On Thursday, July 26, 2012, Cristina del Mar Quiles announced that a Puerto Rican couple Ondara López and Bruno Rodríguez was leading in the semifinals of the World Salsa Open. The second place was awarded to Karen Forcano and Ricardo Vega (Argentina) who elicited a standing ovation. The finals are taking place tonight (as I write) at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Isla Verde, Puerto Rico. About the semifinals, Quiles writes:

With a choreographic style full of Puerto Rican flavor, pirouettes, raises, and with almost exact precision in their steps, Ondara and Bruno (ages 19 and 20) who won the championship in the “junior” division a few years ago, had the Puerto Rican audience in their pockets with their choreography for the song “Mambito.” Another Puerto Rican couple—Diangelis Rosa and Jonathan Avilés—also managed to qualify for the next round.

Other couples that made it to the last round were Karen Forcano and Ricardo Vega (Argentina), Paulina Posadas and David Zepede (Mexico), Diego Echenique and Lorena Bargallo (Spain), Laura Moreno and Ángel Llaó (Spain), Gabriela Manccini and Pablo Sosa (Argentina), Rachel Rodríguez and Ángel Martínez (U.S.), Julieta Ibáñez and Marcelo Alcaraz (Argentina), Fiorella Franceschini and Davide Cavalieri (Italy), Christy Díaz and Oscar García (Guatemala), and Joana Carvalho and Fred Antunes (Portugal).

[. . .] With the dancing demonstration held today in the ballroom of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Isla Verde, the level of competition rose dramatically, because, besides the perfect execution of their choreography, which most of the couples achieved accurately, participants will need to astonish the judges with innovative steps and riskier stunts without losing the beat and essence of what salsa is all about.

For full article (in Spanish), see http://www.noticel.com/noticia/127929/adelanta-puerto-rico-a-la-semifinal-del-world-salsa-open.html