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"America's Ballroom Challenge No. 3"
- Author:
- Elizabeth Knoll, 2-time Ohio Star Ball Champion
- Date Published:
- February 20, 2007
The Ohio Star Ball
As seen on TV as "America's Ballroom Challenge"
Third of a five-part series
Week Three: World Class Elegance!!!!
And here we are at one of the highlight styles of the competition. For those of you not familiar with International Style, it is the style of dance that is danced all over the world, with a single syllabus recognizable in any language. This particular style (formerly called "Modern Ballroom Dancing" and now termed "Standard Dancing") has been standardized for nearly one hundred years. Attempts to update and/or mess with the syllabus have been only marginally successful. The famous (or infamous!) gray book is our technical reference book, much as the dictionary is the reference book for language. While you cannot and should not learn to dance out of the book, we use the book for reference and to guide us through professional exams. More on exams and the book at a later date!
For now, we will concentrate on the dancing. International Standard dances remain in closed dance position with body contact. We see Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Slow Foxtrot, and Quickstep. The gentlemen traditionally wear white tie and tailsuits (NOT tuxes!), although we occasionally see the trendy London length jacket. Ladies wear elegant ballgowns. The current style of gown is long and flowing with much decoration in the form of rhinestones, lace, and sometimes feathers. Trendy again are soft floats (sometimes referred to as "batwings"); fortunately these floats are more sheer and enhance the movement of the dancer more than the heavy ones of the past that disguised the dancers' bodies.
I thought this show was one of the better ones presented. The introductory dance by retired Canadian champions Alain Doucet and Anik Jolicoeur was striking and dramatic. I appreciated it as entertainment, but would have preferred seeing more dancing! These two are terrific dancers, and this number was more Cabaret than dancing. The young amateur couples who presented dances were great....did you see the hips on that young boy doing the Samba? Whoa! Pro/Am Champions Adrienne Brown with teacher Jeff Nehrbass presented a lovely Waltz.
But the focus of the show needs to be on the competition. I will NOT rank the dancers based on what I saw on the TV, because this was VERY disappointing. One of my brilliant students (boy, most of them seem to be brilliant, huh?!) commented that is was very difficult to watch the event because of the camera work. Just when we wanted to see the entire picture, the camera zoomed in on their sweat. When we needed to see the champions, we saw the 5th or 6th place couple. I ran into the same challenge in 1989 and 1991: we won the competition, but were given little air-time. Instead the 5th and 6th place couples were shown A LOT, and then I had to answer the question "congratulations on your win, but WHY did you win?" The benefit to being at the competition is that you get to watch whomever you want whenever you want.
Instead, I will rank the dancers the way they ended up in the competition and make comments based on what we saw on TV.
1. Jonathan Wilkins and Katusha Demidova (NY) Incredible champions. Katusha is such a lovely dancer (and person, by the way), and they move with ease and grace. Their Foxtrot is especially well danced, showing flight, swing, shape and outstanding CBMP.
2. Victor Fung and Anna Mkhed (CA) Watch out for these two. They are doing well here and overseas, and they could challenge the champions very soon. In fact, they are already taking marks off Jonathan and Katusha. Tango is their signature dance, thanks to a brilliant show number done to Beethoven's 5th. Foxtrot is one of my favorite dances from this couple, but Quickstep is the one the audience loves. Light, bright and quick, they seem to defy gravity. An excellent example of the current style of floats.
3. Linus Koreiva and Ieva Pauksena (NJ) She formerly danced with Victor Fung and with Giampiero Giannico, and in my opinion is one of the best lady dancers in the world. While her partnerships with Victor and Giampiero were exceedingly successful, she seems to have found another great partner. Linus is very understated and elegant, and this was a good placement for them. I love the sophisticated image they present.
4. Giampiero Giannico and Anastasia Muravyeva (NJ) A former British finalist with Ieva Pauksena, Giampiero is one of the strongest male dancers I've seen in a long time. Anastasia is a great feminine foil for his masculine dancing. I was particularly impressed with her posture and grace. An excellent performance that we will never see again, as Giampiero has retired from professional competition.
5. Erminio Stefano and Liene Apale (NY) Another former Victor Fung partner, Liene also danced with Victor's older brother Alex. I actually liked that partnership the best. I was very disappointed in the Erminio and Liene's look. I thought they looked very old-fashioned, and much older than they really are. There's no denying they are very good dancers, and deserved to be in this final, but I found their dancing uninspired. Nice, but not challenging or unique.
6. Igor Litvinov and Julia Ivleva (NJ) Is there something in the water in New Jersey that produces so many fabulous dancers? I have always been a fan of Igor and Julia's, even though they tend to be a little low-key. This competition was an exception. They looked fresh and young and full of energy. I loved her pink dress! Based on what I saw on TV, I thought 5th and 6th could have been reversed.
Showdance:
1. Igor and Julia Nirvana segue. I have seen this number before and am a huge fan of it. Igor normally looks like the little boy next door who grew up into a nice man. So the triple mohawk and bad-boy attitude is a hilarious contrast! The "headbanger" part won me over the first time, and was just as fresh and funny on TV. Excellent.
2. Jonathan and Katusha Viennese Waltz. Great dancing, great technique, excellent demonstration of the style, pretty number, but not really inspiring overall. I have seen their show a number of times, and think they rely (rightly) on the strength of their dancing and not gimmicks. My reaction to this number was a little lukewarm.
3. Giampiero and Anastasia Tango Wow! He sure looks the part. I loved everything about this number. Great.
4. Linus and Ieva Foxtrot/Tango to a song we normally associate with Cha Cha! Again, wow! I loved Ieva's nasty girl look, and thought the dancing was great. I would have been hard pressed to have chosen between this and Giampiero and Anastasia's number for 2nd place.
5. Erminio and Liene Viennese Waltz. I had the same reaction to this number I did to their performance in the competition. It was a little uninspired and didn't go with the music. Whether they missed the cue or not, instead of a static picture line, he should have swept her up into a lift corresponding to a crescendo in the song. Not their best effort.
6. Victor and Anna Foxtrot. To a fabulous Il Divo song and it was a fabulous dance. Whether they deliberately ignored the time rule, or didn't know, we the audience should have been apprised of that rule. Their 6th place finish was very disappointing. I would personally have liked to see their Beethoven Tango.
So overall, this was the best effort by WGBH to present ballroom dancing, even compared to some of the older classic shows. Next up is the International Latin, probably the most exciting division of dancing today. A final comment about International Style: one of the best things about this style is that we can see basic actions. That is nearly impossible in the American Styles. Look at the Standard and you can see a Waltz Natural Turn, a Tango Progressive Link, a Foxtrot Feather Step. And Viennese Waltz is nothing BUT basic actions. In the Latin you should be able to recognize a Fan and Alemana in Rumba, Locks in Cha Cha, Voltas and Bota Fogos in Samba, a Basic in Jive.
Have fun, and GO DANCING!!!!!