Pacific DanceSport Championships

Laura

Laura

Well-Known Member
I drove down to the Pacific DanceSport Championships in LA today. I must say that, sadly, the competition is quite small. I guess being the same month as Ohio keeps all the heavy hitters away or something. The ballroom is nice and has stage lighting, and the comp seems well organized and well run so far, but it's just tiny.

Here are some results from Friday night:

Amateur Adult Pre-Novice International Latin (C/R) - 2 couples
1) Blain Adams-Denner & Krysta Walsh (1-1) of San Diego, CA
2) Zlatko Devcic & Erin Drake (2-2) of Mission Viejo, CA

Amateur Adult Novice International Latin (C/R/S) - 5 couples
1) Bryan & Jennifer Nguyen (1-1-1) of Irvine, CA
2) Blain Adams-Denner & Krysta Walsh (2-2-2) of San Diego, CA
3) Sahota (3-3-3) of CA
4) Zlatko Devcic & Erin Drake of Mission Viejo, CA
5) (not in program)

Amateur Adult Pre-Champ International Latin (C/S/R/P) - 1 couple
1) Dan & Catherine Williams of Chandler, AZ

Professional Rising Star International Standard (W/T/VW/F/Q) - 5 couples
1) Ikaika Dowsett & Jula Walker (1-1-1-1-1) of Campbell, CA
2) Yasufumi & Miwa Tsubouchi (2-2-2-2-2) of Tokyo, Japan
3) Youriy Pavlov & Anna Shahbazyan (4-3-3-3-3) of Glendale, CA
4) Chad & Marie Burson of Elk Grove, CA
5) Scott Dodson & Annica Menicutch of Novato, CA

Professional American Rhythm (C/R/SW/B/M) - 5 couples
1) a couple from Tennessee, either Sam Gordon & Tamsyn Devilliers or Jeremy Gatlin & Anna Harwood
2) ?
3) Sean Tamashiro & Jennifer Suzuki of Campbell, CA
...sorry, I didn't write it all down!!!...

After the competitions there was a great show put on by Olga Forapanova and some of the people from her dance studio. Oddly enough, some of the people in the show are also competing this weekend, which struck me kind of strangely, but regardless the show was very avante garde and beautiful. The most striking piece was to some Sarah Brightman song ("Ode to Love" or something like that) where Olga danced a smooth Waltz with a dark-haired young good-looking guy. Olga was wearing a white dress and was wrapped up in many yards of white material, she and the guy danced with the fabric and each other, much of the time they were not physically touching but both wrapped up in different ends of the fabric and using that as their connection. The whole effect under the lights was gorgeous and balletic, I want to say it was as if they were dancing in a cloud, but it was much more grounded and powerful than that, and the fabric wasn't just fluttering around.

I'll post more after tomorrow evening's session!
 
Thanks for your on-the-spot-reporting!

Congrats to Bryan and Jennifer (who were at our wedding!), Ikaika & Jula, and Youriy & Anna and others we have yet to meet and get to know!

I winced when I heard that on DWTS there was mention of this a large comp. Pacific is very small for an NDCA comp.

For us:
It's in our backyard
It's valuable floor time with another chance to take things up a notch
. . . and, best of all, my mother will be there!
 
reb said:
I winced when I heard that on DWTS there was mention of this a large comp.
Click to expand...
Oh I know! There was that "Slim Fast Challenge" spot last week where Christian was going on about how there were going to be 2000 dancers. I think it's more like 2000 entries, which is very small. Heck, I'm responsible for seven of those entries....

Anyway, I got stuck in traffic (in the Bay Area, not LA actually!) and so walked in to the ballroom just was they were announcing the awards for a special group Bronze I Rumba 1-dance event that they put on in the evening so ABC could tape it. There were five or six Pro/Am couples, I didn't recognize anyone so I think they were all local to Southern California. I didn't actually get to see the competition, but Tysonia (the student from the commercials) looked very nice in a bright blue dress. ABC had to tape the awards announcement twice because the first time one of the couples got confused about when they were being called and so walked up to collect their award at the same time as someone else's name was being announced. Ahhh, TV...even "reality" TV isn't real. The contestants in question had to hand back their awards and the MC had to do that part again.

Hey Reb, if you are there and feel like it and see me, please say "hi." I very much like meeting people in person who I know from Dance Forums. I'll be dancing in the very tiny Open Pro/Am Standard Scholarship (just three couples, oy vey) on Sunday night.

Oh yeah, and your friends Bryan & Jennifer looked really good in their Latin event, they were my pick to win, too!
 
Laura said:
Oh I know! There was that "Slim Fast Challenge" spot last week where Christian was going on about how there were going to be 2000 dancers. I think it's more like 2000 entries, which is very small. Heck, I'm responsible for seven of those entries....

Anyway, I got stuck in traffic (in the Bay Area, not LA actually!) and so walked in to the ballroom just was they were announcing the awards for a special group Bronze I Rumba 1-dance event that they put on in the evening so ABC could tape it. There were five or six Pro/Am couples, I didn't recognize anyone so I think they were all local to Southern California. I didn't actually get to see the competition, but Tysonia (the student from the commercials) looked very nice in a bright blue dress. ABC had to tape the awards announcement twice because the first time one of the couples got confused about when they were being called and so walked up to collect their award at the same time as someone else's name was being announced. Ahhh, TV...even "reality" TV isn't real. The contestants in question had to hand back their awards and the MC had to do that part again.

Hey Reb, if you are there and feel like it and see me, please say "hi." I very much like meeting people in person who I know from Dance Forums. I'll be dancing in the very tiny Open Pro/Am Standard Scholarship (just three couples, oy vey) on Sunday night.

Oh yeah, and your friends Bryan & Jennifer looked really good in their Latin event, they were my pick to win, too!
Click to expand...
Rant follows . . . and it wasn't just an aggressive writer on unreality tv - Christian spoke the words. One down to the effects of the bright lights of tv. And it won't be better next week. Rant ended.

Laura - we hope to see you and cheer you on! I also am one who wants to meet others from DF, although you'll know me ;) when you see us on the floor - our paths crossed recently while you were very busy at US Nationals, and I also 'reached out' to you in VW at Embassy . . . I might have a picture of that around here to post, but instead I'll just demonstrate for you this week on the floor!
 
(Light bulb FINALLY goes on.)

I am really looking forward to seeing you and saying hi and all that!
 
Jeez o whiz!!! Does this mean I have to start competing in order to meet the folks I've met?

Phooey on that!! :lol:
 
Just got back from the Saturday night session. You know a comp is small when the evening session starts at 8:30pm and is over before midnight. Here's what I saw tonight:

Professional Rising Star American Smooth - 1 couple
1) Porfirio Landeros & Laetitia Santore of San Diego, CA

Senior Amateur International Standard Championship - 4 couples
1) Heping Lee & Lita Wen (1-1-1-1) of El Monte, CA
2) Terry & Glendy Yeh (2-2-2-2) of Walnut, CA
3) (not in program, Wong & Wang?) (3-3-3-3)
4) Robert & Linda Fan (4-4-4-4) of Canoga Park, CA

Pro/Am Closed Bronze American Smooth Scholarship - 1 couple
1) Julie Stephans & Marius Popa

Pro/Am Closed Silver American Smooth Scholarship - 2 couples
1) Elena Lee & Jim Maranto
2) Jean Ward & Tony Delgado

Pro/Am Open American Smooth Scholarship - 5 couples
1) Lorena Bravo & Jonathan Atkinson (1-1-1-1)
2) (not in program, ? & Youriy Pavlov) (2-2-2-2)
3) Jeanie Bernstein & Jim Maranto (3-3-3-3)
4) Pamela MItchell & Tony Delgado
5) (not in program, ? & Loretta Turin)

Amateur International Standard Championship - 3 couples
1) Max Rublyuk & Sasha Alekseyeva (1-1-1-1-1) of North Hills, CA
2) (not in program, ? & Mandy Sahota) (2-2-2-2-2)
3) Heping Lee & Lita Wen (3-3-3-3-3) of El Monte, CA

Professional Rising Star American Rhythm - 7 couples
1) Jeremy Gatlin & Anna Harwood (1-2-1-1-1) of Nashville, TN
2) Kris Suakjian & Alicia Richardson (2-1-2-2-2) of Irvine, CA
3) Octavio Morales & Katrina Mahoney (3-3-4-4-3) of Redlands, CA
4) Sean Tamashiro & Jennifer Suzuki of Campbell, CA
5) Michael Wirtanen & Carina Fourmyle of Newport Beach, CA
6) Sebastion Westfall & Jennifer Atlas of Denver, CO
7) Neil Corpuz & Jennifer Norris of Jacksonville, FL

Amateur International Latin Championship - 7 couples
1) Klim Sinelnikov & Laura Kveladze (1-1-1-1-1) of Reseda, CA
2) Pavel Balykin & Maria Gershenovich (2-2-2-2-2) of Everett, WA
3) Ismail Sebe & Lilia Mkrtchyan (4-4-3-3-3) of Los Angeles, CA
4) Max Rublyuk & Sasha Alekseyeva of North Hills, CA
5) Ricky Sun & Ashley Li of Alhambra, CA
6) Richard Le & Amanda Coursey of San Diego, CA
7) Dan & Catherine Williams of Chandler, AZ

Professional International Standard Championship - 5 couples
1) Blaz Pocajt & Inna Berlizyeva (1-1-1-1-1) of Scottsdale, AZ
2) Ikaika Dowsett & Jula Walker (2-2-2-2-2) of Campbell, CA
3) Yasufumi & Miwa Tsubouchi (3-3-3-3-3) of Tokyo, Japan
4) Chad & Marie Burson of Elk Grove, CA
5) Scott Dodson & Annica Menicutch of Novato, CA

Some notes...I really liked the #2 couple in the Rhythm, the lady has really got it going on presentation-wise, and had the best Rumba on the floor. I also liked their swing a lot. The Amateur Latin winners, Klim & Laura, have a kind of Andre Graveline & Elena thing going on where the man is very tall and the lady is very petite. After the competitions, David Hamilton & Olga Forapanova gave a show! It was wonderful...it's been *eight* years since they retired from competition, and to still come out and dance so incredibly, with creative numbers and spellbinding drama. Oh my! is all I can say. They retired right when I first started going to dance competitions, so I never got to see them "back then" so it was a real treat to see them tonight.
 
Just finished with my single dance events. It seems some people registered even later than me and so didn't make it into the program, so I wasn't uncontested after all -- good! It's more fun to have more people on the floor to dance with. Anyway, the comp is still running smoothly, it was ahead of schedule by about 20 minutes this afternoon!

I got to see some DF-ers dancing in Amateur Championship Rhythm. It was a three-couple final, dig that! I've noticed that the Pro Rhythm division keeps getting bigger and bigger (it is the biggest division here at Pacific DanceSport), maybe this is finally starting to spill over into amateur land? I guess only time will tell.

More later; I'll be going back down for the DanceSport Series Pro/Am events, and to see the Amateur Championship Smooth. The little kid events are on now, as I left I heard the Deck Captain telling all the parents they had to get out of the line-up area (oh my, I'm having Nationals flashbacks now) :)
 
I just want to day that Laura looked absolutely *beautiful* on the floor. She looked like she had a great time, and her dancing was very nice also. Great job!

Sorry - cannot report on the placements - didn't catch them...
 
Well, I've got a couple of placements:

Championship Amateur American Smooth - 3 couples
1) Robert & Borbala Bunnett of Newport Beach, CA
2) Greg Brittain & Carolyn Hays of San Bernardino, CA
3) Ed & Trisha Rogers of Laguna Hills, CA

Youth Amateur International Standard Championship - 2 couples
1) Max Rublyuk & Sasha Alekseyeva of North Hills, CA (winners by Rule 11)
2) Pavel Balykin & Maria Gershenovich of Everett, WA

As far as my event went, there were four couples and we came in second, but it was really really close. We won two dances, I don't recall which ones though.
 
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