2019 GrandSlam Rimini

The intense Sunday evening in Rimini marked the 13th GrandSlam win for Armen Tsaturyan – Svetlana Gudyno (RUS). The winners smiled when they said they were feeling good during the whole day. Svetlana emphasized the meaning of a good practice session, which they managed to schedule perfectly before the competition. ”You have many things to improve and these last practices are so important. And preparing for competitions is so important.” They were able to bring the fine tuning from the practice floor to the competition floor and it made the couple’s day special. ”It felt easy this time”, Armen said. And they did it in such a great way, scoring close to the maximum (40) in every dance, including the incredible 39.75 in Samba.

The best of the 2019 WDSF GrandSlam Latin Rimini final was, however and without a doubt, the Rumba. The couples, the spectators, and even some of the officials agreed saying it was the best round of the competition. The runners-up from Germany, Marius-Andrei Balan and Khrystyna Moshenska commented right after the final, saying ”For the feeling, Rumba was fantastic!” Khrystyna emphasized she loved the music in the final.

Just like on Saturday, the couples appreciated the support of the Italian crowd. Nina Bezzubova, who ranked third with her couple Timur Imametdinov, commented by saying ”These five rounds went very quickly and very easily. The public was amazing, they are always good, and the organisation is also nice. It was good. We feel good!” Khrystyna Moshenska agreed ”The audience, like always in Italy, is fantastic, they are very open, they support all the couples. I enjoyed.”

Timur Imametdinov agreed, too, and said it was a good competition. He would have preferred a bit longer breaks between rounds, as just like on Saturday in GrandSlam Standard the next round started exactly 20 minutes after the previous round. On the other hand, Nina and Khrystyna agreed with the Standard couples the day before, saying the rounds and the competition went quickly. Svetlana said she thought the schedule was clever. ”During the first rounds there was time between dances, and on the other hand there was a longer break before the semifinal.” Armen concluded the discussion saying that as long as the schedule is out beforehand the couples can mentally prepare for it.

Perhaps the happiest faces of all finalist couples after the competition were on the faces of Jakub Lipowski and Diandra-Aniela Illes (POL), who reached the GrandSlam final for the first time and ranked sixth. ”It’s a dream come true”, Jakub said. ”I always wanted to dance in a GrandSlam final. And today it happened. So I’m really, extremely happy!” The moment when the couple found out they were proceeding to the final round made their heads spin. ”He was screaming from 20 metres: ”We are still dancing! We are still dancing!” And I had to put myself to a chair and I didn’t know how to react, I felt like a baby, like a small baby. It was unbelievable”, Diandra-Aniela described.

These are the big and small moments which define DanceSport in a way we all can relate to. Jakub and Diandra-Aniela had been watching the videos, talking with the coaches and dreaming of making it one day. And they made it on Sunday! We couldn’t be happier for them!

Overall, the third leg of the GrandSlam Series in Rimini was accompanied with the Mediterranean colours, easygoing, and, of course, top level sports from the best couples of the world. GrandSlam Latin with the superb athleticism of the couples, and emotions combined with music thrills and excites people around the world. GrandSlam Standard couples continue to amaze us time after time with such power, energy and flow, combined with beauty, harmony and aesthetics. It is so easy to love Standard and Latin dancing. And the more we follow these worldclass acts on and off the dance floor, the more we understand why!

It was a solid win for Evaldas Sodeika – Ieva Zukauskaite (LTU) as they jumped on the highest step of the podium in Rimini on Saturday. The third leg of the 2019 WDSF GrandSlam Series Standard thrilled the spectators at Rimini Fiera, and the crowd welcomed the star couples warmly, from their first round onwards.

As humble as always, Evaldas and Ieva admitted that during the competition they managed to achieve what they were planning to do. ”We’re trying to impress and surprise the audience. I think we did it tonight”, Ieva said immediately after the competition. Indeed they did, and they impressed the Adjudicator panel aswell, since the couple was awarded over 39 points in each five dances of the final.

About the warm welcome by the Italian spectators, Ieva gave respect to the Italian crowd. ”From the first round the audience was crazy, so they were really warmly welcoming us.”

”I would say it was a little bit of a surprise for us, because we know that our friends Francesco and Debora are the favourites, because it is their home country. But for sure we are really surprised that they showed respect, clapped and cheered for us aswell. We felt really great from the first round”, Evaldas thanked the enthusiastic Italian spectators.

The Italian runners-up, Francesco Galuppo – Debora Pacini, ranked second in the competition and also wanted to say thankyous to the spectators. ”Of course, we are very happy to be here. Already during the last GrandSlam we felt like almost at home, because we had a lot of supporters, but it can not compare to the audience of today. We have to say thank you to everybody”, Francesco commented seemingly happy. ”We felt really good today, especially all this audience was really amazing”, Debora added.

About their good start of 2019 the couple confirmed that the year has started in a good way, ”But we can always do better!”, they both added. The couple is hoping to reach the top next year in Rimini, and they are already looking forward to it.

The competition itself was held in a fast pace, with 20-minutes break between rounds, but it seemed to suit these top class athletes well, making the competition day to start a bit later in the afternoon, and in whole making the day a bit shorter. The fast-paced schedule however had probably left some marks in the bodies of the couples. Just like Evgeny Moshenin, who ranked third with his couple Dana Spitsyna, said next morning: ”I felt it in my body when I woke up, but it wasn’t too bad!”

The spectacle in Rimini saw high scores, high-quality dancing, and moments to remember. All the finalists were performing beautifully, seemingly enjoying the event and giving the Rimini crowd what they came to see: the best Standard dancing in the world.

What a final! What a scores! Armen and Svetlana took home their 13th GrandSlam win, scoring over 39 points in each of the five dances. 

The result is:

1. Armen Tsaturyan - Svetlana Gudyno, RUS
2. Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska, GER
3. Timur Imametdinov - Nina Bezzubova, GER
4. Charles-Guillaume Schmitt - Elena Salikhova, FRA
5. Edgar Marcos Borjas - Alina Nowak, POL
6. Jakub Lipowski - Diandra-Aniela Illes, POL

Jakub and Diandra-Aniela had their first ever GrandSlam final!

Congratulations!!!

Dynamic, explosive, fantastic, stunning... there are no more adjectives remaining after watching the semifinal. The 13 fantastic couples owned the dance floor and pushed each other to the maximum.

The exciting final, which starts at 21:00 CET, has these six incredible couples on the dance floor:

Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska, GER
Timur Imametdinov - Nina Bezzubova, GER
Jakub Lipowski - Diandra-Aniela Illes, POL
Edgar Marcos Borjas - Alina Nowak, POL
Charles-Guillaume Schmitt - Elena Salikhova, FRA
Armen Tsaturyan - Svetlana Gudyno, RUS

The quarterfinal warmed up the spectator stands at Rimini Fiera Black Hall as the chants and clapping continued throughout all heats and all dances, increasing towards the last jive. The couples showed their best performances and seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere.

The thirteen couples who proceed to the semifinal round at 20:00 CET are:

Anton Aldaev - Natalia Polukhina, RUS
Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska, GER
Vito Coppola - Oona Oinas, ITA
Konstantin Gorodilov - Dominika Bergmannova, EST
Timur Imametdinov - Nina Bezzubova, GER
Jakub Lipowski - Diandra-Aniela Illes, POL
Edgar Marcos Borjas - Alina Nowak, POL
Paul Moldovan - Cristina Tatar, ROU
Malthe Brinch Rohde - Sandra Sorensen, DEN
Charles-Guillaume Schmitt - Elena Salikhova, FRA
Winson Tam - Anastasia Novikova, CAN
Armen Tsaturyan - Svetlana Gudyno, RUS
Bangbang Yan - Yujun Du, CHN

There is now a small break in the competition and meanwhile we will continue uploading photos and videos for you all to see.

Round 3 with 49 couples started 15 minutes ahead schedule, and it has just been confirmed that the quarterfinal will start a bit earlier than scheduled, too. The Chairperson, Mr. Waller, just showed the scrutineers a paper with the new time 18:00 CET.

The quarterfinal and the rounds after that will be livestreamed through our partner, Flodance.com platform.

115 couples started the first round, 49 of them proceeded directly to the second round and 20 more couples through the re-dance round. These 69 couples will be joined by the star couples, of which one is unfortunately missing. Andrey Gusev - Vera Bondareva (RUS) are on the list of excused couples.

80 couples are now dancing the second round in seven heats and the first bunch of photos from the first round has just been uploaded. 

The third interview of the weekend has, however, been postponed as the schedule turned out impossible for the couple. And we didn't want to interfere their preparing and focusing to the third leg of the GrandSlam Series in such tight schedule.

A day after the competition, and there was no sight of an exhaustment or tiredness on their faces when we met Evgeny and Dana on Sunday morning. The couple had enjoyed the event very much and appreciated the spectators for being so supportive, starting already from round 1.

Like we already mentioned earlier, the couple had a pretty nerve-wracking trip to Rimini. Their flight was delayed, and when they finally landed and went to pick up their rental car, it wasn't ready yet! It meant even more waiting for them at the airport. They arrived to the hotel hours later than it was planned.

We also found out that Dana is a business woman, and Evgeny is in his dream job right now. And we learned a lot more of them. We'll be sharing the best parts of the interview after some editing work.

Reinhard Egli has been busy with his camera yesterday, and we will soon start uploading more of his fabulous photos on this blog. And another interview is scheduled really soon, so stay tuned!