MITBDT had seventeen dancers attend the 2019 DC Dancesport Inferno competition, hosted by Ballroom at Maryland at University of Maryland, College Park. The competition lasted the weekend of November 9-10, 2019.

MITBDT had a smashing performance at the Champ-level team match, placing second out of thirteen teams. We were represented by Ryan Bisbey & Electra Carzis in the Rumba, Aniket Gad & Lin Quek in the Samba, Boris Yelin & Amanda Hutter in the Foxtrot, and Corey Cleveland & Clio Flikkema in the Quickstep (pictured below; couples left to right). With our followers sporting intimidating fiery red dresses, MITBDT burned bright during this highlight of the Inferno competition.

Eleven MITBDT dancers competed in Open level events, facing tough competition. Special congratulations to Aniket & Electra, runners up in the Championship Rhythm event. Ryan & Electra represented MITBDT in Champ Latin. Charlie Hirst & Laura Aravena made it to the semifinals of Champ Smooth from a quarterfinal, and Boris & Amanda competed in both Champ and Pre-Champ Smooth events. Boris switched partners and danced with Lin in Pre-Champ Standard alongside Corey & Clio. Jonathan Tidor & Katie Mathison debuted in the Pre-Champ International Viennese Waltz event. Corey & Clio returned for Pre-Champ Latin, this time competing alongside Aniket & Lin.

MITBDT was also well represented by four couples at the syllabus level. Jonathan & Katie placed 8th in the gold Standard 4-dance from a quarterfinal. At the silver level, Hamid Doosthosseini & Sonia Zhang lasted through five rounds to the finals of the International Waltz/Quickstep two-dance, placing 7th. Similarly, Victor Quach & Yuening Zhang finaled in International Tango/Foxtrot, placing 6th. James Diao & Gloria Wu earned 6th in International Waltz/Quickstep and 5th in American Foxtrot/Viennese Waltz, also through five rounds. Our syllabus couples also competed in silver Latin against 61 other couples.

For full results, check out the o2cm website!

October 27, 2019
Rhodes on the Pawtucket; Cranston, RI

List of team finalists

MITBDT won the Christina Cryan Newcomer Team Match for the fourteenth straight year! We also boasted the runner-up team. Congratulations to our rookies, who had a very strong presence in the Newcomer finals and semifinals.

We had three dancers place out of American Smooth Waltz and Tango: congratulations to Mikhail & Tina Shalaginov for placing out at the Gold level, and to Anna Soong following James Diao for pointing out at the Silver level.

MITBDT had four dancers attend the 2019 UConn Husky Challenge this past Saturday, October 19th. The event took place at the Coventry High School in Coventry, Connecticut.

The day began with Smooth and Standard in the morning. Ryan Salazar and Joanna Lin competed together at the Bronze level. They placed 6th in the American Foxtrot and made finals in all three Standard events, taking home 4th in Waltz and Tango and a stellar 2nd in Quickstep. Jerry Bai and Maddie Leone represented MIT at the Silver level. In Smooth, they finaled in all three events, claiming 5th in the Waltz/Tango 2-dance and Foxtrot, and 3rd in the Viennese Waltz. In Standard, Jerry and Maddie earned 7th in the Waltz/Tango 2-dance, 6th in Foxtrot, and 8th in the syllabus Viennese Waltz against Gold-level couples.

The day continued with Rhythm and Latin in the afternoon. In the Bronze Rhythm, Ryan and Joanna had a strong performance, earning 2nd in Chacha and Rumba and winning 1st place in Swing! For Latin, Ryan switched partners and competed in Silver with Maddie. They placed 4th in the Chacha/Rumba 2-dance and 3rd in Samba and Jive. Jerry danced with Joanna in Latin as well, and they made semifinals in all Silver events.

As if the day was not exhausing enough, when Ryan, Maddie, and Jerry returned to Boston, they continued to dance the night away at MITBDT’s October Dance of the Dead social.

Well done, competitors!

October 13, 2019
Malkin Athletic Center, Harvard University campus

List of team finalists

Congratulations to all the rookies who competed in their very first ballroom dance competition after only five weeks of training! Our newcomers took home first place in all of their four events, with many other MIT newcomer couples making the finals and semifinals.

MITBDT was represented in all styles during the Open showcase performances. Corey Cleveland and Clio Flikkema performed in both the Open Latin and Open Standard showcases. Charlie Hirst and Laura Aravena graced the Open Smooth showcase. The Open Rhythm performance featured Boris Yelin leading Aniket Gad.

At the end of the night was the Rookie-Vet team match with teams dancing the Foxtrot, Swing, Salsa, and Paso Doble. MIT entered eight teams (four couples per team) into the match and took home 2nd and 5th places. It was an unexpected loss to Northeastern’s team who all sported giant inflatable animal costumes, but our spirits were high nonetheless and we celebrated a successful competition at Boston Burger Co.

MITBDT was the subject of a featured video in MIT news!

Hear former team captain Corey Cleveland (’17) share what he loves about ballroom dance, and see our team members in action at Latin rounds!

Our gratitude goes to Lillie Paquette for producing this amazing video!

Corey was also interviewed by Meg Murphy. Learn more about Corey’s experiences with ballroom dance in the full article submitted to the MIT News Office in April 2017: Having a ball.