Purple - NOOOOOO. Purple makes me look completely washed out - it somehow takes all the colour away. I live in black, green and turquoise usually (being a slightly faded redhead!).

Thanks for all your fabulous reports SM61. And congratulations on your friends coming 10th Becca. They must be really good. Are they turning professional any time soon?

Thanks again for all the report's sm and congrat's becca on your friend's success

If i was there i would be looking at Matthew as well as the dancing !!

Tangos, cannot remember any orange tan. The following link shows 4 photos with Tatiana in red then black but not the intervening gold.

http://www.danceplaza.com/index.tpl?...&couple_id=842

Walking out of the Imperial front door at 3:30pm, who should I see seated on a sofa next to the exit but Agneszka Melnicka. With long silky dark hair not yet made up into a dancer's bun, with soft facial features, sensitivity and obvious intelligence. She could have been an oil painting. Without looking up, she was texting on her mobile. Very impressed. Becca says Melia is better than sliced bread, but as Melia did not hold a piece of sliced bread in her hand an immediate comparison could not be made.

Without a moment's pause or gawp I exited the door. After a few seconds I doubled back in, then walked past her again as close as possible to see but not look (as if she had not noticed ).

Latin contestants who reached Quarter Final last year get a free pass this year straight into Round 3 of 7 at 8:22pm. I shall try to watch Round 2 at least from the front row, from 6:17pm onwards. Finishing at 1am this makes for a 7-hour stint. I have given up The Apprentice at 9pm and sea bass dinner in the Imperial and I am going to wear a tie. Tonight is for real, irresistible force meeting immoveable object.

Numerous dancewear vendors who set up shop in the Imperial have arranged a shuttle bus between the hotel and Winter Gardens leaving every 15 minutes. I shall hang out in the foyer next to the exit to see what other dance legends walk past me. I shall hold a newspaper in my hand, the right way up.

I'm a reddish blond and tend to wear green, blue, turquoise and black. I do wear purple sometimes though and red. But I gather from a friend's "colour me beautiful" book that I'm wearing the wrong colours and should be wearing warmer colours such as light gold, brown, moss, salmon (gasp!) and coral pink (double gasp). Black is supposed to be a no no.

Anyway I do think this fake tan requirement is unfair to redheads. I'd just end up looking like a carrot bouncing around the room.

Salmon and Coral Pink

All I can say is the "Colour me Beautiful" book must be complete rubbish!

I've tried fake tan but always end up streaky so I've resigned myself to being pale as I just go red in the sun and then fade back to pale again. Good crop of freckles though!

But anyway, back to Blackpool. Hope you see lots of dance legends SM. Awaiting your next report with anticipation.

I am awaiting the next report with anticipation too - its Pro Latin Night - Come on Yulia and Riccardo

Roxy's only 21 so very young still, am pretty certain it'll be a while before she considers turning professional - she still has SO much ahead of her in amateur.

What a night!

I have walked back to the Imperial now, had a shower to cool down then a snack to revive myself, now settling down to file a report from the front line, blow-by-blow with no punches pulled, but quite a few subjective observations. Well, you know my biases and blindspots.

The night started promisingly enough for me at 6:30pm for Latin Championship Round 2 -- I managed to get a frontrow seat, yippee.

Round 2 still had over 200 candidates most of them makeweights at world championship level, hopeful and hopeless. Former world champion Michael Stylianos then walked towards my chair. Mine was his seat so I made a tactical withdrawal to row 2, then to row 5, then to no seat and no view. By this time Round 3 had started. Joanna Leunis and all other superstars were making seriously interesting moves. Those who had genuine seat bookings were arriving in droves and there seemed no chance for interlopers.

I tried upstairs, but there all boxes were prebooked too. In between boxes there was standing room only for peeking through whatever gap there was between the backs of heads. If I was 2 inches taller like Matthew, then I could have seen more, but even then it was a limited view from an awkward angle, mostly looking down the heads of dancers.

(Matthew being off duty as judge arrived with a lady escort and sat in the frontrow, a little left of centre. Later in the evening he passed me, his perfect figure for dancing wearing a Savile Row dark blue suit. Yes he is handsome, seeming to wear his success lightly.)

In my desperate reporter's predicament the dances were coming thick and fast. I was missing some of the action, one dance missed every 100 seconds. God help me. And help me he did. I went downstairs again and somehow found a gap near one of the isles where by standing up I could see the entire floor, albeit from "behind the goalmouth". From then on I had no more visual problems. During many subsequent intervals I held onto this perch for dear life.

Music blared and tension rose higher and higher. Now there were 5,000+ people in the ballroom. Temperature rose above 80 degrees and bigshots wearing DJ and black tie in the front row baked. I the hoi polli took off my jacket and tie and kept cool even as excitement boiled.

Back to dancing. Joanna and Melia did something I never saw before. All dancers try to dance where judges are, to earn marks. But Joanna and Melia headed straight for the cheap seats "behind the goalmouth" devoid of judges. The following dance would see Joanna and Melia switching to the wilderness area at the other end. They were of course completely confident of qualifying for the next round. Any judge eliminating them would have been torn limb from limb.

Fast forward to the Semi-final at 11:45pm. For each of 5 dances (cha cha, samba, rumba, paso, jive), the top ranking 9 to 13 couples were called back to dance again. My 3 against the field (Joanna, Melia, Yulia) were called back for each and every one of the 5 dances. All scores earned were then added up to find the highest-placed six, namely:

#82 Joanna and Michael Malitowski (Poland)
#202 Melia and Sergey Surkov (Russia)
#226 Yulia and Ricardo Cocchi (USA)
#73 Markus Homm and Ksenia Kasper (Germany)
#152 Franco Formica and Oxana Lebedew (Germany)
#156 Ivailo Tonchev and Alyona Zarnttsyna (Bulgaria)

Joanna had been wearing a black dress, cut like something you might see on ancient Greek pottery.

Melia had been wearing a black dress with chiffon top, plus a silver band round the waist, plus a vertical silver stripe along her back. There was no semblance of flesh appeal, but strangely plenty of sex appeal. Her partner Sergey wore the most beautiful man's shirt I ever saw in Blackpool, with very wide and long lapels. This plus Melia's vertical stripe gave me the impression of something at a military ball.

Yulia wore gold, but most of the time she was too far away from my end of the sticks to see without binoculars.

Come the climactic Final, Joanna switched to a gold dress with white trimmings. Melia switched to a "negative" of her dress earlier, i.e. same cut but white instead of black, possibly a little softer now. Blonde Yulia switched from gold to pink.

At 00:25am came the Final 5 dances. The fiercely partisan audience went wild with excitement and fear. Wherever Joanna and Melia danced, there the loudest cheers and applause followed. You could tell where the girl was from where the noise was. I shall try to convey the colours and sounds and patterns which bare results will not show.

Joanna has the biggest head of all Blackpool women, and not only because of her androgyne hairdo -- this I know from when she walked past me after last Sunday's lecture, not 6 inches away from me. She has a lower centre of gravity and obviously the perfect torso for dancing. Tonight she showed centimeter-perfect control. She can stop effortlessly on a halfpenny. Her moves always have complete conviction and unquestioned commitment. Somehow she never seems to suffer from traffic congestion. Never ever hesitation or uncertainty. The classiest cleanest movement. For me Joanna would be completely credible as commander of an army. Tonight Joanna did not bow or curtsey to any audience anywhere. she inclined her head, as one sovereigh customarily does towards another. Only once, after the exhilarating paso doble did she bow.

Melia is the enigma for me. She chose her own time, made her own moves, almost defying the music, seemingly leading the partnership at least mentally. She made the most charismatic hand movements, with five fingers shot into the sky wide apart. Last Saturday Sergey had described Melia his wife as the most dramatic person he has ever met. After that lecture and Melia's own explanation I gained a slight insight into her dancing. I shall never get to the bottom of Melia, not sure if Melia herself will. While the public did not understand Melia's message they instinctively felt there was something very important and real going on? Baring not an inch of flesh Melia is perceived very very much as a woman.

Whereas Joanna executed the "king's bow", Melia never bowed or curtseyed to the audience at all. At the conclusion of each dance she made a flourish of mysterious hand and finger gestures in the air. Melia does not bow, period.

Yulia's dancing was the most classical of the 6 finalists, and the most faithful interpreter of the music being played. From her lecture last Sunday with Riccardo I had recognised her sheer class and stirring intensity (she was demonstrating paso wearing a skirt black on the outside and red on the inside. She was more charismatic than any flamenco dancer.

Apologies if this account reads like 3 women danced tonight without male partners. That is my known bias, I only have eyes for women. Unquestionably the 3 men were outstanding or they would not have kept their current jobs. There simply wasn't time to look at men as well. I was following 3 superstar women going 3 separate ways making stunning moves and generally running amok in all directions. Below are the judges' placings in descending order for each of 5 dances in the Final:

Cha Cha -- Joanna, Yulia, Oxana, Melia, Ksenia, Alyona
Samba --- Joanna, Yulia, Melia, Oxana, Ksenia, Alyona
Rumba --- Joanna, Yulia, Oxana, Melia, Ksenia, Alyona
Paso ----- Joanna, Yulia, Oxana, Melia, Alyona, Ksenia
Jive ------ Yulia, Joanna, Oxana, Melia, Alyona, Ksenia

CHAMPION by a mile: #82 Michael Malitowski and Joanna Leunis (Poland)

SECOND: #226 Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko (USA)

No-one should be deterred from attending Blackpool because o/h is not into dancing. He is not into dancing because he has only seen weak and poor dancing. Nobody, musical or not, can miss the transcendent excellence and unmistakeable big big personalities on display tonight. Just one visit, one stay overnight, will convert the unconverted. This is a dimension new to me too, and I have been poorer for having missed it for too many years.

Roll on Friday -- Ballroom Championship of the solar system.

Laura must be happy - no.82 has triumphed!

Thanks so much for the report SM. I am loving reading them every morning.

The 5th placing couple was actually Maurizio and Melinda from Hungary.

Melia certainly does bow - quite a lot really! Just it's usually in my direction so if you're not at my end of the floor you'll miss it. She also waves, blows kisses and more!

It was a beautiful, incredible night. I'd say almost the best of my life, but for me to say that the results would have had to have been different. Anyhow, it was wonderful.

Thanks again sm,your report's make wonderful reading as a start to the day

Maybe this already happens but are these Championships not televised anywhere ??........i'm sure they would get a decent audience.

No, they'd never televise something like this, at least certainly not in this country, but Himawari Studios are recording the DVDs for anyone who is interested to buy them.

Absolutely right. Even as Marcus announced the scores I wrote down on a very small piece of paper, couple 166. Later on I wrote 156. But 166 was right: Maurizio Vescovo and Melinda Torokgyorgy. All 6 couples had double asterisks in the programme, i.e. they all reached Round 5 (before the Semi-Final) in 2008, so that all six started dancing last night from Round 3.

After the final jive I saw Melia blow one kiss at my end and very sweet and smiling too. She then went towards the judges platform and bowed her head at an angle of 30 degrees (it could have been 31). There is an economy of movement about Melia. As with Joanna there were no accidents about Melia. The crowds went nuts about her from beginning to end.

Thank you again soulmate.

As a ballroom/latin competition virgin you have opened my eyes to a whole new world and whetted my appetite for more.

Thanks for another great report soulmate!!

Laura must indeed be thrilled!!

The only country I know where they properly televise dancing is Germany. As I live in the Netherlands I have acces to German television, and they broadcast several campionships during the year.. But it is not as much as it used to be, unfortunately..

Great report again SM. I can almost feel the passion.

One interesting observation you made was about all the competitors dancing close to the judges and one couple using the clear space.

I had a dance lesson yesterday and the teacher who is also a judge etc. said that when she is judging she hates to have couples dancing 'in her face' becasue she cant see them properly, just waving arms and big grins. she has had her clipboard knocked out of her hands at times by the waving arms. If couples persist in being in her face then she ignores them and looks past them to couples dancing further away, she can see them better and get a better view of the feet as well as the arms. Quite interesting that you should then comment on it.

Also Russia, and Denmark to some degree . . . when I was at the European Championship there last month they televised it live, however the setup was awful, nothing like a serious competition, more like a take off of Strictly Come Dancing. Full of interviews with Danish TV celebrities and people pushing the home couple.

Thanks.......just had a quick look......is there any English link for the vids ?? the original website is Japanese.

It will be a while before they become available, but when they do they will be sold through many English sites also - Dancesport International, WRD Music, Dancesport UK to name a few . . . but I would imagine not until July maybe. Himawari were pretty slow releasing the UK Championship DVD and it was quite painful!

^^ thanks,i will defo keep an eye out for them.......the Latin from last nt esp and maybe the Ballroom from tomorrow.

In previous years when Quasar videoed they put both professional and both amateur events together . . . Himawari's usual way with the UK is to do all Latin on one and all Standard on one . . . I'd much rather they did that as in the words of Shirley Ballas, I can't be doing with Ballroom.

Also of interest are the two days of lectures in Winter Gardens organised by the British Dance Council on Saturday and Sunday 23-24 May.

Half-hour talks included:

Taliat Tarsonov on "Dance as body language" which I sadly missed.

Melia and Sergey explaining her rich sense of drama illustrated with dance to music.

Chrisanne fashion parade including a DS poster as model.

Ex world champion George Coad on ballroom past and present.

World Exhibition Dance champions explaining how miracles are achieved.

Riccardo and Yulia with totally mesmerising variations of their paso work-in-progress, he charming and colourful, she fiery and direct.

Jonathan Wilkins and Hazel Newberry on the finer points of ballroom, leading and following, weight distribution.

Ex world champion Michael Stylianos, who trained many world champions, with hints to young dancers, and illustrations by a most charming young couple.

Alan Fletcher on latin evolution over 50 years, with startling changes illustrated by 4 couples.

Winding up, Michael Malitowski and Joanna giving away her secrets of body control.

The two days did not come cheap at £90 on site, but fantastically interesting. The whole presentation without editing was put on official DVD: PAL format at £95, NTSC format at £100, approved by the British Dance Council (I have no connection with sales). Possibly dance schools could show their students with costs split? Not sure if DS allows such info, but if they do, contact:



Becca attended a similar Congress last year. Not sure if there will be one next year or in 2011. Highly recommended -- the very best telling it like it is, and most entertaining as well.

Yep that's definitely an orange tan! She looks well and truly tangoed (although I imagine they all look like that!)

Fantastic reports Soulmate, you should have a reporting job, you are so good at scene setting and creating atmosphere...

I know what you mean about only watching the women, I am the same. You can only take in so much, and the women are just that much more attention grabbing. But I do wonder how much these champion women actually allow their partners to lead them...

I've ordered my Congress DVD already, did that Sunday morning. The next BDC / WDC Congress will be in 2011, but there will be a BDF Congress next year.

Hey Guys

Thanks for all the great updates. This is the first year I've not been there in 9 years but your reports make me feel like i am!

Looking forward to the pro ballroom results

xxx