LatinBallroom.net

This is another excellent collection of music from rejected1 on Youtube.

I am selling this dress for $1,100. Please see this page for details.

Here’s another excelllent make-up tutorial from JAM Cosmetics. This video focuses on ballroom makeup, which is inspired by Dancing with the Stars. Jessica starts with a completed left-side makeup and gives step-by-step instructions while she applies makeup on her right-side face. You can see the brushes she uses as well as techniques to use them.

Even if you are experienced with ballroom dance competition makeups, I’m sure you can get some additional tips here. When I watched this video, I realized that I wasn’t using a correct brush for the initial eye shadow application. Another interesting thing she mentions in this video is that most people’s eyes are not symmetrical. She says one of the focus when applying eye makeup should be to make both eyes look symmetrical. Well, that’s a good tip for me because my right eye is smaller than my left eye…..

Here are some of the things to note from the video.

• use of different types of brushes
• how she uses the brushes
• use of white highlighter in the inner-corner of the eye
• how she holds the corner of the eyelid when applying eye shadow
• the use of a wet brush when applying eye shadow and eye line

Overall, this tutorial is very good and I like the way she explains about each step. I also like the end result.

She says she will put up another video about how to put on fake eyelashes, which will be helpful for many people.

Related Posts

• Competition Makeup (Top 10 Dance Makeup Mistakes)
• Competition Makeup: Foundation Primer

It looks like Dancebeat has its own youtube channel.

There are 2 videos that feature Alexei Silde and Anna Firstova, the current top amateur couple in the world. As you can see, the videos were well-produced and capture some other aspects of competitive dancers’ lives. I don’t know how much they are “acting” in them but it’s fun to watch something different from time to time. I like the music in the first video also.

Alexei and Anna in Malagueña Salerosa

Alexei and Anna in Miami Beach

dancesportinfo.net posted an interview with Zoran plohl and Tatsiana Lahvinovich, who won the 2010 UK Open Championship in late January.

I like their dancing but was not particularly interested in their interview. After finishing reading, though, I must say this is a fabulous interview, which has humorous comments here and there as well as some good and serious advice for other dancers. Please read the complete interview at dancesportinfo.net.

The part where they explained how they started together was very funny. They didn’t pick each other. Their teachers did! Zoran talked about how he had to pick up his dance partner whom he’d never met at the airport. LOL.

Their message to other dancers is:
Do not give up.
Believe in yourself.

The interview was inspiring, so I’m going to go practice right now!

Some local news from the U.K. reported that parts of the ceiling of the Empress Ballroom, where the annual Blackpool Dance Festival is held, collapsed. At least one event was canceled and the Empress Ballroom was closed, the report said.

According to the email I got from Dancebeat, however, the Balckpool Dance festival is not canceled. The following is a reply from the Festival organizer in response to questions from Dancebeat.

The ceiling has now been inspected in its entirety and some minor repairs will be undertaken, to the affected area in the next few days to allow the Ballroom to reopen for the Magicians’ Convention next week.

So, everything should be fine when May comes around.

Dancesport.ru did an interview with Slavik Kryklyvyy and Anna Melnikova recently, and they posted the video clip yesterday. I think it was right after the Winter Star Championship that was held last weekend (February 5 thru 6). The interview looks very casual with a bit too much of background noises. Even though they lost the competition to Sergey Sourkov and Melia, both of them look upbeat. I also noticed that Slavik seems to have lost weight.

As I don’t understand Russian, I have no idea what they are saying. The only thing I could undersatnd was “Sergey” and “Melia”. duhh. I will ask some of my Russian coworkers about the contents of the interview. I hope you can help me decipher what they are saying by commenting to this post.

Thanks in advance.

The server where the video is hosted is very slow. So, be patient and let the video run once. Then you can watch the video without interruption in your second try.

[Update on Feb. 13]
I got the very first part.

The interviewer asked how they felt about this competition (Winter Star). Slavik said that it was one of the best competitions he’d ever participated in terms of atmosphere and hospitality. Audience was very warm and welcoming.

The next question was the comparison between this competition and other competitions. Slavik answered that the Kremlin Cup was a good competition and it had its strength and good parts. The difference between the Winter Star and the Kremlin Cup was the closeness of dancers to the audience. In the Kremlin Cup, the audience was a bit too far away from the floor and Slavik couldn’t see the audience much. In Winter Star, the audience was right there by the floor and he enjoyed dancing for the audience.

I hope I can get some more contents….

You can clearly see what Slavik meant by “closeness to the audience” in this video of Sergey Soukov and Melia’s winners’ dance. I’ve been looking for some video clips of Slavik and Anna but have had no luck so far. [Update on Feb. 14]
I’ve found a video clip of Slavik and Anna from the Winter Star here. The dance is Cha Cha. This is a very nice Valentine’s Day present for us Slavik fans. OK. Here’s another one from the Winter Star.

Oh, here are the results from the Winter Star Championship.

1. Sergey Sourkov & Melina
2. Slavik Kryklyvyy & Anna Melnikova
3. Evgeni Ryupin & Jana Pokrovskaya
4. Vladislav Borodinov & Irina Garous
5. German Mazhirine & Elizaveta Svetlova
6. Aleksandr Skarlato & Yulia Lesokhina
7. Artem Epifanov & Olga Solod
8. Maxim Kochura & Olga Aleshina