Desert City 2012 Update #6

AWARDS! FINALISTS!

Tonight’s events in backwards order …

[drum roll] AND YOUR WINNERS ARE … [drum roll]

Masters Jack and Jill!

Louie Juarez and Susy Fries
Jack B. Ray and Jill Aversa
Warren Pino and Mindy Halladay
Bob Brown and Bess Rodriguez
Mike Booth ad Laurie Shafer

Masters Strictly Swing!

Patrick Plagens with Sue Fries
Martin Brown with Laurie Shafer
Mike Booth with Cheryl Grampp
John Demenkoff with Bess Rodriguez
Warren Pino with Peggy Allen

All-American Jack and Jill!

Michael Kielbasa and Tara Trafzer
Mark and Sarah
Jordan and Nicole Clonch
Arjay and Patty Vo
Place Michael Kielbasa and Brandi

Strictly Swing “B”!

Bret Navarre and Leslie Bricker
Brandon Manning and Kelly Reiss
James Cook and Sami Sekhon
Tony Schubert and Kristen Humphrey
Josh Williamson and Madelyn Finley

Strictly Swing “A”!

John Lindo and Melissa
Maxence and Jill Demarco
Ben Morris and Tatiana
Michael Kielbasa and Patty Vo
Jordan and Jessica

[drum roll] AND YOUR FINALISTS FOR TOMORROW’S JACK AND JILL FINALS! [drum roll drum roll drum roll]

INTERMEDIATE JJ FINALISTS:

Thomas Carter
Justin Zadro
CJ Wheelock
Bret Navarre
David Guido
Nick Moor
TJ Benash
Hareesh Kapoor
Cesario Dos Santos
Jason Bryan
Patrick Plagens
(alt Joseph Ivy)

Leigh Young
Christy Parker
Kelly Reis
Sammi Sekhon
Skye LaPointe
Amanda Thompson
Victoria Henk
Maddy Finley
Rachel Cureton
Rehanna Loncar
Miki Finley
(alt Laura Klipp)

ADVANCED JJ FINALISTS!

Brandon Manning
Jerome Louis
Jason Sun
Peter Fradley
Geoffrey Nighswonger
Josh Williamson
Kevin Bretney
Louie Juarez
Kevin Kane
Tony Schubert
Andrew Slac
PJ Fritzler
(alt John Piper)

April Sakaluk
Mariel Manzone
Brandy Richey
Elena Kon
Shoshi Kushnir
Auntonya Rogers
Nicole Clonch
Terra Deva
Regina Shipgel
Liza Hillman
Hannah Clonch
Aly Yorek
(alt Camille Webb)

So here’s who competed and how those divisions looked this afternoon and evening:

All-American JJ prelims: six heats of 23 couples! In other words that 14,000 competitors figure I joked about in the last update turned out to be pretty accurate. Huge division – all levels, Novice through Champions, thrown into a big pot, stirred, and poured out in random pairs to dance to three songs each.

All-American Finalists (dancing in two heats):

Mark and Sarah
Lindo and Mikaila Finley
Jordan and Ellen Colonna
Jerome Louis and Laureen
David Guido and Ellyn Brady
Arjay and Patty Vo
Brandon DEtty and Melissa Rutz
Michael Kielbasa and Brandi
Ben Morris and Liiana Claxton
Corey Flowers and Tatiana
Lindo and Lauren Hubbard
Robert Campos and Kellese
Michael Krause and Kara Frenzel
John Piper and Tessa
Jordan and Nicole Clonch
Michael Kielbasa and Tara

Their music:

“Down In The Valley”
“The Way You Do The Things You Do”
“My Girl”
“Respect”

And their judges Phil, Carrie, Laurie, Nathan, Buddy, Jackie, Dawne, and Chief Judge Cathy

Advanced JJ Prelims (in two heats):

Jay Tsai
Louie Juares
Geoffrey Nighswonger
Andy Vanosdale
BJ Woolston
Brandon Manning
PJ Fritzler
John Piper
Kevin Kane
CJ Caraway

Wait a minute hold everything …

Did I really just type “BJ” “PJ” and “CJ” ? hahaha “BJ PJ CJ” “BJ PJ CJ” lalalalala new song

Okay never mind, continuing on …

Martin Brown
Andrew Slac
Mike Booth
Peter Fradley
David Vichules
Matt Webb
Brandon Detty
Tony Schubert
Jerome Louis
J. Erik Thompson
Brady O’Dell
Koichi Tsunnoda
Josh Williamson
Dominique Martin
Jason Sun
Kevin Bretney
Michael Davis
Michael Salvador
STeven Ngyen

Anyssa Olivares
Kendra Zara
Liza Hillman
Susy Fries
Auntonya Rogers
Kristin Fangmeier
Na’Kedra Higgins
Aly Yorek
Josie Reed
Shoshi Kushnir
Libby Collins
Brandy Richel
Lisa Scott
Tracey Melin
Kate Kovegrove
Lauren Hubbard
April Sakaluk
Elena Kon
Mariel Manzone
Tashina Beckman
Kimiko Lashley
Hannah Clonch
Nicole Clonch
Leslie Bricker
Lisa Toepel
Liiana Claxton
DeAnna Kirehon
Susan Brown
Anya Crane
Camille Webb
Regina Shipgel
Terra Deva
Lisa Sandoval
Susan Flaminio
Ronda Seifert

Judges for Advanced: Phil, Carrie, Laurie, Nathan, Martin, Buddy, Jackie, Dawne, and CJ Cathy

“Turn It Up”
“I Don’t Know”
“Domino”
a blues standard – I call them all Spankin’ Leroy
“Gimme One Reason”
“Brokenhearted”

(Dave Koppelman (DJ for most of the comps this weekend) played “YMCA” between heats and after the chorus Ronnie said “Alright. Turn that off, that’s enough. You guys didn’t stand up, no one stood up. You were all lower case letters.”)

59 Couples in the Strictly Swing “B” prelim. They danced in two heats, to

“Spankin’ Leroy”

“Strawberry Letter 21″

“Dynamite”

“Spankin’ Leroy”

“Hold My Hand”

“Do You Remember”

Strictly Swing “B” Finalists:

Tony Schubert with Kristen Humphrey
Corey Flowers with Celina Ornori
Jason Bryan with Larisa Tingle
Jerome Louise with Lisa Toepel
Justin Zadro with Mikaila Finley
James Cook with Sami Sekhon
Andrew Slac with Elena Kon
Bruce and Ashley Randall
Thomas Carter with Kristin Fangmeier
Bret Navarre with Leslie Bricker
Matt Richey with Renae Cuevas
Brandon Manning with Kelly Reiss
Josh Williamson with Madelyn Finley

All-Skate: “Spankin’ Leroy”

Jam: “More”

All-Skate: “Love Stoned”

And finally the Strictly Swing “A” Prelim:

(Ronnie said “Strictly Swing A – I sound Canadian – Strictly Swing, ‘eh?)

34 couples in two heats:

Aray and Tara
Ben and Tatiana
Brent and Tessa
John Lindo and Melissa
Jordan and Jessica
Kyle and Torri
JB Brodie and Jessica Caetano
Michael Kielbasa and Patty Vo
Parker and Brandi
Diego and Anyssa
Steve Hall and Janelle Guido
Josh Sturgeon and Lara Deni
Cameron Crock and Dana Simonetti
Brad and Tashina
Josh Clark and Bess
Sean McKeever and Deborah Szekely
Ben McHenry and Sarah
Mark and Sharlot
Scott Mason and Malia
Maxence and Jill DeMarco
Myles and Kara Frenzel
Chris Dumond and Victoria Henk
Nick King and Laureen
Demetre and Kellese
Warren Pino and Pamela Pomoroff
Geoffrey Nighswonger and Shanon Tobin
Rome and Taylor
Michael Miller and Camille Webb
Carlus and Terra Deva
Bob Tucker and Anastasia Tsimbidis
Brandon Gautreaux and Yenni
Edwin Li and Libby

“All Night Long”
“Heart Attack and Vine”
“Brokenhearted”
“Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”
“Spankin’ Leroy”
“You Me and The Music”

and the Finalists, dancing spotlight:

Ben McHenry and Sarah to “Come Together” (some cool acoustic version. Victor was the DJ for this division – awesome music choices. Love Victor’s music. Oh, and speaking of Victor, Louis is in Taiwan DJing a comp there and says to say HELLO EVERYBODY AT DESERT CITY! HELLO HELLO HELLO FROM LOUIS! and he also says PLEASE SLAP VICTOR UPSIDE THE HEAD!” so I am passing the message for Louis: please, when you read this, go find Victor and give him a slap on the back of his head, from Louis. He’ll feel very loved.)
Brent and Tessa, to “I Get A Good Feeling” (some other cool acoustic version. all Victor’s cool acoustic versions are newer, differenter and way cooler acoustic versions of everything.
Dmitri and Kellese to “Valeri
Jordan and Jessica to “Novacane”
Nick and Laureen to “Ultimate Insult”
Kielbasa and Patty Vo to “I’ve Got a Disease” (that name cracks me up. I can’t even write it here without a fit of giggles welling up in my chest. It’s that word – it makes me nervous.)
Maxence and Jill Demarco to “The Way You Make Me Feel”
Arjay and Tara to “Big Bang” (a cool acoustic version) This was a very very very funny dance. Espcially the part where he crouched down behind her and on “big big BANG” she butt-bumped him in the face.
Kyle and Torri “Things are Gonna Change” (my current favorite song) (Kyle’s bib was number 50 – except it was actually number “50% OFF SALE PRICE” because he was using the sign from the shoe table as his bib.)
Lindo and Melissa to “Wait Till The Water Runs Dry” (a different cool acoustic version)
Sharlot and Mark to “Ain’t No Sunshine” (the wonderful can’t-be-improved-upon original version)
Sean and Deborah to “I’m So In Love With You”
Ben and Tatiana to “Best You’ve Ever Had”

and the All-Skate to the current hot song: “I Like How It Feels”

Victor and Kelly are DJing right now … their music is SO good.

Don’t forget to slap Victor.

oh and also: a stray breast may have wandered out of its stable. check Bruce’s video stream – maybe we were just imagining it.

oh and ALSO also: Brad is here taking pictures and they’re awesome as usual. So awesome.