Blackpool Dance Festival
Warren Franklyn Boyce reports on the next generation of Stars competing in this year’s Under 21 Years Ballroom at the Blackpool Dance Festival
Tuesday 30th May British Open Under 21 Years Ballroom Championship
The fifth and final round of this competition saw seven couples enter the final such was the quality of this event. It doesn’t require a great deal of imagination to see these couples very soon appearing in major Amateur finals, a very talented next generation is on the rise! Multiple standing ovations spontaneously took place throughout this Youth final and also the spectacular Amateur Latin Championship final to create memories of a night to be remembered in history
1st Dmytro Rodin & Sofia Alba. Winners in all dances Dima and Sonia possess the quality of great smoothness in this field whilst at any moment it is in their repertoire to be the most explosive couple also in terms of measured range at great speed particularly in Tango & Quickstep. Sonia showed beautiful and natural developments tonight which warmed supporters to this couple. Congratulations on a double win of both this event and the Amateur Rising Star. Good luck for the next step and your future in the Amateur ranks
2nd Andrei Cutasevschi & Anna Vasina. Gave the most spirited performance from the very first round of the competition and Anna looked absolutely gorgeous in both her choices of dress. Andrei is one of the most likeable dancers you could ever appreciate on the dancefloor and tonight he had exemplary behaviour that would have seen him in contention for this title also. Well done
3rd TingHui Li and YuWei Liu David & Vivienne from China have an incredibly bright future and if their development continues, it is only a matter of time before their unusual combination of power and softness are fully recognised that they are maybe the most special Chinese couple of their generation. They placed sixth in the Waltz tonight, but I found their sweeping Waltz one of the best
4th Mark Chilcote & Madison Ingoldsby. Fantastic and the best is yet to come from this couple they just need to continue their rapid improvement which has seen them take dances from the winners in all the events leading up to this competition. What they possess is absolutely priceless; unique and special talent. Mark and Madison were very popular with the audience and of course will hope to already improve on this result in the Amateur Championship that follows
5th ChangBin Yan and PengYuan Yu. Were a powerhouse couple that could not be missed. Clearly the most mature looking couple on the floor, they made the most of their age and experience to place so well in this event. In addition to their strength of line and movement ChangBin has very small and neat feet that always look like they have been used in the correct way, which is pleasing to see in this category
6th Maksymilian Serafin and Weronika Majerowska. Outstanding and elegant performers that also showed great awareness of others today whilst they went about showing their new best. A great example to some other youth competitors to show the importance of reverence. They should be very proud of how they danced today
7th Michael Tarnowski and Olga Piejko. Michael and Olga found a terrific flow in this event and weaved almost effortlessly in and out of the other competitors and sometimes challenging situations. Olga had a beautiful look and Michael is already gaining big experience at the top level for some time. Very warm couple and delightful personalities saw their dancing very well received by the knowledgeable audience as well
Today the festival continues with one of the absolute highlights in the British Open Amateur Ballroom Championship. Wishing good luck to all the competitors taking part this evening. A new Champion couple will be crowned following last year’s Championship winners Michal Le and Sandra Jablonska’s progression into the ranks of the Professionals, which already got off to a wonderful start with the clear all dances victory in the Professional Rising Stars Ballroom on Monday.