NYU Syllabus Ballroom Challenge » Competition Officials

Competition Officials

Below is the current list of judges for the Second Annual Syllabus Ballroom Challenge at NYU. We will update the list as we add more judges.

Judges:

Chair of Judges: Dee Kanevsky

Oksana Zolotarevskaya

Jennifer Zhu

Eulia Baranovsky

Steven Dougherty

Oleg Trebunski

Anastasia Kazmina

Chair of Judges: Dee Kanevsky

Former principal dancer with ABrt, 10 Dance Champion, 3rd in the world in Exhibition with Argentine Tango at the British Open and 3 time Classique du Quebec Tango Champion. Currently organizer of The Kings Ball Competition, ballroom and Latin coach, co-owner and choreographer of the Jr. Talisman Players, Staten Island Ballroom Society instructress and developer of Peanut Partner Dancing, rhythm and elements of ballroom and Latin dancing for toddlers.

Judge: Oksana Zolotarevskaya

Oksana was born in Siberia, Russia and began dancing at the age of 5. She came to the United States in 2001. Among her highest achievements as a professional dancer are:

- United States Professional Mambo Champion and Runner-Up in the World Championship.
- Two-time Dutch National Professional Latin Champion
- British National Professional Latin Champion

Oksana has been a guest coach at Yale University and Penn State University. She is also a dance coach for the United States Olympic Team of Rhythmic gymnastics.

Judge: Jennifer Zhu

Jennifer Zhu, originally from Beijing, China, has been in the United States for the past 10 years. She has 22 years of dancing experience and started dancing since the age of 6. At 11, she attended a professional arts dancing school and trained in traditional Chinese dance, ballet, and jazz for 5 years.

At 16 she went to Beijing Ballroom Dance Academy training in ballroom dance. Upon graduating at the age of 19, she became Professional Rising Star Latin Dance Champion. Thereafter, she taught dance as a professor at Beijing Dance University. For the next 6 years she competed in various dance competitions in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. She reached the quarter finals in the Imperial Competition of Great Britain. Subsequently she became the Latin Showdance Professional Champion in China. She was also featured in numerous dance television shows.

From 2000 to 2007, she competed in different dance competitions in the US and reached finalist status and won the title of Professional Latin Dance Champion a number of times.

For the past three years she has owned and operated her own dance studio, the Prince Arts Center (Jennifer’s Dance Studio).

Judge: Eulia Baranovsky

Eulia was born in Minsk, Republic of Belarus and came to the United States in 1990.

She began her training at the age of 5 with ice dancing followed by jazz and modern dance. Eulia has studied ballet for the past 20 years and added competitive ballroom dancing to her repertoire 12 years ago. Professionally, her credits include having been U.S. American Smooth finalist and the 2007 World American Smooth Showdance Champion. In addition, she has performed at the International Dance Festival in Vail, the Westchester Dinner Theater in New York, and the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut to name a few. Eulia is a full-time professional ballroom coach and choreographer. She has been a guest instructor at The Juilliard School and Cornell University and is a nationally certified adjudicator. She continues to perform professionally with her dance partner Steve Dougherty.

Judge: Anastasia Kazmina

Anastasia is originally from Russia, where she started dancing at the age of 7. Dancing in her home country, she became a winner and finalist of many National and IDSF International competitions. She came to US in 2007, but was invited to represent Canada, where she became a two-time Canadian National Professional Ballroom vice-champion and a Canadian Open to the World Professional Ballroom vice-champion. Anastasia has also been a finalist and winner of many competitions in the United States in Professional Ballroom. Anastasia graduated with a Master’s in “National Art Creativity and Choreography” and has been teaching classical choreography and ballroom dancing at the University of Theatre Arts.

Scrutineer: Greg Morris

MC: Yang Chen

Yang Chen has served on the Board of the NY Chapter of USA DANCE since 1994, an officer since since 1997, and the President since 2004. Yang Chen has been active in growing the MAC from a small competition to one of the largest in the US. His role as a founder of the NYU Ballroom Team has enabled him to maintain strong ties with the local collegiate scene, a position which has allowed the Greater New York Chapter to drive the growth of collegiate participation at the MAC.

Yang has also participated actively in fundraising activities that have helped to make MAC the only all-amateur event in the country that regularly awards significant scholarships to amateurs at all levels. While MAC has continued to thrive as a major competition in the United States, the chapter has also been one of the most active in the country, running socials, workshops and other events open to the entire dance community.

Outside of the dance world, Yang is an attorney specializing in antitrust and complex commercial litigation.

DJ: Bruce Maine

Bruce Maine has been a member of the NDCA since 1984 and of the ISTD since 1988. He has taught for several ballroom dance schools including Dulaine Dancenter, Fred Astaire’s, and Silva Dance Academy and participated in many competitions. He has also taught for the Princeton Ballroom Dance Club and at the College of NJ. Bruce has been providing DJ services to the dance industry since 1996 and has been DJing at competitions since 1997. Bruce has DJed at numerous college competitions, studio competitions and special events, and at the Eastern US Championships.

Outside of the dance world, Bruce is a Quality Assurance Manager at Bristol-Myers Squibb and a retired Army Major.

Competition Committee:

Joel
Ho