Category Archives: Ballroom / Latin

Pasha Gets His Own Show!

Posted on December 23, 2011 by Tonya

With my move, I didn’t have time to keep up with it, but this season Pasha Kovalev was a professional dancer on the British TV show Strictly Come Dancing (which our Dancing With the Stars is modeled on). He danced … Continue reading →

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Yulia Zagoruychenko Auctions Championship Dress to Help Fellow Dancer With Lung Cancer

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Tonya

World Latin champ Yulia Zagoruychenko (whom this blogger adores, as everyone here knows) is auctioning off one of her championship dresses to help friend and fellow dancer Julia Ivleva with her cancer treatments. Ivleva is a pro standard dancer who … Continue reading →

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Literary Aperitif

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Tonya

Hi guys – I’ve just begun a new Tumblr blog, called Literary Aperitif, pairing two of my loves (other than dance of course): books and booze. I wanted to call the blog something along those lines but didn’t realize there … Continue reading →

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Pasha Will Be a Pro Dancer on Britain’s STRICTLY COME DANCING

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Tonya

Pasha Kovalev is going to be a pro dancer on this season’s Strictly Come Dancing, the British version of our Dancing With the Stars. Apparently, he’s replacing an American dancer, Jared Murillo (whom I’ve never heard of), because Murillo, at … Continue reading →

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Former NYCB Dancer Sophie Flack Signs Her Debut Novel, BUNHEADS, at BEA

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Tonya

My apologies for my lack of blog posts this week. I spent Monday through Thursday at Book Expo America, the largest book industry trade fair in North America, held every year in NY at the Javits Center. (Nevertheless, I did … Continue reading →

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For Ballroom and DWTS Fans: Cast Your Vote in the Swarovski / Dance USA 2011 Championship

Posted on May 18, 2011 by Tonya

For all you ballroom and DWTS fans who read this blog, Swarovski Elements (you know, the crystal designers whose stones everyone uses for their dresses) recently teamed with Dance USA to host a little costume competition. At the April 2011 … Continue reading →

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Ballroom Kids Win “Live to Dance”

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Tonya

Apparently the young ballroom dance duo, D’Angelo and Amanda, won the first Live to Dance championship last night. Coming in second place was the 11-year-old contemporary / jazz dancer, Kendall Glover, and placing third were the ballet pair, White Tree … Continue reading →

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Sexy Kindle Party Reading

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Tonya

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV So, my reading Thursday evening is now archived on the Reading is Sexy Kindle Party ustream; I embedded it here. I’m the sixth reader on the list – out of eight. The readings were so diverse. … Continue reading →

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Jittin’ Genius

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Tonya

My favorite from last night’s Live to Dance semifinal. I hadn’t heard of jitting, which he described as a more modern version of the jitterbug of the 50s. To me it looked like original break dancing or krumping without the … Continue reading →

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SLSG’s Dance Highlights of 2010

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Tonya

Instead of trying to remember which were my favorite performances of the year, I’m just going back through my blog archives from January of this year and linking to the most memorable posts. More fun that way! A lot happened … Continue reading →

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Dancing With the Stars Season 11 Finale

Posted on November 23, 2010 by Tonya

So tonight is the finale, part 1. The three finalists – Kyle Massey, Jennifer Grey, and, I know, most controversially, Bristol Palin – are performing first a redemption dance (a former dance they didn’t do so well in the first time … Continue reading →

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Wow, Riccardo & Yulia Take Latin World Title!

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Tonya

Holy crap – according to Dance Beat, Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko placed first in the worlds in Bonn, Germany a couple days ago. When I first heard, I thought the current world Latin champs, Michael Malitowski and Joanna Leunis, … Continue reading →

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Riccardo and Yulia Cha Cha in Japan

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Tonya

Above is a video of U.S. Latin champions Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko dancing recently in Tokyo at the World Superstars Latin Dance Festival. This is an annual festival (there’s one for standard ballroom as well), where the top Latin … Continue reading →

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Denys Drozdyuk Wins So You Think You Can Dance Canada

Posted on November 1, 2010 by Tonya

The ballroom dancer I was raving about earlier on seeing a few video clips of his dancing has won So You Think You Can Dance Canada‘s season three. Thank you to “Twirly” for letting me know by commenting on my … Continue reading →

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Dancing With the Stars’ Rock Week

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Tonya

I wasn’t impressed at all with last night’s show. From now on, I am refusing to comment on Paso Dobles that are not Spanish. It is a Spanish dance. Therefore if it is not Spanish-themed, if it is set to … Continue reading →

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TV Theme Week on Dancing With the Stars

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Tonya

I’m sorry for getting this up late, you guys! I went to a continuing legal education class last night (cross examination in buy and bust cases – I know, excitement uncontained!) and then I met up with a former colleague … Continue reading →

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Vote for David Sedaris to be on Dancing With the Stars!

Posted on October 10, 2010 by Tonya

Fabulous publishing industry blog, Galley Cat, is taking votes on which author you’d most like to see on Dancing With the Stars. They think there a way to push an author into that spotlight with enough publicity. I’d unfortunately missed … Continue reading →

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Dancing With the Stars Season 11 Cast Announced

Posted on August 31, 2010 by Tonya

Via Marie at Ballroom Dance Channel, the new cast will be: Women Brandy Jennifer Grey Margaret Cho Audrina Patridge Florence Henderson Bristol Palin Men Michael Bolton Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino David Hasselhoff Kurt Warner Kyle Massey Rick Fox See Marie … Continue reading →

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So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Season 3

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Tonya

So You Think You Can Dance Canada, season three, has begun. If you, like me, don’t seem to be able to get it on your cable, you can follow this blog for recaps and videos. I love this guy, Denys … Continue reading →

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Dance Beat’s New “After Hours” Web TV

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Tonya

The popular DanceSport newspaper / website, Dance Beat, now has a web show called “After Hours.” Watch the first, free, installment here, focusing on a recent American Smooth competition, and hosted by Shirley Ballas (for Dancing with the Stars fans, … Continue reading →

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MELANIE LAPATIN AND BENJI SCHWIMMER STAR IN "LEADING LADIES"

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Tonya

So excited! I’ve been hearing about this ballroom-based movie Melanie LaPatin has a role in for a while now and it’s finally being released. It stars SYTYCD season three winner Benji Schwimmer as well. Here’s the synopsis: “Nothing matters more … Continue reading →

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GUEST POST BY BEA LESACA: HOW SALSA MADE ME APPRECIATE HIP HOP MORE

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Tonya

Hey, everyone. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to Bea Lesaca, a b-girl and hip hop dancer who writes for HardKnockRadio. Her guest post is about how salsa made her appreciate her own dance style more. Here’s Bea: … Continue reading →

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MANHATTAN DANCESPORT CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE THIS WEEKEND AT THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE MARRIOTT

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Tonya

And I almost forgot… Friday night is the pro Latin competition, meaning Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi will be dancing, but I have a ticket to ABT and I really, really need to see my fave Marcelo Gomes dance Oberon … Continue reading →

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THE INFLUENCE OF SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE ON DANCE STUDIOS

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Tonya

Interesting article by Claudia La Rocco in the NY Times about the influence of SYTYCD on studios. (I missed SYTYCD this week; had really wanted to watch Thursday night but was at New York City Ballet all settled in my … Continue reading →

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BLACKPOOL 2010 OVER ALREADY

Posted on June 8, 2010 by Tonya

Wow, this year’s Blackpool Dance Festival has already come and gone. Funny how priorities change; I used to look so forward to this every year. But this year I was so caught up in book stuff, and BookExpo America, that … Continue reading →

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DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON 10, WEEK 2

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Tonya

My thoughts are posted here.

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DANCING WITH THE STARS SEASON TEN PREMIERE

Posted on March 23, 2010 by Tonya

I wrote about last night’s show here.

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"DANCING WITH THE QUOTES"

Posted on February 11, 2010 by Tonya

Hehe, here’s a new book I just saw up on Amazon. It’s by Colin M. Jarman and is a collection of humorous quotes from TV dance shows — mainly Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. … Continue reading →

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YULIA AND RICCARDO TELL ALL

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Tonya

For the Ballroomers, here’s a nice, rather long interview with Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi, current world Latin champs. They talk about dance versus sport (Riccardo was going to be a footballer on the Roma team — who knew?), art … Continue reading →

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BURN THE FLOOR CASTING UPDATES

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Tonya

If you’re in NY, or are heading in over the holidays to see the show, here’s the latest list of casting updates. A few DWTS pros (Maks Chmerkovskiy & Kym Johnson, then Edyta Sliwinska & Alec Mazo) are taking over … Continue reading →

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