Officials and Judges

Biographies

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. He pronounces his first name “Young”.

Len Diana, from Hartford, CT, has been a social and amateur competitive dancer with his wife, Dawn, for over 15 years. He is active in outreach efforts to show the fun and benefits of ballroom dancing to the general public. Len and Dawn has placed well in both regional and national competitions; dancing all four styles. Len is an NDCA Certified Scrutineer and Registrar, and has scrutineered numerous Amateur, Collegiate, and Pro/Am competitions throughout the United States. Memberships include USA Dance/USABDA and NDCA. He is a former Vice-President, Treasurer, and Newsletter Editor for the Connecticut Chapter of USABDA.
Outside of dancing, Len is an Ophthalmic Assistant for a multi-specialty practice in Hamden and Cheshire, CT. and an Independent Wine Consultant.

Dan has been performing, competing professionally, coaching and adjudicating for over thirty years, including performing at the White House this year for President and Mrs. Obama. He is an Asian-Pacific and United States Professional 10-Dance Grand Finalist. In 1985 Dan was the youngest dual fellow in the world with highly commended fellowships in both the Ballroom and Latin American Branches of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. Dan serves as Chairman of Judges at the United States Dancesport Championships and most of the National Qualifying Events. Among the many professional competitions he has won and titles he has earned are numerous "Professional of the Year" and "Top Teacher" awards.
Dan, with Dancing with the Stars' Ashly Costa, provided the expert commentary on the Comcast network's "CN8 Champion DanceSport" television series for the 2008 North American Professional DanceSport Championships and the USA Dance National DanceSport Championships. Dan has served as moderator for the USISTD Annual Congress and continues to moderate the annual Independence Day Ball professional panel discussions.
Dan coaches the Georgetown University and the University of Maryland dancesport teams and serves frequently as guest coach at many other universities, congresses, and dance camps.
Dan is an ISTD trainer helping to prepare candidates for their teaching exams. Some of this training occurs long distance using Skype and a webcam to communicate and monitor progress.

Bill Davies is currently celebrating more than fifty years as a dance teacher, competitor and DanceSport coach. He is one of the founding US professionals of the Teacher Student competitions known as "Pro/Am" which have become the main stay of U.S. competitions in today’s world. Bill was a member of the first, as well as several other United States teams which represented the United States at the British Ballroom Championships, placed eighth in the 1978 World Championships, won and been a finalist in numerous overseas championships. He is a nine time North American Champion, a three times United States Champion, runner up in the 1973 United States American Style Championships, and has been a finalist in many Latin Championships.

Wendi began dancing while at Princeton studying architecture. A competitive swimmer for many years, she was looking for a new competitive outlet. The daughter of dancing parents, she soon learned of the competitive and athletic nature of Ballroom Dancing. In her amateur career she was ranked third in the United States. She turned professional in 1991 and went on to be ranked second at the United States Championships, and was the winner of "Championship Ballroom Dancing" the popular show on PBS. She was the UK Rising Star Champion, Blackpool Rising Star Runner-up, US Representative to the World Championships and Blackpool Team Match, a finalist at the French Open and the US Open Championships and was ranked 13th in the world. She is co-owner and operator of Ballroom Off Fifth in NYC and organizer of the NJ DanceSport Classic competitions.

Armin Kappacher is a former North American Professional Latin Rising Star Champion. He placed seventh at the U.S. Professional Championships and fourth in the Rising Star. Armin is the owner and director of the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Boston, MA.

Jennifer McCalla is a licentiate of the Imperial society of teachers of dancing (ISTD) in Intl Latin, Intl Standard, and Theater arts. She is a licentiate of the FADS organization in American Smooth and Rhythm. Her dance accomplishments include being a US Ten dance finalist, Finalist in Major Competition in the USA including the Yankee Classic and the Heritage Classic, Four times undefeated United States Amateur Latin, Standard and Ten dances Champion, and a US representative at four World championships. She also was Fred Astaire National Smooth Champion undefeated 95 to 97, US Rising Star finalist in Standard, Latin and Smooth, Ohio Star Ball Rising Star Champion (Smooth), Breakers Rising Star Champion (Smooth), Texas Challenge Rising Star Champion (Smooth), and Eastern United States Rising Star Champion in Latin, Standard and Smooth.

Stanley McCalla is a national & World Class Adjudicator and highly sought-after coach. He has been on the Fred Astaire National Dance Board since 1997. Stanley is also a dance board examiner for FADS and the official coach for New York University, Columbia University, and Renssealer Polytechnique Institute. He holds the highest levels of accreditation from both FADS and the ISTD.
As a competitor he was four-times United States Amateur Champions with his wife Jennifer McCalla and represented the US in Latin, Standard, and 10-Dance Championships. As professional he was a US 10 dance finalist. He is undefeated Fred Astaire National Champions in Smooth from 1995-1997 and won many Rising Star Championship Titles at Eastern US in Standard, Latin, and Smooth, along with Smooth Rising Star Titles at Ohio Star, Breakers, and the Texas Challenge. Stanley also appeared in the movie Dance with me. Together with his wife Jennifer, they were assistant choreographers for Adams Family II, and credited as ballroom consultants in the late movie the Stepford wives.

Larinda, originally from Jefferson City, Missouri, was introduced to ballroom dancing when she attended college at Southwest Missouri State, eventually obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre and Stage Performance. Although the university did not have a ballroom program, a local studio provided her with training and inspired her to pursue dancing as a career.
Larinda McRaven was the 2004 North American Smooth Champion, and a four time Open United States Finalist and Ohio Star Ball Finalist, with over 150 championship and competition wins and titles. She holds extensive certifications from the ISTD and Terpsichore. She now co-owns Avanti Ballroom in Newton Massachusetts and travels to coach and judge around the U.S.

A native of Minsk, Belarus, Andrew Phillips immigrated to the United States in 1994. Upon his arrival, Andrew quickly became renowned as one of the country’s leading competitors in International Latin Dancesport. He gained notoriety by winning such prestigious competitions as Northeast Open Invitational, Ohio Star Ball, Japan Open Invitational, United States World Rising Star Championship, and Blackpool where he was a rising star champion. His global standing in 2003 was number 2 in the United States and number 7 in the world. While he retired from competitive life in 2003, Andrew now teaches worldwide in New York, Japan, and Hong Kong. He also adjudicates numerous competitions in the United States. His greatest accomplishment was becoming an American citizen.

Biographies are courtesy of the MIT ballroom dance team and the Manhattan Amateur Classic

Judging

The committee of judges will be responsible for decisions made regarding problems of marking, ties, and adjudication.

Scrutineering results

Columbia will endeavor to provide the scrutineering results posted for review for all dancers at the venue. However due to time constraints this may not be feasible, in which case efforts will be made to make them available through our website.