World Latin Dance Cup 2014 Results

Posted December 8, 2014 by Takeshi

UPDATE: See the WLDC 2015 results. See also the controversy from the 2015 World Latin Dance Cup.

The World Latin Dance Cup is one of the largest Latin dance competitions in the world, and it’s happening this week in Miami. Every year the competition attracts over 800 competitors from 40 countries, including many from right here in SF Bay Area. Salsa By The Bay will be providing live coverage of the event from Miami– check this page to find out the latest competition results and updates from the 2014 World Latin Dance Cup.

World Latin Dance Cup 2014 Results

The competition this year was the largest yet, with hundreds of competitors from around the world vying for the title of World Champion. The toughest divisions this year, as usual, were the Salsa On 2 and Salsa Cabaret divisions. The Mens Soloist division was also stacked this year, with 24 competitors in the division.

At the end of the day though, the competition saw some familiar faces taking home the top prizes. The “Dream Team” of salsa cleaned up the top spots in the couples divisions, with Rafael & Carine winning Salsa On 1, David & Paulina winning Salsa On 2, and Ricardo & Karen winning the Salsa Cabaret divisions.

Rafael & Carine were the clear winners of their division, easily winning the On 1 division for the second year in a row. David & Paulina went into the Finals ranked 2nd, but were able to pull out a win with some changes to their routine for the Finals, becoming the first couple in World Salsa history to win their division 4 years in a row. Ricardo & Karen blew away their competition with an incredible routine that had the entire room on their feet.

The Bay Area had a strong showing in the Finals, with many competitors making it to the final night of the competition. In the Pro Salsa Teams division, reigning champions Salsamania Dance Company were unseated by Omambo Dance Project from LA. In the Amateur Salsa Teams division, Montuno & Salsamania battled it out, with Montuno pulling an upset an coming out on top in the final rounds. In the Pro-Am division, John Narvaez & Erika Lachenmeier from the Bay Area won the very competitive division.

In the amateur divisions, a number of Bay Area dancers had strong showings. In the Amateur Solo Male division, Vmal Pradeep, winner of the Beat’s footwork competition, took the top spot. In the Soloist Over 50 division, Albert Harnois won first place. In the Amateur Soloist Female category, Angelica Medina won silver in the division. There were also competitors from the Bay Area in the Amateur Bachata Teams, Bachata Couples, Amateur Salsa On2, and Over 75 categories.

The level of competition was definitely the highest it’s ever been, and it will be exciting to see how the competition continues to evolve over the coming years. The full competition results are below:

Pro Salsa On 1

1st – Rafael Barros & Carine Morais
2nd – Jeremy Largacha & Daniela Leon
3rd – Deklan Guzman & Natalia Orcheo

Pro Salsa On 2

1st – David Zepeda & Paulina Posadas
2nd – Simone Sanfilippo & Serena Maso
3rd – Ernesto Lopez & Diana Ramirez
4th – Jeremy & Manuela
5th – John Narvaez & Gabriela
6th – Andrew Cervantes & Ashley

Salsa Cabaret Couples

1st – Ricardo Vega & Karen Forcano
2nd – Sebastian Yepes & Laura Rivas
3rd – Gabriel Salgado & Leticia Beltran

Bachata Cabaret Couples

1st – Gabriel Salgado & Leticia Beltran
2nd – Simone San Filippo & Serena Maso
3rd – Marcelo Alcaraz y Julieta Ibañez

Pro Bachata Couples

1st – Gabriel Jana & Eva Aravena
2nd – Favio Bustos & Renata Castillo
3rd – Deklan Guzman & Natalia Orcheo
4th – Darlin Garcia & Gaby
5th – Maximiliano & Lacie
6th – Juan Carlos Camarena & Helen Vazquez

Cha Cha Cha

1st – Nicolas Carreno & Caterin Estrada
2nd – Jeremy Laracha & Daniela Leon
3rd – William Carpenter & Giana Montoya

Pro Salsa Teams

1st – Omambo Dance Project
2nd – Compania De Baile Ritmo Extremo
3rd – Salsamania Dance Company

Salsa Cabaret Teams

1st – El Balcon De Los Artistas
2nd – Esfera Latina Salsa Show
3rd – Impreio Juvenil

Same Gender Couples Women

1st – Maritza Rodriguez & Diana Ramirez
2nd – Sharon Pakir & Elysia Baker
3rd – Saeko Sugaya & Ayumi Alazawa

Same Gender Couples Men

1st – Nicolas Carreno & Andres Leiton
2nd – Tony Navarro & Javier Acuna
3rd – Carlos Anton & Jorge Valcarcel

Salsa Ladies Teams

1st – Compania De Baile Ritmo Extremo
2nd – Ladies Latinas
3rd – Modus Vivendi

Salsa Mens Teams

1st – Compania De Baile Ritmo Extremo
2nd – Impreio Juvenil
3rd – Otto Show Y Su Grupo Melao

Soloist Ladies

1st – Natalia Orcheo
2nd – Almendra Navarrete
3rd – Gabriela Avendano

Soloist Men

1st – Javier Padilla
2nd – Bruno Rodriguez
3rd – Mario Acosta

Pro Am Couples

1st – John Narvaez & Erika Lachenmeier
2nd – Carlos Jaimes & Bianca Chapman
3rd – Vmal Pradeep & Lizeth Bautista

Amateur Salsa Teams

1st – Fuerza Montuno, USA
2nd – Latin Vibe, USA
3rd – Reyes Del Son, ECU

Amateur Bachata Teams

1st – Alma Latina, MEX
2nd – Latin Energy, CAN
3rd – Modus Vivendi, AUS
4th – Spartamiento, USA

Amateur Salsa On 1

1st – Roberto & Naria
2nd – Albert & Anna, ESP
3rd – Daniel Kalman & Caitlin Kelly

Amateur Bachata Couples

1st – Edward Zambrano & Mikayla Zuniga
2nd – Jesus Doza & Roxanna Vega
3rd – Ruben Zaldivar & Vanessa Jimenez

Amateur Soloist Men

1st – Vmal Pradeep
2nd – Carlos Cordoba
3rd – Jorge Luis Hernadez

Soloist Over 50

1st – Albert Harnois
2nd – Scott Nakada

Live Stream

The Semi-Final (Thursday & Friday) and Final (Saturday) rounds of the competition will be streamed live via UStream. The two broadcasts will be at 10am PST & 4pm PST. If you miss the World Latin Dance Cup live stream, you can still watch the recorded footage of the previous round of the competition via the video link above.

Background

The World Latin Dance Cup is one of the largest competitions in the world for salsa and other Latin dances. The competition was started in 2005 by salsa promoter Albert Torres under the name “World Salsa Championships”. In 2010, the competition was re-branded as the World Latin Dance Cup, and expanded to include other dances besides salsa, including bachata, cumbia, and cha cha cha. This year the competition will also feature kizomba and merrengue.

The Bay Area has a long history of participating in the World Latin Dance Cup. The Salsa Teams division at the first World Salsa Championships was won by Pretty Boys & Girls from San Jose. Luis Aguilar, the director of the Couture Dance Alliance in San Francisco, is a 2-time winner of the World Salsa Championships and World Latin Dance Cup in the On2 division. Salsamania Dance Company, based in Oakland, are the current reigning champions of the Salsa Teams division, and their director John Narvaez and Andrew Cervantes are 3-time champions of the Same Gender division.

This year there are dozens of competitors who will be representing the Bay Area at the 5th Annual World Latin Dance Cup in both the amateur and professional divisions. Stay tuned to see how the competitors fare in this year’s competition!

Competition Results

Day 1 Results:

Day 1 of the competition resulted in many of the competitors automatically qualifying for the semi-finals due to the small number of competitors in many divisions. All of the divisions originally scheduled for the Thursday afternoon competition automatically passed to the semis. That included amateur soloists, cha cha, over 75, and amateur bachata couples, as well as rueda, merengue, and kizomba.

The evening competition was also mostly a formality for most divisions, with many of the divisions having fewer than 5 competitors. The two exceptions were the Pro Am Couples and Soloist Male categories, which both had close to 20 competitors each. Both divisions will face eliminations, with the results to be announced Wednesday night.

Day 2 Results:

The results for the day 1 & day 2 of the competition have been announced. Here are the scoresheets for the qualifiers from Tuesday & Wednesday:

Day 3 & 4 Results:

The results for day 3 & day 4 have been announced. The winners from each division will make it into the finals on Saturday.

Schedule

The World Latin Dance Cup takes place over the course of a week, from Tuesday, December 9th to Saturday, December 13th 2014. The first two days of the competition are Qualifiers. Competitors who have not already qualified for the WLDC will compete for a chance to move onto the semi-finals, with amateurs competing on Tuesday and professionals on Wednesday.

The next two days of the competition are the Semi-Finals. Dancers who have already qualified at other events and those who make it through the Qualifiers will compete. Amateurs compete Thursday, and professionals on Friday.

Finally, Saturday is the Finals where the top 5 competitors from each division will compete for the title of World Latin Dance Cup champion.

The full schedule is below. All times are in Pacific Standard Time (PST):

Tuesday, December 9th, 2014 – 1st Day of Qualifiers (Amateurs)

10am – 1pm – First round of qualifiers

• Casino Rueda
• Merengue
• Zouk
• Kizomba
• Amateur Soloist Female
• Solo Men Over 50
• Amateur Soloist Male
• Solo Ladies Over 50
• Cha Cha Couple
• Amateur Bachata Couple

4pm – 7pm – Second round of qualifiers

• Salsa Ladies Couples
• Amateur Bachata Team
• Pro Am Couples
• Amateur Salsa Team
• Soloist Male
• Soloist Female
• Salsa Men Couples

Wednesday, December 10th, 2014 – 2nd Day of Qualifiers (Pros)

10am – 1pm – First round of qualifiers

• Children Soloist Girls
• Junior Soloist Boys
• Junior Soloist Girls
• Amateur Couples On1
• Amateur Couples On2
• Children Couples
• Junior Couples
• Children/Junior Teams
• Bachata Couple
• Children Soloist Boys

4pm – 7pm – Second round of qualifiers

• Bachata Team
• Salsa On 1
• Bachata Cabaret Team
• Salsa On 2
• Salsa Ladies Team
• Salsa Team
• Salsa Cabaret Couple
• Salsa Mens Team
• Salsa Cabaret Team
• Bachata Cabaret Couples

8pm – Announcement of results

Thursday, December 11th, 2014 – Semi-Finals (Amateurs)

10am – 1pm – First round of semi-finals

• Casino Rueda
• Merengue
• Zouk
• Kizomba
• Amateur Soloist Female
• Solo Men Over 50
• Amateur Soloist Male
• Solo Ladies Over 50
• Cha Cha Couple
• Amateur Bachata Couple

4pm – 7pm – Second round of semi-finals

• Salsa Ladies Couples
• Amateur Bachata Team
• Pro Am Couples
• Amateur Salsa Team
• Soloist Male
• Soloist Female
• Salsa Men Couples

Friday, December 12th, 2014 – Semi-Finals (Pros)

10am – 1pm – First round of semi-finals

• Children Soloist Girls
• Junior Soloist Boys
• Junior Soloist Girls
• Amateur Couples On1
• Amateur Couples On2
• Children Couples
• Junior Couples
• Children/Junior Teams
• Bachata Couple
• Children Soloist Boys

4pm – 7pm – Second round of semi-finals

• Bachata Team
• Salsa On 1
• Bachata Cabaret Team
• Salsa On 2
• Salsa Ladies Team
• Salsa Team
• Salsa Cabaret Couple
• Salsa Mens Team
• Salsa Cabaret Team
• Bachata Cabaret Couples

9pm – Announcement of results

Saturday, December 13th, 2014 – Finals

10am – 1pm – First round of finals

• Casino Rueda
• Merengue
• Zouk
• Kizomba
• Amateur Soloist Female
• Solo Men Over 50
• Cha Cha Couple
• Over 75
• Amateur Bachata Couple
• Amateur Couple On 1
• Children Soloist Girls
• Junior Soloist Boys
• Children Couples
• Junior Couples
• Amateur Couple On 2
• Children/Junior Team
• Children Soloist Boys
• Junior Soloist Girls

4pm – 7pm – Second round of finals

• Bachata Couple
• Amateur Bachata Team
• Pro Am Couples
• Amateur Salsa Team
• Salsa Ladies Couples
• Soloist Male
• Soloist Female
• Salsa Men Couples
• Bachata Team
• Salsa On 1
• Bachata Cabaret Team
• Salsa On 2
• Salsa Ladies Team
• Salsa Team
• Salsa Cabaret Couple
• Salsa Mens Team
• Salsa Cabaret Team
• Bachata Cabaret Couples

9pm – Announcement of results

This schedule is subject to change. Schedule will be updated as more info is available.