I went to both the opening ceremony and Session 2 of round one.
The opening ceremonky was modeled after the olympics, with the torch and all. (Rasta Thomas carried it) All the Mississippians gave their speeches (mayor of Jackson, governor of MS, etc.) After intermission, the dancing begun. Miami City Ballet performed an okay "Rubies", after whom Adrienne Canterna danced a variation from Esmeralda, which was very disappointing. It was the one with the developpes that smack the tambourine, only she couldn't manage to reach her leg up there, therefore having to move the tambourine down. Her pirouettes were off, and she stumbled out of most of them. However, her fouettes were what showed everyone that she still has it. Then Rasta Thomas performed his world premiere of "The Awekening" which was a very athletic piece. I thought his performance was wonderful. Then they performed "Shogun" together, in which Canterna's performance was better than her Esmeralda, but in general, the piece was not as clean and well-rehearsed as in 1998 (for obvious reasons). Last, Miami City performed "Mambo No. 2 am" which was an amazing little ballroom piece. They had beautiful dancers performing it as well. The program described it as a "work in progress"s
Round 1, Session 2:
Okay, I've forgotten some names and pieces, so bear with me. Feel free to ask me questions about it as well. Jonathan Jordan fell (not on his rear, but nonetheless, a noticeable fall) out of the last pirouettes of his second piece, most likely knocking him out of the competition. His technique was not so pristine, and he had many mistakes. A new face in Senior men, Jon Drake, was actually quite good. His dancing had very clean technique, and his stage presence was off the wall, even through bows! He had an awesome reception from the audience as well. There was a Polish girl who did quite well in one performance, and okay in here other. Definitely the spotlight of the night were the Mexican girl and Russian man. They performed a gorgeous Don Q, and her balances were amazing. However, her fouettes weren't quite as clean as the rest of her performance.