Bassano 2012 17/02/2012

Venice is famous for its February Carnival.  At the same time, another International event is building its own special tradition.

This year the Bassano Open has celebrated its 20^th anniversary. Over the years it has grown into one of the most important DanceSport events in Italy. Even with extreme weather conditions across most of Europe and major travel disruption due to snow, hundreds of athletes arrived in Bassano del Grappa to compete in various styles and age groups over two days.

We have seen some fantastic performances, and eventually, after some very tough battling, the following couples emerged as winners.

International Open Standard

Sergey Konovaltsev – Olga Konovaltseva, RUS Combining talent and craftsmanship, this couple have been deserving ambassadors of the Russian style for a number of years. Tonight was no exception, bringing them a confident victory.

International Open Latin

Gabrielle Goffredo – Anna Matus, MDA It is almost tangible how these two plug into each other, gaining energy, creating electric atmosphere, which then radiates to judges and the audience.  Their competitors have an unenviable job, trying to compete with such confidence, enthusiasm and commitment.

PD Open Standard

Paulo Bosco – Joanne Clifton, ITA Top notch professional and extremely entertaining, they held public by their performance every step of the way.  They are living proof of what two very experienced and dedicated partners can do together in a relatively short space of time.

PD Open Latin

Daniele Sargenti - Uliana Fomenko, ITA New kids on the block.  It is nice to see a fresh partnership to win such an important event. An early win is likely to have a profound effect on their success, giving confidence for future development. At that moment the whole professional career is in front of them.

Both competitors and officials were grateful to the organisers Mauro and Patrizia Lini for their very warm welcome and tireless efforts to make the weekend run smoothly despite all the stress and adverse weather conditions.

It takes a lot of dedication and all year round work to run such a successful event for two decades, congratulations!

Nick  Kremichenski