The Roadhouse Tandem competition returned for another year in July. Although it has been off the menu for a few years, Tandem flair comps are coming back with a bang. It is great to see so many flair bartenders getting involved in what is a completely different type of competition to the individual events. Tandem flair relies on more than just your own individual skill and dedication but also teamwork and chemistry. How well do you work together on stage? Are your synchronised moves on point? How interesting and engaging is the performance as a whole?
By having more than one flair bartender on stage a new dynamic is created in the tandem competitions. This dynamic can be used to tell a story or put on a flair performance in a very different way than we are used to with the individual performances. Take the movie ‘Cocktail’ for example, one of the most iconic tandem performances of all time, Tom and Bryan bounce off each other and their interaction with each other adds an extra level of entertainment to the performance. This is what the best tandem flair bartenders can achieve and there was no lack of it at the Roadhouse Flair Tandem competition this past weekend.
Last month we saw the second coming of the World Open heats where we had bartenders from Japan, Poland, Uruguay and Spain competing for the tasty prize money and an even more delicious spot in the Roadhouse World Finals in November. The top 3 from this Roadhouse Tandem competition will also secure themselves a space in The Roadhouse Tandem World Finals, which will happen as part of the Roadhouse World Finals event. Which means of course that the each of the tandem acts that battled it out this weekend will have another chance to take each other on in November…
The Result
The winners of the Roadhouse 2019 Tandem flair heat were our current Tandem World Flair champions, Bar Story Show – made up of Olya Sabanina (@olyasabanina) and Ivan Usov (@ivanusov). Once again Bar Story Show put on a great performance that took the audience on a Latin themed journey. Olya and Ivan continue to combine in unique ways that make for a refreshing and interesting tandem performance. Congratulations to both who will take home the £850 prize money and another coveted Roadhouse glass globe trophy. Nice Bar Show, made up of Nokolay Zhuravlev (@zhuravlevnikolay) and Sam Vyakhirev (@samvyakhirev) took second place, with Paolo Barker Chiari (@paolochiari) and Paolo Borghesi (@paoloborghesi), also known as BarLevels, in third.
What is next?
Next to come is this year’s UK Open. This Roadhouse Heat allows entry to any of the Top 30 bartenders who have competed and earned points in the UK league. Our current champion and previous 5 times winner is Marian ‘Sikky’ Chmel. Will he make it a 6th UK title, or will someone else take the UK Championship. As always, the top 3 will secure themselves a spot in the Roadhouse World Finals, as well as a chance at winning the £850 1st place prize money. Make sure you get down to the Roadhouse in London for this one on Sunday the 18th of August…
Check out more details on the upcoming UK Open here: https://test-wfa-vs4.pantheonsite.io/events/rwf-uk-finals-august-heat-2/
Highlights
Good job for Olya and Ivan. They really work hard the Tandem show, and deserve this result.