World Champions Armen Tsaturyan and Svetlana Gudyno of Russia secured their 11th WDSF GrandSlam title at the 2019 WDSF GrandSlam Bucharest. It was quite a tight race, especially as seen in the final scoring, with some couples neck-and-neck until the very last dance.

Tension in Romania

Because of the tension that arose after the recent Romanian Latin National Championship, where Paul Moldovan and Cristina Tatar lost their standing as 15-time National Champions to Ionut Alexandru Miculescu and Andra Pacurar, conducting the first GrandSlam of the year in the country of Romania,  the very first GrandSlam to ever take place in the country, was brining along with it lots of pressure for both couples, in addition to anticipation for all those watching the showdown. Nevertheless, Moldovan and Tatar bounced back and advanced to the semifinal, finishing in 12th, while Ionut and Andra placed 15th behind in the quarter.

Taking a closer look into the semifinal, Guillem Pascual and Rosa Carne of Spain placed in 11th, dropping from their usual position higher in the semifinal of GrandSlams. They would usually place above Konstantin Gorodilov and Dominika Bergmannova of Estonia, as well as higher than Anton Aldaev and Natalia Polukhina of Russia, but something changed here in Bucharest. 

There was also a battle between top Polish couples Jakub Lipowski and Diandra-Aniela Illes and Edgar Marcos Borjas and Alina Nowak. What is quite interesting is just one week ago, Borjas and Nowak claimed yet another Polish Latin Title, while Lipowski and Illes became the vice-champions. With the passing of just one week, the tables have turned—Lipowski and Illes placing in seventh, with the current Polish Champions in eighth here in Bucharest. The difference lies in just one placement, but it makes quite the difference in relation to the couples’ inner self-esteem and motivation to continue fighting for the next event. Such switches in placement also makes it intriguing for those watching to see how couples change from event to event, dancing better or vice-versa.

Fighting for the Top

After the conclusion of the first three dances in the final, the dancers from France and Hungary were tied for fifth place. Schmitt and Salikhova have been on the heights of WDSF competition for years on end, making the finals of GrandSlam events since 2013, while Silvestri and Varadi have been making finals since 2015. However, they sometimes placed right behind the finals in seventh and eighth place, making their placing inconstant in comparison to their competitors. The conclusion of the final ended in the French dancers scoring a total of 183.374 out of a possible 200 points, and Spain right behind with a 183.209. Charles and Elena secured their fifth-place position, but only with a lead of 0.165 of a point, as they lost the cha cha cha and jive to Hungarians Silvestri and Varadi.

Silver medalists Marius-Andrei Balan and Khrystyna Moshenska showed impeccable dancing and were in it to win it without a doubt. Many have been commenting on how much they have improved as a dancing couple. They were giving World Champions Tsaturyan and Svetlana Gudyno truly a run for their money as they tied in the rumba with 38.958 points and lost the jive by only 0.041 of a point. However, we all know that in the end, there can only be one champion—from a total of 84 couples down to one. Since winning their first WDSF GrandSlam Gold in 2013 in Beijing, six years later, the Russians are still flying high.

Off to Italy for the Pros

With the ending of this weekend comes the ending of the first leg of the 2019 WDSF GrandSlam Series. Champions of both the Standard and Latin divisions have been crowned and now continue on their journey preparing for further events to come their way this dancing season. 

FloDance will next be capturing live the 2019 WDSF PD Latin & Standard Super Grands Prix taking place next weekend in Pieve Di Cento, Italy. Now it comes time for the WDSF Professional Division to take the floor! We look forward to seeing you there. Watch LIVE here!