My photos from Sunday night, the final night of the competition, are now up. They start here.
Sorry the pictures are blurry. Someday I am going to get a professional camera, I really am.
The final day of the competition was okay, not as exciting to me as the others. For one thing, it was pretty obvious who would win. For another, there was a surprisingly low number of entries in the Rhythm category. There were only 13 in all, which means there were only two rounds: a semifinal and a final (since 12-13 people can dance on the floor at once). There are usually twice as many. So, we only got to see two rounds of the top dancers. Not enough!
Jose Decamps was himself. He’s so much fun to watch — just look at his facial expressions in my pictures! It would be worth it to see him in a one-man show. I think he’s probably the most charismatic dancer we’ve had in any of the categories for a long time.
Placing second were Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine and Julia Gorchakova, another favorite couple of mine, who I feel I hardly got a chance to see. They usually dance on the sides of the ballroom floor and I was at a table in the middle, and it all just went so fast. There just wasn’t time to run around looking for your favorites with only two rounds. From what I saw of them they looked like their usual colossally entertaining selves.
And of course Arunas and Katusha won Standard. They are just like plush satin the way they dance, so liquid smooth, so rich and luscious. Every move they make just has this satiny sheen that makes you swoon. I will always cherish the chance to watch them perform live.
And Victor Fung and Anna Mikhed, who expectedly took second, were their usual charming selves. Those two make dancing look so fun, so immensely enjoyable. She always wears this sweet, dimpled smile that looks like she is going to burst out giggling; even has a hard time making that severe Tango look. They seemed to get the most audience applause, and were called to each side of the ballroom floor a couple of times, to take bows.
Anyway, I have more to say about the competition in general, but am too tired right now… I’ve gotten home around 4:00 every morning and this morning had to get up only four hours later for a dentist appointment. In the meantime, the MDS website has some videos up — unfortunately I think they’re mostly from last year… And big huge thanks to Parker for scoring us such excellent seats 😀
Emmanuel and Julia tried very hard to win but Joanna and Jose look much better than E&J. Emmanuel and Julia broke up recently and now Emmanuel is looking for a new partner, it seem he is having a problem keeping their partners. Joanna was a good partner for him but he was not happy with her performances, now he is looking for a new one.