2015 GrandSlam Moscow

The WDSF Sports Director should soon contact the top 12 couples in each of the GrandSlam Rankings to extend a formal invitation for the "Showdown in Shanghai," the season-ending 2015 GrandSlam Finals held on 12 and 13 December.

In order to meet the qualification criteria for China, these couples have to have danced four of the five regular legs in this year's Series. While there are many of the top-ranked couples that have competed in all five, there are some in Latin that fall one short and won't be able to dance the "Finalissima" at the Luwan Stadium. Check the Latin ranking!

And they will miss the "Walk of Fame" on Nanjing Road too!

Our contributor Elena Anashina has sent us another batch of photographs she took during the GrandSlam Standard in Moscow. Check the gallery above!

One of them shows Bjorn Bitsch and Ashli Williamson, DEN, in a dramatic Standard pose in front of the Master of Ceremony - arguably one of the best voices in all of Russia - and the stage with the orchestra on it. Our question to, you the visitors here: what is the name of the orchestra and that of the director? We would like to know them for two reasons. First, because we are in the process of writing the narration scripts for the television programme and would like to include them. Second, all of us at WDSF Communications thought the band played outstanding music for the Latin and the Standard events.

If you happen to know, please just write them into the comment box below. Thanks!

Exactly 180 videos of the two GrandSlams held in Moscow, RUS, were produced, uploaded and labelled by members of the WDSF Communications team over the past few days. Add to this the almost 400 photographs shot by Marina Melnikova and Elena Anashina - our Russian contributors - as well as our very own Heidi Goetz that were added to the "Live from Moscow" gallery over the same period. All in all, you should have gotten a good part of the picture already. But the best is still to come.

Our team works on the international broadcast higlights as well as the two Vimeo on Demand programmes featuring the semi-finals and finals in full length. The first one (2015 GrandSlam Latin Moscow) should be ready by Friday or Saturday this week, the second one (2015 GrandSlam Latin Moscow) by Friday 6 November. Preorder them now!

2015 GrandSlam Latin Moscow

2015 GrandSlam Standard Moscow

The Russian national anthem was played again as the three days of the GrandSlam Moscow came to an end last night. Maybe the audience was not quite as numerous as for the Latin final on Saturday, but it was every bit as responsive and vocal. Rightfully so: the six couples that had made it to the last round transmitted their passion and energy from the floor to the stands. They put on performances that had the Crocus hall resounding with the cheers of the non-partisan public.

It was not entirely unexpected that Dmitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova repeated their victory from 2014, keeping the runners-up Evaldas Sodeika - Ieva Zukauskaite at a distance of nearly five points in the tally for the final. Just over 193 points total (out of a maximum of 200) were in line with those that Simone Segatori and Annette Sudol had scored with their victory in August's Stuttgart leg. So even if the Germans didn't dance in Moscow, Judging System 2.1.1 still allows for some comparisons to be made.

Despite her very young age, Milada Melnikova has already been to the two biggest Championships in DanceSport. Together with her mother Marina, an excellent photographer and a regular contributor to our blogs, and father Evgeny, who is the musical director here in Moscow, she went to the German Open in August and can currently be seen floorside at the Russian Open.

Compliments must go to mother Marina! Only a woman can pull that off: caring for a baby full-time, selecting shutter speeds and other settings for a shoot in difficult lighting conditions, getting the best angle on the action on the floor, etc.

We have just added another batch of Marina's photos to the "Live from Moscow" blog!

As you will recall, WDSF and Casa musica have a partnership agreement in place that has the leading publisher of dance music supply the titles that are played during the decisive stages of the GrandSlams and select WDSF Championships. Generally, these tracks are used for the quarterfinal, semi-final and final, and they are selected by a group of experts from a pool that has been specifically set up for WDSF competitions. The overriding goals being that the quality of the music matches that of the competition and that new titles get featured in top-level WDSF events.

Since an orchestra - and a very good one at that - provides the music live from the quarterfinal of the GrandSlam Moscow, the Casa musica tracks are used in the rounds of 96 and 48. The WDSF Communications team identifies each of the titles played in its YouTube clips with an annotation appearing at the end of the dance. Name, performer and even a link to the Casa musica online shop are included in the comment section of the clips.

Adding this information is a rather time consuming process and it can take a few extra days until the music is properly identified in all clips.

Dancing is in progress: in round three we have all the ** couples joining in the action too. Including the current # 1 in the World Ranking Standard: Dmitry Zharkov - Olga Kulikova, RUS, who are on the cover of the GrandSlam Moscow magazine - and whom we interviewed on pages 3 - 5. Find out more about Dima and Olga in the netzine below ...

The first Standard videos should go up on our YouTube channel DanceSport Total shortly. Altogether 99 videos were produced on the GrandSlam Latin. That's more than three hours if you watch them all.

Andrea Silvestri and Varadi Martina, HUN, woke up an hour late this morning. Not because of the change back from summer time - that doesn't happen in Moscow - but because they had a great night ... For the first time in their career they made the final of a GrandSlam. They came very close in the Stuttgart leg already, coming in eighth there, but here it FINALLY happened.

What a night it was for them: first final, first couple getting called to the floor for the first dance, first appearance in a kiss & cry area, ... Who can blame them for showing up a little late for a media commitment with the WDSF Communications team the day after?

We were able to do a great interview with the two dancers who relived the moment in front of our cameras.