The MIT Ballroom Dance Team is collaborating with the Empire Dance Championship to bring the collegiate ballroom and the broader ballroom dance communities together by hosting a collegiate section at the Empire Dance Championship! We would like to invite you to be part of the first rendition of this one-of-a-kind collaboration! This first year we will offer Latin and Standard Gold + Silver (combined) and Open levels, with the expectation to expand to all levels in the coming year. This is a great opportunity to witness the energy and passion from some of the best dancers in the world, and it promises to be a very inspiring event!

All the collegiate events will be judged by some of the most prominent judges available in the ballroom dance world. For Latin it will include Donnie Burns, Gaynor Fairweather and Barbara McColl. For Standard it will include Lorraine Barry, Charlotte Jorgensen, Caterina Arzenton and Massimo Giorgiani.

• $25 for a single event; $40 for two events
• All competitors will get a discounted rate of $50 “Season Pass” ($300 regular price), allowing entrance to all the events of the competition, including all the evening sessions, packed with all the Amateur and Professional events, attended by competitors from all around the world.
• All competitors will get access to 50% discounted price of the lectures offered by the Empire Dance Championships: Latin on Wednesday with Donnie Burns, Gaynor Fairweather and Barbara McColl, and Standard on Friday with Caterina Arzenton, Lorraine Barry, Massimo Giorgiani.

Registration and more information for this event is open at http://empiredancechampionship.com/MIT/#

We hope to see you in August.

If you have any further questions please email us at mitbdt-captain@mit.edu

On Sunday, November 15th, MITBDT members competed at the 2015 Tufts Ballroom Competition in Medford, MA. The MIT rookies once again showed their improvement with fantastic results, taking 5 places in International Waltz and Tango finals. The rest of the team also danced well across all levels.

Here is a complete list of team finalists:

Smooth

Newcomer
Waltz (64 pre-registered couples, 11 MIT couples)
2. Joel Geiger/Si Li

Tango (64 pre-registered couples, 11 MIT couples)
4. Jonathan Lambert/Nathalie Bolduc
5. Leo Su/Tosin Olabinjo
6. Andrew Tu/Matilde Borio

Foxtrot (69 pre-registered couples, 11 MIT couples)
2. Joel Geiger/Si Li
3. Erling German/Anna Turskaya
5. Jonathan Lambert/Nathalie Bolduc
6. Andrew Tu/Matilde Borio

Bronze
Waltz/Tango (19 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
1. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Foxtrot (19 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
4. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Gold
Waltz/Tango/Foxtrot (11 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
3. Vitaly Abdrashitov/Amy Ishiguro

Prechamp
Waltz/Tango/Foxtrot/Viennese Waltz (5 couples, 1 MIT couple)
2. Jeff McCollum/Courtney Delmonico

Standard

Newcomer
Waltz (40 pre-registered couples, 12 MIT couples)
1. Joel Geiger/Si Li
2. Mohammad Mavadati/Ava LaRocca
3. Dimeter Ostrev/Ping Xu
4. Jonathan Lambert/Nathalie Bolduc
5. Andrew Tu/Mathilde Borio

Tango (41 pre-registered couples, 12 MIT couples)
1. Joel Geiger/Si Li
2. Mohammad Mavadati/Ava LaRocca
3. Dimeter Ostrev/Ping Xu
4. Jonathan Lambert/Nathalie Bolduc
5. Andrew Tu/Mathilde Borio

Overall
1. Joel Geiger/Si Li
2. Mohammad Mavadati/Ava LaRocca
3. Dimeter Ostrev/Ping Xu

Bronze
Waltz/Quickstep (18 pre-registered couples, 2 MIT couples)
1. Cedric Delmy/Madeleine Potoskie
5. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Tango (19 pre-registered couples, 2 MIT couples)
1. Cedric Delmy/Madeleine Potoskie
7. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Overall
1. Cedric Delmy/Madeleine Potoskie

Silver
Waltz/Quickstep (26 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
2. Matthew Cavuto/Juliana Neves

Tango/Foxtrot (27 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
5. Matthew Cavuto/Juliana Neves

Overall
3 Matthew Cavuto/Juliana Neves

Gold
Waltz/Tango/Foxtrot/Quickstep (11 pre-registered couples, 2 MIT couples)
3. Vitaly Abdrashitov/Amy Ishiguro
4. Corey Cleveland/Clio Flikkema

Overall
3. Vitaly Abdrashitov/Amy Ishiguro

Syllabus

Viennese Waltz (39 pre-registered couples, 3 MIT couples)
4. Corey Cleveland/Clio Flikkema
5. Matthew Cavuto/Juliana Neves

Pre champ
Waltz/Tango/Foxtrot/Quickstep (9 Couples, 4 MIT couples)
2. Dilip Thekkoodan/Pamela Ziering
3. Jeff McCollum/Jessica Le
4. Ross Finman/Lin Quek

Viennese Waltz (9 Couples, 5 MIT couples)
2. Dilip Thekkoodan/Pamela Ziering
4. Jeff McCollum/Jessica Le
6. Ross Finman/Lin Quek

Champ
Waltz/Tango/Viennese Waltz/Foxtrot/Quickstep (3 couples, 2 MIT couples)
1. Ben Moss/Esther Rheinbay
3. Anthony Kozloff/Shantel Mays (Harvard)

Rhythm

Newcomer
Rumba (69 pre-registered couples, 9 MIT couples)
4. Leo Su/Ava LaRocca

Swing (65 pre-registered couples, 9 MIT couples)
3. Leo Su/Ava LaRocca
4. Joel Geiger/Si Li
5. Jonathan Lambert/Tosin Olabinjo

Bronze
Cha cha/Rumba (28 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
3. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Swing (27 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
1. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Overall
1. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Latin

Newcomer
Cha cha (50 pre-registered couples, 9 MIT couples)
1. Joel Geiger/ Si Li
3. Aida Abou-Zamzam/Jianan Xiao
6. Leo Su/Ava LaRocca

Rumba (50 pre-registered couples, 9 MIT couples)
1. Joel Geiger/Si Li
4. Aida Abou-Zamzam/Jianan Xiao
5. Leo Su/Ava LaRocca
6. Jonathan Lambert/Tosin Olabinjo

Overall
1. Joel Geiger/Si Li
2. Aida Abou-Zamzam/Jianan Xiao
3. Leo Su/Ava LaRocca

Bronze
Cha cha/Rumba (22 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
3. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Samba/Jive (22 pre-registered couples, 1 MIT couple)
3. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Overall
3. Lindy Balckburn/Hayley Tran

Silver

Cha cha/Rumba (27 pre-registered couples, 2 MIT couples)
4. Alex Creely/Francesca Majluf

Samba/Jive (24 pre-registered couples, 2 MIT couples)
5. Alex Creely/Francesca Majluf

Gold
Samba/Cha cha/Rumba/Jive (9 pre-registered couples, 4 MIT couples)
4. Corey Cleveland/Clio Flikkema
5. Wei An/Huyen Phan (? affiliation)
6. Jorge Valdez/Laura Perovich

Syllabus
Paso Doble (31 pre-registered couples, 5 MIT couples)
4. Corey Cleveland/Clio Flikkema
7. Vitaly Abdramshitov/Courtney Delmonico
8. Lindy Blackburn/Hayley Tran

Pre champ
Samba/Cha cha/Rumba/Jive (11 couples, 2 MIT couples)
6. Rafael Olivera/Agata Wisniowska

On Sunday, November 1, MITBDT travelled to Rhode Island and attended the annual Brown Ballroom Competition. Competing for the first time in this season, the team rookies made a strong debut with some fantastic dancing. Highlights of their results include an all MIT final (in Newcomer International Tango), the third one in team history. We want to congratulate all the team members who made a final at the comp: your hard work has been paid back!

Here is a complete list of team finalists at Brown:

1. Lindy Balckburn/Hayley Tran

On October 10th, dancers from MITBDT travelled to New Haven to compete in the 24th Annual Yale Ballroom Dance Competition. Here are the results (for finalists):

Held on October 4th in Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Harvard Beginners’ is the first collegiate comp of the season. Although the team did not send its rookies to compete at HBC this year, MITBDT was still a strong presence there thanks to the fantastic performance of these dancers who made the finals:

Rhythm

Bronze R/Sw (19 couples, 1 MIT couples)
2. Cedric Delmy/Alexandra Radway

Silver R/Sw (15 couples, 1 MIT couple)
1. Matthew Cavuto/Juliana Neves

Latin

Bronze C/R (22 couples, 1 MIT couple)
6. Cedric Delmy/Alexandra Radway

Silver CR (23 couples, 4 MIT couples)
1. Matthew Cavuto/Juliana Neves
5. Alexander Creely/Francesca Majluf
6. Vitaly Abdrashitov/Courtney Delmonico

Gold C/R/S
1. Corey Cleveland/Clio Flikkema
3. Aaron Beal/Rachael Schwartz

Master of Syllabus Latin (15 couples, 5 MIT couples)
1. Corey Cleveland/Clio Flikkema
3. Matthey Cavuto/Juliana Neves
4. Aaron Beal/Rachael Schwartz

Smooth

Gold W/T/F (7 couples, 1 MIT couple)
4. Vitaly Abdrashitov/Amy Ishiguro

Standard

Bronze W/Q (23 couples, 3 MIT couples)
3. Oles Shtanko/Anna Sineinikova

Silver W/Q (16 couples, 2 MIT couples)
1. Matthew Cavuto/Juliana Neves
3. Alexander Creely/Nancy Li

Gold W/T/Q (9 couples, 2 MIT couples)
3. Corey Cleveland/Clio Flikkema
4. Vitaly Abdrashitov/Amy Ishiguro

Master of Syllabus W/T/F/Q (19 couples, 4 MIT couples)
2. Matthew Cavuto/Juliana Neves
3. Anthony Kozloff/Shantel Mays
4. Corey Cleveland/Clio Flikkema
6. Alexander Creely/Nancy Li

The New England Dancesport Championships, held on September 26th this year, is a qualifying event for USA Dance National DanceSport Championships. Finalists are qualified to compete at National in April, 2016. Let’s congratulate the MITBDT members who made finals at this NQE!

Standard

Amateur Adult Novice W/F/Q (8 couples, 2 MIT couples)
2. Jeff McCollum/Jessica Le
7. Dilip Thekoodan/Pamela Ziering

Amateur Adult Pre-champ W/T/Vw/F/Q (12 couples, 4 MIT couples)
3. Matthew Sorrentino/Theresa Vallese
4. Anthony Kozloff/Shantel Mays (Harvard)
7. Dilip Thekoodan/Pamela Ziering

Amateur Adult Championship W/T/Vw/F/Q (8 couples, 2 MIT couples)
3. Ben Moss/Esther Rheinbay
8. Anthony Kozloff/Shantel Mays

Latin

Amateur Adult Novice S/C/R (7 couples, 3 MIT couples)
2. Rafael Olivera/Agata Wisniowska
3. Tiago Souza/ Anna Gavrilman
5. Joseph Lomakin/Madalyn Berns

Amateur Adult Pre-champ S/C/R/J (5 couples, 3 MIT couples)
2. Tiago Souza/Anna Gavrilman
3. Rafael Olivera/Agata Wisniowska
4. Joseph Lomakin/Madalyn Berns

MITBDT is proud to announce its third Dance Concert, which will take place on Sunday, September 13th in Morss Hall, Walker Memorial. The team is busily rehearsing and preparing for the return of this important event. The show will last about one hour. We look forward to sharing our passion for dance through a night of showcase ballroom. Stay tuned for further details!

Photo from the 2012 Dance Concert in The Tech:

Registration is now open for the 2015 MIT Open, at o2cm.com:

Register here.

Learn more at the 2015 MIT Open Homepage.

Check out this Holiday Video from MIT’s Division of Student Life, featuring Tim the Beaver and our a few of our very own dancers.

MITBDT is excited to announce that 2014 WDSF World Professional Standard Champions Mirko Gozzoli & Edita Daniute will be performing for our 2015 MIT Open Showcase on Saturday, April 25th, 2015!

Watch for show & lecture details on our competition website.