2018 GrandSlam Helsinki

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Mr Extrovert Does It Again 08 March 2018 14:44

Winson Tam - Anastasia Novikova, CAN © Roland

It's day four after the first GrandSlam leg of the 2018 Series and one of the few dancers who's also an avid vlogger has done it  again: Winson Tam, CAN, files his personal account of what happened in Helsinki on his YouTube channel.

If you happen to get ready to release your own vlog about the first GrandSlam, we invite you to do so without much delay. Our contest deadline is the 31 March - and whoever generates the most views with his/her Helsinki vlog by then will win a voucher for our new DanceSport Total video-on-demand service.

Winson Tam and his partner Anastasia Novikova had two good competitions in Helsinki, narrowly failing to make both quarterfinals and finishing 15th in their stroger section Latin.

nE5ACyC4NmA|First Grandslam of 2018 Helsinki | VLOG 32






Tight Fight 04 March 2018 20:43

4 March - © Helmut Roland

The first leg of the GrandSlam Latin Series 2018 produced a tight fight for first between the same couples that made the Shanghai Final last year a cliffhanger - with the outcome open until the very last dance. A novelty here: Armen Tsaturyan - Svetlana Gudyno, RUS, and Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska, GER, tied the Jive with 38.75 points each.

In the end, it was the Paso Doble performed as the last solo which proved to be decisive, with Armen and Svetlana breaking the 39-point barrier and increasing the margin which separates them from Marius-Andrei and Khrystyna by five decimal points. One can only look forward to more closely fought battles throughout the year  - be it in championships or in GrandSlams.

R_huX5p2kkM|Tsaturyan - Gudyno, RUS | 2018 GS LAT Helsinki | R2 C | DanceSport Total

Finland Still Blocked! 04 March 2018 18:21

4 March - © Helmut Roland

For rights reasons, the LIVE webcast coming out of the Vantaa Energia Arena today cannot be shown here in Finland. The signal is blocked for anyone trying to watch with a Finnish IP address. Sorry!

Finnish public broadcaster YLE will air highlights of the GrandSlam Standard and Latin in the very near future. The two broadcasts on last year's editions garrnered 150,000 (Standard) and 200,000 (Latin) viewers on the two consecutive nights they were aired.

The GrandSlam Latin Semi-Final is coming up next www.dancessporttotal.com

7GewyP7QJE8|Taskinen - Koskela, FIN | 2018 GS LAT Helsinki | R1 S

 

Imagine! 04 March 2018 17:35

Juvenile II © Kaleta

The last rounds of the 2018 GrandSlam Latin alternate with those of a Juvenile II, a Junior II and a Professional Divsion Open Standard. Now imagine: here you are at the very start of your career, just about to turn ten, and you get to dance in front of a sizeable crowd at the Vantaa Energy Arena and - even more of a buzz - to the live tunes of Dave Benton's Best Band.

It's all happening at the Finnish Open!

Stay tuned for the semi-final of the 2018 GrandSlam Latin Helsinki. It starts at 18:22 UTC/GMT! To watch it, go to www.dancesporttotal.com

Quarterfinal Is On 04 March 2018 16:45

4 March - © Helmut Roland

The live webcast from the 2018 GrandSlam Latin Helsinki has started - slightly ahead of schedule - and the quarterfinal is in progress.

The stream quality is being monitored and reported to be outstanding!

Go to DanceSport Total | DST!

The starting list is found here!

Semi-Final: scheduled new at 18:22 UTC/GMT
Final: scheduled new at 19:07 UTC/GMT

Today's Entertainment Pleasures 04 March 2018 13:05

Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska, GER © Weber

Day two of the GrandSlam Helsinki leg is traditionally reserved for Latin. No changes in that respect. One change over last year: there are four more couples dancing today, bringing the total to 88. The concerns of WDSF and the organiser over the dancers' waning interest in the GrandSlam format seem to have dissipated. On top of that, WDSF President Lukas Hinder was promised to receive input by dancers, officials and organisers on how to make the format even more compelling. Pretty soon DanceSport could borrow more than just the GrandSlam name from the successful tennis (ATP) formula.

Today's GrandSlam Latin will be brought to you LIVE. Starting with the quarterfinal at 17:00 UTC/GMT, we will bring you the decisive stages through our new streaming platform DanceSport Total | DST.

If you cannot make it then -  nor at 18:40 plus 19:20 UTC/GMT for the semi-final and final - you will be able to watch everything (plus in-depth interviews and behind-the scene stories) the Vimeo on Demand highlight.

The Moonwalking Bear 04 March 2018 11:48

It Escaped Me!

In the debriefing sessions held at the Airport Hilton in Helsinki, FIN, earlier today, one of the adjudicators, Alberto Pregnolato, used a popular awareness test to make his point regarding proper observation on a busy dance floor, i.e. what the eye is capable of registering and what it is likely to miss.

Why don't you take test and apply your conclusions to the challenges that the judges in DanceSport are faced with as they observe the evolutions of dancers on the floor all day long!

How many passes does the team in white make?

Ahg6qcgoay4|Test Your Awareness!

Debriefing Adjudicators 04 March 2018 06:59


Adjudicators' Debrief

It was the second high-calibre final of the year for five out of the six couples in it. Only Evgeny Moshenin - Dana Spitsyna, RUS, didn't dance the one at the recent European in Copenhagen. Chances are that we will get to see more with very similar compositions as time goes on. Madis Abel, who found himself in the seventh place after four rounds, observed: "The final is full, these are all excellent couples. It is nearly impossible to get in." In any case, Madis and partner Aleksandra Galkina will keep at it, working hard to make the cut one day.

Everyone who watched the live webcast of the decisive stages in the GrandSlam on DanceSport Total last night would have to concur that the level in Standard has never been higher. Something that is brought out again this morning in the first debriefing sessions with the 12 adjudicators. More about that later!

ZKscCvd0Yjk|Dmitry Zharkov - Olga Kulikova, RUS | 2018 GS STD Helsinki | R2 T

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