SwingDiego 2012 Update #6
Royston on the mic:
“We have a lot to do this morning. We have 785 girls in Novice … oh wait, there was a scratch? Okay make that 784 girls. Actually, everybody here in the ballroom is in Novice, right?”
“This next person is just from “France.” No city listed because they live all over the place in France.”
Skipping around the floor arm-in-arm with the first girl in the line – to complete silence since the DJ hadn’t cued the music up yet: “What a great song! This is my favorite song all weekend!”
Saturday’s Jack and Jill divisions were humongous. Competitors from all over the world! SwingDiego is the most International of all US events and the level of dance highest on the circuit. Novice division is so good it looks like Advanced circa 2003. This weekend we had Brazil (several tables full! So much laughing! What a lust for life!), France, Australia, Moscow, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, Singapore, Switzerland, Minnesota, Budapest, London, Japan, South Korea, and Rabat, Morocco!
And people on every continent watching live on u-stream (8,000 hits during Jack and Jills!) sending Royston text messages (often unrepeatable) to give him a hard time while he’s trying to emcee.
Louie playing show tunes during every interlude.
Judges: Martin, Damon, Lisa, Deborah, Phil Adams, Cher, Michael Norris, Bill Cameron, Michael Kielbasa, Melina, Mary Ann, Jessica, Brent, Kellese, Sharlot, and Chief Judge MarkTheMarine. (Louie played “Born In The USA” to announce the judges.)
Four heats of 40 couples in Novice Prelims. Prelims went to Semi’s (a little less huge) later that afternoon. Finals were on Sunday. Spotlight! Exciting to be alone in the middle of that huge floor, in front of the lights, cameras, and audience! Especially for new dancers!
Novice Winners: **
- Richie Selby & Olga Usmanova
- Justin Zadro & Kelly Reis
- Cristiano Fialho & Nicole Dauvali
- Joseph Gleason & Ahlam Bouabdallah
- Daniel Silvedra & Laura Klipp
- Matt Richey & Amber Heddleson
- Alexis Frenot & Ann Wood
- Jean-Philippe Rocchi & Phallon Tillis
- Andre Silva & Elina Bodnya
- Alfredo Melendez & Sophie Piranda
- William Brown & Magalie Vergne
- Rick Manderscheid & Luba Mikhailova
Intermediate Prelims three heats of 40 couples, went to semis, then Finals on Sunday. **
Intermediate Winners:
- Roger Ferriera Batista & Terra Deva
- Tze Yi Wee & Liza Hillman
- Josh Williamson & Shantala Davis
- Brandon Manning & Marina Nemkovskaya
- Edson Modesto & Samia Amrani
- David Guido & Marina Motronenko
- TJ Bednash & Irina Puzanova
- Grigory LeBedev & Alissia Bishop
- Peter Elliott & Monica Garcia
- James Cook & Jessica Greer
Advanced/Allstar Finalists:
(these divisions are combined at SwingDiego)
- Anyssa and Cliff to “Shaking My Head” … and wow! Anyssa! She is adorable!
- Emmeline and Ben Clemons to “Domino” … and omg Emmeline! She is adorable!
- Diego and Virginie to ooops forgot to write down the song because omgawd Virginie is way too adorable!
- Estelle and Haider to “I’m Day Dreaming” and Estelle! She is so adorable!
- JB and Sabrina to “You Make Me Feel So” Sabrina with that wild platinum hair she is adorable!
- Kris and Chevy to “Turn Me On” and Chevy is way too adorable!
- Stephen and Sam to “Who’s That Girl” and come on! Samantha? She is adorable!
- Yuna and Carson to “Little Bad Girl” … Yunaaaaaa! She is so adorable!
- Huge and Taylor to “Hit The Lights.” What can I say. Taylor is adorable.
- Rome and Jessica to “Hangover.” Jessss-iiiiii-caaaaa omg! Adorrrrrrable!
Too bad wcs girls are so terribly unattractive.
And the placements were: **
- Kristopher Swearingen & Chevy Slater
- Diego Borges & Virginie Grondin
- JB Brodie & Sabrina Paxmann
- Stephen White & Samantha Fernandez
- Ben Clemons & Emeline Rochefeuille
- Clint Glasgow & Anyssa Olivares
- Haider Khan & Estelle Bonnaire
- Hugo Miguez & Taylor Harrell
- Carson Brand & Yuna Davtyan
- Rome Slater & Jessica Pachico
Masters Prelims two heats of 13 couples each. Masters was the only division where finals were Friday night. Spotlight.
- Mike Glasgow and Julie to “She’s a Bad Mama Jama” by Carl Carlton
- Peggy Allen and Wayne Brodd to “To Be Real” by Chaka Khan
- Patrick and Jill to “Best of My Love”
- Genieboy and Kelly Wentling to “Word Up”
- Joe and Beverly to “Boogie Shoes”
- Warren and Janet to “Rock With You”
- Mike Heath and Patty to oops didn’t get it
- Mike Gadberry and Pam to “Just Got Paid”
- Chips and Laurie to “Dance Machine”
- Gary and Sarah to “Lady Marmelade”
… and the placements were:
- Joe Sparacio & Beverly Solazzo
- Warren Pino & Janice Salmon
- Mike Glasgow & Julie Epplett
- Michael Heath & Patty Ingram
- Chips Hough & Laurie Shafer
- Mike Gadberry & Pamela Giles
- Gary Thompson & Sarah Grusmark
- Patrick Plagens & Jill Aversa
- Wayne Brodd & Peggy Allen
- Genieboy Collins & Kelly Wentling
** Couldn’t write fast enough to catch the names of prelim and semi contestants – sorry about that – I know many of you reading this would like to know who competed in prelims, who made semis, how your friends did – my suggestion at this point is to watch the ustream videos if you are able to get online …