2017 GrandSlam Final

With a huge party held on 12 December 2017 at the Kremlin in Moscow, the country's ENTIRE DanceSport community - i.e. EVERYBODY, across all the divides and party lines - celebrated the 60th anniversary of dance as sport in Russia. This was done in commemoration of the first ever DanceSport competition held in the USSR during the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957. The Ministry of Culture did not particularly care for the dances at the time, considering them way too bourgeois for the Soviet taste. But somehow they caught on and in a big way.

The media took up on the celebrations! We will report about that!

The World DanceSport Federation congratulates the Russian DanceSport community on the occasion of this important anniversary.

Vadim Garbuzov and Kathrin Menzinger, AUT, win their fifth PD World Championship in ShowDance with "Sissi," a show about the Austrian Empress Elisabeth. The competition for this year's title in PD ShwoDance Standard was tougher and tighter than ever, with neo-professionals Bjorn Bitsch - Ashli Williamson, DEN, and Valentin Lusin - Renata Lusin, GER, bringing their acclaimed shows to the floor of the Universum in Vienna - Schwechat, AUT, and challenging the home team.

Look for photos of the PD World ShowDance STD here! The videos are on the WDSF YouTube channel DanceSport Total.

The Vimeo on Demand programme covering the 2017 WDSF GrandSlam Latin Final in Shanghai, CHN, will become available from Friday 15 December.

A high-quality production on Latin dancing at its best, the programme features semi-final and final of the "Latin Showdown in Shanghai," with interviews and behind-the-scene pieces rounding it all up. The quarterfinal and the presentation of the couples will be the extra features. That will be close to three hours of exclusive DanceSport coverage, all for a fair rate of US$ 3.75! Rental period is six months, pre-order now!

2017 GrandSlam Latin Final from World DanceSport Federation

The 2017 World DanceSport Championship Latin Formation was held on 9 December at the Multiversum in Vienna - Schwechat, AUT. WDSF Communications team member Helmut Roland was on location and provides information, photos plus the first video.

After coming in second to their perennial rivals from Germany for the last three years, the Russian DUET Perm Formation Team made it to first this year. They have always dazzled the crowds at the venue and millions on YouTube with their very exceptional routines, but this year they have convinced the adjudicators as well. It was a tight final and the margin separating Perm from the first runners-up, the Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, GER, was as minimal as it gets - not even two decimal points - but everyone felt that Perm's victory was well deserved. Second runners-up was the other Russian Formation Team Vera Tyumen.

Here is an interview with the new World Champions in Latin Formation! You can expect videos of the performances to be uploaded over the coming days.

Dmitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova, RUS, win their second GrandSlam Standard Final and wrap up an incredible year, winning all the Series' regular legs which had escaped them in the past: Hong Kong and Stuttgart. And everything else as well! First and second runners-up were Evaldas Sodeika - Ieva Zukauskaite, LTU, and Francesco Galuppo - Debora Pacini, ITA, respectively.

Here is a first-round clip of Dmitry and Olga! A few other clips are added too. But you might have to be patient to get to watch the remaining 10+. Working on social media platforms directly from here is getting increasingly difficult. By Tuesday 12 December, after we have returned, we should be able to resume posting.

They have been dancing together for three years: the three-time World Champion Krhystyna Moshenska, who won the titles with her former partner Nino Langella, and Marius-Andrei Balan. They started this GrandSlam Latin Final as #7 of the GrandSlam Ranking as of the end of November, they finished it as #1 ... Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska win their first BIG competition together.

No wonder that Marius is ecstatic! Here is one of our stories on a partnership that has evolved!

Last year’s GrandSlam Standard Final will forever be remembered as the last duel between the eternal opponents Simone Segatori – Annette Sudol, GER, and Dmitry Zharkov – Olga Kukikova, RUS, where the former ended up on top. From there it was total dominance by the Russians in four GrandSlam legs in the 2017 Series as well as in the World Championship held here in China back in September. Even though they had made the announcement to change to the Professional Division, Simone and Annette have not yet danced any competitions there and, as the #2 in the GrandSlam Ranking, would be entitled to dance in this Standard “Showdown Shanghai.”

But they have not entered. Something which allows another German couple to put in its first appearance in this GrandSlam Standard Final: Tomas Fainsil and Violetta Posmetnaya. There are four more newcomers to the most exclusive competition in all of DanceSport: Russians Evgeny Nikitin - Anastasia Miliutina and the Chinese wild card couple Qiu Yuming - Wei Liying. They should do their country proud – here too – as they did in the World Standard, where they became the first ever semi-finalists from China.

To consider the pre-event favourites and dominators Dmitry Zharkov – Olga Kukikova as shoo-in winners today would be justifiable, if were not for the mishaps that saw a great dancer (almost) tumble on two occasions.

Here is the all-star line-up for the 2017 GrandSlam Standard Final:

Madis Abel - Aleksandra Galkina, EST
Tomas Fainsil - Violetta Posmetnaya, GER
Francesco Galuppo - Debora Pacini, ITA
Alexey Glukhov - Anastasia Glazunova, RUS
Vasily Kirin - Ekaterina Prozorova, AUT
Vaidotas Lacitis - Veronika Golodneva, LTU
Evgeny Moshenin - Dana Spitsyna, RUS
Evgeny Nikitin - Anastasia Miliutina, RUS
Vadim Shurin - Anastasia Meshkova, LAT
Anton Skuratov - Alena Uehlin, GER
Evaldas Sodeika - Ieva Zukauskaite, LTU
Qiu Yuming - Wei Liying
Dmitry Zharkov - Olga Kulikova, RUS

Pre-order the Vimeo on Demand programme (US$ 3.75 for a six-month streaming period)!

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/2017grandslamstdfinal

Do not think that Russians Armen Tsaturyan and Svetlana Gudyno had dropped their guard or didn't dance well in yesterday's Latin Showdown in Shanghai. They were the pre-event favourites for the win for a reason and on the basis of their results in the entire 2017 Series plus - most recently - in the World Latin. They did not have to succumb to the Germans Marius-Andrei Balan - Khrystyna Moshenska in any competition since their fourth-place finish in the 2016 GrandSlam Stuttgart.

A look at the results in the first two rounds of the 2017 GrandSlam Latin Final confirms: the Russians would have won both, narrowly but won. They dropped different dances to their opponents throughout, but they managed to win the Jive almost "comfortably" - if four decimals can be called that- in the first two rounds. But they lost it in the final! Lots to be analysed when the Vimeo on Demand programme comes out:


https://vimeo.com/ondemand/2017grandslamlatinfinal