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Second in this excellent final went to Oleksander Kalenyuk & Olena Ablitsova. They, as always, showcased their technical strength and perfect posture with beautiful feet, but perhaps with this playful and emotional crowd they could have had a little more charisma and personality. They were 2nd in all dances and had the majority of “2nd or better” scores in all dances. They received a few 4th place marks, and one judge, Debbie Avalos, placed them 6th in all dances.
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Fourth in this excellent US final went to Michelle Yu & Artur Nabok 5,4,5,4,3. Here we can also say that we have followed this young lady’s dancing since she was a little girl and have seen her became this excellent dancer with her now new partner Artur. This is a very talented couple with lots of power. However, on this outing they seemed to just be focused on that, and we need a little more than just that. We expect a little more musicality and characterization of each dance throughout the final.
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Sixth and closing this final were Patrick Plozazj & Natalia O’Connor 6,6,6,5,6. Here too we have a couple that we have seen dance since they were children, although not together. At first we were not sure who the excellent couple were, we first recognized Patrick who as always took command of his movement and then we realized that the lady moving with such ease was Natalia. Knowing now that it has only been a few weeks of partnership for them, they are going to be the couple to watch for in future outings. What a fantastic combination this is going to be! Congratulations to both on this excellent placement for one of your first events together as partners.
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4th were Johnathan Tanner & Anna Tanner; 5th Coby Hunter & Saidi Cordon; 6th Julio Lazarte & Shaylee Rex; 7th Michael Jones & Laura Stirland.
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We must say we were very impressed with all the pre-teen categories this year. Well done kids!
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1725-usamchamps2019?tmpl=component&print=1#sigProId9cc7a96758
Unexpected Cliffhanger in US Amateur Latin Championship
Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladze retained their US Title in Provo last night, but didn’t have it all their own way!
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Nicolai Tarasov & Sarah Nolan were 4th in all dances and challenged the top 3 couples more than they ever have, in our opinion. They received 5 first places from Bob Powers and some 2nd and 3rd places from other judges.
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1725-usamchamps2019?tmpl=component&print=1#sigProId106087f74d
Watch out for Iveta Lukosuite’s report on this division, coming soon.
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4th were Eric Kuznetsov & Sarah Kliger 4,4,4,4,4; 5th Ilya Ignatyev & Olivia Sherman 5,5,5,6,5; 6th Zorik Moldavsky & Alice Bankova 6,6,6,5,6.
The afternoon session also had some fantastic finals in the National Title. Our favorites were the Preteen II Ballroom and U/21 Ballroom.
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/1725-usamchamps2019?tmpl=component&print=1#sigProIdeb60f42d32
We did notice that many of the girls had very hyper-extended top lines, perhaps to compensate for height discrepancies. However, we feel this is not beneficial to their future development in this style.
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It was a great day and Saturday promises more of the same, so stay tuned for more.
A Smooth Storm in Provo!
Here at the US Amateur Championships in Provo, UT, there is currently a snow storm, but last night there was a storm of Smooth dancing in the Marriott Arena!
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Collin Williams & Savana Francia had to be content with 4th place this year – 4,4,4,2. 5th were Tyler Keith Wilson & Gioia-Sophia Reni 5,5,6,5; 6th Joseph Nugent & Kyla Zenger 6,6,5,8; 7th Derrick Davis & Jenna Harding 8,7,7,6; 8th Nathan Stevenson & Rachel Harding 7,8,8,7.
This was probably the best Amateur Smooth competition that we have ever seen. All the couples were outstanding and we are not surprised that the judges’ opinions were so varied. The Smooth division offers such a wide variety of possibilities, that personal preferences are more pronounced in this division than in any other – and that includes the judging panel!
A former US Champion in this style, Edward Simon, will have the task of sorting all this out in a Dance Beat review. So don’t miss that!
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