|
~by Dena Burroughs
2009 STEVENS STEAKHOUSE DANCE COMPETITION - Feb 6, 2009
Five couples made it to the finals of
the competition that had been going on for a few weeks already at
Stevens Steakhouse: Jose and Stephanie, Abel and Zulmara,
Christian and Liz, David and Charlene, and Luis and Shirley.
Seven judges decided the winners:
Francisco Vasquez, Rogelio Moreno, Alex D'Silva, Carolina Serisola,
Sacha Escandon, Janette Valenzuela and yours truly, representing the
regular folk of the dance world, Dena Burroughs. The judges were
asked to look at choreography, technique, costumes, crowd response and
timing. And before anybody says anything mean, let me say that,
upon my own request, I was excluded from judging on timing, since I am a
street dancer that doesn't really know the
"one-two-threes/five-six-sevens" that the other judges, professional
dancers themselves, should.
As cliché as it sounds, deciding the winners
was difficult. The five competing couples were very good, there
were no obvious mistakes and they all looked beautiful. However,
the judges looked carefully at their task and the results came down as
follows:
First place: Cristian and Liz
Second place: Jose and Stephanie
Third place: Abel and Zulmara
Ten thousand dollars will be distributed
between the winners: seven thousand for the first place, two
thousand for the second place and one thousand to the third. Not a
bad night of work!
Stevens Steakhouse was packed. Jim Filipan
certainly knows that events like this competition keep his venue
relevant and impressively popular even after 40 years of service.
A great amount of dancers showed up to see the competition in the large
room, while there were many others in the lounge area dancing to the
music of Tabaco y Ron.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judges Janette Valenzuela, Francisco Vasquez and Rogelio Moreno |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tabaco y Ron in the lounge |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judges Carolina and Sacha |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bellydancer Maria - pre-competition performance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jose and Stephanie - second place winners |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Zulmara (of Abel and Zulmara - third place |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
... waiting for the first place results... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
