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!
More on Slavik and Hanna
Of course we weren’t allowed to take videos of the performances at the Starry Winter Night Showcase (part of Columbia University’s Big Apple Dancesport Challenge, that I went to Saturday night — see post below) but here are some videos of a recent performance by Slavik and Hanna in Greece. The showdances are very similar to the ones I saw. I don’t feel as bad for my thoughts; if you read the YouTube comments, a lot of people felt as I did. Here’s their Rumba, their Samba, the Jive (with the suspenders :)) , the Paso, and the Cha Cha.
Unfortunately, they had the lights turned down so low all my pictures all turned out to be crap. Witness below
Anyway, I’m writing reviews of this event and the Dance Times Square in-house competition (always a blast) for Explore Dance and will link when they’re up.
People are going to hate me for this…
People are going to hate me for this…
Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.
T-Mobile
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…
Crazy Weekend of Ballroom and Books
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.
Reminder: Slavik & Hanna at Columbia
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.
Slavik Must Dance!
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…
Don’t Forget Fall For Dance
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.
Watching video of karina and slavik
Watching video of karina and slavik
Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.
Who according to the program decided not to compete this year presumably because his partnership with hannah is too new and they didn’t feel ready. So upset!
It's Not Latin Without Proper Hips!
I thought the only good routine on tonight’s Dancing With the Stars was Mario and Karina’s. Ironic because my two favorite dances are rhumba and samba … or, perhaps maybe that’s why I always dislike the weeks devoted to those dances. Somehow Karina was able to teach Mario how to perform the hip and undulating pelvic movements properly, in a way none of the other pros were able to convey to their celebrities. Oh, and, I LOVED the music — “A Tisket a Tasket”! The first time I saw Karina dance (and wanted so badly to be her), she danced a Samba with her former partner, Slavik Kryklyyvy, to that song. Here it is on YouTube.
My second favorite was Marissa, although I wouldn’t really say her movement was Samba; it was more just fun all-out groving. There were no pelvic contractions and expansions at all — the rolling movement that gives the dance that seductively intriguing snaky feel. She said during practice to her Samba was all about shaking your booty, and it’s not. If she saw it that way, then no wonder she looked all wrong. She was cute and her dancing was a lot of sassy fun; it just looked more like something you’d see in a club.
Marlee had the same problem — no pelvic rotations, though she looked cute and gave her routine a lot of pizazz. It just wasn’t Samba.
Priscilla, Jason, and Cristian all tried to move their hips, but didn’t understand that the hips need to be connected to the lats (back muscles). It’s the lats that push down on the hips that make the hips move. If you just move the hip without first moving the lat, it looks like you’re just shaking your butt. It looks superficial and silly. One of my ballroom friends, Juana, once told me that rhumba emanates from the slaves. The quintessential rhumba walks that people now see as being so sexy, actually evolved from the movement one makes while trying to carry a heavy load atop one’s head. Think about it — you’d take a step, then the load would bear down on your shoulder, the weight would ripple down to your hip, the hip would settle into its socket, and you’d move on, taking another step and setting the movement in motion anew. After she told me this, I envisioned myself as such a woman, carrying heavy bottles of water atop her shoulders, and unbelievably it worked so much better than my teacher shouting, “foot, lat, hip, foot lat, hip” over and over again.
Anyway, Kristi and Shannon didn’t even try to move their hips. Shannon complained she had none to move. I used to use the same excuse (see my blog’s tag line), but now that I’ve seen plenty of tall, thin women (Joanna Leunis) do rhumba quite well, I know it’s just that — an excuse. Kristi did a lovely lyrical routine — and she’s definitely a natural and beautiful mover — but I felt that it wasn’t really rhumba without the hips — it was a nice theatrical dance you might see on Broadway, but not Latin ballroom.
Depressed! What did you guys think?
My Best of 2007 in Dance
It’s already the second day of 2008 (Happy New Year everyone!) and I’m just now getting my best of last year up; sorry so late! I was tagged by Jen & Jolene, so I’ll formulate my “best of” as a response to their survey:
1) Best Performance of the Year: I had many favorites, but I guess overall I’ll have to say Alessandra Ferri’s farewell performance with ABT in Romeo & Juliet at the Met. She was my favorite ballerina for many years and I’m still missing her. Plus, I was introduced to La Scala’s Roberto Bolle, who guest performed 😀
2) Best Male Performer of the Year: Definitely Clifton Brown of Alvin Ailey!
3) Best Female Performer of the Year: I thought a lot about this, and I know I’m mixing dance genres, but I’m going to say Yulia Zagoruychenko. She had a damn good year. She, with Max Kozhevnikov, made the Latin finals at Blackpool this year, being the only US couple to do so, then, later in the year, went on to displace the several-year-long U.S. National champs to win that title. At the end of the year, she survived a partner change and went on to win her first competition with him, Riccardo Cocchi. She is adored by many both nationally and internationally and she is very deserving of her hard-won success. Go Yulia and Riccardo!
4) Best New Discovery of the Year: This is too hard because there were so many dancers and choreographers whom I was introduced to this year who aren’t necessarily new to the scene, but just to me! List includes: choreographers Camille A. Brown, Luca Veggetti, Luciana Achugar, Kyle Abraham, and Robert Battle; composer Nico Muhly; dancers Kirven Boyd, Antonio Douthit and Yannick LeBrun (all of Alvin Ailey — the last I forgot to mention in my last post on AA; fortunately Susan reminded me in her comment!), and Roberto Bolle (who was new to me this year); Brazilian troupe Mimulus; Nora Chipaumire of Urban Bush Women (pictured above this number) at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival; the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival itself (it’s been around for aeons, but I had my first experience there this year). That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure I’ll think of bizillions of people I forgot later…
5) Best Regional / Local Performance of the Year: I think this is more of a theater question since there’s usually a big distinction between regional theater and a Broadway show, or a company who tours, but, since physically it was “local,” I’ll say NYCB’s spring season opening night. It was just too much fun watching all those celebrities walk down that red carpet and overhearing goofy crowd comments, and then writing about it all (although my mother was aghast at me for my using the word “whores” in my blog title!)
6) Best Performance in a Non-Traditional Venue: This is a toss-up between the wonderful “Accounting For Customs” performed on the steps of the US Customs House, and the super fun and impossible-to-tear-yourself-away-from Lincoln Center ‘drive-in,’ David Michalek’s “Slow Dancing” films.
7) Favorite Televised Theater Event: I didn’t really have a favorite in this category (since the only thing I saw fitting it was Mark Morris’s “Mozart Dances” on PBS which I didn’t care for), so I’ll just state my favorite dance TV show, which was SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. Duh.
8) Biggest Dance Obsession: Alvin Ailey, Alvin Ailey, Alvin Ailey. Again, if you’ve read my blog over the past several weeks, Duh 😀
9) Most Likely To Be The Next Big Thing: Eee. Hard! So hard to predict. But I’m going to name a few: ABT’s Blaine Hoven and Vitali Krauchenka,
Kirven Boyd and Antonio Douthit at Alvin Ailey,
Craig Hall at NYCB,
choreographer Camille A. Brown…
Again, I’m sure I’m leaving people out…
10) Most Anticipated Performance Of 2008: Eee, another tough one. There are so many things I’m looking forward to this year. I guess the biggest is going to be Blackpool. Since the current decade-long Latin champs retired last year, there will be a new Latin winner, which is really exciting to me since it’s my favorite event there. I’m hoping for Slavik Kryklyvyy and Elena Khvorova,
I’m also looking forward to Twyla Tharp’s new ballet that ABT will premiere in the Spring at the Met,
And I’m looking forward to Nikolaj Hubbe’s farewell performance with NYCB (he is returning to Denmark). Not that I’m looking forward to bidding him farewell, but to the show NYCB will put on in his honor.
Okay my brain is tired now. If anyone else wants to add their “best ofs” in a comment here or on their own blog, please do so!
My Favorite Pasha & Anya Pics!
I’m so excited. Look what the “Rhythm of Love” people sent me (Again, that performance is next Friday and Saturday nights in Stamford):
These are my favorite pictures of them. They were taken at Blackpool in 2005, the year they placed 2nd in the world in the Rising Star Latin division — their most prestigious placement ever! Look at how gorgeous she is. Look at that costume — oh how I wanted one just like it. She designs her own (remember Danny Tidwell saying how he was going to miss them when she was booted from SYTYCD?!) I always thought when she retired from competition she could become a professional designer. But now of course she is on to far bigger and better things! And how cute is Pasha?! 😀 I remember when I first saw these pictures I had just made my first appointment with him at Dance Times Square. I hadn’t yet met him and had only signed up on the advice of a fellow student at my former studio, DanceSport. I did a Google search before my lesson and found these pics and nearly died. My first thought: oh no, he’s gorgeous; I can’t take lessons from him! And her, hello! Of course I was only signing on for lessons, not to be his actual partner, or girlfriend for that matter, but still! Talk about nerves upon first meeting…
Oh, brings back memories. It all seems so far in the past now, although it really isn’t… Anyway, thanks “Rhythm of Love” people for sending them!
In other ballroom news:
it appears many in the Latin world are very hopeful that the new partnership of Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi could quite possibly bring America a first-place prize in the Worlds next year. Thank you to Dance Beat for sending this info my way. Apparently, the couple just finished their first competition, the medium-sized Holiday Classic in Las Vegas (which, because of its relatively small size, is an ideal comp for a new partnership to test its mettle). Spectators, including Dame of the Ballroom World, Shirley Ballas, were apparently blown away. (Ballas has formerly coached Yulia and her old partner Max, and I know she’s long been fond of Riccardo). Anyway, these videos are not the greatest quality, but here are some small clips of the two dancing in the finals in the Holiday Classic, and a short interview with Ballas.
I wasn’t in Vegas so haven’t yet seen them dance together, but I have long admired Yulia and have always thought her by far the most artistic Latin dancer in this country.
Here she is at Nationals last year with her former partner Max Kozhevnikov;
And here’s a picture I took of Riccardo and his old partner, Joanne Wilkinson, last year at Blackpool. He was a great showman, and wow could he move. The last American couple to place in the top three in Latin at Blackpool was in 2005 when Karina Smirnoff and Slavik Kryklyvyy took second. Last year we didn’t have a couple in the finals. This year, Max and Yulia snagged an emotional 7th place. Longtime first-place champs Bryan Watson and Carmen have retired, leaving the top position vacant. All I can say is, can’t wait till May!
I Big Huge Heart Louis Van Amstel!
Ah, wasn’t he brilliant tonight on Dancing With the Stars! That, ladies and gentlemen, is the greatest Latin ballroom dancer in the world! Excepting Slavik 🙂 Actually, not though – Louis is the best; really years after his retirement from competitive ballroom dancing he is still the world’s greatest I strongly declare. And damn was that a fast cha cha he and Cheryl Burke did to that Barry Manilow song! Kind of a funny thing with this show: they hire a certain singer to perform, the song their choice, and then tell the dancers to dance something to it. Sometimes there really isn’t a ballroom dance that perfectly fits the beat of that particular song, so the dancers really have to be creative. I think Louis and Cheryl could have gone with a Hustle, but they chose to do a crazy fast Cha Cha instead, and wow! That standing ovation was so deserved. Oh, I love him so!
And I thought Jonathan Roberts and his wife Anna Trebunskaya did a beautiful waltz to “Oh Mandy!” What an adorably sweet couple! And, am I a dork for loving that song?
I loved the group Swing number and am glad they showed it again tonight. Christian Perry, the choreographer, actually used to teach at my old studio, Paul Pellicoro’s DanceSport. Every Friday night they’d have a social dance party, and beforehand they’d have an all-levels group class. All levels can mean either hideously over your head or ridiculously easy. In his case, it was always the latter, which I appreciated because it became more of an occasion for fun, or to work on improving technique since you weren’t worried about getting the simple steps down. This group number was really sophisticated though, for a bunch of amateurs. I would think that would be so hard, to choreograph a routine that had sufficient amounts of fun, performance-worthy showiness with some good lifts and fast dancing for a group of amateurs of varying abilities. Of course these are all extremely hard-working amateurs. He pulled it off well. Good for Christian!
I also enjoyed their little footage of the amateurs talking about how great it was to connect with each other over ballroom and yet how competitive they were as well. I feel what they all said is so true: you do really bond with each other, especially when you do a performance showcase, and you do really compete with each other when doing a competition. I think that’s why I grew to prefer the former so much more over the latter. Competition makes me so uneasy.
But what a shocker are the results?! Hip hop Cheeta Girl dancer extraordinaire Sabrina Bryan, whom I think everyone fully expected to make it to the finals, was axed tonight unexpectedly, to make a ginormous understatement.
Now I feel badly for criticizing her pro partner, Mark Ballas, earlier… it could have been that people were displeased with him either for the reasons I stated — that he was spending too much time showing off and not properly framing Sabrina (although I thought he did much better on that front with their foxtrot last night — hard to show off in standard ballroom though), or perhaps because people might have felt Sabrina had an unfair advantage getting to work with Mark’s mother, ballroom dame Shirley Ballas. Or, perhaps they thought it was unfair that she already had a good deal of dance experience and the scales were unfairly tipped to begin with? I think the show’s producers do that on purpose though — try to get people of varying levels of ability. I think they want to make sure the audience doesn’t get too bored with too many “bad” people. But they also want to have enough low-level beginners who can grow and improve during the show so the audience can have an underdog to root for. I think here their thinking might have backfired a bit, unfortunately for Sabrina.