They nearly won both categories with perfect scores from the judges in every dance with the exception of the tango where they got one second place. The Open Professional Latin was also a great division to watch and also an easy win for Artur Tarnavski & Anastasiya Danilova. The Amateur Ballroom was a little green around the edges but with plenty of talent.
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProIdb4af8c6171
Second place in this Smooth Championship went to Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova, and very well awarded, they too are presenting a very unique style of their own, although not as playful as one might want at times, they own this trademark and it has to be marked well on the floor. They managed to capture the majority of seconds in every dance and even the first from Ms. Mitchel in the tango.
Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova
Aleksandar Vukosavljevic & Alexandra Smirnova
Volodymyr Barabash & Yulia Rudenco
Volodymyr Barabash & Yulia Rudenco
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProIdc93e4038c7
Fourth in this terrific heat went to Kharyton & Anastasiya Khomenko with these marks 4,4,5,4, this is like so many of the couples that competed in this event, a very talented couple with great energy and good quality of movement, but we are not totally sure what their ultimate focus is. The energy and movement levels never change within each dance or from dance to dance. There were other couples left in the semifinal who showed clearer interpretations of the various dances both musically and technically. Peter Minkov & Yuliia Sorokata for one in just basic movement alone and also Pavel Lebedev & Ekaterina Romashkina, another brilliant couple that did not make the final but that we would also have had in. We most look a lot closer next time around, perhaps we missed something in the process of this heat?
Fifth place was awarded to Mariusz Zakrzewski & Lynnsay Ray 6,5,4,5. Here we have to disagree again with the distinguished panel of adjudicators. Yes! Mariusz & Lynnsay have not kept up with the “traveling pack.” We don’t usually see them as often as the rest of the group, but when it came to dancing this couple was solid last night. Their performances was faultless and with a very unique style. Yes, they have been there quite a long time and they are not the flavor of the month, but as far as we could see they could have been third across the board for us.
We were a little disappointed with Vladyslav Nalyvaychuk & Brianna Nalyvaychuk’s performance last night and we can honestly say we were not surprised to see them place this low in this final. This is a very talented couple but they were not “on” especially. We still think this might be a couple to keep our eyes on for the future and we have seen them dance a lot better in the past.
Open Pro Latin
Open Pro Latin
Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasiya Danilova
Artur Tarnavskyy & Anastasiya Danilova
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProIdb2206debf6
Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser
Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser
Alon Gilin & Maria Bavyko
Alon Gilin & Maria Bavyko
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId88fd733ecb
From third place down we felt any one of the couples could have been placed in any position. Fourth was awarded to Dmitrii Chopenko & Valeria Khrapak 5,5,4,4,4; fifth were Mishiko Bregvadze & Alena Khoroshevtseva 4,4,5,5,5; sixth in all dances was awarded to Vlad Astafiev & Elizabeth Zymovets and seventh went to Nazar Zakharchenko & Anastasiia Rozdabara.
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId166dac1f89
Fourth overall in this cabaret division were Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser a good number but lacked some of the Cabaret lift elements. And fifth were Staz Dawson & Jackie Gonyea and they took fifth across the board.
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId971a7cf212
The quality in the Pro-Am Ballroom Open Scholarships was very high. Here are some highlights.
Open B Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
Open B Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
Open C Pro-Am Ballroom Scholarship
Open C Pro-Am Ballroom Scholarship
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId135df44852
1. Sabrina Zagolin & Yuriy Kravets 1,1,1,2,2; Colette Marotto & Oreste Alitto 5,2,3,1,1; Elena Botelho & Dmitry Sviridov 2,5,2,3,4.
Open C Pro-Am Ballroom Scholarship
1. Rowena Liu & Serghei Pogonet 1,2,2,1,1; 2. Annie Chan & Cristian Radvan 2,1,1,2,2; 3. Yuping Ting & Leonid Burlo 3,3,3,3.
Open S2 Pro-Am Ballroom Scholarship
1. Llewelyn Nielsen & Oreste Alitto 1,1,1,1; 2. Kathy Stetler & Alexander Voskalchuk 2,2,2,2; 3. Linda Gill & Luca Balestra 3,3,3,3.
Open S1 Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
Open S1 Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
Open S2 Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
Open S2 Pro Am Ballroom Scholarship
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId8c253674a7
1. Linda Dillman & Igor Gayenko 1,1,1,1; 2. Lynn Murrell & Andrea Zaramella 2,3,2,2; 3. Laura Solomon & Oscar Pedrinelli 3,2,3,3.
New Top Guns for Katusha!
After Katusha’s retirement from Ballroom competition a few years back and that also of last year’s US Ballroom Champions, new top guns are emerging to take their place and last night all the new top guns were here to support the Queen of Ballroom dancing at her competition, the North American Imperial Star Ball.
But it was not just in the Ballroom style. In the Open Professional Rhythm Jessa May Briones & Francesco Arietta the heirs apparent to the US Crown were present, and in the Amateur Latin field the new partnership of Austin Joson and Liza Lakovitsky made their debut. All this fresh talent also made the North American Championships last night a very exciting competition to witness.
Open Pro Ballroom
Open Pro Ballroom
Andreii Mykhailov & Ekaterina Popova
Andreii Mykhailov & Ekaterina Popova
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId578b93fc1a
Radu Sterban & Xenia Cletova
Radu Sterban & Xenia Cletova
Igor Mikushov & Valeriia Belozerova
Igor Mikushov & Valeriia Belozerova
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId0e86494180
Fourth place was awarded to Luca Balestra & Krizia Balestra who are tremendously talented but on this night for us perhaps pushed a little too hard to make it higher, the only dance we felt they were on par with the rest of the group was the tango, in the other dances we found it a little too hard and forceful. Remember we are talking about Ballroom moving like a feather across the floor, this continues to be such fantastic opportunity for this very talented couple but they need to keep cool and collected, there were a number of judges that felt they should have placed sixth in a number of dances.
Fifth but not in all dances went to Serhiy Averkov & Olena Barna 5,6,5,5,6. Like the marks pointed out this couple went up and down - their waltz for us was the best after that dance it all went up and down that hill. They are a beautifully matched couple who attract you to them immediately, but in some dances they need more energy and in some others a little more awareness of their music and what they are hearing. In sixth place were Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley 6,5,6,6,5. Our only observation was that in their waltz we saw them very little and when looking for them they seemed to be stuck on the same side of the floor until the end, and in the other dances they mostly seemed to dance on the very edge of the floor quite common in Latin or Rhythm, but not in Ballroom.
Open Pro Rhythm
Open Pro Rhythm
Francesco Arietta & Jessa Mae Briones
Francesco Arietta & Jessa Mae Briones
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId409bfecd18
Gene & Elena Bersten
Gene & Elena Bersten
Aleks Nashev & Evgeniia Elcoro
Aleks Nashev & Evgeniia Elcoro
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId13903fc877
A disappointing fourth place finish went to Dymytrii Goncharov & Veronika Shapar 5,3,4,5,4. Once they seemed to be the darlings of the Rhythm, now they are struggling to find steady ground on this Rhythm quick sand. On last night’s performance they needed to step it up and be more active and musical, all we got were nice quality in their technical work but nothing else. Fifth place was awarded to Senzo Makhaye & Agnieszka Strojek 4,4,5,4,5, and sixth place in all dances were Nicolas Rodriguez & Paulina Struk.
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId65ee23ec88
Denys Nikylak & Alyssa Kobus
Denys Nikylak & Alyssa Kobus
Benson Maier & Elisabeth Thompson
Benson Maier & Elisabeth Thompson
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProIddd7f464d36
Selected pro-am open scholarship results.
Open C Rhythm Scholarship
Open C Rhythm Scholarship
Open S Rhythm Scholarship
Open S Rhythm Scholarship
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProIda4e8392acb
1. Scott Magnesen & Izabela Lewandowska 1,2,1,1,1; 2. Darla Davies & Jim Maranto 2,1,2,2,2; 3. Renee Kuwahara & Ilya Reyzin 3,3,3,3,3.
Open C Pro-Am Rhythm
1. Nichelle Kennedy & Aleks Nashev 1,1,1,1,1; 2. Janice B Gonzalez & Aleksandar Vukosavljevic 2,2,2,2,2; Beth Waltz & Steven Davis 3,4,3,3,4
Open B Pro-Am Smooth Scholarship
Open B Pro-Am Smooth Scholarship
Open C Pro-Am Smooth Scholarship
Open C Pro-Am Smooth Scholarship
Open S Pro-Am Smooth Scholarship
Open S Pro-Am Smooth Scholarship
https://www.dancebeat.com/m-blogs-en/item/2090-northamer22#sigProId1f73505d77
1. Celia Chow & Erminio Stefano 1,1,1,1; 2. Patricia Schneider & Slawek Sochacki 2,3,2,2; 3. Bo Chang & Roman Malkhasyan 4,2,3,4.
Open C Pro-Am Smooth
1. Nichelle Kennedy & Aleks Nashev 2,1,1,1; 2. Patricia Schneider & Slawek Sochacki 1,2,2,2; 3. Gail Komar & Nikolai Pilipenchuk 3,4,4,4.
Open Senior Pro-Am Smooth
1. Helena Kostik & Nikolai Pilipenchuk 3,1,1,1; 2. Charlene Proctor & Mikhail Zharinov 1,2,2,2; 3. Llewelyn Nielsen & Slawek Sochacki 2,3,3,3.