Copy
 
Newsletter 2018/12/07

DanceSport SuperStars in the Final

2018/12/7

It has taken a whole year to make it through to the 2018 GrandSlam Final in Shanghai. From Helsinki to Taipei, and from Rimini via Stuttgart to Moscow. All these fantastic events, in collaboration with Swarovski, have been setting the shining scene for the upcoming weekend in Shanghai.

The weekend will begin with the Walk of Fame downtown Shanghai. A Hollywood-type, 100-metre red carpet stroll for the athletes, surrounded by cameras and fans will give our DanceSport SuperStars the credit they deserve. We will be reporting and capturing the best moments from the scene.

The Series Finals will continue with Latin on Saturday and with Standard on Sunday. We will be live streaming the event through our partner FloDance.com. For exact schedule please go to our Live Blog where we will add the detailed information.

The Epic 2018 World Standard

2018/12/7

The World Championship Standard came back to Vienna, Austria, home of the Viennese Waltz. It was one of the most anticipated and respected events of the year, and this time there was even a little extra to it. There were five couples who had reached three World titles, but no couple had ever reached four in Standard.

Until Dmitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova entered the scene and made history. They dominated the competition from start to finish and as the scores of the last dance, Viennese Waltz of course, were shown, the accomplishment after years and years of hard work was written on their faces and the expressions.

Not only for the winners, it was epic for the runners-up as well. Two couples were tied in scores for the second place after two dances, and the margin was so narrow during the rest, that it took all the way to the Viennese Waltz to find out which couple won silver, and which one won bronze. The couples were literally pushing each other to the next level, and the final result could have gone either way. This time it was the Lithuanians Evaldas Sodeika – Ieva Zukauskaite who reached the higher step on the podium and the Italians Francesco Galuppo – Debora Pacini had to settle for the lower one.

Nevertheless, the competition was so tight and exciting that it just put the icing on the cake to make the 2018 World Standard an epic and a memorable event.

World Ten Dance, the marathon

2018/12/7

The 2018 World Championship Ten Dance turned out to be a true example of endurance, style, grace and precision, and unpredictability. The final result remained unclear until the very last dance of the final was over.

It was the amazing latin round which determined the places for top three on the podium. Estonians Konstantin Gorodilov – Dominika Bergmannova kept their spirits up until the very end and won the title by 1.48-point margin to Daniil Ulanov – Kateryna Isakovych (CYP), who had been in lead after Standard. Winson Tam – Anastasia Novikova (CAN) had also a very strong Latin round and they finished third.

Michelle Blank from FloDance has covered the World Ten Dance in Warsaw, Poland.

The final qualifying leg of 2018 GrandSlam Series in Moscow

2018/12/7

The last qualifying leg of the 2018 GrandSlam Series took place in Moscow, Russian Federation in late October. Both Standard and Latin offered wide spectrum of emotions and the highest quality of DanceSport there is at the moment. The Moscow leg determined the top twelve on the GrandSlam Ranking List, the couples who have been invited to Shanghai for the Series Final if they have participated in four or more qualifying legs to be eligible in the Final.

It was a triumph for Russian couples. Both Armen Tsaturyan – Svetlana Gudyno and Dmitry Zharkov – Olga Kulikova came to their home ground and conquered. Armen and Svetlana as new World Champions and Dmitry and Olga, three-times World Champions on the way to the World Championship Standard, which would take place in three weeks.

And the Russian crowd, fully packed to the tribunes of Crocus Expo, did not have to disappoint at all. On the contrary, they witnessed what the best couples in the World in Standard and Latin do when the competition is tight, and the crowd is warm and supportive towards all the wonderful athletes. It was a truly phenomenal weekend with Swarovski shimmer in Moscow!