The main competitive events in the Amateur and Professional divisions of the Championship were spread over Friday and Saturday nights. Both nights were packed full with great dancing.
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Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
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Austin Joson & Liza Lakovitsky Austin Joson & Liza Lakovitsky
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Max Firestein & Nicole Mtchedlidze Max Firestein & Nicole Mtchedlidze
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Dave Firestein & Kennedy Eaton Dave Firestein & Kennedy Eaton
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Beginning on Friday night, the largest of the feature events was the Open Amateur Latin that began with a quarter-final round. Austin Joson & Liza Lakovitsky were the definite winners taking 40 of a possible 44 first places. We really like this new partnership, they really seem to enjoy dancing with each other and it comes across to the audience. Max Firestein & Nicole Mtchedlidze were the comfortable runners-up taking those 4 first places and clear majorities of seconds in all dances. Max & Nicole have really matured in their dancing this past year and have added subtlety to their power-packed performance. Dave Firestein & Kennedy Eaton were clearly 3rd with 3rd in all 5 dances. We are equally impressed with the “younger” Firestein partnership. Kennedy is a charming dancer. 4th Emil Martirosyan & Eva Tulchinsky 5,4,4,4,4; 5th Sergey Pirozhkov & Dasha Zhalo 4,5,5,5,5; 6th Sandu Babira & Emmy Chladek (Canada) 6,6,6,6,6,6.
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Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
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Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
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Ivan Kudashev & Ksenia Sokolova Ivan Kudashev & Ksenia Sokolova
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Roger Romero & Arismel Naya Roger Romero & Arismel Naya
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The two Open Professional divisions were small but interesting. Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin were the judges’ clear choice in the Open Pro Rhythm – taking 64 of the 65 available first places. They had a very good night indeed and the immediate future of the Pro Rhythm division will be interesting to say the least. Also dancing very strongly on this night were Ivan Kudashev & Ksenia Sokolova who were 2nd in all dances and took that lonely first place in the cha cha (incidentally this came from Diana McDonald). Roger Romero & Arismel Naya were 3rd in all dances. We really like their “authentic” style and in mambo felt they could have placed 2nd. 4th Donovan Kirrane & Olga Goncharova 4,4,4,4,4; 5th Jose Zuquilanda & Annie Rockhill 5,5,5,5,5.
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Andreii Mykhailov & Ekaterina Popova Andreii Mykhailov & Ekaterina Popova
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Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley
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Only 2 couples entered the Pro Ballroom, but both couples were on form and they gave us a surprisingly close contest. The winners in all dances were Andrii Mykhailov & Ekaterina Popova over Nazar Batih & Mariko Cantley. The waltz was extremely close with Andriy & Ekaterina taking it 7 firsts to 6. At 8 firsts to 5, the foxtrot was also quite close. For some lighthearted relief, the couples switched partners during the VW with Ekaterina leading Mariko and Andrii leading Nazar!
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This was a very successful competition for Travis & Jaimee Tuft who won both the Pro Cabaret and Pro Showdance in Friday and the Open Smooth on Saturday. The Showdance had 6 contenders. Travis & Jaimee took 7 first places from the nine judges in the Showdance. Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser were the runners-up and Roger Romero & Arismel Naya were 3rd.
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Dave Hannigan & Stephanie Betts Dave Hannigan & Stephanie Betts
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Ihor Chibishev & Diana Zhosan Ihor Chibishev & Diana Zhosan
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Open Pro Smooth Open Pro Smooth
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Travis & Jaimee Tuft Travis & Jaimee Tuft
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In the Pro Smooth they lost only one first place mark in the whole event. Dave Hannigan & Stephanie Betts were 2nd in all dances and took that one first place in the tango. 3rd Ihor Chibishev & Diana Zhosan 3,3,3,4; 4th Alexander Romanov & Anna Blagodyreva 4,4,4,3; 5th Christian Lightner & Kia Kenney 5,5,5,5; 6th Donovan Kirrane & Olga Goncharova 6,6,6,6.
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Nikita Druzhynin & Virginie Primeau Nikita Druzhynin & Virginie Primeau
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Open Amateur Ballroom Open Amateur Ballroom
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Danylo Dobrovolskyi & Anastasiya Malovana Danylo Dobrovolskyi & Anastasiya Malovana
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Samuel Hacke & Katarina Hermanova Samuel Hacke & Katarina Hermanova
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Perhaps the best event of the whole competition was the Open Amateur Ballroom that attracted some very high-profile couples. After 2 rounds, Nikita Druzhynin & Virginie Primeau (Canada) who had just placed in the final of the UK Championships, were the winners in the Open Amateur Ballroom. They won all 5 dances with a majority of first places. Danylo Dobrovolskyi & Anastasiia Malovana were quite close behind the Canadians as they were also at Ohio last year. They were 2nd in all 5 dances - tango and foxtrot were their best-scored dances. Samuel Hacke & Katarina Hermanova were 3rd 3,3,4,3,3. 4th and 5th places were decided by a tie-break. 4th Alieksandr Lavrov & Vilhelmina Lavrov 4,4,5,5,4 and 5th Dennis Matveev & Anna Jonczyk 5,5,3,4,5. 6th place went to Arthur Nabok & Tais Zhukova 6,6,6,6,6.
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Open Pro Latin Open Pro Latin
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Andriy & Amanda Besyedin Andriy & Amanda Besyedin
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Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser
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Mikhail Kolosov & Elina Semka Mikhail Kolosov & Elina Semka
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The Pro Latin began as a semifinal. In the end it was a comfortable win for Andriy Besyedin & Amanda Besyedin who won all 5 dances with the majority of first places. Andrey Kitsun & Nicole Prosser were the runners-up and once again this was in all dances. Their best scored dances were samba and jive where they received 4 first places in each. 3rd Mikhail Kolosov & Elina Semka 3,3,3,3,3; 4th Giovanni D`Arpino & Nicole Heisler 5,4,4,6,5; 5th Kelvin Ong & Masha Kozobrod 6,5,6,4,4; 6th Karls Aniscenko & Dayana Nikon 4,6,5,5,6.
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As has been traditional in the recent years of Eastern, Saturday included an Amateur Team Match. This year the Canadian Team, captained by Christiane Primeau, were the winners.