Ricoh Arena Competition
Report By Rachelle, Pictures by Norman Large



Nestled between a casino and a football pitch, the E-on suite might seem an unlikely venue for a Dancesport competition. However, on Saturday 19th April, Martin & Carol Cutler of National Dance Events hosted the first dancesport competition ever held in the Ricoh Arena, Coventry. The E-on suite is spacious and modern with great views of the pitch (although Coventry were playing away that day!). The suite had space for a 22x14m floor as well as plenty of tables and seating around the edge. It was also great to attend a comp which had more parking than was required right outside the door! Congratulations and thanks to Martin (and Estelle Grassby) for running the event to time throughout the day.


The day started at 9 with the Junior and Juvenile events. The EADA Junior Ballroom competition was won by Sidney Chong and Danielle Toal.



The adult events in the afternoon involved over 140 couples. The events included the Senior II Ballroom NSC which was won by Robert Hall & Jennie Dewar and an EADA Youth Latin competition which was won by Daniel Power and Amy Ward.

At 6 the suite closed and was cleared ready for the Spring Gala event in the evening which included demonstrations and the EADA Amateur selection events. 24 competitors entered the Amateur ballroom event and 28 couples entered the Amateur Latin American event. It was great to be able to get such good views of some of the country's top couples. It's a shame a few names were missing from the ballroom event although it was good to see several people returning to the floor with new partners. Between the Ballroom and Latin events was a demonstration by the Solihull-based Encore formation team. They gave a great performance of their Chicago routine, which won both the Junior and Adult ‘British’ Formation Team Championship Titles last year. Before the Latin final was a demonstration by Strictly Stars James & Ola Jordan and then the evening finished on a high with an amazing Amateur Latin final - the audience was treated to showcase of the country's talent.


Amateur Ballroom result:
1.Mark & Olga Elsbury
2.Jack Beale & Viktorija Triscuka
3.Daielle Gallaro & Kimberley Taylor
4.Andrei Sirbu & Alexandra Hixson
5.Steven Ford & Rebecca Jackson
6.Christopher Millward & Sophie Cooper

Amateur Latin result.
1.Gregor Rebulla & Lisa Darby
2.Neil Jones & Veronica Klyusmina
3.Alejandro Hernandez & Kerri-Ann Donaldson
4.Daniel Juvet & Tamara Sommer
5.Andrew Escolme & Amy Baker
6.Daniel Stowell & Kate Moore

Full marks can be found on www.scrutelle.info

For future competitions see www.nationaldanceevents.co.uk