Nearly a thousand dance couples took part in the two-day competition The Parade of Hope-2011. Dancers from 163 clubs located in 46 Ukrainian, Russian, Moldovan, Romanian, Italian, German, British and US cities vied for the prizes. Within the framework of the yearly sport dance competition, organized by the Children and Youth Sport Dances Center “Sport-Dance,” they took part in the World Championship for the Latin American and European programs, nominated by the Presidium of the International DanceSport Federation and the World Dance Council, as well as the Ukrainian Championship and the Open Championship of Kyiv. Internationally acclaimed sportsmen, many-time European and world champions, were invited to be the judges. Hence, the main judge of the World Championship was the president of Ukrainian office of the International DanceSport Federation Sviatoslav Vlokh, and the main judge of the Parade... was the Honored coach of Ukraine Valentyna Fedorchuk.
“It has always been an event for everybody — the audience, sportsmen, and referees because The Parade of Hope is the beginning of the new dancing season with its new plans, prospects and hopes,” says Fedorchuk.
While the audience did grow weary of the bright costumes, graceful movements, perfect technique and skills, the finals, during which the strongest participants competed, revived their enthusiasm fully.
The Ukrainians’ results in the Latin American program were better than in the European one. Thus, Vladyslav Dolia and Oleksandra Sydorova from Zaporizhia brought home the World Championship’s IDSF gold (in the adult category of the Latin American program), and Dmytro Vlokh and Kateryna Vahanova from Kyiv won a second gold for their stirring jive. Yefym Shynder and Tetiana Borovyk from Kyiv (members of the Orion club) were the best Latina dancers, while Dmytro Riabych and Maryna Hrydina (Sport-Dance club) followed them closely.
The ProAm competition, initiated this year by the Parade, was the most anticipated. It is a new trend in the Ukrainian dancing milieu. It involves a coach and a pupil dancing together; this way the specialists in sport dances can show off their skills both as sportsmen and coaches. Vladislav Borodin and Elena Mikheyeva from Moscow, as well as Aleksandr Chesnokov and Yulia Orlovska were the best Latina dancers in this category. Vladyslav Lutsky and his pupil Nadia Denysova from Kyiv excelled in the European program and took the first place there.
It should be noted that for seven years now they have been fighting for the Foxtrot TM cup, for the European dance of the same name. This year the cup went to the couple of Sydorova and Dolia from Zaporizhia (Dynamo club). According to the jury they were the best performers of this dance, which is the most complicated one in the European program.
The “formation” competition was the most spectacular: the teams had to dance simultaneously. The indisputable leaders, who took all the places on the podium of the Ukrai-nian Championship in this category, were the teams from Poltava Grace-1, Grace-2 and Latin Quarter. They received a roaring ovation and the highest marks from the jury.
