Woo hoo, my cable is up. At least for these five seconds. Quickly, before it crashes again, here are my Explore Dance articles on Columbia’s Starry Night Winter Showcase and the Dance Times Square in-house comp.

Oooh, maybe I can even get my Ailey review up if I hurry…

Here’s a lovely set of Flickr photos of Columbia U.’s Starry Night Winter Showcase, taken by someone with a much superior camera to my own! Enjoy!

So, on Saturday, because Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin are in Canada choreographing for Canadian So You Think You Can Dance, Mercedes Ellington took over emceeing responsibilities at the Dance Times Square student / teacher in-house competition.

It was interesting seeing her emcee since she talked a lot about the various musical pieces played for the comp and ran little trivia contests on who was the singer (Lena Horne, Bobby Darin, Johnny Mathis, etc. I got none right). At one point she asked the crowd what all Broadway shows they’d seen lately. People shouted out various shows. I think Spring Awakening had the most shout-outs. “Well hurry up and go see all these shows before they close,” she said, “so you can tell your ancestors that there was once this great thing called Broadway.” OUCH…

Here are the judges: former champs Vibeke Toft (who also coaches at the studio), Allan Tornsberg (of the always interesting hair, and snarky Blackpool commentary), and current top competitor Plamen Danailov (my friend Mika’s former pro/am partner, who was judging for, I think, the first time).

Hunky new Latin teacher at Dance Times Square, Manuel Favilla, with his students.

Long-time teacher Michael Choi in foreground, with his student.

All students did very well. It’s amazing how fast people improve at that studio. Some of Michael’s students began same time as I did, and they are so amazingly good now…

Yet another TV dance competition show. Read about it here.

People are going to hate me for this…

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On a scale of one to ten, Hanna is a ten, Slavik a 20000. In other words, no match. No match at all. I’m seriously depressed.

Update:Â Now that I’m home, I’m re-thinking this. I just think my expectations were so high for a Slavik and Hanna Karttunen partnership because I’ve found her so mesmerizing in her exhibitions. I just felt like her Latin wasn’t all there. Maybe she just had a bad night. Maybe she wasn’t feeling well. Or maybe good women just tend to suffocate under the weight of great male partners. But why? I think when a woman is dancing with a great man — one who’s both uber-charismatic and technically excellent with mind-boggling speed and precision of movement — she really needs to find herself, to bring out her artistry. We’re never going to be as good as the men in the athletic department, so we need to excel in other ways. I think I remember Melia saying something like that during her and Sergey’s Blackpool Congress lecture — she had to work hard to find her own “voice” to keep from getting lost under Sergey’s strength.

I just felt like even though she has great flexibility and has lovely extensions, etc., Hanna was really just all but invisible tonight.

On the other hand, Slavik! Slavik had people screaming. This girl next to me moaned loudly in ecstasy when he started to play with his suspenders, and she got so embarrassed her head practically ended up in my lap, but how much could I relate I realized this is actually the first time I’ve ever actually seen him perform live. I’ve only ever seen him compete before. He is a performer beyond any other I’ve ever seen — and I mean any — ballet (Marcelo Gomes, Angel Corella), modern, flamenco (Joaquin Cortes) — I mean everyone and every kind of dance included. It’s quite impossible to exaggerate the man’s performance ability.

And, among other things, I really don’t see how it’s humanly possible for anyone’s pelvis to move as fast as that man’s does…

And then, at one point he took the microphone and gave a little speech. Said he lived and worked in New York for a few years, back when he was competing for the United States (with Karina Smirnoff) — everyone cheered like nuts — and that New York and the U.S. in general occupied a special place in his heart, it’s “part of my soul.” A bunch of people went “ooooooh, aaaaawww,” and he looked out and smiled and said something that made people nearly fling themselves to the floor. I wish I could have heard what he said — his Russian accent is pretty strong.

Anyway, more thoughts on this later. It’s been a long day and I’m tired…

At columbia

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There’s a Sikh guy warming for tonight’s after-show comp. Never seen that before. College ballroom’s so different, so open. Wish it existed when I was in school.

Busy busy weekend for me.

Today is Dance Times Square’s student in-house competition which I’m not participating in but am covering for Explore Dance.

Ditto for tonight’s Starry Night Winter Showcase, part of Columbia University’s Big Apple DanceSport Challenge, where Slavik Kryklyvyy and Hanna Karttunen will perform! Slavik is my favorite Latin dancer and I haven’t seen him dance in a while now, so am very excited. I’ve never seen Hanna dance Latin before but have seen her amazing exhibitions at Blackpool. So, yes, very excited, to say the least. Also, Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova (America’s top ballroom couple) are dancing Standard.

And, this weekend is the Independent / Small Press Book Fair in midtown, which I hope to slip in and out of today while at Dance Times Square down the street, and attend most of tomorrow.

Also, last night I saw Jose Limon Dance Company’s Program B, which is their classic Limon program (The Moor’s Pavane (probably his most famous work), The Traitor (excellent excellent), and Suite From a Choreographic Offering (beautifully rich spiritual dance set to gorgeous Bach music). Don’t have time to write about it now, but I highly recommend Program B, showing through December 7th. Here is Philip’s review.

(Photo from Columbia U’s website)

Just a reminder that Slavik Kryklyvyy and Hanna Karttunen will be performing at Columbia University’s Big Apple Dancesport Challenge on December 6th! Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova will dance as well. Tickets range from $30 to $85 (for front row seating), but it looks like tkts on the cheaper end are selling out. If you plan to go, I’d make your reservations sooner rather than later.

See some videos of the couple dancing here, here, and here.

So this week, each contestant does two dances — one Standard, one Latin — and in the Latin routine each must do a 15-second solo. Hmmm.

Cody & Edyta: Cody’s still dancing with Edyta. I hope Julianne is okay. They bring his (TV?) friends on to say how hot Edyta is, how cool their routine, etc. Yawn.

Excellent Foxtrot though! He was a real gent. Very elegant, very sophisticated. I didn’t see any mess-ups on the footwork, no odd lines, and very flowing with broad sweeping movements, like Foxtrot should be. He looks a slight bit more nervous with Edyta than with Julianne, but he still came through for her and was a good partner on the supported tricks. I agree with Bruno – his “most grown-up performance yet.”

Mambo: Ahhhhhh — I LOVE this one! I love him, I love him, I love him. Okay, he is definitely not the polished, sexy Latin dancer — but that’s why I love him so much. He’s just so fun. He tries so damn hard, he’s so energetic, he’s so works those hips and those shoulders and that pelvis all so well. Awesome splits jumps — that boy is flexible — and he did a very good, difficult ronde over her head. He’s definitely a little more nervous dancing with Edyta. At one point you could tell she said something to him, perhaps told him to hold a beat, slow it down a bit. But I just don’t care; I love him too much. I want him to win: Cody! Cody! Cody!

Ahhhahahah: Hostess Samantha: “Did you ever imagine you’d be dancing with an almost totally naked woman on TV?” Cody: “Well, I may have imagined it, but I never expected it.”

Brooke & Dereck: Hmm, I found their Tango a bit off. I saw a few odd lines from her, knees not straight, especially on that lunge, and at times it looked like her weight wasn’t evenly centered, like she had one hip jutted out, which is not Standard, not Tango. It might have been the asymmetrical waistline of her dress though. It really looked like she had one hip up. I agree with Len — geez, the only one with the guts to be the least bit critical.

Her Mambo was much better than her Tango. She did her solo up front — good idea, get it over with at the top. She didn’t do all that much — mainly swivels, but they were very good, and very spicy and exciting. Cute choreographic theme with her pulling him toward her, practically beating him emotionally into submission. Some very deep dangerous-looking dips.

Maurice & Cheryl: Very fun Quickstep. Elegant but sprightly, exactly how it should be. He has a soft, laid back, jazzy look that is all his own. He still looks a bit nervous whenever they go into closed position though. But he shouldn’t be. He has all the footwork down and can move at the right speed. It is very hard to dance with a partner like that, to move so fast, running around the floor perfectly in sync with another, to whom you’re attached at the hip. Just shows you how partner dancing — especially Standard with that close handhold, that martini-glass shape the two of you have to make with your bodies — is so hard and nerve-wracking. As it turned out, he had no reason to be nervous though. “Putting on the Ritz” is my favorite song for Quickstep, by the way.

The Paso Doble is his dance. He has the perfect character – -strong, imposing, powerful, as Bruno said — for that dance. Excellent solo with some very difficult moves. Marvelous continuous turns, perfect spotting, wonderful cape work. I’ve never tried it, but I don’t think that’s easy! And excellent rhythm as always from him. Only thing for him to work on vis-a-vis this dance, is his hips. They should be just a bit more forward.

Lance & Lacey: Well, he’s still got the pigeon toes and they’re driving me crazy. I’m sorry, I know it’s my thing that I always harp on, but it completely destroys the line and marks one an unprofessional. Those side-steps were painful to watch with the toes going directly inward. But it was only when he was dancing solo that it was bothersome; when he danced with her he had a more elegant, smooth look, and was a good, supportive partner. Very good rise and fall action. Cute choreography too: I like the little swively, slow jive kick things in the middle.

I didn’t like the Samba at all. There was no hip / pelvic action whatsoever. He was completely straight-postured. It looked like a jazz / theater routine, not an Afro-Latin dance. I do appreciate how hard that routine must have been for him to memorize — there was a lot there in terms of intricate footwork and difficult tricks. Yes, yes, yes — thank you Len, for backing me up on those pigeon toes!!! Lacey just has to work with him on form more. Give him a little less intricacy in terms of footwork and work with him on his body movement.

Warren & Kym: Oooh, I loved the Tango — very rhythmic! I loved the upbeat music for a change. He is so musical, he put his foot down perfectly on those beats. And there were some very difficult Argentine hooks, with his foot pushing hers down, just at the right moment and with just the right amount of force. Unlike Maurice, he doesn’t seem nervous at all in the close-handhold. He’s just as good a partner as he is on his own.

What a fun Jive. Technically the movement wasn’t right: he was jumping into the air rather than drawing the movement toward the ground, to make it weighted and to allow his hips to work. But how fun anyway. Why does it have to be a perfectly proper Jive? Though he obviously looks nothing like the man, the solo was kind of like a Fred Astaire-ish tap dancing routine: light as a feather (even given his size) and joyful as can be.

So, overall my favorite is Cody. I also like Warren and Maurice, but it’s time for someone other than a sports star to get this title!

By the way, in the world of pro competitive dancing, Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko take tops in the Kremlin cup! Have got to go to that someday…Â (photo from Dance Beat)

(photo by Roman Stetsyk, taken from here)

Yesterday I went to see a play about choreographer George Balanchine (which I’ll post about as soon as I have time; I have about 10,000 things to write about and that’s really not much of an exaggeration). My ballroom friend, Mika, came with me, which was wonderful because I hadn’t seen her in a while and needed to get caught up on all the ballroom gossip She’s just returned from Internationals, held at Royal Albert Hall in London — so jealous; I really wanted to go to that this year. Anyway, we were chatting about the Latin results and she noted that Slavik Kryklyvyy (one of my two favorite Latin dancers; the other, Sergey Surkov, was unfortunately injured and couldn’t compete), was there watching but still didn’t compete with his newish partner, Hanna Karttunen. Word had it that he got cold feet; didn’t feel up to it. He did the same in May at Blackpool, though. He wandered through the crowd, watching, with a forlorn expression that nearly made me cry, live competitions and videos vendors were showing of past competitions that included him and Karina Smirnoff. Funny, my friend even saw him stretching at one point, before competitors were called onto the floor. As if he were competing. People kept coming up to him and asking for photos, asking him if he would be dancing, and he just kept repeating, “Not this year, sorry,” sounding sadder each time.

Last year when he and Elena Khvorova (who’s now dancing with Andrej Skufca — the couple placed third at Albert Hall — for people who are interested) were a new couple, he did the same thing. But that year, they came to US Nationals and tried out their new partnership in the open to the world category. So, I thought he and Hanna might do the same this year, but they didn’t.

I hope he gets up the nerve to compete soon because people, for one thing, MISS HIM (unless google analytics is lying to me, he’s consistently been the way most new readers have found this blog. And, to my knowledge he’s never been on any of the TV shows, so his fame comes just from his spectacular work on the ballroom floor) and, for another, are getting worried judges are going to start being dismissive, forgetting about him, making a comeback harder. And real-life ballroom judges, lord knows, unlike their TV counterparts, are completely immune from public opinion.

Anyway, happily, he doesn’t seem to have an issue with showdancing. Here’s a video of him and Hanna — video quality is not the best, but if you know ballroom, and if you know him, you can tell they look in great form. Also, commenter Shim alerted me that they are to dance at Columbia University’s Big Apple Dancesport Challenge, on December 6th! I just hope that’s not restricted to Columbia students…

In the ballroom world, DanceBeat reports that Valentin Chmerkovskiy and Valeryia Kozharinova, current reigning US Latin amateur champs, have split. They just competed at Internationals, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London last Thursday, placing in the semifinals in Amateur. The U.S., predictably, took home two second-place trophies in Pro: Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko in Latin, and Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova in Standard.

So, the results of the USDC are as I expected: Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko new Latin champions, Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova new Ballroom. Jonathan Roberts and Valentina Kostenko beat J.T. Thomas and Tomas Mielnicki in Smooth, so we have new winners there as well. And Jose DeCamps and Joanna Zacharewicz remained Rhythm champs.

It looks like Andrei Gavriline and Elena Kruschkova (prior Latin champions) didn’t compete this year; I didn’t see their names in results. Nor did Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine and Julia Gorchakova in Rhythm. In the Open to the World category, it looks like the only major non-US dancer to compete was Dmitri Timokhin from Russia (who used to dance with Karina Smirnoff before she became a Dancer W/ Stars) and his new partner Natalie Petrova. So, no Slavik (and whoever he’s dancing with these days), no Sergey and Melia.

It looks like Pavlo Barsuk and Anna Trebunskaya placed in third Latin, and my favorite Vaidotas Skimelis and Jurga Pupelyte in fourth. Yes!

Here is DanceBeat’s full coverage of the championship. And here are the full event results lists.

Just wanted to remind New Yorkers (and anyone traveling to NY in the near future) that Fall For Dance tickets go on sale this Sunday, 9/7, at 11 a.m. Tickets are $10 if you choose to stand in line at the City Center box office (which I don’t recommend), or $15 (with $5 surcharge) if you book online. Tickets sell out very quickly, usually within a day or two. Here’s the schedule and lineup of artists.

Also, this weekend is the Evening Stars series of free performances at Battery Park. Tonight is Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, tomorrow night Rasta Thomas’s Bad Boys of Dance, and Sunday night Los Vivancos flamenco group. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Go here for more info.

Outside of New York, this weekend is the United States National Dance Championships (most important Latin Ballroom event in the country) in Florida, which for the first time in a couple of years, I am not attending. Sad day. I will definitely keep my eyes peeled for results. I expect Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko to take tops in Latin, and Arunas Bizokas and Katusha Demidova in Standard but am always happy for a surprise. If anyone is there, please let me know what’s going on, and who all’s there for the World events! If I miss Slavik or Sergey I am not going to be happy.

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

My post bemoaning Matt & Kourtni getting the boot, etc. is up on HuffPost, here. (Sorry about the holiday delay!)

Am still hoping my piece on NYCB Dancers’ Choice program will go up soon on Explore Dance. Will definitely link to it when it does…

I’m uploading all the pictures from the final day of Manhattan DS Championship and should have them up by the end of the day!

My pictures from the Pro Latin and Amateur Standard championships are now up; they begin in the album here.

Latin’s my favorite competition and it was a good night, although I was sad some of my favorites — Vaidotas Skimelis & Jurga Pupelyte, Andre Paramov & Natalie, Andrei Gavriline & Elena Kruschkova — didn’t show (although Gavriline was in the audience watching).

Sometimes, that’s good though, because you have a chance to focus on others. And, I don’t know whether it was that I didn’t have Vaidotas and Andrei to fixate on or that they just danced better than ever before, but Pavlo Barsuk and Anna Trebunskaya were ON FIRE! Pavlo gets this cute little evil imp, almost vampiric, expression on his face where his eyes widen considerably and he looks so serious, so hungry, so bloodthirsty even — and all of that energy just radiates downward throughout his body and it makes him so mesmerizing to watch. She was ravishing as well. Those two danced to win. And they almost did, placing second, even beating out two couples that normally place near the top, right after Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko, who were, as expected, excellent.

Riccardo, I now know from Blackpool, has a very endearing personality, which translates into a charming dancefloor persona. I love how they interpret rhythms, slowing down and even coming to a full stop at points in order to accent their speed. When a couple just dances fast, on the beat, the whole time, it’s almost too much; it lacks a certain variety and development. And Yulia is back to dancing on her toes and making her miraculous shapes again. When she does a spiraling sous sus, she looks like a ballerina she’s so far onto the tips of her toes.

Coming home at 3 am

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Subway is deserted, streets are deserted. I wish they would start these competitions earlier in the evening than 8 pm.

Finished uploading pictures just in time to go back to Brooklyn for tonight’s round of fun! Here are the pictures I’ve added to the album thus far, of last night’s two main championships, Professional American Smooth and Amateur Latin. I still can’t believe Jonathan Roberts and Valentina won Smooth. They had excellent choreography — lots of variety with beautiful leg lifts and dramatic drops, but overall I still think J.T. Thomas and Tomas Mielnicki (current national champs in this event) moved with more fluidity and polish, and Jonathan had a couple of little, very minor fumbles with his footwork. I’m thrilled for J & V, but just a little surprised. J.T. and Tomas had a minor mishap in which J.T. was elbowed in the nose pretty badly. Caused quite a bit of bleeding and she had to take a little time out to tend to it. Certainly shook them up a bit at the moment, but didn’t seem to hamper their final round at all. It can be dangerous out there on the dance floor though!

When I was leaving the bar during a break, I heard someone call out “Swan Lake Samba Girl.” I initially thought it was my friend Parker being silly. But it wasn’t; it was a reader, named Ching, who nicely introduced herself and told me she reads my blog regularly and really likes it. She dances both ballet and ballroom as well — I think there is a lot of crossover — and is a professor. Anyway, it’s always so wonderful (albeit surreal!) to be noticed, and to receive such nice compliments. So, thanks, Ching, you completely made my night!

Jonathan roberts & valentina won smooth!

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Beating even j.t. Thomas and tomas mielnicki. Val & val won amateur latin

Chmerkovskiys are in the house

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And dovolani is a judge, and jonathan roberts has a new partner and is competing in smooth. Very sexy tango!

I went back to ABT last night for another Merry Widow with Jose and Julie in the leads. Couldn’t resist! And I’m glad I did; I ended up meeting Roslyn Sulcas, writer from the New York Times, who is really nice and down to earth, and elegantly beautiful.

Anyway, I already wrote a bit about this ballet earlier, and have to get ready for a pre-competition dinner, but I quickly just want to mention a few other tidbits about Jose that make him so great, that I noticed last night. He keeps in character throughout, even when he’s not center stage. I mean, they all do, but Jose really keeps in character. As Julie’s rich widow was dancing with the Pontevedrian men, each man trying to curry her wealthy available favor, Jose was sitting off to the side flirting devilishly with Misty Copeland. And he was really flirting, not just chatting. At one point he raised his eyebrows at her in a way that made me nearly fall out of my seat.

And the way he struts around stage, like a cocky, spoiled, at times drunk, misbehaving boy … it’s not at all balletic, the way other dancers might do, but perfectly in character (and somehow on him, mischievous as it is, becomes so endearing).

I also noticed that when he spots as he’s doing a slow turn, carrying his ballerina in his arms, he looks at each spot on the floor with intent. During his pas de deux with Julie when he was remembering happy times with her in the past, he looked down at each point on the floor like he was lost, forlorn, wondering where they all went. With most dancers they look like they’re doing exactly what they’re doing — spotting so they don’t lose balance. He turns simple technique into art.

(The pair dancing together in “Apollo”, photo by Gene Schiavone; all photos from ABT website)

I also wanted to point out how fantastic Joseph Phillips was, as leader of the Pontevedrian men, with his spectacular bravura-embellished folk dancing, and Craig Salstein as he sweetly but sadly unsuccessfully vied for Julie’s hand. And Julie as the widow was sweetly flirtatious, her smiles and raised eyebrows infusing her prolonged flexes of the foot into quick, snappingly sharp points, with added sexual meaning.

The couple behind me were confused during first intermission because this photo of Irina and Max (by Fabrizio Ferri) was shown on the Playbill’s cover, and yet, they weren’t in the cast.

Anyway, I’m very excited for Giselle next week!

(photo of Julie Kent in “Giselle” by Roy Round)

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Here’s a little preview I wrote for HuffPost about the Manhattan Dancesport Championship coming up this July 4th weekend. Oh, and by the way, thanks so much for commenting on my posts there, those of you who have!

My article on the Blackpool Dance Festival is now up on Explore Dance, as Robert said in a comment on my DCA post! In his comment he also talks a bit about joining DCA, which I intend to do. See his comment here. And see my write-up on Blackpool here.

Salsa in times square

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On my way through Times Square subway station I noticed a Salsa competition video showing in the window of one of the shops. Organizer Billy Fajardo was then shown giving an interview, followed by more dancing. His Salsa competition in Miami several years ago was the first one I ever did, so it brought back nice memories. Also nice to see people stopping in the subway to watch dance.

I was recently interviewed for an article (by commenter Sharon!) in a new newspaper put out by THE BALLROOM DANCE CHANNEL on this topic. Apparently it is controversial and the issue is becoming more pressing with the success of DANCING WITH THE STARS and SYTYCD. I gave my opinion here. I go into it in more detail (not necessarily the Olympics specifically, but the issue of whether Ballroom Dancing is more of an art or sport) in my article on Blackpool, which will hopefully be posted soon on EXPLORE DANCE.

I’ve written captions for just about every picture, so if you click on the first one and read the caption, then just keep clicking “next” until you get to the end, you’ll find a little picture essay of the festival.

Wow, I’m tired…

I’m having some internet connection problems (Time Warner can’t come out till the end of the blasted week!), but am trying to post as many pictures as I can between crashes. I’m updating (have about 300 in all, but am trying to narrow it down to 100-150), but here is my photo album thus far.

(photo by Nancy Ellison)

I don’t mean to make him sound like fine wine or something, but it’s just unbelievable how he gets better and better each time I see him perform this role. I linked to this before, but here’s a YouTube of him doing the first of Ali’s solos. During the second intermission, after the solos, two older women in the cocktail line were saying he’s no different than Baryshnikov. “He’s every bit as good; it’s just like seeing him again,” one declared. Unfortunately, I missed the era of Baryshnikov here, but I can’t possibly imagine anyone better than Angel. I love all three of the solos, but I love the jetes and the fouette sequence of the second two most. I love hearing all the screams emanating from the balcony when he bends his knee and snakes his body up and down mid-pirouette. I only wish he would have done his flying leap of a curtain call. He only came out once, not giving people enough time to pelt him with bouquets! I guess it was Wednesday and the crowd wasn’t as wild as normal, or maybe he was feeling under the weather… you can never tell it from his dancing of course. Oh, and he looks exactly the same as before — same straight charming boyish hair, no longish, wavy Julio-esque perm like in his new headshot Anyway, he made the night, obviously!

Along with Jose of course. Jose danced Lankendem, owner of the harem. For those who don’t know this ballet, Le Corsaire, originally choreographed by Joseph Mazilier for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1856 but shortly thereafter re-choregraphed by Petipa for the Kirov / Mariinsky Ballet of St. Petersburg, is cutely corny. It’s about a pirate, Conrad, who falls in love with a slave girl, Medora, and his quest to help her escape and be with him. It’s a favorite among balletomanes because of all its bravura dancing from the two leads, Ali (Conrad’s slave), Gulnare (Medora’s friend), and Lankendem. Jose somehow manages to make his Lankendem so lovable. He’s a bad slave-driver who will stop at nothing to keep Medora in his clutches, and you just want to cry out “noooo,” when Conrad’s pirates surround him on the ground, spears in hand. Poor little Jose! He did brilliantly too with his bravura solo (which is actually my favorite because of the barrel turns )

So, Marcelo and Paloma, who were supposed to dance Conrad and Medora, were replaced by Irina Dvorovenko and Cory Stearns, a member of the corps, who I think was dancing his first big part. I always love Irina, and I never see her much since she doesn’t often dance with Marcelo. I guess sometimes it’s good that Marcelo’s out (though I’m not sure why they were replaced last night), because it gives me a chance to see other dancers once in a while Irina is probably the most dramatic, the best actress of all of ABT’s ballerinas and I love her for it — she projects to the entire audience, including people up in the nosebleeds, she makes it obvious through facial expressions what her character wants without relying too much on pantomime (with which many newcomers to ballet are unfamiliar), and she’s so expressive with her body, so clear in her intentions. If you’re bringing someone new who’s never seen that ballet before, you want her in the lead; she makes the most sense of everything and brings her character’s dramatic conflict most to life. Well Julie Kent does too, as does Veronika Part (who, horribly sadly, is leaving ABT at the end of this season), but people like to dump on Irina, and there’s no reason to, dammit!

So, Cory. He was good. His dancing was excellent — perfect, grand jetes, great height, great lines, very energetic (though I think he got a little tired by the end). He is a tall man with long legs, kind of David Hallberg-esque, though not as high-waisted. If this was his first time in a big role, I think he did a very good job. My only thing was that I felt his Conrad was a little too severe. He scared me at points, getting a little too aggressive in trying to get Medora away from Lankendem. At times he seemed more like a villain than a hero. But he’ll definitely grow artistically.

Oh and another thing that blew me away — one of the Odalisques was breathtaking. She did a crazy series of chaine turns and pirouettes and really blew me away (as well as my next-seat neighbor who clapped like nuts!) I’m not completely sure whether it was Simone Messmer or Renata Pavam, but one of them knocked me out.

Oh, I’m sad; this is my only Corsaire since I’m leaving tonight. It continues through the rest of the week, the Swan Lake is next week (breaks my heart that I’m going to have to miss Veronika Part’s Swan; I’ll still be in England — someone tell me how it is!), and the following week is the new Twyla Tharp, which I’ll be back for and about which I’m very excited. If you’re in New York, go here for more info / tickets.

Okay, gotta go finish packing! I definitely plan to mobile-blog from Blackpool, and may computer-blog as well if I can find a secure wireless connection. I’ll post all the pictures when I return!

I don’t have a lot of time to write since I have a bizillion and a half things to do before Blackpool (which I leave for in two days!), so I’ll be brief. I thought DWTS’s season finale was the best ever. The remaining three are all really good, far better than prior contestants, and they have their own cute strengths.

Cristian has definitely improved the most, of these three and of any contestant ever, I think. He’s 1000% improved from the way he was dancing at the beginning of the season and that is what this show is about — a normal person / non-dancer learning to dance well. At the beginning of the show I remember his limbs looking like spaghetti, totally out of control, no shaping or definition to his upper body, and he was dancing Latin too far up on his toes, had no grounding, and it just didn’t look right. Now all that is nearly gone. His hips are now near perfect, he’s much more weighted, his arms are not flailing out of control, and he has much better definition throughout his body. He’s still not a pro male dancer, but he’s just about the closest thing to a pro without being one, especially for someone who started out so poorly. I’m just so proud of him I feel like HE won the opening number, not Kristi. And I don’t care if his freestyle lifts were not as fancy as Jason’s; not only did he do extremely well with them, but they were lovely and complemented the choreography and music. Why does he need to raise her above his head just for the sake of showing he can? An overhead lift wouldn’t have added anything to their routine; it would have been out of place in fact since the music was kind of fluid and fast. I just can’t stop smiling whenever Cristian is on the floor.

And, regarding his injury: I know, people say it’s wrong that he’s still dancing, but, honestly, right or wrong, I know many professionals who dance with an injury so they can finish out the season, then have their surgery. And many pro ballroom dancers will dance with an injury if they’ve made a commitment to their student, to do a competition or a student showcase. I’m not saying it’s right, but I feel like in a way his problem is pretty typical and shows what a lot of dancers go through and the risks they take.

I love Jason, but as much as I love his personality both on the dance floor and in the practice segments, he doesn’t do equally well at Standard and Latin the way Cristian does. That’s another huge plus for Cristian — it’s very hard to do well at both. I really liked his freestyle though. Edyta choreographed something perfect for him. Like Carrie Ann said, who knew Jason could be funky like that! It was like a downplayed hip hop and it looked perfect on him.

And, hehehe, he is a ballerino! Those breathtaking overhead lifts were something right out of Petipa! I love it! Soon he’ll be as obsessed with ballet as he is with ballroom! But I think, not being a man and never lifting someone over my head like that, the lifts he did were actually harder than ballet lifts where the danseur carries the ballerina across the floor, because Edyta had him turning in place repeatedly at the same time. That’s damn hard because not only are you lifting, you’re making yourself sickly dizzy by spinning. I know as the girl getting myself into a lift, maintaining a position in the air and then getting spun around like that, you just want to throw up when you land; they’re incredibly hard. So, major kudos to him.

I love Kristi and she was once my idol. I don’t know, I feel like I’m not as impressed with her as I was at the beginning of the show. She’s nearly flawless, but she is not without flaws, and now for some reason I just want to compare her to someone like Karina Smirnoff, and she comes up lacking. It’s well-known by now that she knows how to dance and I think I’m probably just being too hard on her because I want perfection. Her legs don’t come together perfectly in Cha Cha, her lines in her upside-down split lifts were not as perfect as Juliana’s, and she doesn’t have the polish and the perfect technique the pro dancers do and that seems to be all I can focus on. Maybe it’s that Mark is such a show-off and he’s outdancing her. When I heard him talking about trying to do a back flip during practice sessions, I thought, WHY, WHY do you have to go and do something like that! But when I saw it, it wasn’t so bad since he lifted her so many times and made her look great and she had a lot of tricks herself. So, it was even, not like it was all about him. She is the best; it’s just that I relate more to the other two because they’re normal people like me who learned throughout the show to dance ballroom wonderfully…

On a very related note, the Dance Times Square showcase last night was so much fun, I can’t even begin to describe. It’s like seeing a DWTS show live, except with far more student performers of all ages, of all shapes and sizes, of all levels of dance ability, all doing their best. And those are combined with all pro showcases of course. They’re the best studio for putting on these kinds of things for their students.

It was really packed this time. In addition to all the regulars, and the students’ friends and family, there were many many more — either who came to see Pasha & Anya or who were from media outlets. I know there were people from Entertainment Tonight there and Tony mentioned a couple of other news shows too that I can’t remember. There were also talent agents there.

And Sabra and Cameron from So You Think You Can Dance were there! They sat right behind me and Sabra laughed hysterically at Tony and Melanie’s opening jokes and then SCREAMED with applause throughout. She cracked me up. If you’re ever performing you WANT her in the audience!

I sat in the press section toward the front, next to one of the ET crew and he was remarking throughout how amazing he thought this was. And his remarks were genuine. I truly don’t think he’d ever seen anything like it before. You’re sitting down there, the press people are all serious and make you a bundle of nerves even if you are just writing about the event yourself and not performing in it, and then the people up in the balcony (the regulars and friends and family) are up there screaming, wildly cheering on the dancers, calling out their names, making the dancers even laugh at times. And the press people are aghast. “I can’t believe this! This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen!” ET guy said.

When a couple of senior amateurs danced a cute little Mambo (this is rare; it’s almost always one pro dancing with one amateur), and they were cute, but obviously didn’t do any spectuacular tricks or quick-footed dancing, the audience all started clapping along with the music and cheering for them. The audience made their own fun time, in other words, by really getting into it.

And Elaine. Whenever she was onstage, Elaine stole the show. I know her and can tell she was nervous at the beginning of her first routine. She stumbled a bit and nearly tripped Jacob, her partner, and someone shouted from the balcony, “Dont hurt him, Elaine!” She laughed and it really calmed her nerves. Completely cracked ET guy up. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said for the umpteenth time. Elaine’s so cute and she’s a really good dancer for not learning until well into adulthood and then having the limitations of age. Jacob did several lifts with her — ET guy went nuts — and in one routine she did a series of chaine turns (two-footed traveling turns done in a line) practically all the way across the floor. “Unbelievable, simply unbelievable!” ET guy shouted.

(Elaine is on the right, Claire on the left — I’ll talk about her in a minute. This is on our Dance Times Square outing to see the SYTYCD tour).

I don’t have time to go into all of the routines, but my favorites were Susan Washburn (a longtime student there) and Michael Choi’s hilarious “Sex Bomb” (all the routines by the way were medleys — the music consisted of one song but with different musical artists’ interpretations — one slower and more dramatic, one sped up, one hip-hop-y, etc. So, there would be several dance styles within one song — Cha Cha, disco-y Hustle, a slower Rumba or Bolero, etc. — It was really a clever idea for a showcase — Melanie’s of course. At the beginning, Melanie addressed the crowd, explained the theme of the evening, then said, “I know, this is a rather ingenious idea right? I mean, it’s usually me who comes up with the themes of the showcases, but this time I have to say it was … oh, hehe, it was me again,” she said with a faux blush. The crowd was hysterical). Anyway, of the student showcases, I also loved everything David Johnson was in — he’s an older man, and his schtick was to be so taken with his young female pro that he kind of followed her around aimlessly, trying hard to imitate her and be the perfect partner. It was cute and he acted it all so well, the audience was just screaming in applause. I liked a sultry sexy tango cha cha, etc. by Krysta Gonzales, who you can tell has dance background, and Nazarie Salcedo’s infectious smile makes everything she does a delight to watch. I liked so many though, I just don’t have time to go into them!

Claire Gaines (in the picture above) also performed with her teacher, Jacob Jason. She was also in “Gotta Dance” (she is the one with the mike in the second picture here) and she brought her team of NetSationals with her! They did a little swing / hip hop and the crowd ROARED!

Of course Pasha & Anya performed! They did three routines, which made me very happy — I thought they’d only do one at the very end, but they danced throughout. Their first was a gorgeous medley danced to “Indissoluble.” I don’t even know how to describe it. It was by turns sexy, romantic, bone-chillingly intense, passionate, heated. The dance style was based on Rumba and had some Samba (my favorite part was a series of Samba rolls, but with their faces cheek to cheek, so it looked far more sultry and passionate than normal Samba rolls) and even some Tango, but it really was not ballroom. It was more contemporary. It was just beautiful Dance. It was like something I’ve never seen from them and I was really proud of them for pushing themselves and trying something new, outside regular ballroom. It really could have been in a big dance gala, like when you see those tango companies perform in the 21st Century Stars of Ballet galas or something. It made me think ballroom can and will take new directions and become a real performance art.

They also did a gorgeous Paso that took my breath away. Pasha and his cape And they ended with a beautiful Rumba in which Anya wore her black Blackpool dress from the year they placed second in Rising Star. My favorite dress of hers, EVER… (middle and right pictures here)

Maybe it was just the lights, but she seems to be wearing her hair lighter now, which I like. Now, it’s a light brown. I think dirty blonde is her natural color (and my favorite for her); she’d dyed it for SYTYCD. She also seems to have got a light, wavy perm. Pasha looks the same

It’s always beyond wonderful to see them again, but I always get so sad, and I left the theater feeling like I was going to cry. I don’t know why.

Oh one more thing, Karen and Matt Hauer, another pro couple who compete in the American Rhythm section at national competitions, performed a few numbers. Karen completely blew me away. She has grown by leaps and bounds in the past couple of years since I first saw her dance. Her movement is so fierce, so fluid, so amazing. Her upper body isolations, which you can really see in the slower dances, the way she rounds her shoulders, contracts her rib cage, you can trace the muscular ripple from her shoulders all the way down to her hips centimeter by centimeter. And she’s dancing with such passion, such intensity. She honestly reminded me of Karina Smirnoff. I was just enthralled.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of them at earlier competitions:

Okay, I have talked too long. I’m never going to be ready for Blackpool!

After Len said this of Cristian, Carrie Ann said of Mario and Karina, “that was better than good sex!” — this show is getting out of control… and the other judges are stealing Bruno’s one-liners!

My two thoughts up front: Whoa Cristian! And Kristi was born with clubbed feet???

I thought Jason was excellent at Hip Hop — excellent! I thought wow, he’s really improving. But then when it came to the Cha Cha, it was fine and cute but nowhere near as good as that Hip Hop. It just shows you how hard ballroom dancing is — especially Latin with all that hip action. It’s hard! Jason’s so cute with his self-deprecation. That face he made when Len told him he wanted to see him actually dance more. Then, the “I suck.” Aw!

The Shannon and Derek at the beach so she could ‘get in the mood’ was almost as corny as Cristian and Cheryl’s visit to the sea lion shrink. But I thought Shannon did much better this week. The hips were screwed up during the traditional Latin opening out steps, but she has a ballet body — tall and thin and few curves, and if he gives her more balletic moves — like that gorgeous slow ronde de jambe en l’air in the beginning and that beautiful stretch near the end– she’ll do much better and the lack of hip action won’t be so noticeable.

Poor Marlee! I actually didn’t think the whole thing looked forced, only parts. The worst was the pelvic rolls with him standing behind her. They may not have been connected at the start because she seemed off on the rolls at the beginning, and until she caught up with him, she looked uncomfortable. And that can be a really rather funny (in a bad way) move to look uncomfortable with! But I thought the shoulder shakes were much better — she really seemed at ease with those and really let loose. I thought the basic mambo steps were fine; the hip action wasn’t quite there, but I disagree with the judges that they looked stiff. It is really hard not to be able to connect with the music in this most rhythmic, musical of all ballroom dances. I was hoping she’d be able to connect through other means than simply her partner — maybe floor vibrations she could feel through her feet? Maybe she should have been barefoot? Sorry, I’m just remembering Helen Keller’s telling an audience she could hear their applause through the floor… Anyway, I feel for Marlee and I hope she can re-gain momentum for next week. The judges were too harsh. Fabian was most pleasing though, no?!

“You can just call me Frederico Astaire.” Cristian is so cute. He was wonderful this week. I couldn’t believe it. The water actually helped him this time — the swimming was a good idea on Cheryl’s part. The water slowed those crazy, out of control arms way down. He was, as Bruno said, the perfect dashing gentleman, the way he glided over that floor. His footwork was excellent, not a step out of place, even on those fast intricate grapevines in the beginning, his partnering was perfect, his posture and lines were even good. I do agree with Len — he’d better not be in the bottom tomorrow night!

Wow, I get ridiculously dizzy too; I wish my teacher would have sent me to an aerial spinning class like Tony did Marissa. It looks like they helped. Maybe I’ll look into one. Seriously. Marissa looked really good tonight. She did a couple of lovely arabesques and the ending floor sweep was beautiful.

Kristi was perfect, as always. She really is a pro out there — not even like a pro, but a real pro. Mark is so lucky because he can choreograph the exact same kind of routine he’d do for himself and a professional partner; he doesn’t really need to search for specific strengths to highlight and weaknesses to hide. That was I think the first Jive ever on this show to be danced at full speed, and he gave her some really intricate, complicated footwork. She’s really the best, by far, no competition. But a commenter on one of my Huffington Post pieces said the fact that she was so perfect up front, that she had dance background, ruins it for her. If someone you can connect to because they, like you, are not a star from the get-go, and they can, with practice, be made into a dancer, that makes it possible for you to as well. Kristi is already basically a pro, so it’s not fun to watch her try and struggle the same as the average person would. It’s an interesting perspective on the show.

Mario’s routine was near perfect, but I kind of agree with Len that it was a bit too much about the sex and not enough about the dancing. Before Len made that comment, I had thought, hmmm, very sexy rhumba, but he’s not really doing a whole lot of moving. I don’t think I would have used the same words as Len though — strumpet and gigolo? Eeeh.

The group routine: those were the funniest practice lifts I think I’ve ever seen. I’m surprised Derek didn’t get hurt on that rotating cartwheel. I actually took lessons with Christian Perry, the guy who’s teaching these group dances. He taught at my first studio DanceSport, so it’s always so funny to see him on TV. I think I actually preferred the practice sessions to the actual performance though. All the lifts were the same and it seemed there was more unstylized jumping about than actual dance steps; it was more fun watching them all try to learn.