Day 8 – Amateur Ballroom Championship 

One of the major aspects of festivals like this one is the opportunity to network – to mingle with like-minded people for the purpose of doing business – and of course, dancing is a business just like any other (OK, it’s not like very many others, but you know what I mean!). There are plenty of opportunities at this festival for networking, with breaks between rounds of dancing, and the Exhibition Hall where as you wander around looking at the various shops and stalls you will always bump into friends and acquaintances, and find the chance to make new ones aswell. For those in business in the dancing world, this is an opportunity to find new outlets, to forge new alliances and identify to ways to expand their business. For the dancers themselves, they can use this time to be seen ‘out and about’, talking with the right people, and look for sponsorship opportunities and other deals that can help them in their dancing career. Like any other business, it’s not just about your talent – you have to market that talent to make sure yours is seen!

 

The second qualifying round for the Amateur Ballroom event took place this morning and the 154 couples were whittled down to the top 100, and 11 of the 14 British couples made it through to the first round proper. Five heats of 20 couples each made up the next round, and once again many of the couples found it difficult to navigate their way around the floor, which in turn makes the judges job that much harder. However, into the last 48 we saw 8 of the 11 British couples, which is a great achievement. Now of course, there are only 3 heats, so musty less time between dances to catch your breath, and this showed with some of the dancers in the tango and quickstep, Into the quarter0final – the last 24, only British couple made it through – reigning National Champions Mark and Olga Elsbury – but could they make the semi-final? Sadly no, the standard was just too strong. The audience of course, was treated to some fabulous ballroom dancing, and even in the final, the last 6 couples were still full of energy right to the last beat of the quickstep.

 

The winners today were Andrea Ghigiarelli & Sara Andracchio from Italy; second were Emanuel Valeri & Tania Kehlet from Denmark, with Simone Segatori & Annette Sudol who represent Germany in third place.

Day 7 – Professional Latin Championship, Ballroom Formation Championship and 1^st Qualifying round for the Amateur Ballroom Championship

Another busy day today, however, I decided not to watch Amateur Ballroom qualifying round, and instead wandered round the exhibition. Primarily, however, I wanted to find some new music for the MAD Club practice so I sat down with a pair of headphones and listened to some new CD releases – there were several stands in the exhibition selling music CDs and DVDs, so I decided to listen to as many as I could in the hope that I could bring back some new, and maybe different, music for our practice nights, held every Tuesday at the Cornbow Hall, in Halesowen. From the twenty or so that I sat at listened to I found 5 that I hope will bring some variation to our practices – although of course you cannot please everyone!

 

Of the 19 British couples in the first qualifying round of the Amateur Ballroom, 14 made it through to the second qualifying round, which will be held tomorrow morning, with the main event in the evening.

 

In the Formation event, there were n teams entered, with m from England, and this is always an entertaining competition to watch. It’s not easy for the teams, however, because they get to dance just once – there is no room for error with a straight final – one chance, and that’s it.

 

The main event this evening however, was the Professional Latin Championship – you will not see any better latin dancing anywhere in the world! Amongst the 300 or so entries, there were 8 from the UK however it has been a long time since we had a British Professional Latin finalist! Our best hopes of course were with Gregor Rebula and Rachel Heron, and Lisa and Alex Ivanets – all four are passed British National Professional Champions. The competition as excellent – a real treat for the huge audience. Only 3 brits made through to the 4^th round – the top 48, and only one British couple made the quarter final – Gregor and Rachel. Sadly, the semi and final was made up entirely of overseas couples, but what a semi and final it was. At this event, each of the 5 dances is marked individually – a bit like 10 dance comp, where a couple can make the semi or final of one or more dances. I don’t know any other event where this happens – another tradition of the British Open Championships!

 There were no surprises in this event, and the eventual winners were reigning World Champions Michael Malitowski and Joanna Leunis, representing Poland, with Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagorouitchenko from the USA in second place, and Franco Formica and Oxana Lebedew from Germany in 3^rd. The audience certainly got their money’s worth tonight!

Day 6 – Amateur Latin Championship and Under 21 Ballroom Championship 

Today we see two major events, but first there is the second qualifying round for the Amateur Latin event, with 217 couples hoping to make it to the last 150 or so to take part in the main event this evening. As ever, the competition is tough and the daytime panel have a hard time making their selections – and with only 16 British couples it is going to be tough for them too. After a further 90 minutes judges had made their choice and the top 138 couples recalled were posted – and 8 British couples were included. Some of the younger British amateurs, although they are ranked highly in the UK and are more than capable of taking part in this event, are not allowed - the organizers need to keep a check on the numbers entering otherwise the comp would need even longer! So couples entering the Under21 events are not allowed to also enter the open Amateur events, although they can enter the Rising star events. This however, was going to be a fabulous event to watch, despite the lack of many top Russian and Italian competitors.

 

The Under 21 Ballroom event got underway, with quite a reduced entry today, only 140 couples, so one less round than normal, and with 12 British couples, of which 8 made it through to the second round. With more than 20 couples on the floor at once, it was often very difficult for the couples to really show their true talents, but this is a big part of competitive dancing and you just have to work out a way of avoiding the pile-ups! The 3rd round, the last 48, saw 4 British couples go through, and they also made it through the quarter-final – Edmund Ault and Yasmin Priestnall, Sergey Kravchenko and Lauren Oakley, John and Katherine Gianinni, and Kyle Taylor and Liis End. The 24 was another tough round (aren’t they all!) and only John and Katherine and Kyle and Liis made it through to the semi final, and getting into the final was going to be very tough also, and as it was, only Kyle and Liis of the Brits made it through. The final was an excellent showcase for Ballroom Dancing, and the winners were very clear from the outset, looking quite a way ahead of the other 5. Winners were Chong He & Jing Shan from China, with Kyle and Liis coming 3^rd.

 

The audience was huge tonight, as always for first of the big events – the Amateur Latin Championship, and they were in for a treat, despite the lack of many Russian and most of the Italians. This event for me typifies the British Open Championships, with the best dancers in the world, in one of the most iconic locations, with the most tremendous music, and a huge audience, cheering along for their favorites. As the competition progressed, we had a good showing from the British Couples, with 7 in the last 48, and 5 in the last 24. Only two made it through to the semi final, however – Neil Jones and Ekaterina Sokolova, and Alejandro Hernandez and Kerri-Ann Donaldson – a tremendous achievement. Neil and Ekaterina made the final here last year, and made sure that they did not lose out this year either. The final was very exciting with all couples giving their all. Winners were Zoran Plohl and Tatsiana Lahvinovich from Croatia, with Jurij Batagelj & Jagoda Strukelj from Slovenia in second place, and Neil and Ekaterina placed 3^rd – great to see some British success!

Day 5 – Professional Rising Star Ballroom and Senior Latin Championships, and first qualifying round for Amateur Latin 

A busy day for the festival today, with qualifying rounds for the Amateur Latin championships, which complete tomorrow, and then the full events for Pro Rising Star Ballroom and Senior Latin. Because the events are so long, the festival employs two panels of judges – the daytime panel and the evening panel. The daytime panel are used for events taking place early in the day – such as the qualifying rounds, and the Rising Star Ballroom yesterday. The evening panel then adjudicates the main events in the afternoon and evening. There have been many suggestions over the years that a larger pool of judges should be employed, made up into different panels for the various events. However, the Blackpool Festival likes its traditions and so this hasn’t changed since the festival began 85 years ago.

 

In the Amateur Latin qualifier, from 310 starters there were 25 couples representing the UK, and of these 16 made it through to the second qualifying round tomorrow morning.

 

In the Pro Rising Star event, there were very few UK couples – only 8 of the 234 entered. The best showing here was Anthony and Zoe Price who made the quarter finals. This was a fabulous event, however, with some excellent dancing, considering the top 24 in the world are not included! May of these dancers just take ballroom dancing to another level – you can watch a fabulous couple and marvel at their skill, only to see another couple that are even better – and you wonder how do they do that?

 

The senior Latin event also took place this evening, with a much smaller filed of only 85 couples, however, there were 19 from the UK, so we were very well represented, which is great to see. Sadly, half of these couples did not make it to the second round, which is shame, but I have to take my hat off to them and say well done, even for trying! A problem for most UK dancers, but seniors in particular, is the lack of opportunity to dance against overseas couples, because without this experience, it is very easy to be taken by surprise by the power and performance of overseas couples. It’s almost as though outside the UK, the starting point is not about technique and precision, but about projection and power – and this is what get’s you noticed in the early rounds. Our seniors need to learn this and the best way to learn is from more regular experience. (Editors note – I know it is very easy for me to say this, and very difficult to address!). The good new however, is that 6 of the 9 British couples in the second round also made it through the third round – the quarter final - well done guys! From here, however, it was just British National Champions Steve and Sue Witherington that made the semi final, and that round was very tough, with some excellent dancing from all 12 couples. Sadly, Steve and Sue did not make the final as they had last year, and eventual winners were Petri and Ulla Jarvinen from Finland.

 

The semi and final of the Pro Rising Star had some tremendous displays of ballroom dancing and the judges must have found it difficult to make their selection for the final, although sadly, there were no British couples to choose from. During the past few days, the chairman of the judges, Marcus Hilton, had had one or two tricky names to announce, but had done a fine job with them. I was hoping, however, for couple number 202 to be in the final – Pasin Pongtanatron and Kamonthip Jirawattanadumrong, from Thailand. Sadly, it was not to be! During the final, Marcus introduced the winners of the very first Pro Rising Star event at the festival, from 1967 and 68 – Pat Thompson and George Coad, who graciously accepted the very warm applause – and Pat was only 15 when she first won!!

 

Winners today were Valario Colantoni and Yulia Spesivsteva from Russia. (Hmm…. since the winners were announced at 1.00am, technically they were winners tomorrow!)

Day 4 – Amateur Rising Stars Ballroom and Amateur Rising Star Latin Championships 

Sunday is the day of the Rising Stars – first Ballroom, then Latin. Today is the culmination of 4 qualifying rounds over 3 days, and those couples that have succefully made it through can now embark on Round 1!

 

The Rising Star events are open to all amateur competitors with the exception of the top 24 in the world - that is, the couples who finished in the top 24 of the open Amateur events at last year’s British Open. This gives those outside of the top 24 the opportunity to get close to semi or a final when they ordinarily would not, and nobody wants to finish early, so the as ever the competition is really fierce. There are 4 rounds before the final of the Ballroom event, and there are plenty of Brits in this comp – wouldn’t it be great to see some them into the later rounds? Well, four english couples made it through to the semi final – Richard Still and Morgan Hemphill, Ben Taylor and Stefanie Bossen, Kyle Taylor and Liis End, and Midlands couple Jack Beale and Karolina Szmit. The semi was tough for the dancers – surely we can get at least 2 British couples into the finals? Well…no. The only couple that made for the Brits was Jack and Karolina – fantastic for the midlands, and he was jumping for joy!! The final was fabulous to see – all couples giving their all – and most completely worn out by the end of the quickstep! Eventual winners were Polish couple Lukasz Tomczak & Aleksandra Jurczak, with Jack and Karolina coming a very creditable 5^th.

 

The latin event was over 6 rounds, with 256 couples commencing the first round ‘proper’, and 14 British couples hoping to get a further recall today. Again, the competition was fierce, as everyone did their best to impress the panel of judges. By the last 96 we still had 10 British couples, all trying their hardest to make the next round, and 6 made it through to the last 48 – this was looking for good for the UK.  The quarter-final saw only 4 English couples go through, and two made the semi –final – Michael Hemera and Luaren McFarlane (originally from Australia), and Danny Stowell and Kate Moore. The semi was very competitive however, and neither Brit made it to the final. With 15 couples and semi-final and 7 in the final, it was clear the judges were having a hard time making their selections. However, the final was excellent, and eventually won by Sarunas Greblikas and Viktoria Horeva from Latvia.

 

It was an early finish tonight – 7.30pm – so time to re-charge the batteries for the rest of the week!

Day 3 – Amateur Rising Stars Ballroom second qualifying round, Under 21 Latin Championship and Professional Team Match 

The morning session was for the Amateur Ballroom Rising Stars and their second qualifying round, with another early start at 10.30. In these early rounds, the floor is very crowded, and collisions are inevitable, but thankfully there were no serious accidents or injuries, and the competitors made it through their second agonizing wait for the recall sheets to be displayed.

 

The evening session had two events – the Under 21 Latin Championship and the Professional Invitational Team Match – and tonight, the ballroom was packed with spectators eager to see the top professionals and the young pretenders!

 

With well over 200 couples starting the U21 event, the judges were going to have a difficult time of it, with the first round danced in 10 heats. It was good to see plenty of British competitors in this event, and many of them went straight through to the second round. But now the event really got going, and the standard was amazing – so many young dancers from around the world, and all world-class competitors. Within 4 rounds, the judges had whittled the 200 or so starters down to 48 of the best young dancers in the world – with three British couples as well (although only one of these is all-british) – Adelmo Mandia and Leila Stewart; Kyle Taylor and Liis End; and MAD Club members Andrew Escolme and Amy Baker. It was great to see the UK represented at this level. The early rounds were run very close to each other, with less than 30 minutes between rounds; however, now the couples had over two hours to wait for their recalls to the quarter finals. Now it is the turn of the professionals.

 

This event has always been the highlight for spectators in these early days of the festival – even though it is a friendly event, the spectacle of the top professionals from different countries competing against each other. Traditionally, the teams provide some entertainment prior to the actual team match however, this year there were two big changes. The first was no entertainment – just straight into the team match. The second change was to the teams themselves – usually, there would be 4 teams from specific countries – normally, Italy, Russia, USA, and the UK. This year however, the teams were from Asia, Europe, USA and the Great Britain. Not sure what prompted these changes, (maybe politics) but they did not detract from the event itself – the team match – which still had everyone in the audience cheering for their favorite dancers, and it was a fantastic spectacle. With 5 world champions, 3 European champions, and 4 Asian Champions, we could truly say we were watching the best in the world. Like last year, the winners were the USA, with Europe second, Great Britain third and Asia fourth.

 

And now, finally, the under 21’s got to find out if they have progressed to the quarter final. Everyone was hopeful – no-one wanted to go out now – but of course only 24 can go through. The good news was that Andrew and Amy were through, as were Kyle and Liis. The quarter-final was tremendous- all couples delighted to be there and giving everything they’ve got, and the audience loved it. With just a short-wait before the semi-final, the chairman, Marcus Hilton, read out the numbers recalled – sadly neither British couple made it through, but watching the semi, all couples were dancing at their best. The final commenced just after midnight and the eventual winners were Vjaceslavs Visnakovs and Terezo Kizlo from Latvia – and well deserved it was too.

 

For MAD Club members Andrew and Amy it was great to once again demonstrate that they are the best of their generation in the country, and strong contenders on the world stage.

Day 2 – 2nd Qualifying Rounds for Amateur Rising Star Latin, Senior Ballroom and Pro Rising Star Latin  

As usual it was an early start for the Amateur Latin Rising Stars for their second qualifying round – a further session with 13 heats of intense, frenetic competition to reduce the now 250 couples down to around 180 couples to qualify for the first round proper on Sunday. Again there were long waits between dances, and with over 20 couples on the floor in each heat, the judges job was getting harder and harder. Once again there was the wait for all the couples to see if they would be recalled, and again there would be both joy and disappointment in equal measure as the dancers found out if they would get another chance, or make their way home.

 

In the afternoon we were to see the commencement of the first events that would run right through to their conclusion – the Senior Ballroom Championship and the Professional Rising Star Latin Championships.

 

The Senior Ballroom had a good entry from the home countries, with 17 couples from the British Isles taking part. That said, this was going to be an extremely tough competition, and many were here more to experience the thrill of competing in Blackpool against the best in the world, rather than with any real hope of lifting a trophy. However, what we saw from all the couples was tremendous enthusiasm and great joy at dancing in the best ballroom in the world. Overall, the brits did better than last year with Phil Holding and Deborah Truman making the semi final, and Dan Baxter and Janine Desai and John Townsend and Sabine Kuntze making the quarter-final. Eventual winners were Slawek Lukawczyk and Edna Klein from Belgium, who won for the third time.

 

Once again, of the 259 couples entered in the Pro Rising Star Latin event, only 6 couples were from the UK, however, we were treated to some fabulous dancing from the pros. This was also the first professional comp for new professionals Evgeny Smagin and Polina Kazachenko from Russia. The only reason I mention them is that Evgeny used to dance amateur for England, with Rachel Heron, and he had a lot of support from all parts of the audience this evening and rightly so, because they were very clearly strong contenders from the outset. Of the British contingent, Gunnar Gunnarsson and Amy Bennett came out tops making the semi-final, however, winners were Evgeny and Polina – and very pleased they were too!

Day 1 - Qualifying Rounds for Amateur Rising Star Ballroom and Latin
 

Here we are again in Blackpool – the home of British Dancing and the ‘mecca’ for the dancers from all over the world – it’s the British Open Championships 2010! I don’t like repeating myself from last year, but walking down the steps into the Empress Ballroom, listening to the Empress Orchestra (even though on CD), I still get goose-bumps – it’s just fantastic to be here, and to see so many competitors from around the world who all feel the same as me.

 

Day one as usual is for the first qualifying round for the Amateur Rising Star Latin and Ballroom competitors. 8 hours dedicated to just 2 rounds! It’s difficult to get your head round the scale of the event unless you are here to see it, but imagine the average Sunday comp, but only seeing two rounds of dancing, and with 10 times the number of couples!

 

So first off it’s the Latin comp – this will be danced in 19 heats (not that’s not a typo!). With so many heats, if they ran 19 heats there would be nearly 40 minutes between each DANCE! So to try to make it a little easier on the couples, they run the round in two parts, with 10 heats in the first part, and 9 in the second – so at least the dancers only have around 20 minutes between dances! This year the number of entries is a little down on last year – lost of international dance politics at play – but the number of British couples has increased with 32 entered – and that is excellent. Once the first part is over, there is a short break before the second part gets under way, and those who danced in the first part now have to wait for a couple of hours to find out if they have been recalled to the second qualifying round. You have to hand it to the judges for keeping their concentration going for nearly 4 hours with only a short break, while they watch hundreds of dancers whiz past them, all trying to impress them with their musicality, technique, and fitness. Technique tends to get a bit lost in these early rounds – the judges don’t have time to watch, so it’s really who catches their eye – so you have to be big and bold!

 

After the second part there was then the agonizing wait to see who was recalled, and who had missed out, and there was the usual scrum around the postings! (Imagine the scrum looking at the marking sheets after a comp – then multiply by 10!).

 

Next up it’s the turn of the ballroom competitors - not quite so many in this event, only about 350(!), but still just as grueling and hard-fought. Once again we get to listen to the fantastic music of Blackpool - I always get such a lift from this traditional yet timeless style of music!

 

It’s 8.30 now, and everyone is tired and wants to know if they have been recalled to the next qualifying round – I dread to think what it is like to have flown half-way around the world to find that you have been knocked out in the first round. However, for most there is another event they can dance in, so they just have to pick themselves up and try again. For those that are through, they will do it all again tomorrow (Latin) or Saturday (Ballroom) and hope that they make the first round proper!