80 couples have entered the Championship, and by the end of the day they have left a mark in history books that will show their joy, commitment and determination for the quest of their own dreams. Youth, with the future ahead of them, will follow the footsteps of their predecessors hoping to reach them one day and to go even further.

For some, the dreams will come true on Saturday. For some, it will be just another step on the way towards reaching bigger dreams. And for some, the year might end up with a disappointment. But as they say, setbacks will build character, and on the verge of a new year it is a good chance to open an empty page in a notebook and start writing a whole another story for 2019.

Come what may, these young athletes are here to make a statement for the future. Let’s enjoy it!

We will broadcast the 2018 World Championship Youth Latin and World Open Standard via our partner Flodance.com starting from the 2018 World Youth Latin Quarterfinal.

UPDATE: The schedule is running late, the live stream should begin at 19:00 local time (18:00 CET) in the beginning of the Evening Session.

Out of the 79 young representatives of different nations the top six couples worked hard through five rounds of the competition and showed the Latvian crowd what the future will look like.

You could see it in their faces, the determination to end the year with a bang. For many of the couples it would be the last competition, not only for the year, but also in Youth age group. 

The Big Step ahead of them they held their heads high, feet on the ground and did what they do best. They enjoyed, they had fun, and they kept their spirits up throughout the whole long day.

The final result:

1. Egor Kulikov - Maria Goroshko, RUS
2. Vladislav Untu - Polina Baryshnikova, MDA
3. Tian Wang - Jieruo He, CHN
4. Tomer Zveniatsky - Stefany Tzukerman, ISR
5. Evgeny Nikitin - Julia Khurtina, RUS
6. Axel Sampino - Anna Zgonnikova, FRA

Congratulations to all couples! Have a lovely holiday season and all the best for the New Year!

The DanceSport year 2018 will come to an spectacular end with 2018 PD World Championship ShowDance Standard in Riga, Latvia on Sunday. 


The timetable shows that the first round begins at 16:00 local time (15:00 CET) and the final rounds will be in Evening Session, which is scheduled to start at 19:00 local time (18:00 CET).



There will be new World Champions, as the winners of 2017, Vadim Garbuzov - Kathrin Menzinger (AUT) are not on the starting list.

There are, however, 13 couples on the starting list:

Valentin Lusin – Renata Lusin, GER
Stanislaw Wolyniec – Katarzyna Tunska, POL
Sean Smullen – Aimie Leak, IRL
Andriy Turkiv – Elyzaveta Vysotska, UKR
Pietro Ciraci – Rosy Rodia, ITA
Denys Fedorchenko – Anastasiia Molchanova, UKR
Evgeny Klochkov – Lilia Semina, RUS
Steeve Gaudet – Marioara Cheptene, FRA
Kamil Kedra – Aleksandra Fron, POL
Attila Budai – Lilla Barna, HUN
Anatoly Kupchik – Julia Koliagina, RUS
Andrey Motyl – Ekaterina Kim, RUS
Krzysztof Musiol – Karolina Aniol, POL


Member of the WDSF Communications Team, Helmut Roland, will be there, too, to capture the best moments with his camera.

The organiser has provided a free live stream: http://live.tiesraides.lv/sportacentrs.tv/live/9

Enjoy!

The themes of the total of thirteen ShowDance Standard performances varied somewhere between love, life circle, Mamma Mia, The Great Hunger, space and fiction. The performances, including the outfits and the music, were built to support the theme and vice versa.

There were two finalist couples from Poland: Kamil Kedra - Aleksandra Fron (Mamma Mia) and Stanislaw Wolyniec - Katarzyna Tunska (Interstellar). There were also two finalist couples from Russia: Anatoly Kupchik - Julia Koliagina (Medusa Gargona) and Andrey Motyl - Ekaterina Kim (Still Loving You). The other three finalists were Sean Smullen  - Aimie Leak, IRL (The Great Hunger), Steeve Gaudet - Marioara Cheptene, FRA (Piano Forte) and Valentin Lusin - Renata Lusin, GER (Avatar).

The final result:
1. Steeve Gaudet - Marioara Cheptene, FRA
2. Valentin Lusin - Renata Lusin, GER
3. Kamil Kedra - Aleksandra Fron, POL
4. Andrey Motyl - Ekaterina Kim, RUS
5. Sean Smullen  - Aimie Leak, IRL
6. Stanislaw Wolyniec - Katarzyna Tunska, POL
7. Anatoly Kupchik - Julia Koliagina, RUS

Gaudet-Cheptene ended their career in competitions with a World Championship title. Marioara's message to their fans and fellow competitors: "Small things lead to big results." Thank you for the inspiring words! All the best for the future, Steeve and Marioara!

Congratulations to all amazing couples!

It was a true fireworks of colours, innovative choreographies and formations of dancers which were in perfect connection with each other.

The reigning European and World Champions, Vera Tyumen Standard Team (RUS), presented their "Champions League" -program and secured their fourth World title with it.

Triumph Ufa (RUS) won their first ever World Championship medal, silver, with a margin of only 0.017 points over Braunschweiger TSC from Germany, which received bronze.

The results:
1. Vera Tyumen Standard Team, RUS
2. Triumph Ufa, RUS
3. Braunschweiger TSC, GER
4. 1 TC Ludwigsburg, GER
5. Szilver TSE, HUN
6. Adria-Szigo KTSE, HUN

We had our photographer Helmut Roland in Pecs and he took some amazing photos of all finalist formations and prize presentation. Go and take a look at our gallery! And here is also an interview with Mr. Aleksey Litvinov, Chief of Vera Tyumen Standard Team.

For one year, the couples have been dancing their hearts out to be at the GrandSlam Final in Shanghai. From Helsinki to Taipei, Rimini, Stuttgart, Moscow... All these great competitions shining to the light of Swarovski crystals have built the road to the one and only one final and expected event: the GrandSlam Final in Shanghai.

Only 24 couples, and two special invited wild cards from China will make it to the red carpet.

And during 12 days we will build our special carpet in Instagram with all of them! 12 Latin and 12 Standard couples + a special with the two wild cards from China. So please, come and cheer for your favourites for Shanghai! 

Follow us:

WDSF in Instagram: WDSFDanceSport

Do you remember the Walk of Fame 2017? Here it is again.

We were so happy to enjoy the World Championship Formation Standard from Pecs, Hungary last week, and this weekend Formation categories continue with Latin in Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China.

We can first take a look back at last year. 2017 World Championship Formation Latin was organized in Vienna, Austria in December. There were 18 formations on the starting list and the competition for the World Championship title started at quarterfinal.

It was a thriller between the finalists; two Russian teams, two German teams, one Austrian team and one Mongolian team were the top six. DUET-A Perm from Russia took home the World title with only 0.117-points margin over Grün-Gold-Club Bremen from Germany. Vera Tyumen Latin Team (RUS) won the bronze. 1. TSZ Velbert (GER) were fourth, TSC Schwarz-Gold A-Team Latin (AUT) fifth and Moon Dance from Mongolia sixth.

Earlier this year, in June in Kalisz, Poland, 2018 European Championship Formation Latin turned the table. Grün-Gold-Club Bremen (GER) won the European title by margin of 0.666 points over DUET-A Perm (RUS). 1. TSZ Velbert (GER) won the bronze, DUET-B Perm (RUS) ranked fourth, and two Austrian formations, TSC Schwarz-Gold A-Team Latin and HSV Zwölfaxing A-Team completed the final and ranked fifth and sixth respectively.

The starting list for Shenzhen shows we have a lot to look forward to:

SAVARIA TSE, Hungary
TSC Schwarz-Gold Wien, Austria
Austrian HSV Zwölfaxing, Austria
CMG Radom Poland, Poland
Elita - OSC Oswiecim, Poland
Double V, Netherlands
Grün-Gold-Club Bremen e.V, Germany
TSZ Velbert e.V., Germany
Moon Dance Mongola, Mongolia
Star Dance Mongola, Mongolia
FEST Vitebsk, Belarus
"Vera", Russia
DUET, Russia
Beijing Dancing Academy, China
Wu Han Dancesport school, China


It will be interesting to see how the competition turns out this time.

The schedule:
First round: 14:20 local time (07:20 CET)
Semifinal: 19:20 local time (12:20 CET)
Final: 22:20 local time (15:20 CET)

The link to the live stream: http://live.qq.com/10085950

We can seldom report that the crowd was so loud that you could barely hear the music. But this literally happened in Moscow on Sunday, when the Professional Division World Championship Standard came closer to the decisive stages.

The crowd showed their enthusiastic support already during the first rounds, but at the final - it was something amazing! You could just imagine the energy it gave to the couples as they were in the middle of the exciting final.

It might have been the overwhelming support of the crowd, or the fact that many couples had this event as the main event of the year, and all the hard work and concentration had been focused in Moscow. The final turned out to be high quality as the performance of all couples was excellent.

At the end of the day, Bjorn Bitsch and Ashli Williamson (DEN) were crowned the new World Champions. It was the eighth World title for Bjorn and Ashli: four in Adult Ten Dance, two in Professional Ten Dance and one in both ShowDance Standard and now this one in Professional Standard. 

Donatas Vezelis - Lina Chatkeviciute (LTU) won silver and Nikolay Darin - Natalia Seredina (MDA) won bronze. Andrey Motyl - Ekaterina Kim (RUS) ranked fourth, Cheng Dan - Li Zhenni (CHN) fifth and Alessandro Ilarioni - Aurora Sbardella (ITA) sixth.

Go and have a look at photos in Gallery! And now you can also re-live the moments with videos of the semifinal and the final plus the Winners' interview below.

Congratulations to all couples!

Semifinal:

Final:

The Winners' interview:

As expected, the duel between Grün-Gold-Club Bremen (GER) and DUET-A Perm (RUS) continued in 2018 World Championship Formation Latin in Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.

The reigning European Champions managed to perform their very best and finally secured the World Title by a narrow 0.333-points margin over 2017 World Champion, and silver medalist at 2018 Europeans, DUET-A Perm. Vera Tyumen Latin Team (RUS) won the bronze, just like last year.

1. TSZ Velbert (GER) ranked fourth, and by a margin of 0.058 points Beijing Dancing Academy (CHN) were fifth over TSC Schwartz Gold A-Team Latin (AUT), who ranked sixth.

It was an exciting and sparkling day in Shenzhen! Congratulations to all formations!

Lina and Donatas officially informed Verena Sulek, Director of WDSF Professional Division, and members of PD Management Board of their retirement this morning. They wrote that they are very grateful for all the years they represented the WDSF PD in Championships and other important competitions as PD athletes. Lina and Donatas expressed their commitment to WDSF and hoped to continue in other roles in the future. 





Photo: Donatas & Lina winning the 2018 World-Cup Standard in Chelyabinsk / Russian Federation

Verena Sulek understands the decision of the couple to give their “boat” a new course. She thanks Lina and Donatas for their contribution in all the years as successful competitors, representing Lithuania at all major competitions worldwide. She wishes the couple all the best for the future. 

  

Photo: Donatas & Lina winning the 2018 European Championship Standard in St. Petersbourg

WDSF President Shawn Tay remembers the couple as excellent competitors and great athletes. He hopes to see them on the floor as adjudicators some day.

Members of the PD Management Board underline the achievements of the couple and wish the couple all the best for their future careers.   

The whole WDSF DanceSport community thanks the couple for all these years and wishes them all the best for their future.

80 couples have entered the Championship, and by the end of the day they have left a mark in history books that will show their joy, commitment and determination for the quest of their own dreams. Youth, with the future ahead of them, will follow the footsteps of their predecessors hoping to reach them one day and to go even further.

For some, the dreams will come true on Saturday. For some, it will be just another step on the way towards reaching bigger dreams. And for some, the year might end up with a disappointment. But as they say, setbacks will build character, and on the verge of a new year it is a good chance to open an empty page in a notebook and start writing a whole another story for 2019.

Come what may, these young athletes are here to make a statement for the future. Let’s enjoy it!

We will broadcast the 2018 World Championship Youth Latin and World Open Standard via our partner Flodance.com starting from the 2018 World Youth Latin Quarterfinal.

UPDATE: The schedule is running late, the live stream should begin at 19:00 local time (18:00 CET) in the beginning of the Evening Session.

Out of the 79 young representatives of different nations the top six couples worked hard through five rounds of the competition and showed the Latvian crowd what the future will look like.

You could see it in their faces, the determination to end the year with a bang. For many of the couples it would be the last competition, not only for the year, but also in Youth age group. 

The Big Step ahead of them they held their heads high, feet on the ground and did what they do best. They enjoyed, they had fun, and they kept their spirits up throughout the whole long day.

The final result:

1. Egor Kulikov - Maria Goroshko, RUS
2. Vladislav Untu - Polina Baryshnikova, MDA
3. Tian Wang - Jieruo He, CHN
4. Tomer Zveniatsky - Stefany Tzukerman, ISR
5. Evgeny Nikitin - Julia Khurtina, RUS
6. Axel Sampino - Anna Zgonnikova, FRA

Congratulations to all couples! Have a lovely holiday season and all the best for the New Year!

The DanceSport year 2018 will come to an spectacular end with 2018 PD World Championship ShowDance Standard in Riga, Latvia on Sunday. 


The timetable shows that the first round begins at 16:00 local time (15:00 CET) and the final rounds will be in Evening Session, which is scheduled to start at 19:00 local time (18:00 CET).



There will be new World Champions, as the winners of 2017, Vadim Garbuzov - Kathrin Menzinger (AUT) are not on the starting list.

There are, however, 13 couples on the starting list:

Valentin Lusin – Renata Lusin, GER
Stanislaw Wolyniec – Katarzyna Tunska, POL
Sean Smullen – Aimie Leak, IRL
Andriy Turkiv – Elyzaveta Vysotska, UKR
Pietro Ciraci – Rosy Rodia, ITA
Denys Fedorchenko – Anastasiia Molchanova, UKR
Evgeny Klochkov – Lilia Semina, RUS
Steeve Gaudet – Marioara Cheptene, FRA
Kamil Kedra – Aleksandra Fron, POL
Attila Budai – Lilla Barna, HUN
Anatoly Kupchik – Julia Koliagina, RUS
Andrey Motyl – Ekaterina Kim, RUS
Krzysztof Musiol – Karolina Aniol, POL


Member of the WDSF Communications Team, Helmut Roland, will be there, too, to capture the best moments with his camera.

The organiser has provided a free live stream: http://live.tiesraides.lv/sportacentrs.tv/live/9

Enjoy!

The themes of the total of thirteen ShowDance Standard performances varied somewhere between love, life circle, Mamma Mia, The Great Hunger, space and fiction. The performances, including the outfits and the music, were built to support the theme and vice versa.

There were two finalist couples from Poland: Kamil Kedra - Aleksandra Fron (Mamma Mia) and Stanislaw Wolyniec - Katarzyna Tunska (Interstellar). There were also two finalist couples from Russia: Anatoly Kupchik - Julia Koliagina (Medusa Gargona) and Andrey Motyl - Ekaterina Kim (Still Loving You). The other three finalists were Sean Smullen  - Aimie Leak, IRL (The Great Hunger), Steeve Gaudet - Marioara Cheptene, FRA (Piano Forte) and Valentin Lusin - Renata Lusin, GER (Avatar).

The final result:
1. Steeve Gaudet - Marioara Cheptene, FRA
2. Valentin Lusin - Renata Lusin, GER
3. Kamil Kedra - Aleksandra Fron, POL
4. Andrey Motyl - Ekaterina Kim, RUS
5. Sean Smullen  - Aimie Leak, IRL
6. Stanislaw Wolyniec - Katarzyna Tunska, POL
7. Anatoly Kupchik - Julia Koliagina, RUS

Gaudet-Cheptene ended their career in competitions with a World Championship title. Marioara's message to their fans and fellow competitors: "Small things lead to big results." Thank you for the inspiring words! All the best for the future, Steeve and Marioara!

Congratulations to all amazing couples!

DanceSport premiered in the Youth Olympics and made it to the Big League within all sports. Young, talented athletes wow’d the Buenos Aires crowd and made a statement which will be lasting for a long time. Only time will tell what the premiere as part of the Olympic family will bring for DanceSport – and, what DanceSport will bring for the Olympic family!

DanceSport experienced a change of presidency as Mr. Lukas Hinder stepped down and handed over the position to Mr. Shawn Tay.

And there were more. Many wonderful and memorable moments and stories have been filling the pages of a book called 2018. Now, it is time to take it easy, have a little rest and load the batteries for 2019. A whole another year, whole another possibilities, whole another challenges.

Season’s greetings to all friends of DanceSport! Happy and Successful New Year!

“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."

– T.S. Eliot

Their record is outstanding. Dmitry and Olga have won every single competition since the World Games 2017. Four World Championship titles, three European Championship titles, 20 GrandSlam wins including winning the GrandSlam Series Finals for three times. In sports language: there was a hat trick after another.

We have recognized Dmitry and Olga not only as great competitors and great athletes, but they have also shown and shared wisdom to all involved in DanceSport, and all sport, how dreaming of something might turn out to reality if you believe in yourself. They have inspired us by setting up the main goal so high that reaching it might seem impossible, keeping on practising and improving even if some of the goals on the way have been reached, and enjoying the journey at the same time. Even when times were hard, there were tears of disappointments and bad moments they kept their chins up, found a strength of it all, and continued, more hard-working and more determined than ever.

DanceSport is about sport but it is also about artistry and emotions. Throughout their dancing career Dmitry and Olga have told us stories and raised emotions that will remain in our hearts and minds. We remember their reaction to the last scores of the final of World Championship 2018, when the impossible became reality and they won the historical fourth World Title. Dmitry took Olga to his arms and carried her off the dance floor. We remember the expression after the last dance of GrandSlam Final in Shanghai 2018, when it was clear that it was over. And later that same evening, we were holding back the tears with them as Olga announced that it was the last competition of their amateur career. And even during summing up their journey from the beginning they showed their sport spirit, tears in their eyes, by respecting and thanking their fellow competitors and adjudicators, and by saying that were proud of the younger ones for whom they handed over their place in the spotlight.

Not only great sport spirit, but these moments have shown their way of being good persons. Even though they won it all they remained at all times humble, respecting their fellow competitors, sharing the inspiring stories to their fans and the next generation of dancers. Dmitry and Olga have been true role models to all dancers and also to all athletes in every sport. As a couple they were one. As one unit they were bigger than 1+1.

DanceSport Legends – Dmitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova. Voting begins on January 1st. 

Roland Hilfiker has provided a range of services to WDSF over the course of the past eleven years. Contracted initially to perform a communications audit and to define the communications strategy for what was the International DanceSport Federation at the time, he provided above all consultancy services in the areas of communications and media through 2012.

Starting in 2013, he assumed a full-time role as WDSF Communications Director. 

Marketing and the acquisition of sponsorships were added to his portfolio from 2015. From June 2017 to June 2018 Hilfiker was – ex officio – a member of the WDSF Managing Committee. 

From the beginning of October 2018 his sole focus has been on ensuring a proper handover of tasks to his successors. 

The WDSF Communications Team wants to thank Mr. Hilfiker for all his work during all those years and wants to wish him all the best for the future. 

The World DanceSport Federation coined the term DanceSport in the early 1980s. While the Sport in the composite aspires to be consistent with the generally accepted definitions, Dance is to remain the distinguishing artistic mark.

DanceSport is an all-encompassing brand for an activity that is uniquely accessible and sociable, allowing participants to improve physical fitness and mental well-being, to interact, and to obtain results at all levels. Everybody is capable of moving to music. And dance transgresses all barriers of age, gender and culture.

It is the music, and the way of moving that touch our souls. Different rhythms and different dance styles offer different ways to express oneself. To feel the music intertwined with the body and the moves creates unique artistry. There are choreographies, there is improvisation, and everything in between. There’s technique to follow and learn, and then there’s artistic freedom of expression. You don’t have to be a dancer to enjoy it, to find it beautiful, to find it spectacular.

DanceSport is a learning and sharing experience. You can always do things a bit differently. You can always learn from others, get some ideas and adapt them to your own performance. And then someone else will learn from you. Learning and sharing is included in all DanceSport disciplines. Even our four-times World Champions Standard started their careers by watching videos of their favourite dancers, imitating and copying their first moves.

And now, these same four-times World Champions are running for the World Games Athlete of the Year 2018 -title. Although these DanceSport Superstars have been performing and competing to the rhythms and tunes of Standard dancing, at the same time we can all, in every DanceSport discipline, relate to the meaning of tempo, the flow, and the range of emotions spilled on the dance floor. The feelings of accomplishment, happiness, joy, or disappointment and determination to rise above it.

It is our heartbeat. It is the emotions it brings. Because this is DanceSport. We are proud of DanceSport. Because We Are DanceSport.

DanceSport Legends – Dmitry Zharkov and Olga Kulikova. Vote here.

As expected, the duel between Grün-Gold-Club Bremen (GER) and DUET-A Perm (RUS) continued in 2018 World Championship Formation Latin in Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.

The reigning European Champions managed to perform their very best and finally secured the World Title by a narrow 0.333-points margin over 2017 World Champion, and silver medalist at 2018 Europeans, DUET-A Perm. Vera Tyumen Latin Team (RUS) won the bronze, just like last year.

1. TSZ Velbert (GER) ranked fourth, and by a margin of 0.058 points Beijing Dancing Academy (CHN) were fifth over TSC Schwartz Gold A-Team Latin (AUT), who ranked sixth.

It was an exciting and sparkling day in Shenzhen! Congratulations to all formations!

Lina and Donatas officially informed Verena Sulek, Director of WDSF Professional Division, and members of PD Management Board of their retirement this morning. They wrote that they are very grateful for all the years they represented the WDSF PD in Championships and other important competitions as PD athletes. Lina and Donatas expressed their commitment to WDSF and hoped to continue in other roles in the future. 





Photo: Donatas & Lina winning the 2018 World-Cup Standard in Chelyabinsk / Russian Federation

Verena Sulek understands the decision of the couple to give their “boat” a new course. She thanks Lina and Donatas for their contribution in all the years as successful competitors, representing Lithuania at all major competitions worldwide. She wishes the couple all the best for the future. 

  

Photo: Donatas & Lina winning the 2018 European Championship Standard in St. Petersbourg

WDSF President Shawn Tay remembers the couple as excellent competitors and great athletes. He hopes to see them on the floor as adjudicators some day.

Members of the PD Management Board underline the achievements of the couple and wish the couple all the best for their future careers.   

The whole WDSF DanceSport community thanks the couple for all these years and wishes them all the best for their future.