2016 GrandSlam Finals Shanghai

The Italian DanceSport Federation (FIDS) has elected a new President in a second Extraordinary Assembly held in Rome in less than two months. On 15 December, Michele Barbone defeated Giovanni Costantino in the balloting by the 1227 delegates who were present.

After Giovanni Costantino's election by acclamation during the Assembly on 22 October had been declared null and void, the Italian National Olympic Committee instated Constantino temporarily as Commissioner of FIDS and demanded that new elections be scheduled.

WDSF President Hinder was again among the first to congratulate the new FIDS President, expressing his hopes that Barbone would join him in the fight against competition manipulation. "I do hope that you, in your capacity as FIDS President, will also make the eradication of this scourge a priority of your term," Hinder wrote in his congratulatory message." 

The 2016 World Formation Latin was held on 10 December in Bremen, GER. WDSF Communications team member Helmut Roland was on location and recorded the semi-final and final rounds (after taking photographs of all formation teams during the first round.)

It was a tight competition between GGC Bremen, GER, and Duet Perm, RUS, for the title. A few decimal points decided in favour of the home team (GGC Bremen 37.175 : Duet Perm 36.857).

Videos of the final have been uploaded to our YouTube channel DanceSport Total. Those of the semi-final will follow shortly.

We had us two memorable GrandSlam Finals in Shanghai over the weekend. The very best of both, by far, was the dancing: altogether 26 couples (including the two Chinese wildcards) outdid themselves on the floor.

As you will have read in some of the earlier posts, at times, these couples were surrounded by imperfection and victimised by the Law of Murphy, but they just kept on dancing ... Never mind the blank LED screens and the lack of essential competition information!

It was almost like in the old days: everybody left in the dark until the last couple had completed the last dance of the final and the compère called out their numbers and names from sixth place to first.

The semi-final and the final in Latin and Standard will now get edited into two 90-minute Vimeo on Demand programme where everything will look the way it should have played out to the audiences at the Luwan Stadium. Individual scores after the first and last solos, standings after each dance, etc.

Don't miss them! For the excellence of the dancing, for the drama of the competition and for the innovation in some of the dresses (see left) ...

The programmes will be available just prior to the holidays - on 22 and 23 December - for US$ 3.75 each (3-month streaming period).

Continuity was guaranteed in as far as the projection of scores and results was also impossible today, during part of the last round of the 2016 GrandSlam Final Standard here in Shanghai. This time it wasn't the network switch, it was the entire LED screen that failed to work. The effect, however, was pretty much the same: dancers and audience didn't have any idea as to their scores and results after the third dance. The problem wasn't resolved. But it was successfully patched by bringing a 21-inch monitor to the floor for the couples in the Kiss & Cry area to react to their scores.

The changes: Simone Segatori and Annette Sudol, GER, kept the upper hand in their ongoing duel against Dmitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova, RUS. It started with the first dance: the Germans scored eight decimal points higher than the Russians ... And after the points of all five dances were tallied up, Simone and Annette were ahead by 2.3 points. "It was not our day," is how Dmitry and Olga commented their second place.

When the network of the Judging System 2.1 crashed during the last two dances of the Latin final last night, Sports Director Marco Sietas put everything and everyone on hold to have the problem sorted out by the scrutineers. "We have all your results, don't worry," Sietas told the finalist couples waiting for the scores to go up on screen. "We just need to find a way to get them and to make them public. Trust us and stand by!" he concluded.

Well, the dancers followed his instructions, stopped cold in their tracks and - together with cameraman Ferran Castanyer - improvised the first "Mannequin Challenge" at a GrandSlam. We know that one was organised at a recent World Open in Spain. But more about that later!

WDSF Communications team member Helmut Roland had a busy day yesterday at the 2016 World Latin Formation in Bremen, GER, where the home team managed to prevail and win a record fifth consecutive title.

We offered you privileged access to a quality live stream last night (courtesy of host broadcaster Radio Bremen - and of WDSF allowing that the feed could go out internationally). Helmut recorded the semi-final and final and will upload, eventually, the 12 shows to our YouTube channel DanceSport Total.

What Helmut has already forwarded to us are the pictures he took during the first round. Over the coming hours we will upload them to the Gallery.

Interesting observation made by Helmut: the organisers had to ask thousands of spectators in the Stadthalle Bremen to switch off their mobiles and tablets. Reason: they caused interference with the wireless network that was used for the judging system. Wireless or wired, networks seem to have been particularly challenging for DanceSport yesterday!

We're just over one hour away from round one of the 2016 GrandSlam Standard Final here in Shanghai. The 12 couples are brought from the hotel (great breakfast) where everybody is staying at to the nearby Luwan Stadium.

The last round of yesterday's Latin Final may have lacked some of the uncertainty over who could end up as winners - it was pretty much a runaway victory by Gabriele Goffredo - Anna Matus, MDA, who tokk a commanding lead right from the first Samba, but all of us on the Communications team think that will be different today.

Let's just think of what happened the World Championship in Aarhus, DEN, where the winning margin between Dmitry Zharkov - Olga Kulikova, RUS, and Simone Segatori - Annette Sudol, GER, was something like two decimal points. Here is the full starting list for today!

The WDSF Communications team has released the 15 videos that were recorded during the first round of the 2016 GrandSlam Latin Final on its YouTube channel DanceSport Total and here. Check the Gallery above!

The semi-final and the final rounds were recorded with eight cameras and will become available as Vimeo on Demand programme. Here are the nine couples that will be featured as they burn the floor at the Luwan Stadium in Shanghai.

Armen Tsaturyan - Svetlana Gudyno, RUS

Andrea Silvestri - Martina Varadi, HUN

Andrey Gusev - Vera Bondareva, RUS

Umberto Gaudino - Louise Heise, DEN

Giacomo Lazzarini - Roberta Benedetti, ITA

Anton Aldaev - Natalia Polukhina, RUS

Gabriele Goffredo - Anna Matus, MDA

Timur Imametdinov - Nina Bezzubova, GER

Charles-Guillaume Schmitt - Elena Salikhova, FRA

Given the problems that were experienced with the display of the scores at the end of the final yesterday, post-production is a little more complex than usual and the release could get delayed. But you will definitely get it in time for X-mas!