| Article | : | 8th Belgium International Open Liège
IDSF World Championships Senior Standard
IDSF International Open Standard and Latin
Grand Prix de la Ville de Liege
On the spot report by Werner J. Braun
In the meantime the Belgium Open belongs to the international Top Competitions and is accepted very well especially by the amateur couples. The IDSF International Open Competitions in Standard and in the Latin-American dances had a very high sportive level.
One of the reasons is the well-done organisation by the "Club de Danse Sportive Le Perron ASBL" in close co-operation with Hubert and Monique de Maesschalck and the second reason is the splendid traffic connection from all directions to the city of Liège. The Netherlands, Luxemburg, France and Germany are directly connected by "Autobahns" i.e. very quick motorways, which also go up to England and Scandinavia and down to Austria, Switzerland and Italy. The air connections via the nearby airport of Bruxelles are also excellent. The third reason is the venue of the event, the very well matching "Palais du Congress" of Liège with the directly connected star hotel Holiday Inn, situated directly on the banks of the river Meuse and just in the vicinity of the historic Centre of Liège, and a lot of different hotels around the place with very good standard. The direct connection Hotel - competition hall is especially convenient, when it is consistently raining as it was during this years´ event!
It was self understood that the event was in close co-operation with the International DanceSport Federation IDSF, the "Fédération Belge de Danse Sportive" and the Belgium Professional Association "Union Belge des Professeurs de danse et de maitien". Assistance came also from the Sports Department of the city of Liège. Responsible for the organisation was Suzanne Hubin but the heart of the organisation and director of the competition was Hubert De Maesschalck, assisted by his charming wife Monique. He was the "maid for everything" i.e. not only compeering the two days event in always wonderful mood by the minute of the time schedule. In addition he personally was involved in the transport of participants from the Airport to hotel and hall and he even helped changing the table decoration during the short interval between afternoon and evening event. And besides all this stress he took the time - together with his wife - to invite his early arriving friends for an excellent welcome dinner.
During the two days of the event the following competitions were on schedule: IDSF World Senior Championships Standard, IDSF International Open Standard and Latin, IDSF Senior Standard and Latin, Professional Standard and Latin, Junior I Standard and Latin, Junior II Standard and Latin, Youth Standard and Latin, Senior II Standard and Senior III Standard. A program which was sufficient to easily fill two more days.
Besides those many classes Hubert de Maesschalck stuck to the time schedule absolutely precisely. He never was in hectic. The judges got their information envelope immediately upon arrival and could blindly follow the clear instructions. The judging - besides in the World Championships - was done with the aid of the electronical "digital adjudicators sheet Top Turnier for Windows". It was really "as quick as lightning", pleased the adjudicators and quickened the whole competition procedure. No more summation errors, no more typing errors and no more unnecessary paper work. Such a system should be introduced to every competition. The electronic marking system is the judging system of the future!
The opening ceremony was started by the welcome speech of Mr. Guido Panis, the President of the Belgium Amateur DanceSport Association. The marching in of the participants of the IDSF World Senior Standard competition, the couples marching behind the flags of their nations, was a colourful and imposing picture.
IDSF World Championships Senior Standard
Chairman: Petr OdstrcilChech Republic
Scrutineers Jan GeertsBelgium
Luc LeyssenBelgium
Judges:Wilfried SchebestaAustria
Marcel WautersBelgium
Zdenek LandsfeldCzech Republic
Susan WalkerEngland
Werner J. BraunGermany
Stefano FranciaItaly
Akihiro HojoJapan
Barbara AmbrozSlovenia
Carmen Martin de Jorge Sanchez Spain
50 couples of the following 26 nations were on the participating list, 46 really entered:
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Scotland, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, USA and Wales.
The results:
Final:
1. Domizio Giovannini/Annisa Baldo - Italy -- 5
2. Michael Lindner/Beate Lindner - Germany -- 12
3. Kevin Millward/Christine Millward - England -- 14
4. Luigi Bodini/Antonella Benedetti - Italy -- 19
5. Olaf Galke/Elke Erichreineke - Germany -- 26
6. Rene Ewals/Ymke Lemmens - Netherlands -- 29
Semi-Final
7. Mark Sheldon/Didi von Deck - USA
8-10. Leppälä Jouko/Leppälä Heija - Finland
8-10. Tom Keller/Evelyn Lafferty - USA
8-10. Yoichi Mochizuki/Sachiko Michizuki - Japan
11-12. Massimi Fersini/Rie Fersini - Switzerland
11-12. Eric Voorn/Charlotte Voorn - Netherlands
The level in the Senior competitions was very high. The couples of the final were all well trained and absolutely fit. Their choreography matched those of the adults. The applause of the full house was tremendous. The couples danced on a wave of sympathy and acknowledgement. All three couples on the rostra deserved their place. IDSF may be proud to have such outstanding Senior couples around the globe.
IDSF International Open Latin
The panel of judges:
Wilfried Schebesta, Austria; Susan Walker, England; Hojo Akihiro, Japan; Barbara Ambroz, Slovenia; Petr Odstrcil, Chech Republic; Monique de Maesschalck, Belgium; Assis Khadjeh-Nouri, Germany; Birthe Krabbe, Denmark; Giardano Vanone, Italy; Igor Jagersky, Slovakia; Sviatoslav T, Wloch, Ukraine.
92 couples made their entries, 77 came to the floor. The level was quite good but we missed couples who made the audience get up for standing ovations. Outstanding the winners from Slovenia and in top form also Jesper Birkehoj and Anna Kravchenko who really deserved their second place. As in the semi-final there were three couples on place six, the decision had to be taken: 5 or 8 couples for the final. It was decided to give the chance to 8 couples.
The results:
Final:
1. Zoran Plohl/Tatsiana Lahvinovich - Slovenia
2. Jesper Birkehoj/Anna Kravchenko - Germany
3. Tobias Carlsson/ Vickie Jo Ringaard - Denmark
4. Benedetto Capraro/Marta Faola - Italy
5. Guy Rosen/Victoriya Fadina - Luxembourg
6. Christoph Kies/Turon Blanca Ribas - Germany
7. D. Mikulick/M. Mikulick - Germany
8. Tomas Hosek/Simona Svrekova - Czech Republic
Semi-Final
9. Przemek Lowicki/Julia Rogozina - Poland
10. Jakob Davidek/Michaela Gatekova - Czech Republic
11. Martino Zanibellato/Michelle Abildtrup - Denmark
12. Oleksii Ivanets/Lisa Rogozina - Poland
IDSF International Open Standard
127 couples made their entries, 97 showed up at the floor. The missing 30 couples were unexcused. A real shame for couples of the highest class.
In my opinion the level of this comp was higher than in Latin. The final really was a firework of modern performance of our Standard dances. The house turned crazy when the finalists were in action. Outstanding Soale/Cerosoli, convincing but maybe a little too quiet the English Warren and Kristi Boyce, great in their performance Bosco/Pitton. Deserved Finalist the two German couples Karabey/Karabey and Friedmann/Koehler. They all showed, that they belong to the top in Europe and in the World.
The results:
Final:
1. Dominico Soale/Gioia Cerosoli - Italy
2. Warren Boyce/Kristi Boyce - England
3. Paolo Bosco/Silvia Pitton - Italy
4. Sasha Karabey/Natasha Karabey - Germany
5. Mark Friedmann/Claudia Koehler - Germany
6. Frederico di Toro/Genny Favero - Italy
Semi-Final
7. Stefano Soldati/Annalisa Longo - Italy
8. Andrea Zaramella/Laetitia Ingrosso - Italy
9. Roman Mayer/Siret Siilak - Austria
10. Markus Weiss/Anja Schramm - Germany
11. Urs Geisenheiner/Anette Sudol - Germany
12 Filip Rut/Veronika Navratilova - Czech Republic
In the frame programme we saw a demonstration of the Belgium Standard Formation team, which was very well accepted with hearty applause by the audience of the crowded house.
I want to especially mention the quality of the music played all over the competitions. The choice was also maid by Hubert de Maesschalck and taken from his uncountable stock of collected music discs. Especially pleasing were the wellknown "oldies" with songs in new arrangements. Absolutely in!
In total there were 18 international Judges in office. Besides those judging the Worlds there were in the panel: Petr Odstrcil, Czech Rep.; Monique des Maesschalck, Belgium; Guido Desmet, Belgium; Aiguade Ferran, Spain; Asis Khadjeh-Nouri, Germany; Peter Ringgaard, Denmark; Birthe Krabbe, Denmark; Giardano Vanone, Italy; Valentina Fedorchuk and Dr. Sviatoslav T. Wlock, Ukraine.
It should be also mentioned that Hubert de Maesschalck as Chairman put his attention especially to the strict application of the IDSF dress rules. He often made couples correcting or even changing their competition dress when it obviously did not match the rules.
The panel of judges was seated on the stage behind the "music man" and the compere. Here they were served beverages and snacks by friendly club members all over the day, which made it unnecessary to have special breaks fur dinner and supper. This was a very good idea and assured the fluent running of the event. After the World Championships couples and judges were invited to a cold-warm buffet in the restaurant of the Holiday Inn Hotel. Not to forget the coming together in the bar after the last competition for discussion and summing up the event. Thank you so much for your warm hospitality, dear Monique and Hubert de Maesschalck. Your guests appreciated it very much. They felt themselves really at home!
All in all a great competition and IDSF World Championship. The organisers deserve a big hand. It was a demonstration of DanceSport of the best!
Werner J. Braun |
