Last weekend was the finale to this excellent event and once again the audience glued themselves to their seats not wanting to miss anything. Many of the professional events had great quality and the show put together by the organizers was very entertaining and totally worth the wait.
The Twin Cities theme this year was “rocking it” and so on the last night all judges came glamming it with their own design creations. The organizers also gave many special awards and the top teachers as well as the top students got their own guitars signed by quite a few of the celebrity judges (as you will see in the pictures).
The audience was there to support them and to watch the excellent show. They also took part by dancing every time there was a chance to stretch their legs giving the event a great feeling of fun and excitement.
The competition that had the most punch was the Open Professional Smooth with a 7-couple final. Peter Minkov & Yuliia Sorokata won every dance easily for us and for the judges with a full majority of firsts in every dance. What we enjoy from Peter & Yuliia is the quality of dancing from foot to toe. Second in this heat went to Irina & Vasilii Platonov who placed second in every dance and stole one or two firsts from Peter & Yuliia in every dance. We found Irina & Vasilii easy to find on the floor but a little aggressive for our taste. We would have loved to see a little more subtlety throughout. Third was awarded to Alexey Grinev & Kseniia Grineva, this was a good placement for this couple at this time considering they dance every style. On this outing we totally enjoyed their performance and found them a little more sound in their movement and technique.
Fourth in every dance was awarded to David Elser & Elizabeth Krug. We would love to be able to see a little more Isolation from Elizabeth and more awareness as to what he is thinking before he does it, this might be hard to understand but with a little more awareness this couple could be challenging the very top. In fifth place were Joseph Letting & Madalina Varlam Lettig, sixth overall went to Jonathan Wolfgram & Danyelle Morley 7,6,6,6, and Carlye & Patrick Stone were seventh with these marks 6,7,7,7.
The Professional Cabaret were a great opening for the evening’s performances and although it was a five-couple final, all had something to offer. The easy winners here too and receiving perfect scores form the judges were Yuki Haraguchi & Alyenendrov Tsorokean. Their partnership was totally made in heaven, Yuki looks so relaxed and very confident in this style and like every great Cabaret style lady, she is able to get herself up into those lift making it easy for Alyenendrov. We look forward to seeing some amazing routines from this talented couple on future outings. Second from all judges was awarded to Stanislav Morozov & Kesenia Tashkinova, and a well-deserved position for this evening’s performance. We have to say that this was the first time we saw them have a little problem with the seat stand overhead, but they managed to rescue it and move on. To be able to challenge the winners you cannot afford to have any slight issue. Yuki & Alyenendrov have it all down to nearly perfection and so they are hard to challenge at the moment. Third place overall losing only 2 third place marks to the fourth place couple were Alexey Grinev & Kseniia Grineva, and in fourth place overall were Martin Pickering & Natalie Botes.
The Open Professional Rhythm was a three-couple final and here Elena & Gene Berstein received perfect scores in all dances. Second overall went to Stanislav Morozov & Kesenia Tashkinova, placing second in four dances and third in the mambo. Third place overall by placing second in the mambo and third in all the other dances were Joseph Lettig & Madalina Varlam Lettig.
The Open Professional Ballroom was a two-couple final and here first place was awarded to Elena & Aleksei Minaev, leaving Alexey Grinev & Kseniia Grineva holding second.
The Open Professional Latin had four couples and here the winners in all dances with a majority of firsts were Mishiko Bregvadze & Elena Khoroshevtseva. Second in all dances and stealing the most firsts from the winning couple were Elena & Aleksei Minaev. Third place overall went to Malachi Osai & Anastasia Krynnyk 3,4,3,3,3, and fourth were Alexey Grinev & Kseniia Grineva.
TCO Officials
TCO Officials
Judges - Larinda McRaven & Didio Barrera
Judges - Larinda McRaven & Didio Barrera
Open Pro Latin
Open Pro Latin
Mishiko Bregvadze & Elena Khoroshevtseva
Mishiko Bregvadze & Elena Khoroshevtseva
