Its scarcity makes the noble metal exclusive and valuable, while its resistance to corrosion and ability to withstand extreme conditions make it ideal for various industries. If phrases like "platinum status" and "going platinum" are to be believed, the precious metal is the best and baddest in all the land. This year the “Platinum” Dancesport Classic totally lived up to its name with some terrific dancing in the Sunshine State.
This year as always the sun was welcomed by many visitors from out of state, and many come to the Platinum to soak up some sun, compete and have some fun. There were many excellent heats through the week, but Saturday night the professional heats were excellent with many of our US best on the floor.
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The Professional International Latin was also a terrific heat. Six couples were called for the final and the winners of all dances were Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabrielle Sabler. On this outing we found Pasha & Gabrielle quite improved. We can see that the holiday break did them well with plenty of rehearsal and a new look was sported - a more relaxed and flexible approach that we think will serve them quite well for future outings. Pasha & Gabrielle only got the majority of firsts in their jive and had to rely on seconds or better to win the other dances, but we think this is a good start to a couple that last year was struggling to hold on to their finalist status.
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Gene Bersten & Elena Bersten won the Open Professional Rhythm overall by placing first in four dances and third in the mambo. We have always enjoyed Gene & Elena. Unfortunately, to us they are not as solid in their performance as they once were. On this occasion they only lost the mambo but they only won the swing with a majority of firsts - that was 7 first place marks out of 13 judges. In the other two dances they won, they had to rely on seconds or better to win. We see a lot of determination on their part to secure their position, but with so many talent running behind they are going to have to double work to get better results, especially in the mambo where they have an obvious gap.
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For us the best couple in this Rhythm heat was Roger Romero & Arismel Naya who placed third overall 3,3,3,3,2. They are not quite there yet by all means but we see not only clear potential but great strength in their basic communications. We obviously missed something because we were in the minority feeling that they should have been crowned on this night and look forward to seeing more of this couple and seeing why were so wrong in our prediction this time around.
Fourth in all dances went to Alexey Smirnov & Daria Smirnova; fifth overall was awarded to Israel Borges & Samantha Borges 5,5,5,6,5, and sixth went to Dan Luca & Bianca Popa 6,6,6,5,6.
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Florin Vlad & Natalia O'Connor took third in all dances; Ion Postolachi & Diana Postolachi were fourth and Dmytro Roshchupkin & Sanda Lungu placed fifth.
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In an emotion-full moment, there was a video tribute to Irina Suvorov who had tragically passed away earlier in the week. We will all miss her incredibly and the tribute written by Sarika Pilipenchuk and read by Gary McDonald over the video made by Fredrick Havez was a a great tribute. The foxtrot in the Open Professional was also dedicated to Irina and danced to the Empress Orchestra's "Deep Purple."