CriticalDance Forum

Dancers go for repeat title
Claremont Colleges dance team to compete in Columbus, Ohio
By L.C. GREENE for The Daily Bulletin (Ontario)

CLAREMONT -- The students moved rigidly in single file as a loud and threatening Borg voice declared, "We are the dance.'

The line split -- and split again. Then suddenly, to an explosive cha-cha beat, the dance erupted.

Twelve Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company members worked up a healthy sweat Friday morning, practicing their formation dance routine in hopes of winning another national title in as many years.

The team plans to dance at the U.S. National Collegiate Championships in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 23 and 24.

The students, representing each of the five Claremont Colleges, plan to compete in multiple events, including the 12-person formation, and in couples competitions involving various styles of dance.

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Teens take a whirl at ballroom dance
By Linda Florea | Sentinel Staff Writer

ST. CLOUD -- No wallflowers here as the dancers pair up and move around the floor in fluid motion. A waltz, fox trot or sultry tango -- they don't miss a step.

Ballroom dancing is coming out of the closet of an older generation to interest a younger age group.

Nancy Barber's dance-technique class and her young students are proof. St. Cloud High School is the only school in the county that teaches ballroom dance, Barber said.

Barber has been teaching the class for four years and has noticed a steady increase in the number of students signing up. This year her class is the largest yet: 32 students.As students wait for their turn to dance, they're typical high schoolers, laughing and joking with one another.

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British National 2002
The 28th British National Championships continued the series of well supported and very enjoyable championship titles presented in the world famous Empress Ballroom of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. Bryan Allen and Ann Baker report for Dance Today.

Gillian MacKenzie and her Assistant Festival Organiser Sandra Wilson continue with the excellent formula, developed over years of experience, aided by Compere and Chairman of Adjudicators, Peter Maxwell, the team of Stewards, and the Scrutineers. This year, making a first appearance and following the legendary footsteps of Irven Tidswell, the orchestra was under the direction of Ashley Frohlick. They played wonderfully well, using most of the familiar orchestrations handed down over the years, sounds that are associated with the tradition of Blackpool Festivals. Possibly more use was made of the piano sound and not only we but most other people seemed to find it very pleasing.
The North of England Championship was not defended and last year’s second and third placed pair changed places, lliya Maleko and Kimberley Taylor, winning all four dances fully deserved their success. They have a pleasing style, good technique and smart

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Dance master Jimmy had a broken back!
But now he’s back, teaching pupils how to foxtrot and salsa. By LORRAINE HOWARD for The Irvine Herald.

Just a few months ago Jimmy Currie was laid up with a broken back.

But now he’s back... teaching dancing!

And when Irvine’s budding Freds and Gingers pulled on their dancing shoes and headed to the Volunteer Rooms this week Jimmy was as sprightly as ever.

The popular ballroom and salsa dance classes are organised by instructors Maureen Stewart and Jimmy, who each have over 25 years experience.

And it was a minor miracle Jimmy made it on to the dance floor again after an accident.

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Give us a twirl
By Neil Elkes for The Evening Mail


Two talented city ballroom dancers waltzed their way to recognition in a top national contest, despite being the only all-girl pairing in the contest.

Lisa-Jayne Coney and Hailey Greenley (pictured) took to the dance floor as a couple, because Birmingham lads are too bashful - or scared - to become their dancing partners.

The 14-year-olds have struggled for some time to find skilled young male dancers to partner them.

So they paired up for the Champions of Tomorrow competition and made the final at Blackpool's Winter Gardens.

With Hailey leading their cha chas and waltzes, they just missed out on the medal places, finishing a creditable fifth.

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Dennis Schroeder - Dance Instructor, Arlington
From The Washington Post

I got into this purely by accident. I'd been in the service, and me and my buddy were looking for something to get into. We wanted to be mechanics, and were looking for somewhere to open a body shop. We were new to the area, looking for where the chicks were, where we could be part of something, you know. It was 1969.

My buddy saw an ad for some space but didn't really tell me what it was for. We're walking up these steps and I'm thinking, No one puts a body shop on the second floor. So, we walk into this dance studio and I remember kind of snickering 'cause there was this girl shaking her hips in the corner. But then the owner saw us and just started teaching us how to dance. Right there, that day. She was very persistent. After a few months, we were teaching.

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Bournemouth Impressions - UK Open Championships
Organised by Dance News’ John Leach, the UK Open Championships in Bournemouth are the second most regarded by the Ballroom World after Blackpool. Sylvia Boerner for Dance Today gives some first hand impressions in case you missed it.


It is a quiet, peaceful, sunny but chilly Wednesday morning. If you did not know any better, you would think the coastal town of Bournemouth is just waking up to another normal winter day. However, walking downhill from our hotel to the BIC (Bournemouth International Centre) we immediately noticed something out of the ordinary was happening. The streets are bustling with young, attractive people, mostly walking in couples, many of them dressed in track suits and trainers, others in fashionable clothes, but all of them wearing heaps of make-up and with big bags on their shoulders. Girls and guys alike look rather out of place with their rather unnatural dark tan on faces and hands.

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Dancer goes feet first to Blackpool
From The Evening Star (Norfolk)

A quickstepping schoolboy and his partner are dancing their way to Blackpool.

At just 10-years old dancing champion Dale White has a reputation for being fast on his feet.

Despite going through a string of young female partners who struggled to keep up, Suffolk's own Billy Elliot has now found the right girl in 11-year-old Laura Grant from Biggin Hill in Kent.

They have been selected as part of the British juvenile Ballroom and Latin dance team to compete at the Blackpool Dance Festival For Juniors this Easter.

Dale was also chosen as captain and the pair will also represent Britain in a week-long contest in Shanghai, China in August.

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Two articles from the March edition of Dance Today, the UK's ballroom dancing magazine:


Dress for success
By Sylvia Boerner for Dance Today

Have you ever asked yourself what creates the excitement of watching a dance couple perform? What is the difference between watching people dancing at a Tea Dance event or in a club? It must be the perfection that makes us tick, the enjoyment of seeing a couple in perfect harmony, perfectly executed movements and perfect looks. Every little detail from head to fingernail to toe plays its very distinctive part in creating that perfect image in our eyes. One of those details is the costume. Sylvia Boerner went to meet Zbyshek Lisak, Director and Helena Shmakova, the creative director of Danscouture, a company determined to make dancers look their best

Helena has been into designing and making clothes since her childhood. She, just like many other little girls, had always dreamed of dancing, the theatre, music and making clothes.

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From Russia with passion
By Sylvia Boerner for Dance Today

January 23, 2003 was certainly a memorable day for Dmitri Timokhin and Anna Bezikova. It was their twelfth anniversary of dancing together as a couple, also their first ever competition as professionals and last and certainly not least they added another success to their list namely fourth place in the UK Open Championships in Bournemouth. Sylvia Boerner met them in Bournemouth the evening before the competition

“I always dreamt of being a figure skater” Anna says, who was born and grew up in Tjumen, a small city in Siberia, “but for some reason it didn’t happen. I started dancing, but, unlike most dancers in Russia, quite late, at the age of 11.”

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Perfect match
By Sylvia Boerner for Dance Today


Lisa Bellinger and Oleksii Ivanets are one of the few couples that practise Ten Dance. Before the UK Open, they had just returned from the European Ten Dance Championship in the Ukraine taking home 9th place. Having teamed up only a bit over a year ago, their common future has since kicked off with enormous speed. After making it amongst the last 48 last and the last 24 couples this year in Bournemouth they are now ranked in place 40 of the IDSF World Ranking in Amateur Latin. And, on top of that, a private highlight is approaching: their wedding in July. Sylvia Boerner met them.

Lisa and Oleksii met for the first time in summer 2001 in a studio in London where Oleksii was taking a couple of lessons on a holiday break.

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All England Latin Championships
by Bryan Allen for Dance Today!

The Colosseum, Watford, was the venue for The English Championships presented by the British Association of Teachers of Dancing on May 5, 2003, Bank Holiday Monday. Doors opened at 2pm and queues had formed to go in well before that time. Seven competitions were being contested including the Over 50’s, Senior Latin, Senior Modern, English Amateur Dancesport Association Amateur Selection, Amateur Latin, Professional Modern and Professional Latin. Many couples from abroad including Japan, USA, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand, Italy and many more countries, had entered and from the start it was a superb display of dancing, with eleven top adjudicators marking — it must have been a very difficult task.

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On top of the Ferris Wheel

Having won all the major titles at least once, Bryan Watson and Carmen have done it again, adding another success to their extensive list of titles by winning the British Open in Blackpool for the second time in a row. We met them the day after their big success, looking good as usual despite a very late night of competing and the following after-party, and took them down Blackpool Pier for a chat where, unknown to us until afterwards, Carmen bravely conquered another challenge for the photo shoot: her fear of heights. Interview by Sylvia Boerner for Dance Today.

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The latest ballroom dancing news from the UK:

Watch this space!
Interview by Sylvia Boerner for Dance Today!

Newly crowned British Open champions Christopher Hawkins and Hazel Newberry are certainly not complacent about their latest success, still on an extremely tight schedule and nowhere near even the thought of retirement. Nevertheless they spared some of their little time spare to answer our questions after fighting their way through London traffic to meet at the South Bank for a photo shoot on one of the finer summer evenings.

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The Bournemouth Summer Dance Festival
by Iris Findlay for Dance Today!

The Dance Promoters’ Association in conjunction with Dance News Special Projects Ltd presented the Bournemouth Summer Dance Festival at the Pavilion Ballroom on July 11-13, 2003. The Festival started on the Friday evening with the first round of the Latin Section of the UK Closed Amateur Ten Dance Championship followed by the Juvenile and Junior competitors, the Senior Ballroom and Latin competitors, the Under 21 competitors and the UK Closed Professional Latin competitors and finishing with the Ballroom section of the Ten Dance Championships.

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The EADA Showcase
by Iris Findlay for Dance Today!

Egham Sport Centre was the venue for the English Amateur Dancesport Association Showcase on June 21, 2003.The hosts were James and Claire Taplin, Rory Costain and Katherine Moon, compère was Philip Wylie and music by Christine. The evening got off to a good start with some general dancing.

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Those dance nights were just majestic
PEOPLE who quick-stepped, jived and jitterbugged at the Majestic, once Swindon's biggest ballroom, are polishing up their dancing shoes for a reunion. From The Evening Advertiser

The event, at Grange Drive community centre on October 4, will be the fourth nostalgic dance night organised by Bob Lewis and a committee who were teenagers in the 1950s when big band jazz was the rage.

Bob planned the first Majestic reunion in October 2000 as a one-off but it was so popular among older Swindonians who were swingers at the Majestic that tickets sold out months in advance. Now it is an annual event that attracts more than 500 people.

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