Friday started with an interview with Andrea Silvestri and Martina Varadi. The interview was held at the 52nd floor of the official hotel, surrounded with luxurious items and furniture, and the close to 360 degrees view above the ceilings of the Shanghai downtown. We didn't have too much extra time, because the couple had to prepare for the Red Carpet event, but there was no rush, and we received some fantastic material for you. 'The opposites attract' was the theme of the talk.

At the Red Carpet, inside a huge shopping mall in Shanghai City Centre, the couples were introduced to the Chinese audience and journalists. Cameras were flashing as the beautiful couples entered the carpet one by one wearing their gorgeous outfits. The audience had gathered around the carpet, and a huge number was watching from above, at the balconies on the second and third floor. It was a glimpse of glamour to the ordinary Shanghai residents' lives on a normal Friday afternoon. Normal for them, but very special for the couples and the organisers.

After the Red Carpet event the couples were transported to the Welcoming Party, where the organisers, sponsors, officials, couples and representatives of administration met during dinner. The couples were mingling and smiles were spotted on every face, even for those who had just a couple of hours earlier arrived Shanghai and had a huge jet lag.

As the Welcoming Party was about to end, we grabbed Armen Tsaturyan and Svetlana Gudyno for an interview. We know many of you have been waiting for it, and it was such a pleasure to have a casual chat with the couple. And yes, like always, we learned something new of both of them. We will need some time to edit it, but you can trust it will be something amazing and worth waiting for!

It's a wrap for the Red Carpet day, and tomorrow the first of the two WDSF GrandSlam Series Finals will be danced at Luwan Stadium, as the Latin couples will enter the dance floor in the afternoon.

The GrandSlam Final in Shanghai is not the only event this week, and there are many more wonderful events running throughout the weekend.

The 2019 WDSF World Championship Formation Latin takes place in Bremen (GER). There are 19 formations registered representing 10 countries. The 2019 WDSF World Championship Senior III Latin takes place in Guadalajara (ESP). 74 couples representing 16 countries have registered for the Championship.

The 2019 North European Championship kicks-off already on Friday in Oslo (NOR), followed by the WDSF World Open (New Series) Standard on Saturday and Latin on Sunday. The organizer informed us of a live stream, which can be followed here: https://norwegiandance.no/stream/ 

The WRRC hosts the 2019 WRRC World Championship Rock’n’Roll Formations on Saturday, and SAP World Cup Final 2019 for Boogie Woogie and Rock’n’Roll on Sunday in Zielona Gora (POL). The live stream can be followed here: https://wrrclive.com/

Dnipro (UKR), Ferrara (ITA) and Jesi (ITA) host WDSF International Open events, and Krakow (POL), Melbourne (AUS), Mulheim an der Ruhr (GER) and Moscow host WDSF Open events. Moscow also hosts a WDSF PD World Open Standard on Sunday.

Good luck to all couples in all of these events!

While we are waiting for the weekend, we have a small treat for you! Do you remember how the GrandSlam Finals were last year? Who won, and which couples were the runners-up?

Now you will have a chance to watch the both programmes on DanceSportTotal. Tune in and get into the right mood for the weekend with the best Standard and Latin couples in the world.

The final, edited, Full HD programmes without any breaks or technical flaws are now available:

2018 WDSF GrandSlam Series Final Latin

2018 WDSF GrandSlam Series Final Standard

Just like before, six couples proceed to the final. From there on The Final Showdown will begin.

Two couples at a time will share the dancefloor. They will push and challenge each other to perform better, to show the ultimate maximum, to rise to the next level… The crowd will be able to focus better on every couple’s performance.

How does it work?

The heats will be drawed so that each finalist couple will face each of the five fellow couples once. After the draw everybody will know which couples will share the dance floor in which dance.

Five dances and six couples, 1-on-1 on the dance floor. Three heats per dance, total of 15 dances. At the end of each dance a double Kiss & Cry.

It is the Showdown in Shanghai!

The long journey, which started in Bucharest (ROU), travelled to Taipei City (TPE), had some sunshine in Rimini (ITA), some memorable moments in Stuttgart (GER), and gave the last chance in Moscow (RUS) is now coming to an end in Shanghai (CHN). The couples have been enjoying on the dancefloor all year, pushing each other to the next level, and this is the last time in 2019 where they meet on the same floor. The last chapter on the journal of the 2019 WDSF GrandSlam Series will be written during the next weekend.

The events around the Series Final will start already on Friday with the Red Carpet. The glamorous entrance and introduction for the public in the city centre has always been catching the journalists' eyes and lenses of their cameras, and this year will not make an exception.

The twelve fabulous Standard couples in Shanghai are: 

Evaldas Sodeika - Ieva Zukauskaite, LTU
Francesco Galuppo - Debora Pacini, ITA
Evgeny Moshenin - Dana Spitsyna, RUS 
Alexey Glukhov - Anastasia Glazunova, RUS
Evgeny Nikitin - Anastasia Miliutina, RUS
Madis Abel - Aleksandra Galkina, EST 
Tomas Fainsil - Violetta Posmetnaya, GER 
Vadim Shurin - Anastasia Meshkova, LAT 
Edgars Linis - Eliza Ancane, LAT
Yuming Qiu - Liying Wei, CHN 
Rares Cojoc – Andreea Matei, ROU 
Dariusz Mycka - Madara Freiberga, POL 

The twelve wonderful Latin couples in Shanghai are:

Armen Tsaturyan - Svetlana Gudyno, RUS
Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska, GER
Andrey Gusev - Vera Bondareva, RUS
Charles-Guillaume Schmitt - Elena Salikhova, FRA 
Andrea Silvestri - Martina Varadi, HUN
Edgar Marcos Borjas - Alina Nowak, POL
Konstantin Gorodilov - Dominika Bergmannova, EST
Jakub Lipowski - Diandra-Aniela Illes, POL 
Paul Moldovan – Cristina Tatar, ROU
Anton Aldaev - Natalia Polukhina, RUS
Vito Coppola - Oona Oinas, ITA
Bangbang Yan – Yujun Du, CHN 

It can’t get better than this. It is the Shanghai Showdown!