NYUSABDA > news021808

During this Presidents Day weekend, we say "Hail to the Chief" in recognition of our United States Presidents, and in the ballroom world, we may want to take this opportunity to bid "hail" to the many champions in our midst.

We start off with our very own Xingmin and Katerina Lu who placed fifth in the world at the IDSF World Senior Standard Championships in the Senior I (over 35) division, in Antwerp, Belgium. They first had to win the USA Dance National Championships to earn the right to represent the United States at the IDSF World Senior Championships. Once there, on February 9, they beat out some 40 couples to make the final. Congratulations to Xingmin and Katerina! To learn more about them, read their Dancer Profile on our website. (Thanks to Patricia Applegate for conducting the interview.)

On the Latin side, Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Valeriya Kozharinova took the IDSF Latin French Open, which occurred at La Classique du Québec last week in Montréal, taking first in 42 out of a possible 45 places, which represents a solid first place victory. Congrats to Val and Val! (For a bit more information, see this excerpt from Dance Beat.)

On the Professional side, the United States was very well represented at the UK Open in Bournemouth, England last month. In the Open Professional Standard, the new partnership of Katusha Demidova and Arunas Bizoukas, representing the United States, took second place, while in the Open Professional Latin, the new partnership of Yuliya Zagoruitchenko and Riccardo Cocchi, representing the United States, also took second place. Jonathan Wilkins, with his new partner Hazel Newberry, took fourth at the UK Open, representing the United Kingdom. These top pros can all be found locally coaching, judging and demonstrating, so congrats to all our world-class professionals on their great achevements in international competition.

In recognition of all our top dancers from the Greater New York area, we offer the salute "Hail to our Champions!" You do us all proud!

Speaking of Katusha and Arunas, did you catch them on last Wednesday night's broadcast of "America's Ballroom Challenge"? If you did, you saw them take both the top spot in the group Standard Championship final and in the Showdance. For those who were at Ohio last November, this news is already very old hat, but it was the first time I had the opportunity to see it, and it seemed to me to be a well-earned and decisive outcome. I was especially glad to see them take the Showdance with a routine danced to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

Call me old fashioned, call me over the hill, but I was relieved to see a ballroom couple dancing to ballroom music (what a concept). Starting with last year's Showdance, which was won by Igor Litvinov and Yulia Ivleva, the Showdance portion of the event became Halloween as each couple vyed to outdo the others in seeing how outrageouly they could be costumed. Igor and Yulia came out as grunge kids from the '90s doing, at one point, a quickstep to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. Now, I have nothing against Igor and Yulia, who are among our top Standard pros, and I have nothing against Nirvana, but honestly, trying to dance Standard to punk rock takes fitting a square peg into a round hole to the extreme. This time out, Igor and Yulia came out with Igor donning a frightful black wig in an attempt, I guess, to look like James Brown, as they danced Standard to a medley of James Brown classics. Now, I love James Brown and his music . . . but . . . it has its time and its place but that time and place is not on the ballroom floor. I was frankly surprised, and perhaps slightly outraged, that Igor and Yulia placed as highly as they did in the Showdance with that performance. Last year maybe Ballroom Meets Halloween was novel and cute, but for me, that novelty and cutesiness have overstayed their welcome. I, for one, hope we've seen the last of it. (And don't get me started on Shrek and Fiona. Oy gevalt!)

Tune in on Wednesday, February 20, for the Open Professional Latin Championships on America's Ballroom Challenge. Check your local listing for first run and re-run times.

For those who were planning on hitting the 11th Annual LIDance Valentine Social last Tuesday, it was cancelled on account of the weather. Fret not, though; it will go forward on Tuesday, February 19, at Club 56 in Farmingdale, LI, so you can still celebrate Valentine's Day with some Hot Latin Dancing. Also, on Long Island, the newly opened Long Island branch of Dance with Me in Glen Head will start holding regular Friday night socials commencing on Friday, February 22, at 8 pm. For other social dance suggestions, check Wayne's Dance Commentary and NJoyDancing News & Notes.

Reminder: The USISTD Congress will be taking place at Arthur Murray Studio in midtown Manhattan (16 West 57th Street) on February 23-24. More details on this post.

NY USA Dance Board Update: At the Board meeting held on February 16, the following officers for 2008-2009 were elected: Secretary, Daphna Locker; Treasurer, Michael Phillip; Vice-President, Robert Scibelli; President, Yang Chen. We look forward to working with the Board to make 2008 another great year for the chapter. If you have any ideas or thoughts about activities or programs for the chapter, please contact us at board@nyusabda.org.

Partner search: Adam wonders whether there are partner search websites other than DancePartner.com. If you have any leads, reply to his post.

Finally, to close out on a sad note, ballroom icon Bill Irvine, MBE, passed away last week on Feb. 13. Bill, with his wife Bobbie, trained entire generations of ballroom champions. Holders of 13 world titles, they won the Ballroom and Latin titles when the World Championship was held in 1968 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. This accomplishment has been listed in the Guiness Book of World Records. Bill had been a compere (or as we say here, MC) at Blackpool and was formerly Vice President of the ISTD. The ballroom world has lost one of its giants. He will be missed by ballroom enthusiasts around the world. (Thanks to Adam Gale for posting this announcement.)

That does it for this week's edition. Hope everyone had an enjoyable Presidents Day Weekend, and good luck to everyone competing over the weekend at the New York Dance Festival, the Clover Star Classic and the Binghamton Ballroom Dance Revolution. See you in Binghamton!

Yang Chen
President
Greater NY
USA Dance
(NYUSABDA)
www.nyusabda.org
www.nyusabda.org/forums-df
yang.chen@nyusabda.org