A day of firsts at the International

The long-awaited International Championships finally kicked off yesterday in Brentwood Centre, Essex.  The first day of the championships was a truly international event with Latin couples flying in from all over the world to do battle on the dance floor.

Yesterday, DSI London’s Elite Performers and sponsored dancers did us proud with all three DSI Amateur Latin partnerships qualifying to dance in the Royal Albert Hall on Thursday: Denys Samson and Yuliya Nikitenko, Lloyd Perry and Rebecca Scott and DSI Elite Performer Luke Miller and his partner Ellie Beacock.

In Professional Latin, we were cheering for DSI Elite Performer Gunnar Gunnarsson and his partner, Marika Doshoris, who will also be dancing again on Thursday. We look forward to seeing more from all of our couples at the Royal Albert Hall!

For our younger dancers, who made a strong impact on the Brentwood floor, it was a year of “firsts”. For Glenn Richard Boyce and Cäroly Jänes it was the first time competing as Under 21s at the International. As always, they did us proud, looking gorgeous in black crepe with Swarovski volcanic rhinestones.

Showcasing a very different look in bright sunny colours, Ella Perry glittered in a stunning sunrise, mango and tangerine beaded dress. Again, it was the first International for Ella in her new partnership with Kristofer Ponomarenko.

Three new Juvenile partnerships also hit the International floor for the first time: Max Draper and Olivia King, who shone in sunrise crepe with a pretty, functional bow at the neck; Francis Carty and Kerry Sui, who wore DSI’s gorgeous ocean blue smooth velvet; and Nathan Storey and Olivia Smorga, who wore a purple vogue burnt-out velvet skirt over one of DSI’s new Taylor leotards. The Juvenile boys were all dressed in DSI couture shirts and trousers.

If you missed yesterday you can watch the live action replay, which is already available on DSI TV. The live stream for today’s Ballroom events at Brentwood Centre runs from 12.12pm until 6.30pm. For more details and information on how to subscribe to DSI TV, click here.