The Constitution State Challenge was held at the Stamford Hilton September 30 - October 2, 2011. Many talented couples represented Dance Fever Studio. Our teachers, Laszlo Kovacs and Erika Kelemen, placed second in the Amateur International Latin Open 5-Dance Championship, while Oleg Kulyba and Aleksandra Deych were finalists.

In the Standard division, Daniel Shamis and Emme McCabe were second in Junior Amateur International Pre-Championship Ballroom. Matthew Lavitman and Olivia Agranovich were the winners of the Junior Amateur International Pre-Championship Ballroom and Open 5-Dance Championship in their age division. Christopher Kantorasinski and Anna Jonczyk took first in the Open Silver, and won second and third in the Gold category. Justin Lin and Joy Sher competed in the Pre-Bronze and Bronze categories winning first and second places. Daniel Burla and Molly Strout were first in Pre-Bronze waltz and quickstep. Jacqueline Sands danced singles with Jason Sydorchenko, placing first in Open Silver.

The Amateur Latin Championships took place in the afternoon. Dance Fever had great representation, winning a number of the events. In the junior division, Alan Arduino and Alair Nahabedian took first places in Open Bronze and Closed Silver, and third in Open Silver. Domenic Arduino and Arlette Caballero-Gonzalez placed first and second in the Closed Bronze and Open Bronze paso doble, fifth in the Open Bronze and Open Silver jive, and sixth in the Open Bronze and Silver cha-cha, samba and rumba. They were also semifinalists in the Closed Silver division. Daniel Burla and Molly Strout placed fourth in the Pre-bronze cha-cha, samba, rumba and jive. Jude and Bethany Corell were very energetic on the floor, winning second place in the Closed Silver paso doble, and third in the Open Bronze cha-cha. They placed in the finals of Open Bronze and Open Silver.

Leroy Shaigorodsky and Ester Dashevsky were beautifully elegant in their division. They won first in samba in the Open Silver and placed second in cha-cha. They took fourth places for rumba and jive in Closed Silver and fifth for samba and rumba in Open Silver. Christopher Kantorosinsky and Anna Jonczyk competed in Open Silver and Gold. Their best performance was in jive and paso doble, where they won first places. They took third in the Open Silver cha-cha and samba, and second in rumba. In the Closed Gold category, Christopher and Anna were third in rumba and samba. Justin Lin and Joy Sher competed in Closed Bronze and Open Bronze, winning all first places. Alan Stamper and Rachel Shmulevich won a number of first and second places in International Bronze and Silver Latin. Daniel Shamis and Emme McCabe delivered a truly theatrical performance, winning the Junior Amateur International Latin Open 5-Dance Championship.

Matthew Lavitman and Olivia Agranovich, a relatively new couple, placed first in Junior Pre-Champ and International Latin Open 5-Dance Championship. Among the single competitors, Casey Rolfes took a number of second and third places in the Bronze category, Jacqueline Sands placed first and second in the Silver and Gold, and Nicole Ginzburg took all first places in Silver and Gold. Karine Grutman competed in Pre-Bronze and Bronze, placing first in cha-cha, samba and rumba.

The competition in the Youth division was the one of the most exciting events of the evening, with a number of great dancers. In the Youth division, Phillip Kudryavtsev and Liza Lakovitsky cemented their reputation for exquisite dancing by winning the Amateur International Latin Open 5-Dance Championship.

Congratulations to all our competitors, teachers and parents!