Carolyn looked at Professional Rising Star Latin.
PICK OF THE DAY
So who was the PICK OF THE DAY and who pick the numbers at random for the first round? .... Anna Melnikova by whatsapp.
7 25 57 80 101 135 166 185 200 220
7 Shinichiro Sameguchi and Rikako Abe from Japan
Does not look very experienced, looking lost a little. The man not using his arms at all in Cha Cha. Could use more muscular tension.
25 Dong-wook Lee and Jeong Hee Song from South Korea
The lady is well groomed, gorgeous colour green and turn dress. Their Cha Cha looks nice and compact and using the floor space well. The man is taller, staccato in his movements, not smooth enough. Talented girl.
57 Ricardo Marques and Sandra Silva from Portugal
Small couple, a little bit unbalanced, he looks a little small for her or maybe it is the opposite way around. One piece of advise to Sandra, if she had another type of dress on it could have evened out the couple. The dress was far too heavy and made the dancing very heavy. Should take more care in the rolls in samba, struggling to keep together, and got stressed when they bump into the other couples. Need to work on floor craft. Question, why did they dance in the middle of the floor when their was so much space around the floor?
80 Dmitriy Solomakha and Gabriela Solomakha from USA
Could not find the couple in Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Come to the conclusion they did not dance.
101 Genya Bartashevich and Yana Mazhnikova from USA
The man leads well his lady but would like to see more inter-muscular activity in his back, tends to be stiff. The lady has a beautiful red dress but I am not agreeable with her hair style, it lost the class of the look and the dancing. Samba was a little weaker than Cha Cha. The man does not always complete his movements and a little heavy in his feet. Also would like to see more inner energy from one movement to another as they go from position to position but the in-between is missing.
136 Senzo Makhaye and Agnieszka Maguire-Strujek from South Africa
A little unbalanced in the couple. The man very tall and slim with good body rhythm and the lady a little too small for him and with a complete different style. The man moves easily but the lady had to struggle too much for it to be pleasing to watch. They have to find a happy medium to connect together. Very basic choreography which show they did not have much experience.
166 Chiang Liang Te and Wei Yu Chien from Taiwan
Found it hard to find them in the Cha Cha, maybe because they were overshadowed by Ruslan and Valeriya from Russia. Do not finish their movements and lose balance on a few occasions giving them a very unsure performance. Also their timing was not very clear.
185 Nattapat Runglaksa and Nartnalin Ruangsuttrakarn from Thailand
Beautiful dress which I noticed immediately. The had many basic elements at the beginning of Cha Cha, the reverse top was OK but the man had his weight too far back which made him look weak and slow. They were struggling with their timing, a little too ahead of the music. Nice Samba, with interesting changes of directions, they need more volume
200 Go Sakaguchi and Shinobu Sakaguchi from Japan
Nice soft pink dress. Dancing Cha Cha in front for the judges, in my opinion, was a mistake, reason being that they were constantly a lot ahead of the music… meaning.. off time. I was hoping that they were just emotional on the first dance but unfortunately all 4 dances were the same. So I would suggest you get some good basic information and the simply apply it to the dancing.
220 Phillip Evans and Gaynor Evans from Wales
Unfortunately I could not find them so I presume they did not dance or I will have to change my glasses urgently. Please let me know which.
YOU CAUGHT MY EYE
And the numbers for YOU CAUGHT MY EYE
38 87 103 117 118 161
7 Shinichiro Sameguchi and Rikako Abe from Japan
Does not look very experienced, looking lost a little. The man not using his arms at all in Cha Cha. Could use more muscular tension.
38 Ryno van den Berg and Mira Tokarenko from Hong Kong
This couple caught my eye principally for the ladies dress which was gold, short and shining. When I looked close the girl was not actually bad but I found the man to be rather heavy though his movements.
87 Francesco Bertini and Sabrina Manzi from USA
Wow I did not know they had turned Professional and I think it is the best thing ever. They have improved so much so something much have clicked in their mind and body when moving to USA. Italy has lost another good couple and USA have gain a new couple but please let me make a pointer MADE IN ITALY is normally a guarantee of style.
103 Fabrizio Graziani and Ilaria Segoni from Italy
All in white and looking confident. Nice speed but could control it better. They always looked quite calm and easy without stress. Or they are good at covering things up.
117 Sebastiano Mele and Maria Skyum from Italy
Well groomed and classy on the floor, their first time in Pro. Using the floor well and more confident than before.
118 Jakub Rybicki and Nadezhda Martynenko from Poland
Beautiful girl in an eye catching colourful dress. New approach from Kuba, much more softer and smoother. Good combination together. Nadezhda looking very sensual and confident.
161 Ruslan Aydaev and Valeriya Kozharinova from Russia
Easily winners today. In the past this couple has had a raw deal, being very underestimated. I think they have so much quality and charisma. I think in the Pro field they will find their success.
GENERAL THOUGHTS AND NOTES
Was shocked that nobody really caught my eye in the first round, that is worrying for me. And in general I found the first round quite “TRISTE” “UNHAPPY” the level was very low. OMG, I do not understand why couple do not use the space on the floor, particularly the professionals should know better than the amateurs, but that is not the case unfortunately. Hope the next rounds are better.
See you later.
Carolyn Smith
The views and opinions expressed above are those of Carolyn Smith and do not necessarily reflect the views of dancesportinfo
