Last year's Triangle Open Championships

The ninth annual Triangle Open Dancesport Championships were a huge success. The competition was held at the beautiful Talley Ballroom on the North Carolina State University campus, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Wayne and Marie Crowder, and the Dancing with Wolves Dancesport Team of NCSU, sponsored the dancesport event.

With over 280 competitors and over 1,400 entries, the 2007 competition exceeded all previous records. The competition started Friday night with the Mixed Proficiency and Open events. This year was the first time a Mixed Proficiency event, where either only the man or lady, depending on the category, is being judged, was offered. This allowed those dancers without regular partners to enter the competition. The Open Salsa, West Coast Swing, Bolero, and Paso Doble followed. The only thing missing was a Team Competition, which is certainly on the agenda for next year.

Saturday morning started out with the Bronze American Cha Cha in which 58 couples competed for the First Place awards. With competitors coming from Massachusetts to Florida, several events had over 55 couples that had to be narrowed down to the final round. Dan Calloway was the Chairman of an excellent panel of judges: Wayne Crowder, Wendi Davies, David Don, Esther Don, Steve Hadley, Jennifer McCalla, Stanley McCalla, and Kim Smith. Peter Collins provided an excellent selection of music which kept the competitors and audience pumped; for a long day of large heats. Our scrutineer was Gary Stroick who did an outstanding job of keeping the comp running smoothly. Every good, large comp has successful Deck Captains to get everyone in line and ready to go. Hank and Patty Richbourg were invaluable in this position.