The 2018 Star Ball was held at the Elegant & Sophisticated Oaks Hall in the Duchess stand Epsom
We were treated to an evening of very competitive & high class Dancing
The Result of the Professional Latin is as follows after several hard fought rounds
1st Nino Langella & Andra ( Italy ) Control-Balance-Light & shade shown in all dances this young lady oozes class only possible by the performance of her partner.
2nd Gunnar Gunnarsson / Marika Doshoris (Eng ) a strong & dynamic performance thro-out all dances giving a well deserved position perhaps a little less attack in some areas would allow more body rhyam to be shown.
3rd Anton Sboev / Patrizia Ranis ( Russia ) another sound & easy to watch performance a very rhythmic & musical couple I felt on this occasion their body actions did not always connect with each other.
4th Stefano moriando / Daria ( Italy ) Very together in all aspects of each dance for me could have been one place higher their body actions & rhyams in total harmony.
5th Zlong wang / Celine Li Yang ( China ) A little quiet in this company tonight for me did not exploit the room they had on this floor promising but need to look at their choreography.
6th Min je Kim / Hye Bib Ham ( Korea ) very much the same as the Chinese couple promising but a lot more work needed on programming.
Semi Final I noted 3 couples in this round that could & perhaps should have been in this final namely Alexey Karaulov / vlada Karaulov Andrey Gorbunov / Karla Gerbes & Sasha Altukhov / Cheyenne Murillo.
Amateur
1st Petar Daskalov / Zia James ( Eng ) Very good winners tonight Their tremendous leg & foot speed allowed their body rhythams to control & express their different characterizations in each dance a very mature performance.
2nd Darren Hammond / Mila ( S /Africa ) A strong performance in all dances they have a very nice floor appearance perhaps a little more light & shade will improve further.
3rd Tal Livshitz / Ilana Keselman ( USA ) Very simula to the couple placed 2nd but for me had more variety & could easily have been 2nd.
4th Joel Lopez / kristina Bespechnova ( Spain ) A very good lady oozed latin character thro-out all dances her partner was to still in his body for me.
5th Tagir Mansurov / Alexandra Kondrashova ( USA ) Neat & Tidy did nothing wrong but you need more than that at this level.
6th Lloyd Perry / Rebecca Scot ( Eng ) Not one of their best performances tonight very quiet thro-out all dances not like them at all.
7th Mardy Zhang / Alissia Jia ( ? ) Did well to make this final They needed a new or stronger battery today.
Semi Final two couples stood out for me & in my opinion should have made this final namely Sergey Maksyuta / Elisaveta ( Russia ) & Tang Yi Ming / Huang Xin Yi ( China ) their strong rhythmic actions should have been rewarded.
This was a great day & evening of dancing and a special mention must go to the recorded music by Kelvin Bridle excellent all day in both ballroom & latin The Len Phillips Big Band the first time i have heard them excellent in both styles of music I hope to hear & see more of them in future events
This festival of dance has been a great success it was held together beautifully by the two excellent Masters of Ceremonies namely Graham Oswick & David Sycamore.
After the results presentation a special award was presented to a very special Lady the one & only Lorraine who has decided to hang up her pen the great lady was called a Legend by Mr Oswick So very true for the lady who changed the direction of Latin American dancing
All I can add to that is THANK YOU so very much Lorraine.