2010 Tokyo Grand Slam 07/03/2010

The top couples in Standard and Latin met in Tokyo for their second Grand Slam this year. It took place within the 12^th International Open Tokyo DanceSport Championships “Rogers Cup” in the magnificent Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.

It was a very long day for most of the competitors, the bus left the hotel already at 6.40 in the morning. The first round was scheduled at 8.30 a.m. More than 70 couples in each category entered. The performances of the couples were highly appreciated by the enthusiastic audience. Approximately 4000 people came to the afternoon session, even more to the Evening Gala. Obviously DanceSport is one of the favourite sports in Japan. It was really great to see, how the very friendly Japanese people tried to get in contact with the couples. They gave little presents to their favourite couples, took photos and asked for autographs.

During the evening Gala the Semifinals and Finals were danced. It was a great honour to have the ambassadors of 9 different countries as guests at the competition watching the best couples DanceSport has to offer. Congratulation to the Japanese DanceSport Federation for this perfect promotion of DanceSport.

The two finals promised to be very interesting. The New Adjudication System was to be tested for the second time. The nominated panel of adjudicators at the Grand Slam arrived in Tokyo one day before the competition. They received information about the new system and were trained in a national competition. It was also interesting to follow the discussions and opinions.

After the very successful first test in December in Shanghai there was feedback received from the couples as well as from adjudicators. These feedbacks were highly appreciated and helpful for improving and optimizing the new system. The top priorities of IDSF are to provide a system which gives fairness and objectivity for all couples. So there was a request of having no open markings after each dance. This is understandable from the point of view of the couples. But we have to think of the audience too. To compromise there was the marking to be seen on a screen in the hall, placed visible for the audience, but not for the adjudicators. Another step for more objectivity was to eliminate the best and worst marking. So out of eleven judges, 9 markings were bringing out the result.

Another point which has to be taken into consideration is the rather long duration of such a final. This time it was approximately 45 minutes. Maybe there will be a change of the format used in the final. There will be further discussions within the athlete`s commission, the trainers and IDSF Presidium in order to find the best possible solution for the couples to provide transparency and fairness.

Grand Slam Standard Final :

1.    Benedetto Ferruggia – Claudia Köhler,GER    241,56

2.    Andrea Ghiggiarelli – Sara Andracchio, ITA    231,67

3.    Emanuel Valeri – Tanja Kehlet, DEN              230,44

4.    Simone Segatori – Annette Sudol,GER          223,39

5.    Federico Di Toro – Genny Favero, ITA           214,89

6.    Dmitriy Zharkov – Olga Kulikova, RUS           211,22

Grand Slam Latin Final:

1.    Alexey Silde – Anna Firstova, RUS                  238,17

2.    Andrey Zaitsev – Anna Kuzminskaya, RUS     231,94

3.    Zoran Plohl – Tatsiana Lahvinovic, CRO         231,89

4.    Martino Zanibellato – Michelle Abiltrup, DEN   223,44

5.    Vladimir Karpov Maria Tsaptashvili, RUS         219,78

6.    Gabriele Goffredo – Antonella Goffredo, ITA   212,06