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WDSF Final Grand Slam in Shanghai China Report by Renata Shvarts Every December for the past 5 years Shanghai graciously hosts the grandest and the most prestigious WDSF event in the world.
"Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor."
The Final Grand Slam invites the top 12 couples based on their performance scores through the year at the other 5 Grand Slam events. In 2013 the 5 countries that had the honor of hosting Grand Slam competitions were: Spain, Hong Kong, Germany, Beijing and Moscow. The biggest difference between Grand Slam events and traditional competitions is the judging system. Created especially for Grand Slams, this system strives to take subjectivity out of judging. It is modeled after the system used in judging figure skating. The vision is of course is to perfect it in order to, one day, use it in The Olympic Games.
Boston Cup Junior II Latin Report by Bill Sparks 1st place couple Kristers Smite & Sophie Shvartsman - Good Winners. They danced everything quite well with nice chorography, and controlled body actions. I would have liked to see a bit more body dynamics and energy as well as finishing off their movements for an even stronger floor presence.
DANCE LIFE COACHING
A Column To Help Dancers Journey In Life
By Susan Silva
“COPING WITH STRESS”
As I sit here and write this article, I am once again snowed in and cannot go out or do very much. I can choose to stress over this, since there are many things I needed to accomplish or just take a deep breath and let the stress go. As children most of us were happy when snow came, no school and we could play. But as adults with a busy life, especially in the Ballroom Dance Industry, snow is not good. For instance this weekend is a competition in Boston, where many people need to travel to, and may not make it because of the weather.
Boston Cup Amateur Latin
Report by Diana McDonald
Photos by Lisa Dubinsky
This event started as a semi final and a very exciting one at that.
Making the final and placing 6th was Stas Engelgardt & Tatiana Vasilyeva from Massachusetts (6,6,5,6,5) This couple has lots of potential but like many taller couples, they suffer from over traveling rather than working with energy in the floor to produce more core action and better balance. I’d love to be that height, don’t waste it!
Boston Cup Blends Junior & Pro-Am Report by K. Todd The Boston Cup, held Jan. 25 in Framingham, MA, was a mighty 1-Day competition that seamlessly (almost) blended all styles and levels of pro-am dancing with junior and amateur divisions. It had 1500 entries and provided a full day of dancing beginning at 8:00 AM.
UK Open Latin Championship 2014 – Part 2
This time Allan Tornsberg tackles the UK Open Pro Latin
Report by Allan Tornsberg
Photos by Andrew Miller
Wow!! This year's Professional Latin competition at the United Kingdom Championship seized the spectators by the eyes and the ears and lifted us to a height above our loftiest expectations. The overwhelming feeling was one of pulsing excitement and sparkling inspiration, from the early afternoon rounds to the exultant final.
UK Professional Latin Championship - Part 1 By all accounts the Pro Latin at this year's UK Championships was the headline event. So what did we do? We brought you two reports on it, by two legends of Latin, Paul Killick and Alan Tornsberg. The reports are as different as are the gentlemen. We hope you enjoy them!
The Snow Ball 2014 Report by Chantal Leclerc,
Photos by Karin Lynn Photography In the heart of the arctic freeze that gripped the nation in January, I had a trip scheduled to sunny... Minneapolis!! Why, would anybody leave the South in the middle of the winter? Excellent question! I'll give you two good reasons..........