The UCSD Dancesport team is happy to once again host the 25th annual Dance by the Shores, one of the largest competitions on the West Coast. Our DBTS coordinators Alise Bruevich and Lara Derderian led the efforts to organize this event and, with the support of our team's members, made it the huge success that it was. This year, we welcomed collegiate teams from across California, as well as Oregon and Arizona.

Congratulations to some of UCSD Dancesport’s standout couples! In International Standard, UCSD had strong performances from its Newcomer dancers, including some first-time competitors. Nathan Zhao and Sela Peters placed 2nd in Newcomer Waltz, 1st in Newcomer Foxtrot, and 2nd in Quickstep. Masashi Ishikawa placed 3rd in both Newcomer Foxtrot and Newcomer Quickstep with Aaron Ngan and also placed 2nd in Newcomer Tango with Nikoletta Anagnostou. Alexander Tahan and Kaitlin Jarboe placed 2nd in Newcomer Foxtrot, and Saul Duarte and Apru Pranjal placed 3rd in Newcomer Quickstep. 

In the Bronze category, Saul Duarte and Elizabeth Peng placed 3rd in Bronze Foxtrot, and Georges Troulis and Chloe Kurihara placed 3rd in Bronze Quickstep. Thunder Bird and Alise Bruevich gave stellar performances and placed 1st in Bronze Waltz, Bronze Quickstep, and Bronze Foxtrot and also placed 3rd in Silver Foxtrot. UCSD swept 1st place for all of the Silver and Gold Standard dances. At the Silver level, Willard Ford and Blanca Martin danced impressively and placed 1st in Silver Waltz and Tango, 2nd in Silver Viennese Waltz, and 3rd in Silver Quickstep. Veteran dancers Matthew Panelo and Kokila Shankar also wowed the audience and placed 2nd in Silver Waltz and Tango, placed 1st in Silver Quickstep, Foxtrot, and Viennese Waltz, and 1st in all of the Gold Standard dances. 

In International Latin, some of UCSD’s outstanding dancers include Masashi Ishikawa and Shirley Lin, who placed 3rd in Newcomer Samba, Saul Duarte and Aaron Ngan, who placed 3rd in Newcomer Jive and 3rd in Newcomer Samba, and Greta Davis and Apru Pranjal, who placed 2nd in Newcomer Cha Cha, Rumba, and Samba. At the Bronze level, Thunder Bird and Alise Bruevich placed 3rd in Bronze Cha Cha and Rumba, and Kate Luitjens and Elizabeth Peng placed 2nd in Bronze Paso Doble. Willard Ford placed 2nd in Silver Cha Cha, 1st in Silver Samba, and 2nd in Silver Rumba with Blanca Martin and also placed 1st in Gold Cha Cha, 2nd in Gold Samba, 2nd in Gold Rumba, and 2nd in Gold Jive with Mango Gong. Matthew Panelo and Lara Derderian placed 3rd in Gold Cha Cha, 3rd in Gold Rumba, and 1st in Gold Jive. 

In the evening, members of UCSD Dancesport had some fun during the nightclub category, with Georges Troulis and alumni Nicole Wells placing 2nd in Hustle. UCSD Dancesport also swept away the other competitors during Ride-the-Wave Waltz, Jumpin’ Lobster Jive, Social Distancing Samba, Three’s a Crowd Tango, and Not-So-Sunny Salsa with out-of-the-box creativity and impressive teamwork and took home 1st place in the team match. 

Congratulations to all of this year's competitors. We look forward to hosting again next year!