The UCSD Dancesport Team’s second competition of the 2022-2023 competitive season was successful and full of fun as dancers poured their hearts out at the 15th Mustang Ball in Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Our team found much success and made it to many finals at our first competition of winter quarter. 

Among our growing number of dancers competing in American Smooth, Danny Torres and Kokila Shankar danced beautifully and placed 2nd in Silver Tango, 3rd in Silver Foxtrot, and 3rd in Gold Tango, Waltz, and Foxtrot. Blanca Martin placed 2nd in Silver Waltz, Foxtrot, and Viennese Waltz, 3rd in Silver Tango, and 2nd in Gold Waltz, Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, and Tango. Thunder Bird and Alise Bruevich also gave energetic and fun performances in all of the Silver and Gold finals. Alex Tahan and Elizabeth Peng placed 2nd in Bronze Waltz. 

In International Standard, Greta Davis and Apru Pranjal placed 2nd in Bronze Viennese Waltz, Thunder and Alise placed 3rd in Silver Quickstep, and Blanca placed 3rd in Silver Waltz, Silver Tango, Silver Viennese Waltz, and Gold Viennese Waltz. Our dancers who joined last fall have made phenomenal progress and gave stunning performances in the Newcomer and Rookie-Vet levels. In the Rookie Leader category, David Mazzotti placed 3rd in Waltz, Tango, and Quickstep with Alise. In the Rookie Follower category, Catalina Larsen placed 2nd in Tango and Apru placed 3rd in Viennese Waltz. 

As for International Latin, UCSD Dancesport gave impressive performances at all levels. In the Bronze category, Greta and Apru placed 1st in Rumba, Paso Doble, and Jive and placed 2nd in Cha Cha and Samba. Bryan Cheng and Lili Olah placed 1st in Cha Cha and 3rd in Rumba, while Alex and Elizabeth placed 2nd in Paso Doble. In the Silver category, Danny and Greta placed 2nd in Cha Cha, Samba, and Rumba. Thunder and Alise placed 2nd in Silver Jive, 3rd in Silver Paso Doble, and 2nd in Gold Paso Doble. Blanca placed 1st in Gold Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive, and Paso Doble. At their second competition, David and Catalina won 1st in Newcomer Rumba, 2nd in Newcomer Samba, and 3rd in Bronze Samba. In the Rookie Leader category, David placed 1st in Samba, 2nd in Cha Cha, and 2nd in Rumba with Kate Luitjens. In the Rookie Follower category, Catalina placed 1st in Samba and 2nd in Rumba with Thunder. 

In Nightclub, our dancers hit the dance floor with some stellar social dancing. In Beginner Nightclub, Greta and Sela Peters placed 1st in Merengue and Hustle and 2nd in Lindy Hop and Nightclub Two-Step, while Bryan and Lili placed 2nd in Salsa and Bachata. In Intermediate/Advanced Nightclub, Danny and Blanca placed 1st in Salsa and Bachata while Thunder and Kate placed 1st in Argentine Tango, 1st in Merengue, 1st in Hustle, 2nd in West Coast Swing, 3rd in Nightclub Two-Step, and 3rd in Bachata. We ended the night by watching the Open level dancers and professional performers dazzle the crowd with their spectacular routines and stunts. 

Cal Poly SLO’s Mustang Ball marks one year since the UCSD Dancesport Team started competing again after COVID, and it is so exciting to see returning and new dancers have fun and do so well on the competition floor! We are looking forward to continuing to grow in our next competitions this winter quarter!