1st at Boston Ballroom Conference and Competition

On September 15th we won the Under 21 Latin division at BBC&C which took place in the Boston Sheraton. That same night we were also second in the Amateur Latin. The audience was great and we were also happy to have the support of our family and friends.

In October, we plan to relocate to Boston, MA to continue our training for the WDC World Championships, while Ron continues his education at Northeastern University as a sophomore Business Major. Nevertheless, we will continue to return to NY for training and teaching! Find us practicing at Dance Fever Studio in Newton, MA during the next few months.

Ron and Liza at BBC&C

Team Mambo at Dance Legends 2012

We finally performed the show that we have been working on for the last two months. Liza and I, along with four other couples danced a killer Mambo choreographed and coached by Benito Garcia at the Dance Legends show in New York. This event was perhaps the biggest ballroom dance show to ever take place in the US. It included performances from legendary couples like Brian Watson and Carmen and the top professional couples in world today. After rehearsing our Mambo number for about a million times, it was overwhelming dancing it in front of a huge cheering audience. Only five seconds into our dance, I was hit by a roar of cheering and applause on a magnitude that I have never felt before. It was a pleasure sharing the floor with the most inspirational dancers and with my teammates. I hope we have more opportunities to dance this amazing show, and perhaps add another to our set! Thank you Team Mambo, but even more thanks to Benito for having the patience and genius to put this together.

Semi-Finalists in the US!

What a great weekend! On Friday night , Liza and I danced at the USA Dance Nationals 2012 in Baltimore, MD and it went extremely well. Starting out with 29 couples in the Amateur Championship Latin category, we danced through the first-round and quarter-final as one of the most recalled couples and placed 7th in the Semi-Final. The crowd was great, cheering us on, and we just became more and more pumped with each round. Before the Semi-Final, we decided it was unlikely we would go any further and we should have fun with it, giving it everything we've got. It definitely paid off when we placed as the next couple into the final. With only 3 recalls away from the next two couples, making the final was definitely a possibility. After such a great evening, and such little preparation we are extremely motivated for next comps to come, especially Blackpool 2012!

A New Beginning

As I begin this blog, I am hopeful. Hopeful that my dance partner Liza and I succeed in the task we took upon ourselves. Nearly a month ago, we decided to become dance partners. Two weeks later we danced our first competition, the Mid-Atlantic DanceSport Championships in MD, and the quality of our dancing and result were far beyond what anyone would have expected after a measly two weeks. I would say that it was even less time to prepare than that as I live in Boston, MA and she lives in Brooklyn, NY, but we made it work.

Every Thursday after my last class at Northeastern University in Boston, MA, I drag my suitcase to South Station and get on the 3:30pm Bolt Bus to New York City. The four and a half hour journey hardly seems long anymore, and I get to NY just in time for practice. Liza meets me in the city and we dance till late. Until Sunday, we have to make those few days count. Unlike most couples, we have to compensate for the little time we get together, but we do this for the common goal of becoming great dancers.

Many won't understand the sacrifices dancers make for their art and sport, but for me its not a choice or a decision. I have to dance, I have to compete, and I will do everything in my power to get to the top. This hunger, this thirst for competition is what Liza and I hold in common. And that drives us to push our bodies to the limits for our sport, DanceSport.