SPDSC NEWS 7 2009 - Swiss

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SWISS PROFESSIONAL DANCE SPORT COUNCIL 2009 UK Report by courtesy of Dancebeat World United Kingdom Amateur Standard Championship The region of southern England where the lovely city of Bournemouth is now situated has been receiving overseas visitors for at least two millennia and, 2,000 years after the victorious Roman legions brought Pax Romana and international contact to the area, the locals seem to have got the hospitality right - particularly if the visitors are dancers! Under two hours from London by road or rail and with international air and sea ports nearby, access is no problem. Cosy hotels, some with ballrooms available for practice, cluster around a center boasting many high-quality clothing stores - No sweat if your tux is stranded in Dusseldorf! Good food, inexpensive cabs and the spacious Bournemouth International Centre, to say nothing of Mediterranean-style paseos and some of the best-kept beaches in Europe, ensure that this town is a year-round magnet to all visitors and an ideal location for a dance festival. On 22nd January, a little seasonal English drizzle put the beach temporarily on the back burner, but it did nothing to dampen the ardor of the faultlessly-groomed dancers purposefully trailing wheelie-bags down winding sidewalks to the BIC for the United Kingdom Open Championships. These very special visitors, cosmopolitan as those who came with Caesar, bring a peace of their own to any place they grace with their presence. I have remarked before how impressive I find the impeccable public behaviour of ballroom dancers, wherever they hail from and I am immensely proud that so many choose each year to attend this festival and others in the UK. Meanwhile, inside the ballroom that even sounds like a pen, those all-powerful implements were out and a hushed audience awaited, almost demanded to hear, the names and numbers of those recalled to the final of the 2009 Open Amateur Standard Championship. As is traditional at this event, after making a grand entrance from the stage, all finalists danced an honour dance when introduced to the floor for the final, alternating in turn between waltz, quickstep and foxtrot. Final: One sometimes hears complaints that individuality has vanished from today’s top competitors. My overriding feeling watching this final was that this claim was patently ill-founded, the couples showing marked differences in style and presentation. I felt truly spoilt for choice viewing this super final. 1:Benedetto Ferruggia - Claudia Koehler (Germany). Dancing the foxtrot as their honor-dance and reversing their British Open result vis a vis their runners-up, the eminently watchable Benedetto and Claudia, last year’s runners-up, gave a fine performance, exhibiting great showmanship and personality as well as a voluminous hold. Earlier in the competition I thought that energy was perhaps a little dominant over style, but this had passed by the final, where they were convincing throughout, but especially in the fast dances. Changing from her dark red of the semi-final, Claudia wore a white gown with silver and diamante trim, which caught the light superbly well. Confident, though a little less refined in foxtrot tonight than the runners-up, I thought, but their Viennese Waltz covered the floor in classic style and its English cousin showed some lovely stretchy lines that seemed to go on for ever. 2:Andrea Ghigiarelli - Sara Andracchio (Italy). There is something truly classy about this couple, who exude charm and sophistication and always dance tall. Tonight they treated us to a very expressive waltz, which was also their pre-final honordance. Changing from her red of the semi-final, Sara tackled the final round in a dress with a shimmering silver bodice and insets of violet-blue and fuschia. She and Andrea swung with great coolness through their Viennese Waltz, performing the phrased changes effortlessly. Though they danced also with great expression in the slow waltz, I liked their beautifully flighted and choreographed foxtrot best. They presented a strong challenge to the winners and are certainly a couple to watch with interest. 3: Emanuel Valeri - Tania Kehlet (Denmark). Setting aside the turquoise and silver creation she wore for the semi-final, Tania wore salmon-pink with a paneled bodice and fishtail hem, which enhanced the action of their introductory quickstep nicely. This is a compact partnership characterized by high energy and both partners exhibited delightful, playful personalities throughout their performance, adding much to their already high popularity. A slight slip in the final tango did not deter their enthusiasm for this dance, which showed much character in my view. A marker of confidence, in stamina at least, was their early start to most dances. The foxtrot was one such dance where also prodigious footpressure helped make this dance a joy to watch. The early long-side run and leap in quickstep has been popular for some time now. Perhaps one day it will go the way of pot-stirring and the Horse and Cart in the Cuban dances, but it isn’t trite yet and still looked fresh tonight. Certainly it delighted of the crowd, who cheered each time this couple became airborne. 4: Simone Segatori - Annette Sudol (Germany). Simone presents a cool persona on the dance-floor and Annette is the perfect foil for him, she wearing a lovely gown in soft orange with long, feathery floats for this most important of rounds. Most becoming she looked too! His ram-rod straight back and sharp shoulder line completed a very disciplined presentation at the top. Strong, neat feet kept the other end of the operation in order and were noticeable in their honor-foxtrot. An atmospheric tango with some very well-conceived choreography pleased most overall. 7. AUSGABE SEITE 16
SWISS PROFESSIONAL DANCE SPORT COUNCIL 2009 UK Amateur Standard, Report by courtesy of Dancebeat World 5: Marat Gimaev - Alina Basiouk (Russia). Dancing an honor Waltz and Alina wearing a pale lemon dress with long floats, they were a most elegant couple, if a little serious-looking at times in presentation. Alina though has an admirable poise of the body when changing line. Great control and virtuosity in performance is a lasting memory of their dancing on this occasion, they showing some unusual slow aerial work in Waltz and much stretch and good maintenance of contact during clever swivel actions in foxtrot. A small slip towards the end of their Quickstep did not detract. 6: Valerio Colantoni - Sara Di Vaira (Italy). Sara was wearing a long, black dress with small diamante flowers and black and blue floaters when she and Valerio appeared and danced an introductory Quickstep, which was lively and vivacious in presentation. Their slow waltz had beautiful expression and great control of weight and form, allowing them to remain shapely and balanced through testing pivots and spins. Perhaps still lacking something of the volume of movement shown by the winners, they have wonderful musicality and style. Serious Viennese Waltzers will know how coy and retiring the line of dance becomes when reversing around corners, in contrast to its ebullient greeting to those who approach in natural mode. The Viennese of this partnership, however, never lost pace or control and they accomplished the testing reverse-turn circumnavigation of the room ends with ease. Semi-final: A thirteen-couple semi-final testified to the strong competition in the quarter-final round. Those not recalled to the final were as follows: Chao Yang – Yi ling Tan (China). Finalists at last year’s Open British at Blackpool, Chao and Yi Ling challenged for a place in the final today, Yi Ling wearing light blue for the occasion. Great coordination was a feature of their work today, Chao also exhibiting a strong back line in tango. They seem to have addressed previous stamina issues and looked strong throughout. Donatas Vezelis - Lina Chatkeviciute (Lithuania). Tonight Lina wore a beautiful jade green creation with jade and silver bands on the bodice She and Donatas connected well with the audience on this occasion I thought, smiling all the way through their swing dances. They danced, too, a lovely sequence of well-controlled turns in the opening waltz, which told of strong feet and legs. Their tango looked rather studied and thoughtful, but showed good interpretation of this dance. Sergei Konovaltsev - Olga Konovaltseva (Russia). Olga looked very elegant in pale pink on entering , she and Sergei going on to achieve some fashionably deep line-work in their presentation. Always a lively pair in quickstep, I was not surprised to find that I enjoyed their interpretation of this dance most. Wiktor Kiszka - Malgorzata Garlicka (Poland). Malgorzata chose pale green and white with sequined panels for this semi-final. Both partners showed bright personalities in the moving dances, though Wiktor adopted a suitably severe persona for the tango. A slick quickstep showed quick changes of body shape at speed. They produce some prodigiously extended shapes at times, though I sometimes feel the shoulder-line is a little strained. Federico Di Toro - Genny Favero (Italy). Genny wore a pale sugar-pink dress for this round. She and Federico danced a waltz characterized by great swing and stretchy lines. They are a very striking and free-moving couple and will no doubt benefit from these strengths as their shaping and movement develop to match those of the leaders. Marco Cavallaro - Joanne Clifton (England). Without a doubt the best performance that I have seen to date from England’s top duo. They looked very confident in this company and produced a real challenge for higher honors with great personality and showmanship.. If they tently, it surely can only be a matter of time before this delightful pair achieve escape velocity in a major semi-final and join the stars in the top six. Joanne looked lovely in a black dress with silver leaves and black feathers on skirts and floats. Björn Bitsch - Ashli Williamson (Denmark). Ashli wore a candy-pink crinoline with a pink diamante bodice. A superb set of extended reverse waves, danced with great stretch and feeling, stand out particularly in my mind as did some impressive floor-craft in places. Report by Timothy Palmer http://www.dancebeatworld.com 7. AUSGABE SEITE 17
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SPDSC NEWS 7 2009 - Swiss

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