With the GrandSlam Rimini behind us, our focus turns to Stuttgart. Not just the GrandSlam, the entire GOC is likley to get covered like never before, with LIVE webcasts coming your way on a daily basis from 7 through 11 August. But more on that later!

You should also bear in mind that on Sunday 5 and Monday 6 Augst Congresses will be held for

Chairpersons
Adjudicators (ShowDance, Formation)
Scrutineers

Check the corresponding calendar section for information and accreditation on these congresses.

Nine years after a GrandSlam was held in Rimini, ITA, for the first and last time until 2018, the premier Series in DanceSport returned to the Adriatic resort town. This time with both disciplines and - as the Italians say - "allo grande."

At an imposing venue, in the "Blue Arena" at the Rimini Fair, the couples (92 in Standard and 67 in Latin) outdid themselves in a setting that looked every bit as perfect as those seen in "Dancing with the Stars."

The top two couples in the GrandSlam Standard would be able to confirm that Rimini as a DanceSport destination has evolved much since 2009. That was the year they finished 14th (Dmitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova) and 21st (Francesco Galuppo and Debora Pancini). But so have they!

The Latin couples have a more recent reference: they danced the European Championship here in 2016. Even if it was nearly perfect then, the set-up of the hall has been taken to an even higher level.

Thousands (exact number will be available soon) of you have been able to appreciate that during the almost 160 minutes of the webcast coming out of Rimini on DST and FloDance on each of the two days of the GrandSlam.

Meanwhile, the two streaming platforms will continue their discussions on joining forces in the future. A very ambitious project for Stuttgart and the German Open Championships is in the pipelines. Information should become available within the next two weeks.

In any case, the two video-on-demand packages will become available on DanceSport Total Plus on Friday 20 and 27 July. A few more YouTube videos on earlier rounds should go up by tomorrow. Stay tuned for more!

The 2018 WDSF GrandSlam Latin Rimini in collaboration with SWAROVSKI came to a conclusion with a veritable fireworks of superb performances put in by the six finalist couples. Edgar Marcos and Alina Nowak, POL, were the novelty in the line-up for the last round. However, after finishing seventh or eighth in the most recent legs of the GrandSlam Series ans well as in the World and European Championships, the two had it coming. Well done!

Winners were Armen Tsaturyan and Svetlana Gudyno, RUS, making it three successive GrandSlam victories for the year and accrueing a record-high number of points while doing so. Congratulations!

First and second runners up were, respectively,  Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska, GER and Timur Imametdinov - Nina Bezzubova, GER. Amazing dancing too!

We will add to our coverage of the third leg of the 2018 GrandSlam Series over the next few days. Stay tuned!

We have added photos and videos of the first two rounds of this GrandSlam Latin Rimini to the respective sections of the media gallery. Our colleagues Reinhard Egli and Ferran Castanyer have captured the best moments in still and moving pictures.

Everybody knows Murphy and his law. We got reacquainted with it at the start of the webcast that was supposed to bring you the quarterfinal in its full glory. The moment we went live, the network was cut - most likely an Ethernet cable unplugged - and the screens went black on your end.

The problem was solved in less than two minutes and the signal has been stable ever since!

Watch on DanceSport Total and FloDance! The 24 couples are just about to dance the Jive.

The first round and the re-dance have been completed, the standing for the places 49 through 67 and the starting list for the second round have been published. The total number of entries ended up being much lower than expected. That only 67 couples have come to Rimini for the third leg of the GrandSlam Latin Series is disappointing. But unlike in Standard, the top-ranked couples have all made it.

Among the 48 dancing in the next round is the "Who's Who" in Latin. Plus the two couples that have their eyes set on the 2018 World Champion title in Ten Dance: Konstantin Gorodilov - Dominika Bergmannova, EST, who were sorely missed in yesterday's Standard, and Winson Tam - Anastasia Novikova, CAN, who seem to want to dance everything possible prior to the World Ten Dance in Warsaw, POL. That's in December!

Let's not forget the LIVE WEBCAST at 15:50 UTC! It can be watched through DanceSport Total and FloDance.

The decisive stages of today's GrandSlam Latin Rimini will be available as free-to-view webcasts on two different platforms. The prospective partners WDSF with DanceSport Total and FloSports with its OTT platform FloDance offer the stream to what will likely be another massive and worldwide audience.

Here is the schedule for the webcasts - all times are UTC/GMT:

Quarterfinal starts at 15:50 UTC.
Semi-final starts at 17:30 UTC.
Final starts at 18:50.

There are 80 couples from 11 countries that have entered. Armen and Svetlana should have arrived, but we're still waiting to hear from them for the interview.

It was a great GrandSlam Standard that concluded around midnight for us as we had to wrap it up with the interviews of the top three couples. We thank all of them for giving us their time and for keeping their good humour.

This morning we did an in-depth interview with Alexey Glukhov and Anastasia Glazunova, RUS. A very congenial couple! You'll be able to confirm that when you watch it once the Vimeo on Demand package is released on Friday 20 July. It's the free-to-view bonus feature in the package.

Today it is the GrandSlam Latin Rimini that will keep us busy. We're still waiting to hear from our interview partners Armen and Svetlana when they would have time to fit us in. Guys, if you read this, send us a WhatsApp ASAP!

Our coverage on the Latin starts at around 11:30 UTC, when we confirm the schedule for the LIVE webcasts of the decisive rounds.