• Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova
• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
• Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
•  

Probably the most anticipated was the Open Smooth and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Once again it proved to be a match up between two Los Angeles couples, Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija and Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Selivertsova – we think we’re going to be seeing a lot of these match ups this year! Here at Beach Bash, Nick & Viktorija proved successful winning 3 dances W,V,VW leaving only T for Max & Tatiana. These two couples are both delivering such great work, both filled with passion but expressed in very different ways. For the judges it really came down to when you happened to look at them we think. It was very close! Nick & Viktorija won the waltz 9 to 6, Max & Tatiana won the tango 9 to 6 and both couples received 7 first palce marks in the foxtrot and Viennese. Max & Tatiana had a couple more scores lower than 2nd than the winners so lost those two dances 13 “2nd or better” scores to 11. Their lowest scores came from Dan Messenger. Yegor Novikov & Anastasia Smirnova were easily 3rd taking that place in all 4 dances but not really attracting the judges to place them in the winners’ spot tonight. Kyle & Allie Spinder were 4th with 4,4,4,5, but seemed a little subdued tonight – theirs is a more classic style and perhaps amid all the emoting they got a little lost. Evgeniy Malko & Anna Shabazyan had a good night and are also getting into the “emotion” of the style, they placed 5th with 5,5,5,4. Jean Paul & Lana Rossi were 6th in all dances but had scores ranging from 4th to 6th in all dances.

• Mykhailo Bilopuknov& Anastasia Shchypilina Mykhailo Bilopuknov& Anastasia Shchypilina
• Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
• Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
•  

If the “smoothies” were the stars of the night, the other divisions were at the very least strong supporting players. The Latin was a great race between 3 couples who together shared all the first places. The result went to Myhailo Bilopukhov & Shchypilina 1,2,1,2,1. Dmitry & Olena Nikishkin were 2nd 2,1,2,1,2 and Francisco Bertini & Sabrina Manzi took all the 3’s. We were impressed with all 3 couples, but especially with Francisco & Sabrina who started the final really strongly in our opinion, but could not maintain the pace. Roman Italyankin & Tatiana Bokova were 4th 4,4,4,5. We liked them most in rumba. Andrey Voloshko & Kateryna Kyrylenko were 5th 6,5,5,5,4 and Igor Sergiy Krashyn & Olga Ginzburg were 6th 5,6,6,6,6. These last two couples were also on fire tonight and we particularly liked Igor & Olga in the faster dances.

• Pro Cabaret Pro Cabaret
• Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova
• Andre & Natalie Paramonov Andre & Natalie Paramonov
• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
•  

The Rhythm was a match between the Floridians that went quite easily to Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova who won all 5 dances with large majorities, losing only 1 first place out of 15 in swing. Andre & Natalie Paramonov were equally secure with their 2nd place in all 5 dances. Earlier in the evening they had won the Cabaret. Danas Jaksevicious & Yuki Haraguchi were 3rd in all dances with the majority in that column, but did also pick up so scores in the lower half of the final. US 9-Dance Champions, Jean Paul & Lana Rossi were 4th in all dances. We were impressed with Igor Ustymovich & Brianna Santiago who had some very good moments and finished 5th in all dances. The new partnership of former US finalist, Felipe Telona & Asukah Kondoh closed the final.

• Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva
• Ooen Pro Ballroom Ooen Pro Ballroom
• Iaroslav Bieliel & Olga Gladiuk Iaroslav Bieliel & Olga Gladiuk
•  

US Finalists, Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva easily won the Open Ballroom with large majorities of 1st places from the judges. Only Amanda Reyzin awarded them 3 third places. Iaroslav Bieliel & Olga Gladiuk were 2nd in all dances, easily so from the judges’ perspective. To us, while we liked them for 2nd place, we did not see quite the challenge to the winners that we were expecting. We found the remainder of the final rather mixed from dance to dance and indeed that was mostly reflected in the scores. 3rd Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalikova 3,4,3,3,4; 4th Stephano DiBrino & Bianca Zubrowska 4,3,5,5,3; 5th Emanuele & Francesca Pappacena 5,5,4,4,5; 6th Christian Radvan & Christina Kudelko 6,6,6,6,6.

• Line dance with Louis Line dance with Louis
• Top students ready for their conga line Top students ready for their conga line
•  

It was interesting that the top students, teachers and studios were paraded into the ballroom in a conga line led by the “Cruise Directors” under the direction of Misty Rivers dressed as a sea witch. The ubiquitous flying shark also made his appearance. La Blast entrepreneur and judge, Louis Van Amstel also led a line dance cha cha during a break in the competition.

With over 8,000 entries, you know we had some busy pro-am sessions and none were more so that Saturday matinee that featured both the Ballroom and Latin divisions.

The results of the Open Scholarships were as follows:

• Open A Ballroom Open A Ballroom
• Open B Ballroom Open B Ballroom
• Open C Ballroom Open C Ballroom
•  

Open A Ballroom
1. Natalie Rezai w/ Sergey Kiselev 1,1,1,1,1
2. Vinnie Miller w/ Denis Kutepov 2,2,2,2,2
3. Irene Lee w/ Iaroslav Bieliel 3,3,3,3,3

Open B Ballroom
1. Grace Wang w/ Sergey Kiselev 1,2,2,1,1
2. Michele Peng w/ Mikhail Avdeev 2,1,1,2,2
3. Ling Ma w/ Edgars Gasjuns 3,3,3,3,3

Oeon C Ballroom
1. Hans Stork w/ Victoria Kazukina 1,1,1,5,1
2. Annie Chan w/ Christian Radvan 6,2,2,1,3
3. Janice Smith w/ Francesco Flumiani 3,4,4,2,2

• Open A Latin Open A Latin
• Open B Latin Open B Latin
• Open C Latin Open C Latin
•  

Open A Latin
1. Tanya Durbin w/ Roman Kutskyy 1,1,1,1,1
2. Vera Xu w/ Jakob Zeglin 2,2,2,2,2
3. Emily Garrett w/ Yavor Genev 3,3,3,3,6

Open C Latin
1. Stevaljevic w/ Stanislav Kochergin 1,1,1,1,1
2. Grace Kuan w/ Jakub Zeglin 3,2,2,2,2
3. Boulos w/ Radomir Pashev 2,5T, 4,4,4

Open C Latin
1. Romero w/ Evgeniy Likachev 1,1,2,1,1
2. Rhonda Lynch w/ Stephen McCann 3,3,1,2,2
3. Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan 2,2,3,3,3

 

The Meaning of “Semi-Formal”

If you’ve ever wondered exactly what “semiformal” really means – well all was explained last night at the Ballroom Beach Bash.

• Eugene Katsevman, Tony Meredith Eugene Katsevman, Tony Meredith
• The Officials The Officials
• Jonathan Roberts, Toni Redpath, Michael Mead Jonathan Roberts, Toni Redpath, Michael Mead
• Paul Holmes Paul Holmes
• Scott Washburn, Linda Dean, Steven Knight Scott Washburn, Linda Dean, Steven Knight
• Thomas Lewandowski Thomas Lewandowski
•  

Judges and everyone else were asked to attend the evening event dressed half in beach wear and half in formal wear – definitely “semi-formal.” There were some interesting costumes on display as you can see from the photos!

Nevertheless, everything was serious on the floor with all 4 styles of Pro Rising Star on display.

First up was the Smooth with a strong semifinal round. There was a pretty clear winner. Max Lotoskyy & Sarah Haworth won all dances with a majority of 1st places. Pushing them hard with 2,2,2,2 were Slava & Valeriia Kostaniets, they had a significant amount of 1st places in all dances. With 4,3,3,3, Adam Sorensen & Marietta Tartaglia were 3rd. 4th Kyle & Christina Campbell 3,5,4,6; 5th Martin Pickering & Natalie Botes 5,4,5,5; 6th Dustin Donelan & Rachel Damiani 6,6,6,5.

• RS Latin RS Latin
• RS Smooth RS Smooth
•  

Many of the west coast’s up and coming couples were on display in the RS Latin including the winners Francesco Bertini & Sabrina Manzi who won all dances, 4 of them with the majority of 1st places. For the remaining couples the judges’ scores were quite spread around, but taking 2nd in all 5 dances were Voloshko & Kateryna Kyrylenko. 3rd went to Tykhon Zhyvkov & Anastasia Kuzieva 3,3,3,4,4. 4th Vasily Anokhin & Kristina Androsenko 4,4,4,3,3; 5th Oleksii & Carly Lytvyn 5,5,5,5,5; 6th Kristijan Burazer & Anja Imamovic 6,6,6,6,6.

The Ballroom was the only style to begin with a straight final. Cristian Radvan & Kristina Kudelko won all 5 dances but had a tough fight in all but the tango with runners-up Youriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson. 3rd spot in all dances fell to Evgeniy Mayorov & Olga Lisovskaya and 4th went to Sarosh Ahmad & Zoe Wydroug.

• RS Ballroom RS Ballroom
• RS Rhythm RS Rhythm
•  

The only quarter-final of the night was in the Rhythm and this also produced the only perfect score of the night. Winners Max & Sarah received all 9 first place marks in the bolero. They placed 1,1,1,1,2 to win their second event of the night. Taking the mambo and second in the other 4 dances, the runners-up were Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti. Eddie Rivera & Meg McNash were 3rd in all dances but the judges’ scores from 3rd to 7th were quite mixed. 4th Christopher Wayne & Juanita Simanekova 5,4,4,4,4; 5th Antonio Nunez & Fisher 6,5,5,5,5; 6th Jeremy Babagay & Barreno 4,6,6,6,6; 7th Dan Lee Tran & Taylor Elizabeth Kinney 7,7,7,7,7.

During the day it was the Smooth style for the pro-ams and as you might expect, with three US Champions in this style as organizers the level all day was very high.

• Open A Smooth Open A Smooth
• Open B Smooth Open B Smooth
• Open C Smooth Open C Smooth
•  

The Open Scholarships were well supported and produced the following results:

Open A
1. Madison Stribling w/ Mayo Alanen 1,1,1,1
2. Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev 2,2,2,2
3. Sirinda Sincharoen w/ Max Sinitsa 3,3,3,3.

Open B
1. Aiyesha Dey w/ Mayo Alanen 1,2,1,1
2. Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin 2,1,2,2
3. Patricia Schneider w/ Nick Cheremukhin 3,3,4,3

Open C
1. Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin 1,1,1,1
2. Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto 2,2,3,2
3. Sue Eldred w/ Igor Ustymovich,3,2,3

Flying Sharks! What?
Ballroom Beach Bash 2016

Flying sharks, judges in deckchairs, competitors fanned with palm fronds – where else can we be?

• Judge - Igor Litvinov Judge - Igor Litvinov
• A flying shark! A flying shark!
•  

It’s time for the 2016 Ballroom Beach Bash in (sunny) San Diego. Organizers Michael Mead, Toni Redpath & Jonathan Roberts make “wacky” normal in a real Californian spirit and it seem to be working. Beach Bash, only in its 2nd year has exploded to over 8,000 entries.

• Nightclub by the pool Nightclub by the pool
• Nightclub by the pool Nightclub by the pool
•  

Things got under way with the nightclub session on Wednesday night. Many events have adopted this type of relaxed session to start their program, but we’ve never seen it al fresco. That’s right the Beach Bash nightclub session was right by the pool!

With 8,000 entries there isn’t a lot of spare time, but by moving the awards outside the ballroom on Thursday, Beach Bash preserved time for some of their signature “wackiness” such as the Cabana Treatment, including massage for selected pro-am competitors all day and all night.

• Open A Rhythm Open A Rhythm
• Open B Rhythm Open B Rhythm
• Open C Rhythm Open C Rhythm
•  

Thursday’s events for the pro-ams were in the Rhythm Style and the level was high. Some of the country’s leading exponents were here to contest the Open Scholarships and the results were:

Open A
1. Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev 1,1,1,1,1
2. Isabella Libertore w/ Charles Cunningham 2,2,2,2,2
3. Marinda James-Heskett w/ Jeremy Pilling 3,3,3,3,3

Open B
1. Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin 1,1,1,1,1
2. Thara Salamone w/ Jim Maranto 2,2,2,2,2
3. Heidi Kellison w/ Sean Tamashiro 3,3,3,3,3

Open C:
1. Lynn Magnessen w/ Vard Margaryan 1,1,1,1,1
2. Diane Caracciolo W/ Nazar Norov 2,2,2,2,2
3. Janice Gonzalez w/ Vlad Kosarev 3,3,3,4,3