Francis Lafreniere and Claudia Primeau (yes, they’re from Quebec) are currently Canada’s 10 dance champions (they compete in all Ballroom and all Latin dances).  They are ranked 7th in the world for their division, and have visited Portland for the last 2 years to perform shows at the City of Roses competition.  This year they were back by popular demand.  No wonder.

Rarely have I seen a gentleman dancer so committed, so passionate and so vigorous in his dancing.  Claudia is also the perfect partner for him, letting him take the lead and providing a feminine foil to his extroverted and powerful dancing.

Their Samba was amazing, with an Eastern flair complemented by her costume.  I’m sure the men in the audience also admired their Paso Doble (dance of the matador), which was a down and dirty rendition of the usually more refined presentations I’ve seen.  To round off their show, they presented a Rumba which was the highlight of an already fabulous set.  It told the story Rumba should-showing slow stretch and speed while not losing sight of the romance and tragedy that comes with along with life and love.

PDS had two full tables there that night, and honestly we were riveted.  It’s just another example of how Portland’s Ballroom and Latin scene is growing, slowly but surely.  World class dancing can exist here and does, in pockets.
The next day we asked Francis when he’d return to Portland.  It turns out they won’t be seeing us again for another year and a half.  I guess will just have to create our own great dancing until then.   With images of their show in our minds, it shouldn’t be that hard.

R

Michael Malitowski and Joanna Leunis

It looks like we’re going to play “ juggle the latin world title” between..   Poland and the US?  Amazingly, that’s exactly what it’s looking like.

In 2010 Yulia and Riccardo took the World Latin title from Joanna and Michael, who had held it in 2008 and 2009 and were undefeated.  If you’ve never seen M & J dance, you need to click right here to understand how difficult they would be to beat.  Yulia and Riccardo represent the US and have been second in the world since they started dancing together.  And, one night last November, they proved they could beat Michael and Joanna by winning the World Title, much to the absolute shock of the dance world.  Click here to see them dance.

The night was apparently difficult for Joanna and Michael, who had defended their title in competition up until then after relentless attacks from Riccardo and Yulia.  We all wondered what they were going to do.  Would they keep going?

Uh, yeah.  With a vengeance!!

The reason why I care is because this has NEVER happened since I have been in this business!  For YEARS the title was held by Donnie Burns and Gaynor Fairweather (try 14), effectively blocking out the competition, and in my opinion, inadvertently causing latin dancesport to stagnate.  After them, Brian and Carmen dominated for 6 more years, which by itself is almost a complete generation in our industry.

So this dog eat dog fighting back and forth is something new.  Might Latin dance be getting exactly what it needs?

A little boost, a little excitment from some actual competition in these competitions?  It seems so.  And in my opinion this is exactly what we need.

As for the future, we’ll be watching and enjoying the renewed bloodthirst of these amazing dancers.  A little bloodthirst might be just what the doctor ordered.

R

Here goes:

Waltz:  #1 “Play Me” by Neil Diamond (the one, the only)/#2 “Fields of Fortune” by Secret Garden

Foxtrot: #1 “Wade in the Water” by Eva Cassidy (Unmatched as of yet)/#2 “Can’t Help It” from “Smoothies 3″

Tango:  #1 “Por Una Cabeza” by The Tango Project/ #2 “Libertango” by Sextexto Mayor

Viennese Waltz:  #1 “Caribbean Blue” by Enya/ #2 “Theme from Harry Potter” by Jack Dorsey Orchestra

Quickstep:  #1 “Big Time” by Linda Eder/ #2 “Swing with me Baby” by Jessica Simpson

Cha Cha: #1 “Volver a Verte” by Oscar de Leon( / #2 “Shing a Tin Tin” by Tito Puente (the incomparable!)

Rumba: #1 “Satisfy my Soul” by Paul Carrack/ #2 “Murmullo” by Buena Vista Social Club

Samba: #1 “Black Machine” by Jazz Machine/ #2 “Chico and the Man” by Jose Feliciano

Jive: #1 “Runaround Sue” by Alma Cogan/ #2 “New Shoes Live” by Paolo Nutini

American Rumba: #1 “Cry to Me” by Solomon Burke/ #2 “Bruca Manigua” by Ibrahim Ferrer

East Coast Swing: #1 “Do You Love Me” by the Contours/ #2 “Bigger than my Body” by John Mayer

Mambo/Salsa: #1 “Rebelion” by Joe Arroyo (nothing will EVER beat this!)/ #2 “Me Voy Pa Cali” by Oscar de Leon (second time on the list!)

West Coast Swing: #1 “Juicy” by Better Than Ezra/ #2 “Please Don’t Go” by Mike Posner

Nightclub Twostep: #1 “All the Right Moves” by One Republic/ #2 “Sailing” by Christopher Cross

Hustle: #1 “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson/ #2 “Outside” by George Michael

and there you have it!

So get out there, play some enjoyable music, and dance.

R

But all of that may soon change.  Why?  One word:  “Sanctioned”.  Ballroom dancing is built on the professionals in the industry in a given area.  No professionals, no dancing.  Or dancesport, I should say.  Professionals belong to professional organzations, and professional organizations have the power to sanction, oh, should we say, competitions  in any given city.  If a city doesn’t have any sanctioned competitions, then buh-bye to money, sponsors, support, competitors from other areas, and, you guessed it:  pros.

But hope is here.  We now have the first officially sanctioned full competition Portland has ever had, and it’s called “The Columbia Star Ball“.  With Amateur, Pro/Am (that’s a couple made up of one pro and one student), and Professional (yes, Professional!) divisions, the Columbia Star Ball is poised to put Portland on the map of dancesport in the US.  Organized by Mark Tabor and Tiffany Rhodes, Columbia Star Ball is actually in its second year in 2011, but this year is the first to include Professional divisions and prize money, which makes it “official” in our business.

The competition is sanctioned by both main governing bodies in the US:  the NDCA and USA Dance.  This means we could actually get dancers from other areas coming here, something that, sadly, has never been done (except for dancers from Washington, which you and I both know doesn’t count). 

The bottom line:  The Columbia Star Ball means more support, promotion, and recognition of dancesport in Portland.  Students and pros could use that, and the city of Portland could too.  It’s time we get out and shake our apple bottom jeans too just like the rest of them.  I’m game, are you?

R

For those of you who don’t yet know, “Burlesque” is the newest dance movie to hit the silver screen, starring Christina Aguilera and Cher, who is getting too old for this kind of stuff in my opinion, but still manages to rock that body in every scene.  (Left me wondering how much the editing and post production departments had to do with things, but maybe I’m just jealous.)

If you’ve read this far and are still wondering, “What movie?”, then please click the following link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4JkzSuTemA for the trailer.

So I saw it and liked it-mostly-because of it’s creative costumes and Stanley Tucci, who, when playing gay costume designers (think “The Devil Wears Prada”) makes me love him more and more.  

Mercifully, Cher didn’t sing too much, which helped keep the movie high on my “like” scale.  Christina of course delivered everything and more with her singing, and her dancing didn’t feel bad either.  The worst thing about the movie was it’s obvious  plagarism (if you call it that) of certain well-known choreography, such as “Mein Herr” from Cabaret, ”Hey Big Spender” and “Rich Man’s Frug” from Sweet Charity.  These pieces are so well known I could see them obviously right away in “choreographer” Denise Faye’s work.   Major bummer.

But Christina and the girls’ barely-there pearl costumes and her georgeous green dress number had me feeling better.  Much better.  If I tanned and dieted for 6 months I might even be able to wear those myself!  I think that in latin competitions they make you wear actual skirts though. 

All in all, “Burlesque” is a feelin’ good, lookin’ good movie.  And that’s what it’s all about, right? 

R

What we can’t believe at PDS is that we couldn’t see it coming.  Michael and Joanna have never been beaten before by Yulia and Riccardo, the most they’ve ever lost to them is the Jive at Blackpool in May 2010.  In the dance world one can usually see this type of thing coming a little more gradually, not “POW!” your life is over, Michael and Joanna!

Truthfully, we couldn’t put one couple ahead of the other and when we watched the video, which you can get at www.wdcdance.com, we couldn’t see any huge difference.  Before watching we thought Michael and Joanna might be hungover or have fallen and couldn’t get up or something, but no, they danced well as usual, although be it with perhaps a little less energy than Riccardo and Yulia.

Michael and Joanna seemed a bit shell shocked (and we don’t blame them)as they stood on the podium.  They also didn’t stay for the interview, which seemed to us to be not the best decision as it most likely will cause speculation and they’ll be asked about it for the next year or two when they could have reacted graciously and gotten it over with.

Either way, we are happy for Riccardo and Yulia, as they’ve won the first Latin World Title the USA has ever had.  Congratulations and thank you, guys!!!  We do think you deserved it. 

As for Michael and Joanna, we think it went down something awful for them.  But, the wrong thing to do now would be quit!  Do not retire!  You’ve beat them once, you can do it again.

R

During intermission have a hot cup of coffee while you enjoy light desserts and a social atmosphere.

Purchase your tickets by calling us at 503.236.8160 or click here to purchase online.

Last week we started with 60 tickets.  We now have only 39 left.  Don’t delay.  Get your tickets today!