Ballroom Dancers Compete
The Fairmont State University Dancesport team, the Dancing Falcons, the only ballroom
dance team in the state of West Virginia, competed at the University of Maryland College
Park campus on Oct. 3 and 4.
The District of Columbia DanceSport Inferno (DCDI) is one of the largest competitions
on the East Coast, hosting nearly 800 dancers this year for a weekend of competitive
dancing. The vast majority of the competitors were collegiate dancers.
The DCDI is a cooperative event hosted by universities of the greater Washington
area and attended by students of some three dozen East Coast universities. Well known
private institutions represented this year included Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown,
Johns Hopkins, New York (NYU), Princeton, U. Penn., William and Mary and Yale. Well
known public institutions included the flagship universities of about a dozen states,
including Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania
and Virginia.
This is the sixth year of participation of the Dancing Falcons at DCDI. Partners
dancing at the newcomer level were Darren Freme and Jocelyn Spellman and Raymond Bezjak
and Aiko Sato. The partners of Dylan Callery and Sarah Grumblatt competed at the bronze
level, while Mariko Tsuruta competed at the silver level with Virginia amateur dancer
Jonathan Towne. The Fairmont State team also competed as a team at the beginner level.
The team's results were the following:
At the newcomer level:
Darren Freme and Jocelyn Spellman
American rhythm:
Cha cha round one; rumba round one, swing round two
American smooth:
Waltz round two; tango round one; fox trot round two
International Latin
Cha cha: round one; rumba round two; jive: round two
Raymond Bezjak and Aiko Sato:
American rhythm:
Cha cha: semifinal; Rumba round two; Swing round two
American smooth:
Waltz quarter final; tango quarter final; fox trot quarter final
International Latin:
Cha cha: round three; rumba round one; jive round two
At the bronze level:
Dylan Callery and Sarah Grumblatt:
American rhythm:
Cha cha round two: rumba round two; swing round one;
mambo round two
American smooth:
waltz round two; tango round two; fox trot round two
International Latin:
Cha cha round two; rumba round two; samba round one,
jive round two
Dylan Callery and Mary Ellen Hood of Georgetown U.
International standard:
Waltz round one; quickstep quarterfinal; tango round two
At the silver level:
Mariko Tsuruta and Jonathan Towne
International standard:
Waltz/quickstep round one; tango/foxtrot quarterfinal
