question: In 2012 Michael Malitowski and partner Joanna Leunis won first place at a festival held at what ballroom?
answer: Empress Ballroom
context: Title: Hangout Music Festival
  Passage: The Hangout Music Festival (commonly referred to as Hangout Fest or Hangout) is an annual three-day music festival held at the public beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama.  It was founded by A.J. Niland and Shaul Zislin in 2010, and is produced by Huka Entertainment.  The event features many genres of music, including rock, indie, hip hop, and electronic dance music.  The main stages are the Hangout Stage and the Chevrolet Stage (located on opposite ends of the beach), as well as the Boom Boom Tent and more.  The festival generally takes place on the third weekend in May.  It is the first major music festival held on the beach in the city.
  Title: Blackpool Dance Festival
  Passage: The 8-day Blackpool Dance Festival is the world's first and most famous annual ballroom dance competition of international significance, held in the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, England since 1920.  It is also the largest ballroom competition: in 2013, 2953 couples from 60 countries took part in the festival.
  Title: Cyprus International Film Festival
  Passage: The Cyprus International Film Festival (CYIFF) is an annual film festival held in Cyprus.  The festival takes place in Nicosia and Pafos in cooperation with the Cultural International Festivals.  The International Film Festival of Cyprus operates since 2006 as an independent non-profit organization.  CYIFF is the first international film festival held in Cyprus with a “competition section” in categories that include feature, short, animation, video art/dance/music, humanitarian, sport, and children films, devoted exclusively to independent emerging filmmakers.
  Title: Toronto Chinese Lantern Festival
  Passage: The Toronto Chinese Lantern Festival was a festival held at Ontario Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Sponsored by the Rogers Media Group, the festival is the largest lantern festival held outside Asia.  The lanterns - large illuminated and often animated displays made with steel frameworks covered in paper and plastics - can be as high as 50 feet and as long as 300 feet.
  Title: Neal Samors
  Passage: Samors has authored, co-authored and/or published twenty five books about Chicago's neighborhoods, downtown, Michigan Avenue, the Chicago River, Lake Shore Drive, and Chicago's airports, and in addition has written and published nostalgic books about growing up in Chicago in the eras of the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.  His book, co-authored with Michael Williams, "The Old Chicago Neighborhood: Remembering Chicago in the 1940s", won the 2003 Independent Publisher Book Award first place award in history, his book "Chicago in the Sixties: Remembering a Time of Change" won the 2007 Independent Publisher Book first place award in history, his book, "Downtown Chicago in Transition", co-authored with Eric Bronsky, won the 2008 Independent Publisher Book second place award for Midwest Region books, and his book, "The Rise of The Magnificent Mile," (co-authored with Eric Bronsky), won the 2009 Independent Publisher Book first place award in the Great Lakes region.  He co-authored and published three new books in 2008, including "Clark Weber's Rock and Roll Radio", by Clark Weber, "Never Put Ketchup On A Hot Dog", by Bob Schwartz, and "The Rise of the Magnificent Mile", co-authored with Eric Bronsky.  In 2010, he published and/or co-authored, with Tony Macaluso and Julia S. Bachrach, "Sounds of Chicago's Lakefront: A Celebration of the Grant Park Music Festival, "A Kid From The Windy City," co-authored by Lee B. Stern and Neal Samors, and "Paths Through The Wilderness: American Indian Trail Marker Trees" by Dennis Downes, with Neal Samors.  Next, he was the publisher and co-author of "Chicago's Lake Shore Drive: Urban America's Most Beautiful Roadway" and served as publisher of "Chicago From The Sky: A Region Transformed" by Lawrence Okrent.  In 2011, he published and co-authored, "Chicago's Classic Restaurants: Past, Present and Future" with Eric Bronsky and Robert Dauber, in 2013 he published and co-authored "Chicago's River At Work And At Play" with Steven Dahlman, and, in 2015, he published and co-authored "Now Arriving: Traveling To And From Chicago By Air, 90 Years of Flight" with Christopher Lynch.  Dr. Samors publishes books through his company, Chicago's Books Press, an imprint of Chicago's Neighborhoods, Inc.  He has a PhD and MALS from Northwestern University, an MA from Northern Illinois University and a BA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  In 2010, Dr. Samors was selected as a Prominent Alumnus by the Sullivan High School Alumni Association.
  Title: Joanna Leunis
  Passage: Joanna Leunis, born 22 May 1981 in Rocourt, Liège, Belgium, is a professional Latin ballroom dancer.  With Michael Malitowski, she is a former professional World Latin Dance Champion and the current International Latin American Dance Champion.  The couple represented Poland until 2011, representing England from then on.
  Title: Stepping Out Studios
  Passage: Stepping Out Studios is a dance studio in Manhattan, New York that is focused on ballroom dance training for both amateur and professional dancers.  Instructors include competitive dancers Michael Malitowski and Joanna Leunis.
  Title: Michael Malitowski
  Passage: Michael Malitowski is a ballroom dancer, a former World Latin Dance Champion with his partner Joanna Leunis.  Michael (christened "Michał") was born 28 May 1980, in Zielona Góra, Poland.  His partnership with Leunis has, since 2002, resulted in a string of victories: in 2008 and 2009 they won the World Professional Latin title, and in 2012 they won first place in Latin dance at the Blackpool Dance Festival.  This is the prestigious Open British Championships held every year in Blackpool, England.  Before that, he won the Polish Latin dance championship four times with Iwona Golczak.
  Title: Michael Ratu
  Passage: Michael Ratu is a professional rugby league player.  His usual position is centre although he made his First Team début on the wing as a substitute against Salford in August 2007.  In 2012 Michael Ratu has since signed for Rochdale Hornets.
  Title: Three Choirs Festival
  Passage: The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held annually at the end of July, rotating among the cathedrals of the Three Counties (Hereford, Gloucester and Worcester) and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme.  The large-scale choral repertoire is now performed by the Festival Chorus, but the festival also features other major ensembles and international soloists.  The 2011 festival took place in Worcester from 6 to 13 August.  The 2012 festival in Hereford took place earlier than usual, from 21 to 28 July, to avoid clashing with the 2012 Summer Olympics.  The event is now established in the last week of July.  The 300th anniversary of the original Three Choirs Festival was celebrated during the 2015 festival, which took place from 25 July to 1 August in Hereford (the landmark 300th meeting of the Three Choirs does not fall until 2027 due to there being no Three Choirs Festivals for the duration of both WW1 and WW2).
citations: Blackpool Dance Festival Michael Malitowski