orld W C hampionships WDSF
Youth Latin In Chengdu, China, the “home of the Giant Pandas,” 65 couples representing 36 countries and territories competed in the World DanceSport Federation Youth Latin World Championships July 13. Among those couples were Briant Leytman and Nino Dzneladze and Stanislav Pavlov and Jessica Karpishin representing the United States. Competitors were bussed to the Shuangliu Sports Centre at 10 a.m. in a city that has become known as China’s “DanceSport Capital” to begin their portion of the Chengdu International DanceSport Festival. The festival began several days before the Youth Latin World Championships took place, so the stage was prepped for the world’s best youth Latin dancers. It was the first appearance at a world championship for both United States couples. Their entrance to the world stage wasn’t a disappointment as both couples sailed through the first round of competition. Leytman and Dzneladze finished 26, while Pavlov and Karpishin placed 43 overall. By Michael Mecham, AD Staff Photo Courtesy of Oleg Leytman
Photo of Briant Leytman and Nino Dzneladze
36 DanceSport