The Greater New York Chapter of USA Dance
 
The Report from USA Dance Nationals 2008
April 10, 2008 ed.
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Greetings from the Greater NY Chapter of USA Dance!
Last weekend, from April 4 through 6, I had the supreme pleasure and privilege to be one of the MCs at the 2008 USA Dance National DanceSport Championships in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel. Because I shared the MC duties with USA Dance President Peter Pover, DanceSport VP Ken Richards, NY USA Dance VP Robert Scibelli and University of Maryland Ballroom Team alum Joseph Wheeler, I did not have to be chained to the podium from early morning to late at night. I actually got to witness some terrific dancing, at all age levels and categories. I even got to chat with friends, meet new ones, and take a look around the Inner Harbor between sessions.

The Greater New York area was well represented, with many couples from New York -- all five boroughs plus Long Island -- and neighboring parts of New Jersey. We have two new champions in the Adult Latin and Adult Standard. The Adult Latin went to Valentin Chmerkovsky and Valeria Kozharinova, from New Jersey, and Igor Mikushov and Anna Demidova, also from New Jersey. Both couples will go on to represent the United States at the IDSF World Championships later this year: the IDSF World Latin in Moscow, Russia, and the IDSF World Standard in Vienna, Austria.

For the full list of finalists in the major events, including junior, youth, senior, smooth and rhythm, go to this post on the Forum. Limitations of space prevent me from listing them all here, but I do want to recognize Jorge Guzman and Arlene Yu for taking the top spot in Senior I and Senior II Latin. As their IDSF World Championship event has already taken place earlier this year, they will not get the chance to represent the United States in world competition in 2008, but they earn our respect and admiration for their wonderful achievement, and we look forward to their qualifying to represent the United States in 2009.

I took many photos at USA Dance Nationals, and if I set this page up correctly, and your browser accepts flash player, you should see a slideshow of the shots I took, above this paragraph to the right. If not, click this link to see the album. Included are shots of the tv cameras from cn8 comcast network, which taped the USA Dance nationals for broadcast starting at the end of next month. You may also have seen the announcement sent out yesterday about Inside Edition showing a segment from USA Dance Nationals, following a pre-teen couple from Washington state. If you were not able to catch it on tv last night, you can check out the story on the Inside Edition website.

Daphna Locker sends her thanks to all who came to Nationals, but Daphna, we are the ones who should thank you, the entire Nationals Organizing Committee (which you chaired) and all the volunteers that made this one of the best Nationals I have ever had the pleasure to experience. Kudos to you and everyone who made the 2008 USA Dance Nationals possible!
[img:carolla_hough]DWTS this week: I was back with the gang at ACME Bar and Grill to catch DWTS on Monday night, but I must confess that there were too many distractions on the screen that got in the way of my enjoyment of the show. First of all, rolling into the start of the Paso Doble on a unicycle? And then the cheesy drawn-on moustache? Those two grounds are reason enough to get Adam Carolla booted off -- and that's exactly what happened (thank goodness). Then what was with the skimpy outfits on Cristián de la Fuente and Cheryl Burke? Their two outfits combined I think comprised one costume. Did the costume designers run short of materials when it came time to make their costume? And then what was with Derek Hough's injury? One minute we're seeing footage of Derek getting hoisted into an ambulance after rehearsal for last week's results show, followed by footage of him in a neck brace coaching Shannon Elizabeth from a wheelchair, and then out he comes and dances a Viennese Waltz appearing good as new. Was there a magical faith healing moment that I missed? Also terribly distracting were some of the music choices for Paso Doble. If I am not mistaken (and I'm not), Mario and Karina Smirnoff danced their Paso to "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder -- a great West Coast Swing, but by no stretch of the imagination is it a Paso. Sorry! And it sure is a "Blue Monday" to watch Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas dancing Paso to New Order. I wish I had more to say about the dancing this week, but with all this other stuff happening, who could focus? I hope to see some dancing next week when the dances will be samba and rumba. Please join us at ACME, won't you?
[img:jason_edyta_NYer]Speaking of DWTS, that bastion of high culture "The New Yorker," after five seasons, has finally taken notice of the show and a review of season six appears in the April 14, 2008 issue -- on newsstands now, as the saying goes. Or, in this wonderful age of the internet, you can read it on-line. Read the excerpt on this post (which then takes you to the on-line version if you're inclined to read further).
If you're looking to social dance: For more ideas and suggestions, visit Wayne's Dance Commentary and NJoyDancing News & Notes.
Looking ahead: On Sunday night, April 20, a Sensational Evening of Ballroom Dance will be held at the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to raise funds for our Junior Blackpool Team. The fun begins at 7 pm, with complimentary buffet, general dancing and performances, including a show by World Professional Standard Finalists, Jonathan Wilkins and Hazel Newberry. Tickets are $75 in advance. For more details, check this post.
That does it for this edition. See you at the Ninth Annual Rutgers DanceSport Competition at Rutgers University in News Brunswick, New Jersey on April 12!
Yang Chen
President
Greater NY
USA Dance
(NYUSABDA)
www.nyusabda.org
www.nyusabda.org/forums-df
yang.chen@nyusabda.org