Aria Ballroom at the Emerald Ball Dancesport Championships

Success at Emerald Ball! Just this past week, from April 30-May 6, Aria Ballroom teachers and students descended on the Emerald Ball Dancesport Championships, a competition held in L.A. We had a huge group from the studio. Eight Pro/Am students, five teachers, and four couples made the trip south, including couples from our Youth Program! The result? Pretty darn good.

Pro/Am Results at Emerald Ball –  Days 1-3

Our Pro/Am students did great at Emerald Ball this year. The competition started on Tuesday with the American Rhythm events, so David Werdal with his instructor, the beautiful Eva TIbenska, arrived in LA on Monday. David and Eva danced hard, but the Rhythm events are tough for David. Unfortunately, he would have to wait to take the podium for another day.

On Tuesday evening, instructor Atanas Malamov joined Eva with his student, Etsuko Nishiyama. Their events began on Wednesday. They competed in the American Smooth divisions, where Etsuko made the semi-final of an extremely competitive Silver Smooth Championship! David and Eva also danced on Wednesday, nabbing the silver medal in the Bronze Smooth Championship.

Thursday marked the beginning of the International Style events, with Rumi Okuma dancing the International Standard with Atanas. She proudly took home the gold in both the Bronze Dancesport Series and the Bronze Scholarship. David Werdal, who hung his American Style shoes for an International pair, hopped out there on the floor for the Bronze Standard events and took home yet another 2^nd place medal.

Pro/Am Results at Emerald Ball –  Days 4-6

The International Standard events continued onto Friday starting from Silver level and above. Aria Ballroom Master Instructor Lukas Spisak joined Eva and Atanas with his two students, Annie Wang and Maria Bakhmetyeva. So did Aria Ballroom Principal and Owner, Simeon Stoynov, with his student Kendra Michaels. Etsuko Nishiyama traded her single-skirted Smooth dress for the full frills of her Standard gown to dance with Simeon as well.

Kendra, dancing her first comp ever as part of #teamaria, placed 4^th in the Silver A Scholarship while Annie placed 3^rd. What a great result for #teamaria! Later that night, Maria danced the Open A Scholarship with Lukas, the hardest and most competitive Pro/Am International Standard event at the competition, and made the semi-final with only marks to go! She just barely missed that cut!

Caroline and Shaoshu danced with Simeon and Kora, respectively, on Saturday, which was the Latin day. Both of them competed in the Open Level categories, where Shaoshu with Kora finished 2^nd in the Rising Star Open Latin and Caroline with Simeon finished 2^nd in the Dancesport Series Open Latin! Congratulations, guys!

Couples’ Results at the Emerald Ball

We had four couples representing #teamaria at the Emerald Ball. The kids’ events were held on Sunday. We had Benson and Lucy Maier, a brother-sister team who danced in the Junior 2 events, and Dino Rutten and Lora Tseytlin, who danced in the Junior 1 events. Our junior couples represented us well. Benson and Lucy were crowned Champions of Junior 2 International Standard, and their younger teammates Dino and Lora were crowned Champions of Junior 1 International Standard. Congratulations, kids!

Our adult couple, Anton Tseytlin and Jessica Petrochuk. They dance in two styles, representing the category known as “10-Dance”, and they excelled. Their best result was taking home the gold medal in the  Adult Pre-Championship Latin event! This is a very difficult category, a highly contested event and this prestigious competition. Anton and Jessica should be very proud of their achievement.

Aria Ballroom Principals Simeon Stoynov and Kora Stoynova danced in the Open Professional Latin and Standard categories, also representing the “10-Dance” category. The Open Professional events were highly contested, drawing in couples from all around the world, but Simeon and Kora still managed to placed in the top twelve of the Open Professional Standard and won the 10-Dance title! Congratulations, Simeon and Kora! You can follow more of Simeon and Kora’s travels and competitive exploits around the world by subscribing to their #dancerslifestyle blog, SK Dancesport.

Aria Ballroom Teachers at Emerald Ball

We would like to extend a special thank you to all of our teachers who attended Emerald Ball. Without you, our students wouldn’t feel the love and joy and excitement of ballroom dancing!

Eva Tibenska,  your hard work and the beauty that you bring to your teaching is truly inspirational to all aspiring dancers. Any tall man who is considering dancing with a professional partner should contact Eva for a dance lesson. You will not be sorry. In fact, you can request a lesson with her here!

Eva’s partner in crime, Lukas Spisak, is just as good a teacher and just as inspiring. He has an  uncanny ability to stay positive and light-hearted in all situations, and keeps everyone giggling and laughing throughout the comp. He is also tall, and can provide a great lead to any lady looking to dance International Latin or Standard on the Pro/Am stage. Interested in booking a lesson? Click here!

Atanas Malamov is a wonderful teacher and Pro/Am partner, and he is a “Dancing With the Stars” veteran. Having won the contest, Atanas knows how to coach his girls to gold. He was also instrumental in guiding our junior couples to victory. Interested in booking a lesson? Click here, he would be happy to take you!

And last but not least, we have to mention Simeon Stoynov and Kora Stoynova, our studio principals and co-owners. They work tirelessly to ensure that all teachers are happy and content within the studio, and that all students feel they have a safe and productive place to learn to dance. All this, while still competing themselves! Bravo, Simeon and Kora! Interested in requesting a lesson with either of them? You can click here to request a lesson with Simeon, or you could try your luck with Kora.

Photo Gallery of Aria Ballroom from Emerald Ball

The rest of our pictures from Emerald Ball are posted below. Enjoy browsing through them and we hope to see you in the studio!