The Yuletide Ball Championships
December
30th and 31st 2011
The JW Marriott in DC hosted the Yuletide Ball
with Ron Bennett and new co-owners Garry Gekhman & Irina Sarukanyan. Garry
could not have been more hospitable and gracious. What an easy process we
had with paperwork and general assistance. Job well done guys...THANKS!
Congratulations to Dian, Patty, Karen, & Karl for
great job dancing! StudioDNA winners...always! Patty & Karl decided
to enter, at last minute with John's guidance, a Tango. We are so proud of
them! Way to go new team couple!!!!
We got the Hotel on
Thursday evening to practice and wake up the next morning at 5:30 AM for hair,
make-up, and practice before we hit the floor at 8:00 AM for the Rhythm dances.
We rested afterwards and prepared to dance again the next day at 1:00 PM in the
Smooth division. DC was hopping with excitement and the hotel was filled
with smiles and JOY for the Holidays and the Yuletide dance comp.
John & Michelle wish to
extend a warm and special thank you to Jerry & Shirley (Dian's husband and
mother) and Michael (Michelle's husband) for coming to support us and cheer us on.
Thank you so very much to all of you who could not make it but sent us your well
wishes and love. We appreciate your love and support! Once again we danced with personal goals
in mind and the biggest competition was within ourselves. If we were also
given a placement 3rd or higher that was awesome, but internal goals far out
weigh the external recognition from those around us. Don't get me wrong, a
1st place ROCKS and having others say "You are FABULOUS" always creates a great
feeling of satisfaction. But, when it is all said and done, you need to
have personal goals to continue doing the kind of dance we do for
competition.....hard core "work dance". It is NOT easy! We dance
because we can! We dance because we enjoy it! We dance because it
reminds us that we are more than our everyday selves, we are divas and
superstars on the floor!
Dian:
3rd Place: silver Foxtrot 5th
Place: Viennese Waltz & Tango
Karen:
2nd Place: Hustle & Salsa
3rd Place: Swing 4th
Place: Rumba & Cha Cha
Karl: 1st
Place: Hustle
3rd Place: Salsa
4th Place:
Rumba, Waltz, Tango, & Foxtrot
Patty: 1st Place: Samba, Hustle, West Coast,
& Salsa
3rd Place: silver Waltz
6th Place:
Rumba
7th
Place:
Tango & Foxtrot
Patty & Karl:
4th
Place: Tango
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John & Michelle
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The Yuletide Rhythm gals
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Michelle
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Karen
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Patty
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Michelle & Karl
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Karen & John
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Patty & John
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lovely ladies
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our crew with Garry Gekhman
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StudioDNA rhythms
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the rhythm dancers
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chilling in our rooms
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resting after the 1st day
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John & Julie of Encore
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Michelle & Karl
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Patty & John
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Dian & John
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our StudioDNA crew
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Shirley, Dian, & Jerry
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Michael & Michelle
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Michelle & John
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Patty & Karl
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Dian
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Patty & John lounging
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One last pose: Patty & Karl
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JD
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