IDSF World Standard - DanceBeat World

3rd 4th
In third place were Simone Segatore & Annette
Sudol (Germany). 3W, 3T, 3VW, 3F, 4Q. This
young, elegant couple have improved a great
deal over the last twelve months. They have a
classical look and demeanor accomplished by
great understanding of musicality. Their swing
dances were great examples, showing the character
of the dances to me. However, tango was
the weakest and lacked energy compared to the
couples in front of them. However, a good job,
well done!
Fourth place went to Sergey Konavaltsev &
Olga Konavaltseva (Russia). This couple are
a mystery to me. If anyone has the potential to
5th 6th
challenge the couples above and go on to become
champions, this couple has it! Unfortunately,
they have more tricks in their choreography
than a magician does in Las Vegas. If I
wanted to hire a couple for a show, I would pick
them purely for the entertainment value. If they
could mix more quality into their dancing, then
this would be a couple to watch out for. But at
the moment they are giving the judges a headache
deciding what to do with them.
Marek Kosary & Paulina Glazik (Poland) were
placed fifth. This is a couple with a softness to
their dancing that most couples seem to lack.
As at the German Open, they impressed me
right up to the final but for some reason faded
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away as the final progressed. What
they need is a little more spark to go
with their good silhouette and lines.
They are one of the cleanest couples
on the floor with their movement and
presentation and are not overdone as
we see in other cases.
Completing the final and deservedly
so, were Dmitry Zharkov &
Olga Kulikova (Russia). This was
the first time I had seen this couple,
and what an impression they made on
me! They stood out as soon as they
walked on the floor. They are a tall,
powerful couple who have the look
of superstars in the making. In the
semifinal I think the excitement got
to them a little and they tried a bit too
hard. Once in the final they excelled
themselves. The future looks very
bright for them.
Regarding the dancing
overall, my conversations
with fellow professionals
after the event led me to
believe that you either like or dislike
the direction we are going with
these couples to achieve the concept
of dancing as sport. For myself, I
would like to see more quality in all
areas of the performance rather than
the trickery, back bends, awkwardlooking
head positions and producing
energy just for running around
the floor, particularly in tango and
quickstep. Personally, I am not liking
where the dancing is going and
changes need to be made to bring
it back to the art it is. A mixture
of both (art and sport) I can agree
on, because from an entertainment
viewpoint, for the audience, the
sport approach is exciting, but I just
feel these young people have so
much more to offer if we can find
a way to re-direct them and bring
together all the elements and not focus
purely on the athletic side.
As I said earlier, we all have our
own opinions and that’s what makes
the world go round.