The New Texas Challenge, March 25, 2006, Sheraton North Houston

This (the Texas Challenge) was the very first ballroom competition I've ever been to. I found watching it to be very much like watching a ballroom competition on PBS, minus the dippy commentary. They even had the same announcer. This was the fifth dance event I went to in Houston in March; a quick look back shows how broad the range of dancing is in Houston, because each show was quite different than the next.

The ballroom at the Sheraton is not very large, so you pretty much had a good view wherever you were. I attended the Saturday evening session and got to see finals for the Pro-Am, Rising Star, and Professional categories. (Will someone please explain to me what "rising star" means??) Many of the professionals were familiar from this year's PBS show, including Mazen Hamza & Irina Sarukhanyan, Anton & Lena Koukaeko, and of course Eddie Stutts & Victoria Belova. (Vika and Eddie definitely had the hometown advantage!) It was inspiring to see dancers at the top of the profession swaying not 10 feet from where I was standing.

I prefer International styles over American (is that un-American?), although I confess I can't tell the difference between some of the International Latin and American Rhythm styles. Nevertheless, I found all styles to be enjoyable when watching professionals in person at short range, which somewhat surprised me; however, I still can't STAND when women, even professionals (especially professionals!) break their arm lines at the wrist! Luckily, that didn't happen too often. There was one couple in the professional International Standard that I really enjoyed, although unfortunately I didn't catch their names. I believe they ended up third. If anyone out there can enlighten me as to who they are, please do!