It’s Number 16 for Nels & Theresa Nels Petersen & Theresa Kimler (MN) won their 16th USA Dance National Title last night in Adult American Smooth.  This marked their 7th Smooth title – added to their 9 Rhythm titles won between 1994 and 2002 (Nels also won the Rhythm in 1992/93 but with a different partner). 

This is quite a record.  Last night they won 3 dances and placed 2nd in tango.  They did not have the majority of 1st places in any dance, however and the judges were fairly divided.  Last year’s champions, Paul Frietas & Kelly Glasheen (CT) won the tango but placed 2nd in waltz and foxtrot and 3rd in VW.  Another past champion in this division, Jonathan Medlin dancing now with Malin Allert took 3rd (3,3,3,2).  4th  in all dances were Damian Pataluna & Irina Morozova (KY);  5th in all, Zachary Lapidus & Emi Terasawa (NY) and 6th Jason Seabury & Nonie Shiverick (CT).

"It is not a cuestion of who dances but of who or what does not dance."

The trio of WDSF Open World Ranking U/21 divisions concluded with the Latin – a 7-couple final.  The winners were Steven Varshavsky & Karolina Loukhnikov (MA) who placed 1,1,2,1,1.  They never had the majority of 1st places but defeated their nearest rivals because no judges scored they received only 1 placements lower than 3rd in the whole competition.  The 2nd placed couple, Mitchell Itkin & Natasha Shevchenko had a significant amount of 1st places but also had judges placing them in the lower half of the final.  Overall they placed 4,2,1,2,2.  We must say that 4th place in samba was a mystery to us!  With 3,4,3,3,3 TJ Stanton & Dasha Goykhman were 3rd.  TJ & Dasha had to be the busiest couple at the competition.  They competed in standard. Latin and 10-Dance in the WDSF and national divisions and they seemed to get better and better as the competition progressed.  Our Ecuadorian couples were also back tonight and Jose Maria & Adriana Carolina once again impressed the audience and took 4th (2,3,4,4,4).  We must say that Carolina was a little lucky not to be penalized for costume violations.  WDSF has strict rules governing costuming and we do not feel that her dress fell within those guidelines.  Larry Tokar & Juliana Hoff (NY) took 5th in all dances;  Mitchell Leyzerzon & Anna Cernova (PA) were 6th in all dances and Esteban & Milena from Ecuador were 7th.

"I love songs that people can dance to and enjoy at the same time."

The showcase event of the night was the Adult 10-Dance but the result was never really in doubt.  Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Selivertsova, having won the Standard and placed 3rd in the Latin were never really in doubt.  They danced with supreme confidence and produced the best dancing we have ever seen from them.  They received perfect scores in the Latin and lost only a total of 4 first places in the Standard.  The fight was really for 2nd and that went today to Fernando Lareu & Nicole Palagashvili who were 2nd in 6 dances and 3rd in samba, cha cha, rumba and jive.  Although stronger in the Standard, we felt their Latin was stronger today than in the U/21 10-Dance the day before.  3rd place went to Mircea & Ana-Maria Cernev (PA) who were 4th in all the standard, 3rd in paso doble and 2nd in the remaining 4 Latin dances.  The ubiquitous TJ & Dasha took 4th with 3rd in all Standard and 4th in all Latin.  Andrew Sim & Emily Cobb-Hines were 5th and Denis Kojinov & Jeanette Chevalier were 6th.  Ina Brayer will have a report on this division in the Members’ section soon. The last final of the whole competition was the Youth Standard and it was a good one.  Patrick Ploszaj & Anna Kaczmarski who won all dances and lost just a handful of 1st places from the judges.  The surprise placement was the runner-up spot to Justin Lin & Sasha Dubinsky (MA) who were 2nd in all dances.  They produced the performance of their careers to this point showing beautiful, free-flowing dancing that never lost track of the music.  They managed to get the majority of “2nd or better’ scores in all dances but tango.  We felt it was a tough choice for the judges between them and 3rd placed Samuel Hacke & Katerina Hermanova who were also strong but with a very different style.  Two great new young couples!  4th in all dances went to William Stansbury & Jenny Sokolsky (CA);  5th in all Kamil Falkowski & Alexis Turko (NJ) and 6th, Christian Yeung & Samanta Filip (NY). In a battle royal, the tables were turned in the Senior II Standard.  The first 2 places were a reverse of the Senior III.  This time Vencent & Irina Feingold took the event 2,1,1,1,1 from Hans & Ans Stork 1,2,2,2,2.  Both couples were outstanding for this division and should have a good shot at the World Title if they chose (or are eligible) to compete.  Taking 3rd, as they did in the Senior II were Glen Okasaki & Ann Ho.  They were 3rd in all dances.  4th went to Andrew & Janie Nordberg (4,4,5,5,6);  5th Thomas & Yuko Yu (5,5,4,6,5;  6th Gene Brokert & Jill Bradford (6,6,6,4,4). The U/21 10-Dance was the closest race of all the National Championships this year with only 2 point separating the top 3 couples.  The winners were Stanislav Pavlov & Michelle Kurpas.  They won all the Latin dances and were 3rd in all Standard for a total of 20 points.  With 21 points Samuel Hacke & Katrina Hermanova were 2nd.  Their scores, listing Latin first, were 4,2,2,2,2,2,2,1,2,2.  With 22 points, 3rd place fell to Fernando Lareu & Nicole Palagashvili.  Their scores were 2,4,4,3,3,1,1,2,1,1.  This was an incredibly close finish and all 3 couples should be congratulated!  4th went to none other than – TJ & Dasha;  5th to Lawrence Shulman & Dakota Pizzi and 6th and 7th places were separated by a ‘Rule 11”.  Andrew Sim & Emily Cobb-Hines were 6th and Scott Nicholson & Evgeniya Gorobets were 7th. We were very disappointed to see only 1 entry in the Junior I Latin.  Maxim Vassilenko & Liza Shlimovich from California.  Where were all the Junior I competitors? Other National Champions decided today were Senior III Rhythm, Daniel Fugazzotto & Janis Merluzzo;  Senior I Rhythm, Carmine Rucco & Maria Bolyard;  Senior II Latin, Roger Korsiak & Holli Hornlien;  Senior I Smooth, Jonathan Medlin & Malin Allert.

"Dance has never been a particular easy life, and everybody knows that."

New Faces in Adult Standard There were many fresh faces in the Adult Standard at USA Dance Nationals last night, but the winners were last year’s 10-Dance Champions, Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Seliverstova (NJ). 

Most judges warmed up to them over the course of the event as their placements were 3,1,1,1,1.  We felt they were worthy winners and have upped their game in this style.  Still some judges placed them in the lower half of the final and they had the majority of 1st places in only VW.  2nd place went to another of our favorites, the lyrical Ruslan Kalyuzhnyy & Kseniya Sovenko (WA).  Their placements were 1,3,2,2,2.  The judges were also divided on them with some giving 1st while others gave 5th.  Taking the event by storm this year and placing 3rd here, new to us, were Florin Vlad & Natalia O’Connor (Maine).  Their scores were 2,2,3,3,4.  They had the most “sport-like” approach of all the finalists although some onlookers complained about their floorcraft.  Fernando Lareu & Nicole Palagashvilli (MA) were 4th with 4,5,5,4,3.  We thought tango and quickstep were their strongest dances and were surprised with the 5th placements in tango.  Two couples from Utah closed the final – both tall and elegant.  Brandon Perry & Vashti Reed 5,4,4,5,5 and Tyler Wilson & Annie Seeley 6,6,6,6,6.  Watch out for Igor Pillipenchuk’s report on this division in the Members’ Section soon. Once again we had a WDSF World Ranking event in the U/21 category – this time the 10-Dance and once again it was a straight final.  This time only 6 competitors.  The winners were TJ Stanton & Dasha Goykhman who won 8 of the dances and placed 3rd in samba and 2nd in cha cha.  The runners-up were Nathaniel Tsiperfal & Sophia Brodsky.  Their scores were fairly even.  They were 2nd in 8 dances, 1st in rumba and 3rd in jive.  We felt their Latin was their stronger style.  Once again the division included the 2 couple from Ecuador.  Jose Marie Zuquilanda & Adriana Carolina Chavez-Mosquera were a hit with the audience in the Latin style and placed 3rd overall.  They placed 3rd in 6 dances, tied for 3rd in VW & PD, 1st in cha cha and 4th in jive.  Several judges awarded them 1st places in the Latin dances.  4th overall were Andrew Sim & Emily Cobb-Hines, 5th Scott Nicholson & Evgeniya Gorobets and 6th Esteban Acosta & Milena Robero (Ecuador). The Youth Latin was also a good event danced over 3 rounds.  Winning again as they did in the U/21 were Briant Leytman & Nino Dzneladze.  They easily won all 5 dances and seem unstoppable in this division lately.  2nd in all were Patryk Ploszaj & Anna Kaczmarski.  They were clearly 2nd based on the majority of judges, but we were surprised to see some lower placements from some judges.  3rd were Eric Rozenburg & Yelana Vayn (3,4,3,4,3).  We liked them in this division for this placement.  4th went to Bumchin Tegshjargal & Rian Baldwin (4,3,5,3,4);  5th Samuel Hacke & Katrina Hermanova (6,5,4,5,5,) and 6th Christian Yeung & Samnatha Filip (5,6,6,6,6).

"I see dance being used as comunication between body and soul, to express what it too deep to find for words." The National Adult Rhythm was the strongest we think we ever saw in this division, beginning with a semifinal.  The winners were Allan Granzberg & Milana Lazareva who placed 2,2,1,1,1.  2nd Craig & Samantha Abaya-Campos, 1,1,2,2,2.  Following a costume rule infraction James Repetti & Alexandra Kopelovich were dropped a placement in each dance so placed 4th with adjusted scores of 5,5,5,5,4.  This left 3rd place to Matthew Shimizu & Jennifer Crown with scores of 4,4,4,4,4.  5th spot went to Marc Fenger & Rachel Dugan (5,5,5,6,6 and 6th to Damien Pataluna & Irina Morozova 6,6,6,5,5.

The National U/21 Standard went to Florin & Natalia who won all dances but with the majority only in VW and foxtrot.  2nd went to Fernando & Nicole 3,2,2,2,2.  Willaim Stansbury & Jenny Sokolsky were 3rd 2,3,3,3,3;  Stanislav Pavlov & Michelle Kurpas were 4th in all;  TJ & Dasha took 5th in all;  Larence Shulman & Dakota Pizzi were 6th 7,6,7,6,6;  Scott & Evgeniya were 7th 6,7,6,7,7 and 8th were Nicholas Kane & Sabrina Hargis. Other national titles decided today were:  Senior I Smooth, Jonathan Medlin & Malin Allert (NC);  Senior III Latin, Edwin & Charlotte Bugarin (HI);  Senior II Smooth, Andrew & Janie Nordberg (MN);  Senior III Smooth, Roger & Amy Greenawalt (IN);  Senior I Latin Irsan & Cami Tisabudi (TX).

Seniors Top Bill Friday in Baltimore The Senior I Standard was really the division that stole the show last night in Maryland, in our opinion.  This was perhaps the best senior competition we have seen in the USA. 

"Dance is for everybody. I believe that  the dance came from the people and that it should always be delivered back to the people."

Over 3 rounds, the couples – all in top form physically – contested the division leading to a strong final of 6 couples from across the country.  David & Liva Wright maintained their foot on the winner’s rostrum taking all 5 dances with the majority of 1st places.  Xingmin & Katerina Lu were equally secure in 2nd spot with the majority of ‘2nd or better’ in all dances.  Really moving up the ladder were Thomas Yim & Kelly Cheng who placed 3rd in all dances and really gave a personal best performance.  We were not surprised to see them take some 1st placements in all dances.  Fellow Californians, Angus Sinclair & Dara Campbell took 4th (4,4,5,4,4);  Dan Manea & Mia Hu were 5th (5,5,4,5,6) and Tulga & Ilkin Ersal were 6th (6,6,6,6,5).  We thought there were excellent couples left in the semifinal too.  All in all an excellent division.

"The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs." The highlight of the night was the Adult Open Latin and this produced a good event over 3 rounds, but it must be noted that many of the nation’s strongest competitors were not present.  The easy winner in our view and the new USA Dance National Champions are Pasha Stepanchuk & Anastasiya Danilova who won all dances with strong majorities.  We have long been a fan of this passionate couple and were pleased to see them rewarded.  Also clear in 2nd spot were Nikita Malakov & Nadezda Vlasova (2,2,2,2,2).  They had the majority of ‘2nd or better’ scores in all dances except the rumba.  We thought their best dance was jive.  The tightest race was for 3rd, in our opinion between Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Seliverstova and Kiki Nyemchek & Magda Fialek, but in the end Taras & Tatiana managed to edge out Kiki & Magda in all dances.  5th went to youth competitors, Vladislav Kvartin & Amanda Herrschaft 5,5,5,6,5 and 6th to Stas Engeldardt & Tatiyana Vasilieva 6,6,6,5,6.  Watch out for a full report on this division by Andrew Phillips in he members’ section of Dance Beat.

"I believe it is my nature to dance by virtue of the beat of my heart, the pulse of my blood and the music in my mind."

Hey. Nikita! There's nothing like a "selfie"

For the first time USA Dance Nationals is hosting world-ranking WDSF Open divisions – all in the youth categories.  Last night it was the Standard.  We were a little surprised that this produced only a straight final of 7 couples – 5 from USA and 2 from Ecuador.  Since these divisions count towards world ranking we could have expected far more entries from the USA and perhaps some from Canada.  Placing 1,2,1,1,2, the winners were Vlad Florin & Natalia O’Connor who are from Maine and are a new couple to us.  They certainly have much potential and the right look.  They had the majority of 1st places in only the 2 waltzes.  With 2,1,2,2,1 Fernando Lareu & Nicole Palagashvilli were 2nd and they had the majority of 1st places in the dances they won.  3rd in all dances went to TJ Stanton & Dasha Goykhman.  We thought the top 3 were well clear of the remaining field.  4th in all dances were Brandon Buchthal & Ilana Kotiliar.  With 5,5,5,6,6, Scott Nicholson & Evgeniya Palgashvili were 5th.  The two couples from Ecuador placed 6th and 7th although we felt 6th placed Jose Marie Zuquilanda & Adriana Carolona Chavez were a little unlucky with 5,5,5,6,6.  7th were Estoban Acosta & Milena Romero-Pichincha.

"Every dance is a kind of fever chart, a graph of the heart."

There was also a national youth and u/21 title decided tonight and both were good events.  Repeating their win from Provo earlier this month, Briant Leytman & Nino Dzneladze won 4 dances with the majority of 1st places – samba was the closest in the u/21 Latin.  This young lady is a real powerhouse!  2nd were Vladislav & Amanda and they comfortably took 2nd in all dances.  With 3rd in all, Stanislav Pavlov & Michelle Kurpas took that place comfortably.  Bumchin Tegshjargal & Rian Baldwin were 4th (4,4,5,5,4);  Eric Rosenberg & Yelena Vayn were 5th (5,5,4,4,6);  Steven Varshavsky & Karolina Loukhinikov were 6th (6,6,6,6,7) and Lawrence Shulman & Dakota Pizzi were 7th.

"The body is your instrument in dance, but your art is outside that creature, the body." In the Youth 10-Dance Mr. & Miss Perfect – Patrick Plozaj & Anna Kaczmarski were the winners and won all dances losing very few 1st places.  They are so consistent they are very hard to beat over 10 dances.  With 2nd in all 10, Samuel Hacke & Katarina Hermanova were the runner-sp.  They are very strong in the standard, but I was also impressed with their Latin today.  The remaining finalists showed differing strengths over the 10 dances.  3rd were Justin Lin & Sasha Dubinsky who scored much better in the Standard (3,3,3,3,3) than in the Latin (6,6,5,5,6).  Christian Yeung & Samanta Filip took 4th with fairly even scores of 5,5,5,5,53,4,4,4,4.  5th fell to Jaryd Farcon & Kyla Dzhaniashvilli – stronger in Latin than Standard (6,6,6,6,6,4,3,3,3,3.)  6th in this strong final were Kamil Falkowski & Alexis Turko (4,4,4,4,4,5,5,6,6,5).

In the afternoon Hans & Ans Stork won a strong Senior III Standard placing 1,1,1,1,2.  Vincent & Irina Feingold picked up that 1st in quickstep and were 2nd in the other 4 dances.  3rd in all were Glen Okasaki & Ann Ho. Other national title winners were Carmine Rucco & Maria Bolyard in Senior II Rhythm and Damian Pataluna & Irina Morozova in Adult 9-dance. The National Championships here in Baltimore are used to select the US Representatives in WDSF World Championships. Watch out for full reports on the Junior & Youth divisions in our Happy Feet section.