See videos of Empire by SuperShag - click here

• Show Show
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All three feature events were fantastic and the show was not only of good quality dancing with great entertainment value, but it was also timed right so it was just enough to leave you wanting more. The evening concluded with a terrific after hours party that you can only do in the heart of the big apple, Times Square, Manhattan.

• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
• Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite
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As I mentioned earlier, the three featured events were fabulous but for us the Professional Latin was the best any organizer can ask for when it comes to a competition. Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite placed first in every dance with almost perfect scores in every dance. However, a few judges spoilt their run, in the cha cha Tony Meredith was the only one that awarded them a second, In the samba it was Charlotte Jorgensen’s turn and so did she in the paso along with Gaynor FairweatherMBE. Tony also gave them a second in the jive. The rumba was the only dance where three judges awarded them second and they were Rufus Dustin, Wendy Johnson, and to be consistent Tony Meridith as well. Second in this terrific heat and in every dance was awarded to Troles Bager & Ina Jeliazkova who took all the firsts mentioned from Maurizio/Andra and nearly every second, but they did take a couple of thirds in the cha, one from Donnie Burns MBE, and another from Sammy Stopford, and three thirds in the rumba, one from Rita Algara, and to compliment, Sammy & Donnie also gave them third in this dance.

Another excellent couple in this final was Aleksandr Skarlato & Loreta Krikseiukaityte who where very please with their results and you could see it when it was announced. They placed third overall even though they were awarded fourth in four dances and third in the paso. This was a good result for them, and where we stood, all around many of the attendees were impressed with their performance. It was not as good for Manuel Favilla & Natalia Maidiuk who strangely enough were third in three dances, but got hit badly in the paso where they placed fifth and the jive where they were last in sixth place.

The other couple that were getting lots of attention from the audience around me were Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shihypilina who placed fifth overall and were fifth in three dances sixth in the paso and dramatically third in the jive. Sixth were Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasia Danilova; they placed sixth in three dances and once again their best dances were the paso and jive where they placed fourth in paso and fifth in jive.

• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
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The Professional Smooth was also a fantastic competition and the fight in some of the dances got down to second position. It was so tough that the final ended up being am 8 couple final. The overall winners in every dance were Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija who as I said won every dance but only the foxtrot with the majority of firsts. The other dances they had to do with second or better, in the tango for example they only got five first place marks out of 17 judges, totally unprecedented. Second in this excellent competition went to Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova who as you will see had some very interesting marks on their own they were third in both waltzes and second in the tango, foxtrot.

We have to say that it most have been very difficult to be a judge in this very close competition filled with talent and with such different interpretations of the four dances. A perfect example of this was Mikhail & Galina Zharinov who were third overall but if you look at their marks you can read how hard it must have been to come to this conclusion. They placed second in the waltzes and fourth in the tango and third in the foxtrot. So as you can see this decision came down to the tango. Fourth were Travis & Jamie Tuft but like the previous couple mentioned, they too were in the mix. Here they placed fourth in three dances and third in the tango.

To add to this interesting result, our favorite couple in this heat placed fifth overall and that was Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova who were fifth in every dance but in our opinion could have easily been placed a little higher in any dance and any placement at any time. From this couple down things seamed to settle for the judges as well as for us all in the ballroom, sixth were Sergey & Maria Barsukov placing sixth in every dance. Mariusz Zakvzewski & Lynnsay Ray who were seventh also in every dance and John Campbell & Jaki Brokman who were 8th.

• Open Amateur Ballroom Open Amateur Ballroom
• Oskar Wojciechowski & Karolina Holody Oskar Wojciechowski & Karolina Holody
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The night before was almost every thing about the Amateur Latin and this evening too the Ballroom was excellent but the punch was taken out by the other two events. Oskar Wojciechowski & Carolina Holody were first in every dance with a complete majority of firsts in all dances. Second in all dances was awarded to Jack Beale & Nataliia Siianko and third in all dances went to James Cutler & Virginie Primeau, who from what we could see, were a little disappointed with this placement. Fourth were Florin Vlad & Natalia Linda O’Connor, fifth went to Ira Pollock & Noelle Sun, and to complete this final all sixth place marks were awarded to Daniil Vesnovckiy & Emily Thorp.

I want to congratulate the organizers for running a fantastic competition in what you can call the heart of Manhattan, Times Square. Fantastic location scouted by our personal friend and event coordinator, Scott Washburn.

Latin at the Empire!

The Amateur Latin was a terrific event last night at the Empire Dance Championships with a very full first round of competition.

However, when it came to dancing the other professional events were not far behind. The Professional Ballroom started with a quarter and the Rhythm had a complete semifinal. There were four professional couples entered in the Showdance, not a huge entry but all couples were of an excellent level.

See videos of Empire by SuperShag - click here

• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
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The Professional Ballroom went to Alexander Zhirakov & Irina Novozhilova from Hong Kong, who won three dances and placed second in the waltz, tango. Second overall went to Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk who took the first two dances, but placed second in the VW, foxtrot and quickstep. Iaroslav Bieliei & Liliia Gladiuk, placed third in all dances, fourth went to Vladishlav Shakhov & Ekaterina Popova 4,6,5,5,4; Rudy Homm & Katia Kanevskaya were fifth 6,5,4,4,5T, and sixth was awarded to Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova 5,4,6,6,5T.

• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
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The Professional Rhythm was a full semifinal and here Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi placed first in all dances. Second went to Ilya Abdullin & Tara Barakov who placed second in four dances and third in the mambo. Third in this same heat was awarded to Alberto Cortes & Jessa Mae Briones who placed third in four dances and second in the mambo. Fourth in all dances went to Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra, fifth were Andrei Svitydzenka & Yuliya Zubava, leaving sixth to Abraham Sannoh & Trish Stuckey.

• Pro Showdance Pro Showdance
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As we mentioned earlier there were only four couples entered in the Showdance, but they were all very capable. Travis & Jamie Tuft won the event, Trevor & Emily Guthrie placed second, and Slawek Roszak & Denise Sobiewski were third.

We started this blog with the title “Latin at The Empire” and all through the night the huge numbers in the Amateur Latin were fantastic, but in the end we were left with the six the judges thought were the very best of the group. We must also point out that speaking to a number of attendees many thought it was possibly one of the best Amateur events of the year, everyone loved the way they behaved towards one another including the big group hug at the end of the competition and it certainly is great to see people behave with such sportsmanship.

• Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
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The winners overall were Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman, by winning three dances and placing second in the rumba, and third in the jive. Tal & Ilana won but there were at least two judges that felt they were the last in the group. The worst of all their marks came from Janet Gleave from England who thought they should have been last with the exception of the samba where she placed them fifth. Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladze were second overall 2,3,1,2,2. As you can see the group must have been very close in work since the marks were so split. Third place was awarded to Danys Drozdyuk & Antonina Skobina 3,4,3,4,1; fourth went to Alexander Chernositov & Arina Grishanina 4,2,4,5,5; fifth were Pasha Stepanchuck & Gabriella Sabler 5,5,5,3,4, and last but not least went to Adam Hathazi & Morgana Lakatos- Hayward placing sixth in all dances.

With this the evening concluded. Tonight is expected to be another fantastic evening and we will bring it all to you here at Dance Beat.

A Shining Evening!

Last night was a shining evening here at the Empire State Dance Championships with the conclusion of the Rising Star events.

The Rising Star Smooth and Latin were well attended and the couples were in excellent form.

See videos of Empire by SuperShag - click here

• Pro RS Latin Pro RS Latin
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The Professional Rising Star Latin started with a healthy quarter and a six-couple final was called. The division went to Alexey & Vlada Karaulov placing first in three dances and second in the cha and jive. Second place was awarded to Richard Lifshitz & Laura Robinson who won the cha and jive and placed second in the other three dances. The clear third place position was awarded to Sasha Altukhov & Cheyenne Murillo 3,3,3,3,4. Fourth went to Riccardo Pacini & Sonia Spadoni 6,5,6,4,3, the marks for this couple were a little irregular as you can see. Fifth was Andre Voloshko & Katerina Kyrylenko 5,4,5,5,5,5, leaving sixth to Vasily Anokhin & Kritina Andorsenko 4,6,4,6,6.

• Pro RS Smooth Pro RS Smooth
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In the Pro Rising Star Smooth John Cambell & Jaki Brockman took all four dances. Second was awarded to Enzo Zappia & Stephanie Betts 2,2,3,3, and third went to Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer 3,3,4,4. Fourth place was awarded to Dave Hannigan & Maggie Toth 4,4,5,5, fifth went to Ilya Abdullin & Tara Barakov 6,6,4,4 and sixth went to Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra 5,5,6,6.

An intense but funny event happened in the Latin where during the event a gentleman fell on his knees. When he got some water he told the chairman, Mr. Lee Wakefield that he had just swallowed a rhinestone. Apparently flying rhinestones can be dangerous to your health and at times your dancing!

It’s time!

It’s time once again for the competition that is in the heart of the big apple, The Empire Dance Championships.

See videos of Empire by SuperShag - click here

What better address can one competition have, but the one at the Time Square, Marriott Grand Marquis, so close to everything you would want to do in Manhattan - the theater, restaurants, the park, nightclubs and best of all a Ballroom dance.

Last night the festivities got under way in the ballroom with the Professional Rising Star Rhythm & Ballroom Competitions, both events were full semifinals, but in the end the Rising Star Rhythm ended up being a seven couple final.

• Pro RS Smooth Pro RS Smooth
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The winners, but not in every dance were, Ilya Abdullin & Tara Barkov placing first in four dances and second in the cha cha. Taking first in the cha cha, but placing second in all the other dances were Alberto Cortes & Jessa MacBriones, who placed second overall. Third was awarded to Strahinja Lackovic & Irina Fedosa 3,3,3,3,4. Fourth place went to Abraham Sannoh & Trish Stuckey 5,4,4,4,3, fifth were Joe Hasson & Natalia Hongkonsen 4,5,5,5,55. Two couples were solid in sixth and seventh position and they were Ciprian Popa & Alexandra Kopelovich who took all sixes and Jaime & Nikki Azcona placed seventh.

• Pro RS Ballroom Pro RS Ballroom
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The Rising Star Ballroom was a six-couple final and here Stefano DiBrino & Bianka Zubrowska won all dances. Second was awarded to Cristian Radvan & Kristina Kudelko who also placed second in every dance. From third down as you will see things got a little murkier. Luka & Krizia Balestra 4,3,5,3,3, placed third; Yuriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson 3,4,3,4,4 were fourth; Leonid Burlo & Liana Bakhtiarova 5,5,4,5,6 and in sixth position were Sterban Radu & Cletova Xenia 6,6,6,6,5

It was a short night allowing for people to go out and enjoy the city that never sleeps.