WORLD LATIN DANCE CUP 2011 — So, after day 2 of the 2nd Annual World Latin Dance Cup, there was a complete crack-down on cameras and camcorders, where friends or relatives of those competing could not keep any memories of the competition. Flash was not an issue, as flashes can be shut off and would not interfere with any 'professional' recording being done at the event. 

The event grew in attendance tremendously when compared to the first day, with only 3 people attending the salsa social, and the second day, with quite a few more couples out there. But it definitely is not an event where International travelers should plan to attend to watch only. It is not a congress, it has a very limited number of people actually attending it for fun, everyone there is on business and will leave if disqualified, the wait for performances is long, and very few people actually social dance at night. 

Nonetheless, it is a good event that can be watched online (when and if videos are put up) or through virtual streaming, which was attempted for the first time this year via UStream.tv (user:myemmy), which is a very simple method of bringing "live" coverage of the event and which can be easily viewed from the comfort of your home via the web. 

One thing worth pointing out is that the current WLDC competition is not to be compared to the former ESPN competitions, where dancers from a variety of nations in the world would come and compete against each other to see who truly was the best dancer(s). Today, most dancers come from Los Angeles or nearby cities, and if, for example, they are descended from Mexico or El Salvador, then they are claimed as International dancers who actually represent Mexico or El Salvador, when in fact, they come from LA and should probably represent the USA. 

This is definitely worth pointing out because the event in itself IS NOT an International-level competition. Very few dancers actually traveled from other countries to the event. Over 70-80% of all dancers come from within the US and nearby cities to Las Vegas, Nevada. Moreover, the same dancers compete in one, two, three divisions or dance styles due to lack of participation by what we used to see in the old days, where there were so many couples wanting to be part of the event. 

The joy and glamour of the old ESPN-sponsored competitions, where dancers from Puerto Rico, Colombia, Argentina, Italy, Spain, Brazil, etc, etc,, would actually get on planes and travel to the event to showcase themselves, is gone. What could have happened to scare them away or discourage them from traveling??? That remains a debate, but most international dancers agree along the same lines as to why they are no longer interested. 

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Now, the results of the event as far as we know so far are as follows...

Day 3 was the second round of the semi-finals and 5 couples of each division qualified for the final. The social that night was good because all the competitors stayed on the dance floor to wait for the results, which were finally announced at around 2:30 AM. 

These are the dancers who qualified for the finals:


PRO/AM COMPETITION:
John Navarez & Michelle Donehew
Darling Garcia & Lindsay Simone
Sergio Jasso & Kristi Brooks
Vmal Pradeep & Tianne Frias
Armando Muruz & Nina Bermudez

CABARET COMPETITION:
Darling Garcia & Vera Rowe
Kelvin Hernandez & Licelott Maldonado
Grizzly Hidriago & Alien Ramirez
Jeffresoon Benjuma & Adriana Avila
Hugo Osorio & Carolina

SALSA "On1" COMPETITION:
Cristian Oviedo & Linda Ayentes
Jonathan Ibarra & Elly Guadarrama
Javier Campines & Liz Lira
Darling Garcia & Vera Rowe
Deklan Guzman & Natlia Villanueva

SALSA "On2" COMPETITION:
Luis Ernesto Lopez & Maritza Gonzalez (Mexico)
David Zepeda & Paulina Posadas (Mexico)
Marcus Nieves & Diana Osario
John Navarez & Liz Lira
Luis Bautista & Lorenta Lopez

AMATEUR COMPETITION:
Brian Sforzo & Taeko Uchino
Dan & Ky Van Lee
Jeremy Martinez & Michelle Donehew
Ruben Vasquez & Gabriela Soto
Domenic Larosa & Pamela Loiselle

TEAM COMPETITION:
Tropical Dance
Ritmo y Sabor
Coabey Dancers
Sure I Will
Grizzly Dance Company
Estudio Nacional de Baile

CHA CHA CHA COMPETITION:
Csaba Szirmal & Serena Cuevas
Luis Ernesto Lopez & Maritza Gonzalez (Mexico)
Diego Fernando Castro & Soledad Ines Martino
Joshua Soto & Nicole Jhayem

BACHATA COMPETITION:
Cristian Oviedo & Alien Ramirez
Sergio Jasso & Bianca Chapman
Deklan Guzman & Natalia Villanueva
Steven Correa & Linda Ayentes
Andrea Bosonotto & Silvia Accossato



Day 4 came and the finals round promised to be a truly amazing event for competitors and expectators, and it was. The medals ceremony caused the social to be cut short and there wasn't much dancing that day, but what little dancing there was, was good. 

The Finals standings are as follows:


PRO/AM COMPETITION:

1. Sergio Jasso & Kristi Brooks
2. Vmal Pradeep & Tianne Frias
3. Armando Munoz & Nina Bermudez
4. John Navarez & Michelle Donehew 
5. Darling Garcia & Lindsay Simone

CABARET COMPETITION:
1. Grizzly Hidriago & Alien Ramirez
2. Jeffresson Benjuma & Adriana Avila
3. Darling Garcia & Vera Rowe
4. Kelvin Hernandez & Licelott Maldonado
5. Hugo Osorio & Carolina

SALSA "On1" COMPETITION:
1. Cristian Oviedo & Linda Ayentes
2. Darling Garcia & Vera Rowe
3. Jonathan Ibarra & Elly Guadarrama
4. Javier Campines & Liz Lira
5. Deklan Guzman & Natalia Villanueva

SALSA "On2" COMPETITION:
1. David Zepeda & Paulina Posadas
2. Luis Ernesto Lopez & Maritza Gonzales
3. John Navarez & Liz Lira 
4. Marcus Nieves & Diana Osario
5. Luis Bautista & Lorenta Lopez

AMATEUR COUPLE COMPETITION:
1. Jeremy Martinez & Michelle Donehew
2. Brian Sforzo & Taeko Uchino
3. Domenic Larosa & Pamela Loiselle
4. Ruben Vasquez & Gabriela Soto
5. Dan & Ky Van Lee

CABARET TEAM COMPETITION:
1. Ritmo y Sabor (LA)
2. Grizzly Dance Company (LA)
3. Coabey Dancers
4. Estudio Nacional de Baile
5. Tropical Dance

CHA CHA CHA COMPETITION:
1. Luis Ernesto Lopez & Maritza Gonzalez
2. Diego Fernando Castro & Soledad Ines Martino
3. Joshua Soto & Nicole Jhayem
4. Csaba Szirmal & Serena Cuevas

BACHATA COMPETITION:
1. Cristian Oviedo & Alien Ramirez
2. Sergio Jasso & Bianca Chapman
3. Deklan Guzman & Natalia Villanueva
4. Steven Correa & Linda Ayentes
5. Andrea Bosonotto & Silvia Accossato


(if there are any misspellings of any names, please contact me and it will be corrected...thank you.)