, John Beveridge & Barbara Costas from South Africa were fifth, and Mentor Sejdui & Alla Profatilova from Canada were sixth. While the styles of each performance were unique and included different layers of dancing and lifts, it certainly seemed to be one of the highest quality events in this division for many years.

Check back tomorrow for our reaction to the Professional Standard Championshi

For day six: Click here

For day five: Click here

For day four: Click here

For day three: Click here

For day two: Click here

For day one: Click here

For WDC rules: Click here

 

 

An Outpouring from the Winter Gardens!

Professional Latin best event in years! Blackpool thursday

 

Date: Thu, Jun 3rd, 2010 7:40:12 am
Author: Dance Beat World

The Professional Latin final was the possibly the best event we have seen in Blackpool in years.  The outpouring of talent on the floor was outstanding!  With the top competitors ALL present, this final was the best overall display of what our sport is all about with the same six couples called back in each dance.  Full Blackpool report in Edition 0610-2

 

Remaining as champions were Michael Malitowski & Joanna Leunis from Poland. Dancing so easy and comfortably, sometimes it looks like they don’t even have to work at all.

Second place went to Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko from the USA. This result was true to form, but we didn’t feel like Riccardo & Yulia really had the same display of heat as other finalists. They did place 1^st in the Jive, displaying the vulnerability of the champion title, but did they really dance a 1^st place Jive or was it just a point to be made? Read Dance Beat World to find out what we thought!

Third place went to Franco Formica & Oxana Lebedew from Germany. This couple seemed to be the crowd favorite this year. From early rounds Franco was on fire!

Fourth place to Sergey Surkov & Melia from Russia. Sergey & Melia took a third place in the Paso Doble.

Fifth place to Slavik Kryklyvyy & Anna Melnikova from Russia. Really, does anyone have as much talent as Slavik has in his little finger? Is it too late for that talent to produce a world title?

Sixth place to Andrej Skufca & Melinda from Slovenia. Looking a little 
quiet compared to the others.

The crowd was on their feet in applause before the Jive had even finished and the applause continued for minutes after, sometimes in cadence as if asking for an encore. We don’t know if these couples could do anymore after the outpouring of perfection they had just left on the floor!

Speaking of outpouring…the entire event today was delayed 40 minutes due to a water leak in the basement of the Winter Gardens. At one point, hoses were streaming out the door with water pumping out and firemen were called to the scene. The ballroom was not affected, but it did delay the event. Organizer Sandra Wilson was out directing traffic as competitors were trying to get into the ballroom!

Also decided tonight was the Standard formation championship which was won by Brigham Young University USA.

One last thing pouring was champagne at the Chrisanne booth as they conducted the drawing for the fabulous gown. Canada will be taking home this beautiful spectacle of a dress full of thousands of dollars of rhinestones! Everyone present enjoyed a little bubbly while getting autographs from all of the Chrisanne sponsored celebrities.

For day one: Click here

For day two: Click here

For day three: Click here

For day Four: Click here

For day five: Click here

For day seven: Click here

For WDC Rules: Click here

 

 

Temperature Rising…

Blackpool day five

 

Date: Wed, Jun 2nd, 2010 8:01:08 am
Author: Dance Beat World

It was a cold rainy day outside today in Blackpool, perhaps the warmth had been sucked inside the ballroom as Tuesday’s events seemed to raise the temperature on the thermometer.  If the audience response was any indication, you would have thought it was a hot summer day.  A standing ovation was given by the audience and the judges to the finalists of the Amateur Latin.  We weren’t as ‘in heat’ over the final, feeling like it was predictable and generic.  Full Blackpool report in Edition 0610-2

 

Champions for the first time in Blackpool were Zoran Plohl & Tatsiana Lahvinovich from Croatia.  Their performance tonight was believable and, among this year’s finalists, the best choice as a winner as they took all 5 dances.

Second went to Jurij Batagelj & Jagoda Strukelj from Slovenia placing 2^nd in all dances.  Third went to Neil Jones & Ekaterina Sokolova from England, fourth to Martino Zanibellato & Michelle Abildtrup from Denmark, fifth to Valentin Chmerkovskiy & Daria Chesnokova from the USA, sixth to Dorin Frecautanu & Roselina Doneva from Moldova.

Is there an enforceable rule in England about competitors leaving the floor during the competition?  After the ChaCha, emcee Marcus Hilton advised the finalists with conviction NOT to leave the floor.  One female finalist had stepped off the floor, for an unknown reason, and was called back most insistently.  Competitors, must you add a pocket in your costume for a tissue?

In the Under 21 Ballroom Championship, early rounds made us wonder if this particular event had become a performance sport?  Couples seemed to be more about playing to the audience than to dancing.  The one couple that seemed to stick to the figures was the young couple from China, Chong He & Jing Shan, and their efforts were rewarded with first place in every dance.  Understated and clean, this couple had the audience cheering and emotionally accepted their title.

2^nd – Vladimir Rudko & Maria Ivanova, Russia

3^rd – Kyle Taylor & Liis End, England

4^th – Vasily Kirin & Ekaterina Prozorova, Russia

5^th – Mateusz Papuzynski & Katarzyna Czyzyk, Poland

6^th – Szymon Julis & Margarita Zuonova, Estonia

Will the heat continue to rise in the Winter Gardens tonight with the Professional Latin?  The sun is out today though…so maybe not!

For day seven: Click here

For day six: Click here

For day four: Click here

For day three: Click here

For day two: Click here

For day one: Click here

For WDC rules: Click here

 

 

“Monday, Monday…”

Blackpool day 4

 

Date: Tue, Jun 1st, 2010 8:57:01 am
Author: Dance Beat World

“It just turns out that way!”  Full Blackpool report in Edition 0610-2

 

On a typically quiet night in the Winter Gardens anyway, it seems much of the audience had decided to look for inspiration on “Britain’s Got Talent” instead of in the ballroom.  With many empty seats, the energy of the night seemed a little subdued.  Thank goodness for the Canadians who were in loud voice for their couples!  Tonight’s events included the Rising Star Standard and the Senior Latin.

The Senior Latin results were as follows:

1^st – Petri Jarvinen & Ulla Jarvinen – Finland

2^nd – Andreas Hoffman & Isabel Krueger – Germany

3^rd – Roberto Hernandez & Beatriz Perez – Spain

4^th – Vadim Kardash & Elena Skvortsova – Russia

5^th – Jouko Karppinen & Helena Merta – Finland

6^th – Slawek Lukawczyk & Edna Klein – Belgium

A little latin fire was missing as once again the Italian couples were missing from the event.  Our favorite couple, Vadim & Elena, finished in 4^th position.  They seemed to be the most ‘natural’ tonight.  At the end of the event we were left wondering, are fishnets out of fashion?

The Rising Star Standard had a total of 7 rounds but ended with a champion we assumed from the very first round.  Valerio Colantoni & Yulia Spesivtseva, representing Russia, were the victors tonight placing first in the Waltz, Foxtrot and Quickstep and 2^nd in the Tango.  Valerio won the UK with previous partner Sara Di Vaira in January.  Seems Valerio can win it with anyone?  Our favorite couple of the night was Wiktor Kiszka & Margaret Garlicka from Poland who placed second, winning the Tango.  Our only thought was Margaret’s silver dress looked heavy for her smaller frame, too much ‘heavy metal’.  Third was Eldar Dhzafarov & Anna Sazhina from Azerbaijan, fourth was Alessio Potenziani & Veronika Vlasova from Russia, fifth was Anton Lebedev & Anna Borshch from Canada, and sixth was Denis Donskoi & Maria Galtseva from Russia.

In the ballroom tonight were the winners of the very first Rising Star Ballroom event at Blackpool, George Coad & Patricia Thompson.  Did they think tonight’s final was up to snuff?

Check back tomorrow for the results of the Amateur Latin and Youth Ballroom.  I guess we will see what amateurs actually show up?!

Day seven Click here

Day six Click here

Day five Click here

Day three Click here

Day two Click here

Day one Click here

WDC day one Click here

 

A Day of “R & R”

Blackpool Day 3

Date: Mon, May 31st, 2010 7:37:10 am
Author: Dance Beat World

Rest and Rising Star on Sunday at Blackpool.

Full Blackpool report in Edition 0610-2

Sunday at Blackpool is the day both Amateur Rising Star events are decided.  There was some drop in numbers due to the Russo/Italian boycott, but these were still the largest events at Blackpool this year and ran over several days with qualifying heats.

Winning the Latin were - Sarunas Greblikas & Viktoria Horeva from Latvia.

Winning the Standard were - Lukasz Tomczak & Aleksandra Jurczak from Poland.

There was sunshine and dancing everywhere in Blackpool on Sunday!  The brand new square in front of the main entrance was alive with dancers – salsa dancers!  In Blackpool!  Click here to see this phenomenon!

It was windy but sunny in Blackpool for a look at the Blackpool Promenade click here.

Stay tuned, more from Blackpool all week!

Click here for Day 1

Click here for Day 2

Click here for day 3

Click here for day 4

Click here for day 5

Click here for day 6

Click here for day 7

Click here for WDC rules

 

 

Cutting the Bull@!%*

Blackpool, Saturday

 

Date: Sun, May 30th, 2010 6:13:01 am
Author: Dance Beat World

Was it the best Professional Team Match in years?  We think so!  The interminable team entrances were gone!  It was just dancing and no bull!

Full Blackpool report in Edition 0610-2

 

Photos by: Andrew Miller

The teams entered the floor with a simple march to the St. Louis Blues – no mess, no fuss.  Then we were able to enjoy the wonderful dancing of many of the world’s top professional competitors.

There were 4 teams – Great Britain, USA and combined teams from Europe and Asia.  The competition was mostly between USA and Europe but in the end USA won for the third year in succession.  The USA team – Bizokas/Demidova, Fung/Muravyeva, Cocchi/Zagoruychenko, Katsevman/Manusova – won all 5 Standard dances (FT & Q with perfect scores) and place 2^nd in 4 Latin dances and tied for 1^st in jive.  Team USA was in first place from the first dance.  The European team was Gozzoli/Danuite, Krapez/Nigro, Malitowski/Leunis, Formica/Lebedew.  The team from Great Britain was 
3^rd and Asia was 4^th.

So what do you think?  Was it a good thing that the entrances were gone?

Following the team match MC, Marcus Hilton, read a letter from Eugene Katsevman & Maria Manusova announcing their retirement from competition.  They had been Youth Latin Champions at Blackpool and went on to spend many years in the Amateur Final and also made the professional finals.

The other event danced this night was the Youth Latin.  237 couples were entered.  The winners were Vjaceslavs Visnakovs & Tereza Kizlo (Latvia) placing 2,1,1,1,1.  We liked them – they were clean and clear and were certainly one of our favorites!  Second went to 1 of 2 Ukraine couples in the final, Jevgen Golichenko & Darya Byelikova – 1,2,2,3,5.  Our favorite couple in the final was Dario Scuderi & Marina Mangione (Germany) and they placed 3^rd, 4,3,3,2,2.  They are a small, feisty partnership.  Watch out for a full report in Dance Beat World soon from Brigita Elksne.

For day one: Click here

For Day two: click here

For day three: Click here

For day four: Click here

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For day Six: Click here

For day seven: Click here

For WDC rules: Click here

 

 

Blackpool 2010 - By The Numbers!

 

Date: Sat, May 29th, 2010 6:26:13 am
Author: Dance Beat World Team

The question on everyone’s mind as we arrived at Blackpool this year was how the boycott by the IDSF affiliates from Italy and Russia would affect the historic festival.  Would it be a tsunami or a ripple? Full Blackpool report in Edition 0610-2

photos by Andrew Miller www.dancefotoman.co.uk

Well here are the numbers!  Total printed entries this year are down 11.38% from 2009.  Certainly not the catastrophe that many were predicting.  Entries in all divisions except 1 were down but only the Rising Star Amateur Latin showed a really significant drop of 82 couples.  The total drop in entries over the whole week was 367 couples.  The only division to show an increase was the Professional Latin with +5.

The Senior Standard was the first event decided last night and this had a significant drop in entries (57 couples) but perhaps more significantly the lack of Italian competitors made some major changes to the final.  There are often at least 4 Italian couples in the final.  To no great surprise Slawek Lukawczyk & Edna Klein (Belgium) won all 4 dances.  Slawek & Edna have won this division several times and although they have had some losses recently, these were to Italian couples that were not present.  Placing 2^nd in all 4 dances were Tassilo & Sabine Lax (Germany).  Interestingly, German couples have won this division more often than any other nation’s.   3^rd were Vladimir Shcherbakov & Natalya Ovcharenko (Russia).  The only other finalists from 09 were Xingmin & Katerina Lu from the USA who were 6th. We at Dance Beat World really enjoyed one of the ne finalists who did not place in the top 3.  Find out whom in a future edition of Dance Beat World.

The other event decided on this first night was the Rising Star Professional Latin.  What we found particularly interesting was that in the final 6 there were 3 couples that regularly compete in IPDSC events.  This we think is encouraging as couples from both political camps were competing together.

The winners (in what we believe was their first professional competition) were Evgeny Smagin & Polina Kazachenko (Russia).  They won all 4 dances.  2^nd and 3^rd places were close.  Placing 2,3,2,3, 2^nd went to Joshua Keefe & Sara Magnanelli (Italy).  Losing out in the tie and placing 3^rd were Denis Podolskiy & Yuliya Kushnirenko (USA) – 3,2,3,2.   Get a full report on this division by Philip Nicholas in Dance Beat World soon.

The night before (Thursday) there was a charity show featuring world class dancers in the World Competitors Dancesport Corporation Cabaret Showdance.  The big story of the night, apart from the great dancing, and as was reported to Dance Beat World, was the walk out by several of the WDC officials on a break before Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Danuite took the floor.  You may remember that Mirko wrote a letter in support of the Italian IDSF affiliate’s boycott of the Blackpool Festival.  Very interesting!  But perhaps it had just been a long day?  Mirko & Edita are slated to compete both in the professional teams match (tonight) and in the Professional Standard (Friday).  Their lecture at the BDF Congress was also canceled.

 

World Competitors Dancesport Corporation

Report & Photos by: Andrew Miller

www.dancefotoman.co.uk

 

This year sees the 85^th running of the Open British Championships and as usual the Thursday evening sees the World Competitors Dancesport Corporation Cabaret Showcase.

 

This year the showcase featured:Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Daniute - Italy, Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyova – USA, Gherman Mustuc & Iveta Lukosiute – USA Marcus Homm & Ksenia Kasper –

Germany, Delyan Terziev & Boriana Deltcheva - USA, Danny Liang Zhao & Vivian Xue Gao – China, and Lu Ning & Jasmine Ding Fang Zhang – China.

 

The music was superbly supplied by Mark Lunn,and a fullhouse enjoyed nearly three hours of great dancing.

 

A full write up on the evening by Competitors Commission chairman Paul Richardson will be in a later edition.

 

For those who wish to find out more about this organisation please go to: www.worldcompetitors.org

For day two: Click here

For Day three: click here

For day four: Click here

For day five: Click here

For day sixth: Click here

For day seven: Click here

Ford WDC rules : Click here

 

Best Crowd in Town!

Date: Mon, Sep 6th, 2010 6:12:01 pm
Author: Dance Beat USA

This year at the Embassy Ball the audience was fabulous, both Saturday and Sunday the crowd rewarded the couples again and again indiscriminately, especially Sunday night where from the first round of the Professional World Cup Latin they could not stop yelling, clapping, whistling and screaming.

In the past you could not tear the audience from their food to watch or encourage the dancers.  Once the food was discontinued by the organizers, to get the audience to put their hands together you needed an act of Congress, but not last night the audience was energetic from the word go.

These phenomena must have got to the dancers because they too were fabulous. US Champions Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko gave a faultless performance capturing all firsts from all judges with the exception of one second in the Cha Cha from Mr. Davide Cacciari from Italy and one more from Mr. Tsetsu Sakarada from Japan in the Rumba. The two firsts from these judges went to the runners up this evening Andrey Skufca & Melinda from Slovenia who in our opinion danced brilliantly and totally deserved this position. Their worst scores came from Mr. Robert Powers who awarded them all lower marks including a sixth in their Cha cha. Melinda’s dancing and look reminded many of us of a very famous Latin dancer from the past, to find out who it was check out the next issue of Dance Beat next month.

In a surprise ruling US finalists Roman Kutskyy & Anna Kovalova from CA overtook Russian sensations Evgeny Imrekov & Elizaveta Divak and place third overall. Roman & Anna’s scores were (3,3,3,4,5) and Evgeny & Elizaveta were (4,5,4,3,3). So were Roman & Anna that much better or did Evgeny & Elizaveta have a weak performance? We’ll tell you soon but for now just know that it must have been a tough call for the judging panel.  Newest imports Nikolay Voronovich & Maria Nikolshina from FL must have been quite happy making this final and leaving a few opponents holding nothing on the wings, here they placed fifth (5,4,5,6,4). Andrey & Natalie Paramonov from Canada took sixth position (6,6,6,5,6).

There was also a shakeup in the IDSF Senior I Standard. US Senior Champions Xingmin & Katerina Lu lost to Andreas & Jody Meijer. Second overall was awarded to Andreas & Jody who placed (4,3,2,2,2) and third went to Xingmin & Katerina with scores of (2,2,3,3,3,).  This was a Rule 10 tie.  The winners were Heinz-Josef & Aurelia Bickers from Germany.  They took first in every dance. David & Liva Wright were fourth, Turtle Brennen & Julie Hayes took fifth and Angus Sinclair & Susan Sidman placed sixth.

In the Youth Standard Marek Szuglo & Renate Schodnik took all firsts but were missing from the award presentation. It was funny to see the first place pedestal empty during the award ceremony. Surrounding this pedestal were Patrick Rucinski & Ella Nusenbaum from Canada who placed second (2,3,2,2,2) and Winson Tam & Anna-Nina Kus who took third (3,2,3,3,3).

The Pro/Am World Cup Open Standard was also a great event, The “A” division went to Lilian Wong partnered by Erminio Stefano (2,1,2,3,1) defeating World Pro/Am Champion Tatiana Zayts from Russia once again, Tatiana placed (3,3,1,1,2) and danced with teacher Denis Donskoy. In the “B” division Doris Ma w/ Lucas Chockuba from NY placed first (1,2,1,1,1) leaving second position to Russia’s Natalia Rachinskaya dancing with teacher Sergey Mikheev. The “C” was won easily by World “C” Champion Beverly Moore & Alain Doucet.

For more visit our US site:  www.dancebeat.com

For day 1 - click here

For day 2 - click here

For day 3 - click here

UNESCO Receives Complaints About Dancesport

Date: Wed, Aug 25th, 2010 9:49:24 pm
Author:

*************************************************************************************************

-  The International Dance Council CID is the official umbrella organization for all forms of dance in all countries of the world.

-  CID is recognized by UNESCO, national and local governments, international organizations and institutions.

-  Its members are the most prominent federations, associations, schools, companies and individuals in more than 150 countries.

-  CID was founded in 1973 within the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where it is based.

-  UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Permanent Headquarters:

International Dance Council CID

UNESCO,  1 rue Miollis, FR-75732 Paris 15, France;  tel. +33 1 4568 4953

www.cid-unesco.org

Live footage of US Championships!

Date: Wed, Aug 25th, 2010 8:30:17 pm
Author:

Live pay-per-view footage of the evening sessions for the 2010 United States Dancesport Championships!

Go to http://www.starstreamers.com

IPDSC Disbanded

Date: Fri, Aug 20th, 2010 9:13:01 pm
Author: Dance Beat World

IPDSC is now known as IDSF-Professional Division.  The following statement was posted on the IDSF Pro Division website on August 25th.

International Grand Ball,

San Francisco

Date: Tue, Aug 3rd, 2010 11:49:01 am
Author: Keith Todd, Dance Beat

The International Grand Ball attracts international field in Amateur Divisions.

Close One in Amateur Latin at IGB

The Amateur Latin was an international event at IGB with the first 3 places going to 3 different countries - Italy, Canada and USA.  But it was also tight.  No couple received the majority of 1st place marks in any dance, but coming out the best were Italy's Andrea DeAngelis & Ulyana Fomenko 1,1,2,2,1.  They received the most firsts in the first 3 dances (4 in each) although they did not win that 3rd dance.  They received mostly 1st and 2nd placements from the majority of judges with only 2 judges dissenting, Elena Kruchkova who placed them 4,4,4,5,3 and Keith Todd (me) with 5,5,4,3,4.  2nd tonight were Anton Belyaev & Antonetta Popova from Canada - 2,2,1,3,3.  They received scores in the top 3 from all judges in all dances except from Tony Meredith with 5,4,5,4,4.  USA took third, Andrey Tarsov & Laura Kveladze - 3,3,3,1,2.  Their worst judge was Oleg Yedlin with 6,5,6,5,5.

The next 2 places went to couples that I felt were much improved.  Alan Gillin & Anastasia Trutneva (Canada) were 4th, 4,5,4,5,4 and Alexey Karaulov & Sasha Nissengolts (USA) were 5th - 5,4,5,4,5.  Closing the final were Maksym Kapitanchuk & Elena Krifuks (USA).  Don't miss Dance Beat next month for a full review of this exciting competition and take a look at the videos to decide for yourself.

A Double Hitter for Italy!

Italy scored a second time last night at the IGB as Andrea Zaramella & Laetita Ingrosso won all 5 five dances with the majority of first places in all dances and perfect scores in the quickstep and foxtrot.  This couple gives a new meaning to "big topline!"  Find out what we mean in next month's Dance Beat.  Placing 2nd, as they did in the Latin were Anton Belyaev & Antoanete Popova from Canada.  They were second in all dances and picked up some first places in the first 3 dances, possibly from the more conservative judges.  Canada also took 3rd in Alan gilin & Anastasia Trutneva who were also 3rd in all dances.  Placing 4,4,4,4,5 Taras Savitskyy & Liya Podishuk were 4th.  For us it was close between these two couples.  In their last competition as amateurs, Simeon & Cora Stoynov were fifth - 5,5,5,5,4.  They announced they were turning professional at the conclusion of this event.  6th were Ira & Abby Pollack and 7th were Ben Moss & Noelle Sun.

In the professional divisions, there was quite a battle for the Latin title between Daniele Gozzi & Cecillia Giovacchini and Nikolai Varonovich & Maria Nikolishina.  It went to Daniele & Cecillia by 4 dances to 1.  5 first places consituted the majority - in cha they received 6, samba 5, rumba 6, jive 5.  Nikolai & Maria received 6 firsts in paso.  The two couples have very different styles, read our take in Dance Beat soon.  And to make up your own mind watch 3 clips of the two couples dancing side by side!!!  Clip 1. Clip 2. Clip 3. 3rd were Vadim Lyubushkin & Viktoriya Fadina, 4th Genya Nazarov & Lilit Avagyan, 5th Jakob Zeglin & Joanna Siekierska and 6th Clive Uter & Tetyana Oliynik.

Another good event was the Youth Latin.  This was won by a very strong young couple from Poland, Dominik Rudnicki & Adrianna Lojszczyk 1.1.1.2.1.  We certainly felt that they

were a consideration for the amateur final the night before.  2nd went to Taras & Liya 2,2,2,1,2,

who also missed the Amateur Latin final the night before.  The one

couple who did make the Amateur final placed 3rd here, Maksym Kapitanchuk & Elena Krifuks.

Certainly the best pro-am event so far was the Open A Standard.  This went to Vinnie Miller w/ Francesco Flumiani.  also very strong was the runner up, Andreas Meijer w/ Iveta Pauryte.  Michelle Peng w/ Mikhail Avdeev won the B and Betty Lin w/ Andrea Feraci took the C.

Judges Split on Pro Standard

It was a straight 7-couple final, but the Pro Standard at IGB had some great dancing and left the judges almost evenly divided.  Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova took the title by 3 dances to 2 from Andrea Feraci & Iveta Pauryte.  Mikhail & Olga took Waltz (6 firsts to 3), Foxtrot (5 firsts to 4) & Quickstep (5 firsts to 4).  Andrea & Iveta took the other 2 dances both by 5 firsts to 4.  This was perhaps a little closer than expected.  Watch out for a full report in Dance Beat soon.  The next battle was for 3rd and it went to Max & Lesya Sinitsa who scored 4,3,3,3,3 over Michael Towlizsew & Tiffany Fung 4,3,3,3,3.  For the rest of the results, check Dance Beat next month.

The largest event of the night was the Senior Standard and this went to Turtle Brennen & Julie Hayes who won all 5 dances and gave a solid performance we felt.  Runners-up were Andre Plant & Suzanne Murray (Canada) who placed 3,2,2,2,2.  Hans & Keynes Lim were 3rd, 2,3,3,4,3.  We were a little surprised that Hans & Ann Stork did not place higher than 5th.

The evening ended with a fun amateur team match with teams from Italy, Canada, USA and Europe.

For the full review, including American Style divisions, visit our US site:  www.dancebeat.com

Montreal DanseSport

Date: Mon, Jul 5th, 2010 2:14:01 pm
Author: Chantal Lecelrc

June 24th is a National Holiday for the province of Quebec and this year it also marked the beginning of DanseSport Montreal. And what a beginning it was!

On Thursday night, the package holders and adjudicators were treated to a Cirque du Soleil performance! A great way to start the weekend! The organizers, and former Canadian Champions Pierre Allaire and Mireille Veilleux, bring their own personal touch to this event making everyone welcome. The venue is well known to all dancers in the region and abroad. It is the Bonaventure Hilton downtown Montreal. It has welcomed dancers since I can remember, and provides wonderful accommodations.

All categories were well attended and especially the amateur field. Quater final in the Amateur 35+ in both the Standard and Latin is the rule, and not the exception. What also is noticeable is the high standard of dancing in the amateur categories. I really appreciated watching heal leads in the closed Bronze... Starting also with a quarter final, in the Open Amateur Latin it was all first to Anton Belyayev and Antoaneta Popova, and all seconds for the home town favorites Jean -Philippe Milot and Laurence Bolduc. The Open Amateur Standard had two couples from Quebec battling from the semi-final. The winners, in all dances were Daniel Studenny and Sarah-Maude Thibodeau, and 2nd to Yuriy Shelkovyy and Oksana Ivanova. The Pro Latin was an easy win for Andre and Natalie Paramonov who danced to an appreciative crowd. In the Pro Smooth, Sharon Levit and Yuliya Zavadska won 1st in all dances, while Egor Shalvarov and Alla Profatilova got all seconds. Egor and Alla also received 2nd in the Show Dance, but it was a much closer results. In a 7 to 6 for first, Andre and Natalie were the winners of this division. The Pro Open Standard winners were Anton Lebedev and Anna Borsh, in all dances, and 2nd went to Richard Tonizzo and Claire Hansen.

Saturday night, in front of a sold out ballroom we witnessed the debut, in America, of a new pair Paul Killick and Ana LLorente. Paul is well known to the Montreal audience and they were eager to watch him again. Their show was full of non stop rhythm and as Paul said of his latest partner "this girl can shake it!" They received a standing ovation for their interpretation of the Paso. Thanks to the organizers, the show was scheduled early in the evening rather than at the end when half the ballroom is empty.

The reception after the comp was not to be missed! Great food, drinks, and a lovely relaxing atmosphere provided by Pierre and Mireille with the help of a wonderful jazzy singer. I had a great time!!

New Presidium for IPDSC

Date: Wed, Jun 23rd, 2010 9:45:01 am
Author: Daniele Tondon

The AGM of the IPDSC took place in Vieena on 14th June 2010.

There are now 45 full members. The meeting voted unanimously to a transfer of engagements and athletes to the IDSF Professional Division which was voted into being at the IDSF AGM on 13th June 2010.
It is intended that the new IPDSC Presidium, elected at the AGM and comprising:

President: Daniele Tondon (Italy)
Vice Presidents: Alexander Melnikov (Russia), Sebastian Sanchez (Spain) and Shigemitsu Tanabe (Japan)
Secretary General: Michael Shelton (England)
Treasurer: Verena Sulek (Slovenia)
Sports Director: Marco Sietas (Spain)
Ordinary Member: Ann Harding (Canada)
Ordinary Member: Ivo Kappet (Estonia)
Ordinary Member: Boris Odikadze (Israel)
Ordinary Member: Sutu Ok (Korea)
Ordinary Member: Eric Sourdeau (France)
Ordinary Member: Craig Wilson (Australia)

will serve as the Managing Body of the IDSF Professional Division until the 2013 AGM

Mexican Open is a TV Spectacular!

Date: Sat, Apr 24th, 2010 3:08:20 am
Author: Keith Todd

Music, Dancing, Acrobatics!  Mexican Open has it all!

As the public entered the ballroom at 7:00 PM for the 10th annual Mexican Open, little could have prepared them for the sight!  Lavish set design included black drape with encrusted lights on all 4 walls, acrobats dressed in silver hung from ribbons suspended from the ceiling, a live band played bossa nova music and there were TV cameras everywhere!  This was the Mexican Open and it was being filmed for future broadcast in 43 Spanish speaking countries.

Organizer, Carlos Gutierrez, has always presented his event in a big way but this was the biggest.  The Mexican hosts got the show underway with traditional Yucatan dances and guest performers, then they handed over to dance MC, Pierre Allaire for the first of the dance competitions - the Rhythm.  Each of the 4 styles was presented as a final, but the scoring system was very different as the audience had a large share in the vote.  (click here for the explanation of the scoring system).

The Rhythm division was really among the least controversial.  Emanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova won both with the judges and with the audience in their duel with the second place couple, Ilya & Amanda Reyzin. The audience was supportive of both couples.  The duel between 3rd & 4th was also clear with Edgar Osorio & Mirelha Prohaska overtaking the new partnership of Matthew Hauer & Iryna Pinihina.

The mood changed, however, in the Standard.  Igor Litvinov & Julia Ivleva won the event, thanks to the judges' scores despite the audience voting for their duel mates, Andrea Feraci & Iveta Pauryte.  The crowd was very vocal in its disapproval.  We thought Igor handled the situation very well during the question & answer period all the winners faced right on the winners' podium from the local press.  So why were Andrea & Iveta the crowd favorites?  Be sure to read Dance Beat World soon for our answer.  The 3rd & 4th place dance off went to Anton Lebedev & Anna Borsch over Dmitrijus & Erica Sazinas.

The biggest upset came in the American Smooth.  In a great result, Randy & Viktorija Dias won the first place dance off, beating favorites, Mayo Alanen & Michelle Officer.  Actually the majority of judges and the audience placed Mayo & Michelle first, but with quatitive evaluation systems like this one, there is always the dancer that one judges' scores will offset the whole result and that is what happened here.  We'll explain in the full article.  Eric & Michelle Hudson were 3rd and Ilya & Amanda Reyzin were 4th.

Delyan Terziev & Boriana Deltcheva won the Latin both in the adjudicators' scores and the audience vote, but there was one vocal group in the audience who felt otherwise and were supporting the runners-up, Daniele Gozzi & Cecillia Giavachinni.  3rd went to Kamil Studenney & Katya Trubina and  4th to Lenny Gouwerok & Laura Zmajkovicova from Slovakia in their first pro competition.  They were another favorite with the vocal section of the audience and in fact the audience as a whole went for them with a slight margin.

Another really popular couple with the audience were Russ & Katusha Wilder who placed 6th in the Latin and 5th in the Standard - to loud complaints from the crowd.

So was this revolutionary scoring system a success?  You can read our opinion in Dance Beat World soon.

The large audience seemed to have a great time and we're sure Mr. Gutierrez' TV production will be a true spectacular.  Stay tuned to Dance Beat World for more information and a full report.

Click here for Day 1

Mexican Open Begins With Press Conference

Date: Thu, Apr 22nd, 2010 6:12:01 pm
Author: Keith Todd

Carlos Gutierrez briefs Cancun press about upcoming Mexican Open

Wednesday April 21st, Carlos Gutierrez, Organizer of the Mexican Open and President of LAWDSC, met with members of the local press and TV news media in Cancun to promote the Mexican Open to be held in Cancun this Friday at the Fiesta Americana Resort Coral Beach.

Members of the judging panel and some competitors were also present to answer questions of which there were many.

Carlos and his team are expecting around 1200 spectators for the competition that will be filmed for television and will also include some of Mexico's best singing and entertainment talent.

Check back for details of the competition and click here now for a video of the fabulous Fiesta Americana Resort where all the judges and officials are staying.

 

Click Here for resort video

 

A brand new scoring system will be used for the professional competitions.  5 judges will score the finals in the usual way over all dances giving a result of 1st through 6th.  There will then be 3 dance offs between 5th & 6th place, 3rd & 4th and 1st & 2nd.  EAch two couples will dance 3 dances together and 1 dance solo.  These dances will be scored by 3 different  judges and the audience.  Each judge will have 400 points to award per pair and the audience will have a total of 1200 points.  So judges' and audience votes total 50% each.  Clear?  It will be tomorrow!  Be sure to log in and see how it turns out!

Click here for Day 2

Youth Shakeup in Canada!

Date: Sun, Apr 18th, 2010 9:34:07 am
Author: Didio Barrera

Result Does Not Follow Form in Canada

The IDSF Youth Latin was possibly the must exciting event of this Saturday night at the Crystal Leaf International. Neither the IDSF Open Latin with its high profile Canadian couples or the Professional Standard could come close to the level of excitement and interesting result that this youth event brought to the night.

Just about a week ago Canadians decided who their Canadian Youth Latin Champions were going to be. But last night this was all unraveled by a panel of nine, two Canadians and seven foreign adjudicators. A week ago Vladyslav Bohdanov & Maryana Dudchenko placed third in the Canadian Closed Youth Latin today they won.  Winston Tan & Anna-Nina Kjus are the crowned Youth Canadian Champions but last night in the IDSF Youth Latin they placed fourth, two places below Vladyslav & Maryana. In the same event Patrick Rucinski & Ella Neusenbaum who just about a week ago placed second in the Canadian Youth Latin failed to make the final in this competition but were seventh, the next in line to go in.

Michal Le & Kamila Duranska from Poland took second and you could tell by their faces that they were a little surprised by this placement.  Sigurdis Mar Atiason & Sara Ros Jakobdottir from Iceland were third. Jan Skuhravy & Dominka Bergmannova from Czech Republic took fifth and Frank Zegels & Danique Zegels from Netherlands were awarded sixth. So was this reality or fiction? Was Poland snubbed here in Canada? Were Winston & Anna to worn out from the IDSF World Youth Ten Dance to counter attack? And were Patrick really not good enough to make this final? Find out what we thought from the dance floor and how we and the judges placed them all.

The IDSF Open Latin also took place this same evening.  Anton Belyayev & Antoaneta Popova from Canada took the majority of firsts in all dances and were crowned Champions. Alan Gilin & Anastasia Trutneva were awarded the runner up position with the majority of seconds in all dances but the rumba. The rest of the final was a complete mixed bag.  Find out what kind of a bag here as well as who we thought was a little cheated out of a higher placement.

3. Tomas Ster & Betty Atia from Canada

4. Valentin Kolesnikov & Anastasia Mironenko from Canada

5. Roman Gerbei & Ganna Poberezhnyk from Ukraine

6. Sigurdus Mar Atlason & Sara Ros Jacobdottir from Iceland

The Professional Standard was also held this night, Anton Lebedev & Anna Borshch from Canada took the trophy by winning three dances the W,T,F, the rest of the dances went to Egor Abashkin & Katia Kanevskaya from the USA and third place went to the US as well with Andrey & Yuliya Klinchik taking third in every dance.

In the IDSF Senior I Standard Stanislav Tereschenko & Elina Katsman from Canda took the prize and looking a little surprised Horace Hu & Agnes Yuan also from Canada placed second.  When the result was call Stanislav & Elina were ecstatic and you could see that this was a very good result for this couple. Third also went to Canada’s Andre Plante & Suzanne Murray the rest of the placements all stayed in the home country.

There was one excellent Pro-Am event and that was the Pro-Am World DanceSport Open Standard.  Irina Grishchenko& Alexander Fedorov from Russia won the event and all dances, and Barbara Ko with Egor Abashkin placed second in every dance, leaving Sue Gershowitz dancing with Nikolai Pilipenchuk holding third.

Click here for Day 1 & The World Youth 10-Dance

 

A New Beginning!

Megeve, Last Day.

Date: Sun, Apr 11th, 2010 9:42:01 pm
Author: Didio Barrera

IPDSC Standard tops the bill at French Open

Read full report in Edition 0310-4

 

Tonight we witnessed for the first time at an IPDSC Professional Standard event the new partnership of Alessia Betti & Angelo Madonia from Italy.  This is the first time that I have been able to witness their dancing up close and personal and it looks very interesting to say the least. The first time we saw them dancing was at the UK Championships where they did not place well and the place was too packed and their partnership was too new to be able to appreciate what we saw. Here in Megeve we saw a new and improved Angelo with Alessia in his arms responding to his every move and action earning them a first place win.

Winning this IPDSC competition was not a difficult task for Angelo & Alessia but not because they could had not have been challenged, the talent and potential of at least three other couples was there but at the end they were much superior and won the comp. To find out how we saw these other couples stay tuned for the overall article of the Dance Sport French Open here on Dance Beat World free to download by clicking here.

Second place went to Isaia & Cinzia Berardi from Italy, third was awarded to Evgeny Kazmirchuk & Yulia Spesivtseva from Russia, fourth went to Rustam Shavakhmetov & Olesya Kargina from Russia, fifth was Francesco Decandia & Sabrina Laconi from Italy, sixth was awarded to Marco Lustri & Alessia Radichchio from Italy and Seventh place went to Vlad Ivanovich & Olga Tribusheskaya from Belarus.

The second most interesting event this evening was the IDSF Open Standard  that went to Marek Kosaty & Paulina Glazik from Poland. This couple was outstanding, but were they good enough to out-dance the rest or could they have lost to another couple? Find out what we thought right from the floor here very soon but for now just know that Rosario Guerra & Grazia Benincasa from Italy took second. High profile couple Marco Cavallaro & Joanne Clifton from Italy were third, Nikolay Darin & Ekaterina Fedotkina from Russia were fourth, fifth went to Salvarore Todaro & Violeta Yaneva from Bulgaria and sixth was awarded to Daniil Ulanov & Anastasia Glazunova from Russia.

The IDSF Open Juvenile II was run in the afternoon and it was a complete treat to all in attendance. The winners from France were a delight to watch and their mature understanding of dance left us all in amazement this was Alex Sampino & Alizee Bois. Second place were also very accomplished and they were Kirill Kuzmin & Anna Samusenko from Russia. The third place couple also deserves a mention and this was Quentin Chippaux & Elsa Bois from France.

I want to thank the organizers for their incredible hospitality and organization.  Whatever you needed, they made it possible.  Megeve was a complete surprise and treat - a city that I will never forget and hope to come back but next to relax and enjoy. The Hotel Le Manege was five-star service, I have never been in a ski resort where service has been this good.

For Day 1 - Click Here

For Day 2 - Click Here

 

La Magnifique!!!

Megeve, Day 2

Date: Sun, Apr 11th, 2010 5:41:01 am
Author: Didio Barrera

IDSF Latin, IPDSC Latin, European Cup Standard.

Read full report in Edition 0310-4

 

That is the only way to describe the IDSF Open Latin at the DanceSport French Open. This event last night not only brought the packed house down but it was so unique that at the end of the event you felt as if you had danced a round yourself.  The event was won by Aniello Langella & Kristina Moshenskaya from Italy but was it this clear? For us looking in there were too many choices with too little time, there was not enough time to contemplate the talent. The couples were all in top form and just as the city itself (Megeve) they were Les Magnifiques!!

2. Ferdinando Lannacone & Yiulia Musikhina -Italy

3. Charles Guillaume Schmitt & Elena Salikhova -France

4. Andre de Angelis & Uliana Fomenko –Italy

5. Gregoire Lyonnet & Luize Darznice - France

6. Alex Zampierollo & Elza Pole – Latvia

To find out what we though of this “Magnifique” event tune in soon we will have it all for you right from the dance floor.

The IPDSC Latin had a few surprises.  Andrey Prosvirin & Julia Rogozina from Russia were our favorite and that of the judges they took the cup home. Vitaly Popov & Irina Solov’Eva also from Russia were second even though their semifinal round left a lot to be desired but at the end we felt they delivered, find out how so. Third was awarded to Alessio Di Veronica & Ilaria Manganiello from Italy. The rest of the seven couple final was a mixed bag of goods, find out why here very soon if you care.

Last and not least there was also a special title up for grabs this evening and that was the IDSF European Cup Standard. It was exciting to the very end.  The top two were terrific -  Rosario Guerra & Garzia Benincasa from Italy were awarded the Championship but our favorites, Nikolay Darin & Ekaterina Fedotkina from Russia stole our hearts and placed second. Salvatory Todaro & Violeta Yaneva from Bulgaria were awarded third. The rest of the couples were also quite good.  One of them we felt could have easily been awarded third place.  Find out who and why here in Dance Beat World soon.

4. Andrzej Sadecki & Karina Nawrot - Poland

5. Andrejs Rogovenko & Anna Voroncuka – Latvia

6. Steeve Gaudet & Laure Colmard – France

The Senior Standard was also a fun event to watch and Stefano Bernardini & Stefania Martellini from Italy took the day but Mirco Francesconi & Milena Cervelli gave them a good fight for their money and took second place.

Tomorrow the IDSF Open Standard and many other events!  Stay tuned for more.

For Day 1 - Click Here

For Day 3 - Click Here

Read full report in Edition 0310-4

USA Dance Nationals

Date: Sat, Apr 10th, 2010 3:24:01 pm
Author: Keith Todd

All Change Please!
USA Dance Nationals Latin, Los Angeles, CA.  Selecting US IDSF Reps. Read full story in edition 0410-2

Action photos by Carson ZullingerOnly the top two places remained the same since almost the same groups contested the Amateur Latin at Provo 3 weeks ago. Valentine Chmerkovskiy & Daria Chesnokova (NJ) won all dances won all dances and Ruslan Aydaev & Valeriya Kozharinova (NJ) were second in all 5. Val & Daria won easily with at least 8 first places (from 11) in all dances. Although they did pick up a few scores in the lower half of the final including 1 sixth from a judge! Ruslan & Valeriya were equally clear in 2nd. But from then on it was “all change please!”

Benefiting the most were Andre Kazlouski & Kate Kapshandy who moved up to 3rd (listed from IN but I think NJ). They placed 3,3,4,5,3. The judges’ scores were extremely mixed from 3rd to 7th and all couples had judges that liked them and those that did not. No couple had a majority in the ‘3rd or better’ column in any dance. We liked Andrey & Kate, it’s just hard not love their enthusiasm and abandon. The real cat amongst the pigeons was 3rd placed, Andrey Tarasov, Laura Kveladze (CA) 4,4,3,3,5. They were the only couple of the group not to compete in Provo. This was a fantastic result for them. I commented in round 1 to a friend – “wow! That girl is really on today!” And I was proved right. Read our opinions in Dance Beat soon. Vitalii Proskurin & Natia Kuprava (CA) were another couple to really climb since Provo where they did not make the final. Here they placed 5th, 7,5,6,4,7. We were surprised that they did not make the final in Provo. Taking a big drop from Provo were Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach (NY) who were 6th, 5,7,5,6,6. This really upset their supporters, of whom there are many! I was standing near one influential supporter when the result was announced and he said – “That’s just wrong!” Was it? Well you can read Dance Beat next month for our opinion. This was a 7-couple final and 7th went to Tal Livshitz & Vlada Semenova (NJ) 6,6,7,7,4.

Missing from the competition were Oleksandr Althukov & Oksana Dmytrenko who were 3rd in Provo. (Possibly as they do not yet qualify to represent the USA they felt no pressure to compete here?). Another couple who were finalists in Provo but ended their run in the semi here were Alexey Karaulov & Sasha Nissengolts (NY). They were 8th. Read Dance Beat next month for a full report from Gary McDonald.

Three other major championships were decided tonight as well. Xingman & Katerina Lu (NY) continued their run at the top of the Senior I Standard winning all dances with the majority of first places.

There were 2 10-Dance events also decided, the Youth and Junior II. The Youth went Taras Savitskyy & Liya Podokshik (NJ) who won all 5 standard dances and placed 3,1,2,2,2 in the Latin. Taras & Liya will represent the USA next week in the World Youth 10-Dance in Toronto. Dance Beat will be there to report! Daniel Shapiro & Katya Kovaloyova (NJ) were placed 2nd overall. They were 2nd in all 5 standard dances and placed 2,3,1,3,3 in the Latin.

Kevin Morales & Anna Odessky (NY) won the Junior II 10-Dance scoring 4,4,3,4,4,1,1,1,1,1. We thought Kevin & Anna were the best in the final and actually we were a little surprised by their lower scores in the Standard.

Standard Reps Selected in LA
But who are they?
Action photography by Carson Zullinger
Ronen Zhinstein & Maryiam Izamylova (NY) won all dances last night to take their second consecutive USA Dance National Title. Yet under current IDSF rules they are not eligible to be our representatives at the World Championship as neither holds a US passport.

A packed and very enthusiastic audience filled the Marriott Ballroom as LA Live last night to enjoy a great night of amateur dancing and a fabulous show from Eugene Katsevman & Maria Manusova and Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva.

The headline event was the Open Standard and it was a great and closely fought final. Ronen & Maryiam were clear at the top with majorities in all dances except the foxtrot. Second place was a tussle between Igor Mikushov, & Margaret Midura (NJ) and Janis Kukanis & Samantha Mang (NY). The decision went to Igor & Margaret 3 dances to 2. Janis & Samantha took 2nd in the W & F and Igor & Margaret in T,V,Q. Under IDSF rules both these couples are eligible to compete in world events. Find out which of these couples we felt had swallowed a “happy pill” and gave the most expressive ever performance! 4th went to Vladislav Shahov & Milena Jasionek (NY) – 4,4,4,4,5. A good. clear performance from them and Vladislav has also learned the benefit of a smile since I last saw him. Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach (NY) took 5th 6,5,5,6,4. As the only couple to make the finals in both styles they look a shoe in for tonight’s 10-dance. Closing the final and in their first national final were the statuesque Oskar Wojciechowski & Katarzyna Szymanska (NY) 5,6,6,5,6. Elizabeth Knoll will have a full report in next month’s Dance Beat. Be sure to subscribe.

Jason Dai & Patricia Golak (NY) won the Youth Latin for the second year and TJ Stanton & Annabella Waszkiewicz (NJ) Won the Junior II Standard.

Pasha & Daniella Take All 10!
Pasha Pashkov & Daniella Karagach (NY) ended the 2010 USA Dance Nationals in fine style winning all 10 dances to take the National 10-Dance Title. They had the majority of first place marks in every dance except foxtrot. 2nd were the relative newcomers Alexandre Tchernossitov & Regina Maziarz (NJ) placing 5,2,2,2,3 in standard and 3rd in all Latin. With 2nd in all 5 Latin dances and 2,5,4,6,5 in standard, Tal Livshitz & Vlada Semenova were 3rd. Simeon & Kora Stoynov (WA) were 4th, Yuriy Nartov & Khyrstyne Barton (NY) were 5th and Daniil Vesnovskiy & Anna Oblakova (NY) were 6th. As Pasha & Daniella were the only couple to place in both individual finals, their win was expected. Stephan Krauel will have the full report in Dance Beat next month.

The Youth Standard was a strong event. Winning all dances were Marek Klepadlo & Angelika Dechnik (NY).  

It was Latin day for the juniors. In Junior II Denis Bykov & Sasha Kondrashov (CA) repeated their win from Provo last month placing 1T,1,1,1,1. Ptryk Ploszaj & Anna Kaczmarski (NY) took 4th, 5,4,4,3,4. What a week these two had they placed in both Junior II finals and won both the Junior I divisions. 5th went to Eric Rosenberg & Nicole

For a more complete report, go to our US Site:  www.dancebeat.com

And read full report in Edition 0412-2

A Very Special Place!

French Open DanceSport Grand Prix

Date: Sat, Apr 10th, 2010 4:48:31 am
Author: Didio Barrera

The first day was a short day the main event of the day was the IDSF Open Ten Dance Championship.

Encrusted in the middle of the mountains next to Geneva there is a very special place.  Its name is Megeve. This beautiful skiing village is in France and it’s like a fairy tail.  This precious town is playing host to a very prestigious event, the French Open DanceSport Grand Prix. The moment we got in we had to explore the city and so let me

share with you just a few pictures, because a picture is worth a thousand words.

The first day was a short day the main event of the day was the IDSF Open Ten Dance Championship. With many countries present it was as always a very interesting competition because with ten dances five of each style you never know how it is all going to add up. The champions today were Vadim Garbuzov & Kathrin Menzinger from Austria who at first look did not look like major challengers for the title but once in the semifinal and final they pulled the guns out and it was a battle. Very close in our opinion were Alexis Bergeon & Johanna Rivier from France, being in their own country the audience went wild every time a name was called and it was not theirs and they kept getting closer and closer to the top. At the end I believe they all looked happy.  I think this must have been a good result for this French couple. Third place was awarded to Istvan Varga & Gabriela Pilic from Croatia. We will tell you how we saw it from the floor and who was our favorite in Standard and who we liked in the Latin. So stay tuned to the coming editions of Dance Beat World. 4. Alex Gorelov & Inna Kocharyan from Russia

5. Adrian Olmo & Yana Olina from Spain

6. Valeriy Pavlov & Ekaterina Karaschuk from Russia

7. Ivan Knezevic & Milena Zogovic from Servia

Three senior events were run this evening:  the IDSF Senior Standard, IDSF Senior Latin II and the IDSF Senior Standard III. All couples were very proficient in all these senior events but our favorite was the Senior III Standard.  What stamina!  What shape!  I have to give a bow to these couples. The winner was Maurizio Carugati & Mariagrazia Giovenco from Italy.  We will mention the rest of the final in our future write up because they were all worth a mention. The IDSF Senior Standard went to Miguel Daniel Dominguez & Carmen Angelo Resurreccion from Spain and the IDSF Senior Latin was awarded to Bernard & Anna Lecoeur from France.

The two Rising Star events were also fun to see.  The Rising Star Standard went to Adrian Esperon & Patricia Martinez from Spain and the Latin was awarded to Roman Chetvergov & Zhanna Sablina from Russia. Tomorrow we will see the IPDSC Open Latin, IDSF Open Latin, IDSF European Cup Standard and many other events and we will keep you up to date on how it all evolves so stay tuned.

Click here for day 2