Lithuania celebrates their 101st anniversary on Saturday, and as one of the festivities there will be a beautiful concert for Lithuanian people. Kedainiu arena will be filled with DanceSport as the European Children Grand Prix starts the DanceSport Europe competition year. In addition to DSE competitions, national categories and WDSF Opens, the highlight of the weekend in Kedainiai will be the WDSF International Open Latin on Sunday. See the live stream below.

In Austria, the Eventhotel Pyramide in Vosendorf offers a unique backdrop for WDSF International Opens, Opens and national competitions this weekend. A 42 metres high glass pyramid decorated with 200 different plants is a setting which has attracted 59 couples for International Open Latin on Saturday, and 47 couples for International Open Standard on Sunday. In addition to many WDSF Open competitions there are also several national competitions and some specials like Samba Trophy and Tango Trophy.

In Malta, DanceSport athletes and fans take over the Radisson Blu Resort St Julian on Saturday. WDSF International Open Standard and Latin, WDSF Opens in Youth and Seniors, plus a selection of other competitions will bring glitter and shining sparkles to the venue to the amazement of the supporting crowd. The same is expected to happen also in Prato, Italy, with their International Open events as well as in Novosibirsk, Russia, with their Open competitions.

By the look of it, it looks like the DanceSport year 2019 has started to roll at full speed, events are filling up the calendar, and we can enjoy the beauty and sport in perfect harmony, every weekend somewhere around the globe.

Here is the live stream from Kedainiai, Lithuania, enjoy!

Lithuania celebrated the Independence Day and Kediainiai hosted the International Open Latin. More than 700 participants were there to amaze us all, including all those Juveniles and Juniors who took part in the DSE European Children GrandPrix. Jokubas Venckus – Migle Klupsaite from Lithuania won the International Open Latin.

In Prato, Italy, both International Open Latin and Standard attracted more than one hundred couples each to the starting list. There were some familiar names on top of the podium as Edgar Marcos Borjas – Alina Nowak (POL) in Latin and Francesco Galuppo – Debora Pacini (ITA) in Standard earned their spots on the highest podium after six-round competitions.

About 40 couples participated both International Open Latin and Standard in Malta on Saturday. A beautiful island resort turned out to become even more beautiful as the talented couples brightened the day with their performances. The finalists of both International Open Standard and Latin represented five different countries. Miculescu Ionut Alexandru – Pacurar Andra (ROU) took home the gold medal in the International Open Latin and Igor Kruglov – Ekaterina Kazmirchuk (RUS) won Standard.

Under a glass pyramid in Vosendorf, Austria, there were five-round International Opens in both Latin and Standard. To the joy of the home crowd Vasily Kirin – Ekaterina Prozorova (AUT) won the Standard competition. Ivan Korotchenko – Julia Skorovarova (RUS) were ranked first in Latin.

In addition to these International Open events, Novosibirsk, Russia, hosted WDSF Open events in Adult and Youth giving the couples nearby a chance to compete in an international event. These three to five round competitions in front of an international Adjudicator panel are valuable to couples for gaining experience and gathering some points to the World Ranking List, and to prepare for the bigger events.

Almost two years have gone since Breaking was recognized by the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation as a sport discipline of DanceSport. It was a turning point for Breaking to become a sport developed and promoted by the All Russian Federation of DanceSport and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll (FDSARR) alongside with Standard, Latin and Rock’n’Roll. 

Breaking is one of the very spectacular disciplines of DanceSport with many successful Russian B-boys, B-girls and crews, and with a huge fan base in all regions of the Russian Federation. B-boy Bumblebee (Sergey Chernyshov) became the first ever gold medalist in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires (ARG) opening a new page in the history of DanceSport; while B-girl Matina (Kristina Yashina), who is featured in the latest issue of Olympic Review Magazine, won the silver medal at the 2018 WDSF World Youth Breaking Championship in Kawasaki (JPN). 

The first international Breaking competition hosted by the FDSARR – the Russian Open Breaking Championship 2018 (ROBC) – was a great success featuring incredible battles amongst the world’s top breakers. More than 250 kids took part in the ROBC Kids and Kids Show groups, and about 600 B-boys and B-girls representing 11 countries joined the event for three days in Moscow. The event included workshops led by B-boy Junior (FRA), B-boy Dyzee (CAN), B-boy Reveal (USA), B-Boy The End (KOR) and B-boy Thesis (USA). 

2018 was a year of new prospects opened for Breaking, and the FDSARR is developing a strategy aimed at attracting new athletes into the federation by giving them an opportunity to take part in high-level international sports competitions. Thus, the Russian National Breaking Championships will be held this year for the first time from 28^th February to 1^st March in the city of Kazan. The Russian National Breaking Team will be nominated based on the results of this National Championship and will take part in all WDSF’s international Breaking events. The first one being the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship in Nanjing (CHN) on the 23^rd of June. 

The FDSARR will also organize the Sochi Open 2019 (June 23-30), a global DanceSport event which will unite Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll, Standard, Latin and Breaking into one big and friendly family on the Black Sea side. The Sochi Open will feature international competitions in all these disciplines culminating with the FDSARR Cup on June 30^th, 2019. 

Following the success of 2018, the Russian Open Breaking Championship 2019 (ROBC), will be held again on October 18-20, 2019 in Moscow. 

Today, Breaking is gaining more and more fans and making the Olympic prospects for our sport closer to its ultimate goal. 

The All Russian Federation of DanceSport and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll (FDSARR) invites all WDSF National Member Bodies to the FDSARR Breaking events to be held in the Russian Federation this year.  

Since last year the WDSF is working in partnership with the AISTS (International Academy of Sport Science and Technology – founded, among others, by the International Olympic Committee), in a Team Project aiming to implement a modern and robust structure for the WDSF Communications Department.

In order to successfully conduct this project and bring you all the communication benefits that it involves, it would be helpful if you could take few minutes to answer to a survey that was prepared by the AISTS Team using the following link:

https://wdsfcomms.wufoo.com/forms/communication-channels-wdsf/

Following fantastic and exciting Hip Hop and Breaking competitions in the 2013 World DanceSport Games in Kaohsiung (TPE), further to the 2018 World Youth Breaking Championship in Tokyo (JPN), and after making its successful Olympic debut at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires (ARG), the World DanceSport Federation continues to promote Breaking alongside with the other disciplines in the worldwide DanceSport family by announcing the WDSF World Breaking Championship to be organised in Nanjing (CHN) on June 23rd, 2019. The Championship will be held as one of the qualifier events for the first GAISF World Urban Games in Los Angeles (USA) in September 2019. 

At the press conference held in Nanjing Hengda Conference and Exhibition Centre on January 18^th, 2019, Mr. Ken Swift, one of the legends in Breaking, was present to answer the questions with his wide expertise pertaining to Breaking. The press conference was attended by many newspapers, TV channels and magazine publishers, and it was also streamed live. 

The 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship is granted by the World DanceSport Federation, Social Sports Guidance Centre of the General Administration of Sport of China, and Chinese Dance Sport Federation. The local organisers are Social Sports Administration Centre of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing Sports Bureau, and Lishui District People’s Government of Nanjing City.

The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) warmly welcomes today’s announcement from Paris that Breaking has been proposed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for inclusion on the sports programme of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

 
In addition to Breaking, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing and Surfing were also shortlisted by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for possible inclusion at the XXXIII Olympiad. The package of four sports will now be considered by the IOC Executive Board (EB) in March. Should the EB approve the package, the sports will then be submitted to the IOC Session for final approval during meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland from 24-26 June.

 
Breaking made its Olympic debut last year at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, but its inclusion on the Paris 2024 programme would be the first time any DanceSport discipline has appeared at an Olympic Games.


“It is an incredible honour and privilege that, for the first time, a dance discipline is being considered for inclusion in the Olympic Games. It is a humbling experience for all members and supporters of DanceSport,” said WDSF President Shawn Tay, who added that, if included, “Breaking would be an outstanding success at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”


The Paris 2024 organisers proposed the four sports in response to a new level of flexibility afforded to Olympic Games Host Cities to encourage innovation in the Olympic programme. Host Cities, beginning with Tokyo 2020, now have the option of suggesting new sports and events for inclusion in their edition of the Games that are not binding on future Games hosts.


Skateboarding, Sport Climbing and Surfing were also included on the programme for Tokyo 2020, making Breaking the only new sport under consideration for the 2024 programme.

Our Associate Member WRRC organises the opening event of the season in Valbonne Sophia Antipolis, France, on Saturday. World Cup in Boogie Woogie Main Class, Juniors and Seniors has attracted a good number of couples to start their international season of 2019. As there has been a break of almost three months since the 2018 World Cup Finals, couples have had plenty of time to rest, practice and to design new figures. We are looking forward to seeing them in action!

About an hour flight northwest, in Lyon, France, there are more than 400 couples shining on the dance floor of the Palais Des Sports. 65 couples are on the starting list of WDSF International Open Latin on Saturday, and 43 couples have registered for the WDSF International Open Standard on Sunday. In addition to these two competitions there are WDSF Opens in Youth and Senior 1-4 age groups as well as many French Open competitions during the two days.

In Lisbon, Portugal, latin rhythms fill up the venue on Saturday as all age groups have their Portugal Open Latin competitions during the day. The cherry on the cake will be the WDSF World Open Latin which will start at 16:20 local time (15:20 CET). WDSF Youth Open Latin with some national championship competitions will complete the weekend in Lisbon on Sunday.

Last, but certainly not least, there are WDSF International Open Standard and Latin, WDSF Open Youth Standard and Latin, and WDSF Open Rising Star Standard and Latin events in Moscow Region, Russia during the upcoming weekend.

With these amazing events we will say goodbye to the winter and start preparing for the spring season. There is a lot to look forward to… but before that, let’s enjoy this weekend in full! Good luck to all competitors, and for the organisers we wish a great success with your events!

These couples have been dancing for decades. Some have started as Juveniles or Juniors, and some of them might have become interested in DanceSport and competing during the adult age. Nevertheless, they represent perfectly the fact that dancing is for everyone, not only for the young and the restless. These couples demonstrate good health, balance, coordination and stamina, which will be necessary to complete the six-round competition day. Seven-round, if redance is included.

There are 185 couples on the starting list representing 18 countries. There is an impressive number of 72 couples representing Italy and 50 couples representing Germany. Five of the six finalists of 2018 are on the starting list and only four couples of the semifinalists of 2018 are missing.

The reigning World Champions, Renato Sibillo – Anna Cartini (ITA) ended their year in November with a double win while their runners-up of the 2018 Worlds, and current number ones on the World Ranking List, Luciano Ceruti – Rosa Nuccia Cappello (ITA) had three more competitions in 2018 – and they won them all! The bronze medalists of 2018, Vittorio Guida – Fortuna Canta (ITA) started their competition year already in Benidorm, where they ranked third.

For many of the couples this is the first competition of the year. There are also some new couples, who have moved from Senior 3 to Senior 4 category, and among these youngsters there just might be some surprises to look forward to.

It might be pretty safe to say that these couples on the dance floor on Friday have been dancing on the same path for years and there are friendships involved which will last a life time. And this is one of the best aspects of watching the Senior age groups: you just can’t help noticing such calmness and confidence of these couples, only which comes with life experiences. It brings out the power in them. That is something the future talents can not show to the audience.

After three World titles in 2015-2017 and a silver medal in 2018, Luciano Ceruti - Rosa Nuccia Cappello (ITA) came back to Antwerp with such energy and determination, which made them reach the highest step on the podium for the fourth time in World Championship Senior 4 Standard. 

At the winners interview the couple said they were tired, but very happy. They also announced that they would retire and give room to other competitors in Championships and Cups from now on.

The runners up, Renato Sibillo - Anna Cartini (ITA) and Vittorio Guida - Fortuna Canta (ITA) had also a good competition day and they were awarded with silver and bronze medals, respectively.

During the weekend there were also World Open competitions in Antwerp. Anton Aldaev - Natalia Polukhina (RUS) ranked first, Winson Tam - Anastasia Novikova (CAN) ranked second and Artur Balandin - Anna Salita (GER) third at World Open Latin on Saturday. Evgeny Nikitin - Anastasia Miliutina (RUS) won the World Open Standard on Sunday. Tomas Fainsil - Violetta Posmetnaya (GER) ranked second and Anton Besedin - Ekaterina Strelkova (RUS) ranked third.

Here are the best moments of the World Championship.

The semifinal reel:

The final reel:

Dance of Honour:

The Winners Interview:

We are working hard to produce high quality programs for TV. “Best of DanceSport” or “The GrandSlam Series” are two examples: our best competitions with our best athletes appeal to all kind of audiences in a selected number of sports TV channels around the World.

From kids to the elderly, everyone can enjoy DanceSport. And by bringing the beauty, aesthetic and sport aspects of Dance close to them on as many channels as possible we can expand the knowledge and familiarity of our wonderful sport to wider audiences worldwide.

Joana Subirana, a professional DanceSport athlete and a commentator for a Spanish TV network wrote to us:

“I got the job commentating on TDP after working on TV1's “Mira quién Baila” and later “Más que baile” on Telecinco. During that time, I met the director of Teledeporte Barcelona, with whom I stayed in more or less regular contact, thanks to her interest in DanceSport. One day, a few years later, I got a call from her. She was still interested in DanceSport and suggested we had a meeting to discuss a TV competition format. I suggested that instead of creating a television format, we should try and acquire the rights to DanceSport leagues, such as the international, European, World and GrandSlam leagues. The idea was to reach a wider audience and show the highest level of this kind of dance on TV. They liked my idea, so they decided to do one season and see how the audience responded. Everyone at TDP was very happy with the results and they've been commissioning new seasons ever since.”

In an upcoming newsletter later this week, we will ask and offer help for our National Member Bodies to reach their national tv-channels with a broadcasting package and a deal that is easy, cheap and yet offers the highest quality of production and the highest quality of DanceSport. Promoting DanceSport on a local, national TV network helps NMBs to promote their operations and events to the existing but also to new audiences.

We have compiled a turnkey deal for the 2019 GrandSlam Series. Twelve one-hour programmes as a series, all with international sound and cleared music, graphics, dope sheets and music cue sheets. For each programme the package includes also a 30-second trailer.

We hope many NMBs already have contacts to local broadcasters – and if they don’t this is their easy and effortless chance to start creating them. You speak the same language, you have the same interest.

One representative of a National Member Body informed us:

“For years, we have been struggling to get any DanceSport on TV. Our members were always complaining about this and the lack of visibility in media. After offering our local broadcaster a simple and easy turnkey package of the GrandSlam Series, with dates and all, and also some ideas for up-to-date commentators, they took the offer. And now we have twelve programmes coming up, by the national broadcaster, all over the country! This is a huge chance for us, as an NMB, to spread DanceSport to new audiences and to get wider exposure.”

DanceSport deserves to have bigger audiences and more viewers around the World, but we need help of our National Member Bodies to achieve it. And we are here to help them to do it.

Just like before, six couples proceed to the final. From there on The Final Showdown will begin. Two couples at a time will share the dancefloor. They will boost and challenge each other to perform better, to rise to the next level, and to do their best to steal the spotlight. The crowd will be able to focus on every couple’s performance.

The heats will be drawed so that each finalist couple will face each of the five fellow couples once. After the draw everybody will know which couples will share the dance floor in which dance.

Five dances and six couples, one-on-one on the dance floor. Three heats per dance, total of 15 dances. At the end of each dance a double kiss & cry.

Since the Duel format had its debut in 2018 WDSF GrandSlam Final, we thought we would ask some of the couples how they felt it and what was it like to replace solo dances and group dances with a duel.

The WDSF Presidium has approved the inclusion of Social Media Regulations to the Adjudicator’s Code of Conduct. 

Below is the new addition which will be included in the Chairperson’s briefing for all adjudicators at the beginning of the competition: 

Adjudicators Code of Conduct - SOCIAL MEDIA REGULATIONS

Self-Promotion vs. Selfless Behavior.

On the day and the following morning of a competition an adjudicator’s loyalty must be to adjudication at the competition and to all of the ethical duties of the adjudicator. So on the day and the following morning, an adjudicator shall not make speeches, pose for photographs, post or send or sponsor/contribute to messages in social media, about any matter. This prohibition is impossible to define exactly but it extends beyond the boundaries of the hall, the competition, the competition hotels and the streets of the host city or town. If in doubt, an adjudicator should politely decline to take part in any activity that suggests a relationship or alliance with any other adjudicators, any athletes, any producer or competition. Adjudicators have a right to be proud and happy of their achievements and of being appointed to a prestigious competition; but the adjudicator may not engage in activities which, however innocently, celebrate his or her position and participation in the competition in question. S/he must remember in his or her behavior that s/he is not a star, s/he is part of a proud, select, but unified team of experts whose role is to work rationally and materially and not to create their own centre of attention. Accordingly, self-promotion is inappropriate and is not permitted. Self-promotion includes, but is not limited to, writing and publishing commentaries in print or on social media, promotion by selfies, promotion on their own or other web pages, and generally drawing attention to themselves in a self-centred way. If the adjudicator is in doubt about the limits on her or his behavior, s/he should decline opportunities for self-promotion by his or her own actions or the actions of others, in connection with a competition at which s/he is a member of the panel. Furthermore it is a cardinal responsibility for an adjudicator to refrain from making any kind of disparaging or personal communications about athletes, coaches, other adjudicators, and other members of the DanceSport community whether they are present or absent from the competition, because such behavior immediately lowers the tone and reputation of the competition and affects the efforts of all concerned to practise and project standards of fairness and objectivity.

Additional requirements will also be included in the future WDSF competition invitation letters to all Adjudicators and Chairpersons.

Lithuania celebrates their 101st anniversary on Saturday, and as one of the festivities there will be a beautiful concert for Lithuanian people. Kedainiu arena will be filled with DanceSport as the European Children Grand Prix starts the DanceSport Europe competition year. In addition to DSE competitions, national categories and WDSF Opens, the highlight of the weekend in Kedainiai will be the WDSF International Open Latin on Sunday. See the live stream below.

In Austria, the Eventhotel Pyramide in Vosendorf offers a unique backdrop for WDSF International Opens, Opens and national competitions this weekend. A 42 metres high glass pyramid decorated with 200 different plants is a setting which has attracted 59 couples for International Open Latin on Saturday, and 47 couples for International Open Standard on Sunday. In addition to many WDSF Open competitions there are also several national competitions and some specials like Samba Trophy and Tango Trophy.

In Malta, DanceSport athletes and fans take over the Radisson Blu Resort St Julian on Saturday. WDSF International Open Standard and Latin, WDSF Opens in Youth and Seniors, plus a selection of other competitions will bring glitter and shining sparkles to the venue to the amazement of the supporting crowd. The same is expected to happen also in Prato, Italy, with their International Open events as well as in Novosibirsk, Russia, with their Open competitions.

By the look of it, it looks like the DanceSport year 2019 has started to roll at full speed, events are filling up the calendar, and we can enjoy the beauty and sport in perfect harmony, every weekend somewhere around the globe.

Here is the live stream from Kedainiai, Lithuania, enjoy!

Lithuania celebrated the Independence Day and Kediainiai hosted the International Open Latin. More than 700 participants were there to amaze us all, including all those Juveniles and Juniors who took part in the DSE European Children GrandPrix. Jokubas Venckus – Migle Klupsaite from Lithuania won the International Open Latin.

In Prato, Italy, both International Open Latin and Standard attracted more than one hundred couples each to the starting list. There were some familiar names on top of the podium as Edgar Marcos Borjas – Alina Nowak (POL) in Latin and Francesco Galuppo – Debora Pacini (ITA) in Standard earned their spots on the highest podium after six-round competitions.

About 40 couples participated both International Open Latin and Standard in Malta on Saturday. A beautiful island resort turned out to become even more beautiful as the talented couples brightened the day with their performances. The finalists of both International Open Standard and Latin represented five different countries. Miculescu Ionut Alexandru – Pacurar Andra (ROU) took home the gold medal in the International Open Latin and Igor Kruglov – Ekaterina Kazmirchuk (RUS) won Standard.

Under a glass pyramid in Vosendorf, Austria, there were five-round International Opens in both Latin and Standard. To the joy of the home crowd Vasily Kirin – Ekaterina Prozorova (AUT) won the Standard competition. Ivan Korotchenko – Julia Skorovarova (RUS) were ranked first in Latin.

In addition to these International Open events, Novosibirsk, Russia, hosted WDSF Open events in Adult and Youth giving the couples nearby a chance to compete in an international event. These three to five round competitions in front of an international Adjudicator panel are valuable to couples for gaining experience and gathering some points to the World Ranking List, and to prepare for the bigger events.

Almost two years have gone since Breaking was recognized by the Ministry of Sport of the Russian Federation as a sport discipline of DanceSport. It was a turning point for Breaking to become a sport developed and promoted by the All Russian Federation of DanceSport and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll (FDSARR) alongside with Standard, Latin and Rock’n’Roll. 

Breaking is one of the very spectacular disciplines of DanceSport with many successful Russian B-boys, B-girls and crews, and with a huge fan base in all regions of the Russian Federation. B-boy Bumblebee (Sergey Chernyshov) became the first ever gold medalist in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires (ARG) opening a new page in the history of DanceSport; while B-girl Matina (Kristina Yashina), who is featured in the latest issue of Olympic Review Magazine, won the silver medal at the 2018 WDSF World Youth Breaking Championship in Kawasaki (JPN). 

The first international Breaking competition hosted by the FDSARR – the Russian Open Breaking Championship 2018 (ROBC) – was a great success featuring incredible battles amongst the world’s top breakers. More than 250 kids took part in the ROBC Kids and Kids Show groups, and about 600 B-boys and B-girls representing 11 countries joined the event for three days in Moscow. The event included workshops led by B-boy Junior (FRA), B-boy Dyzee (CAN), B-boy Reveal (USA), B-Boy The End (KOR) and B-boy Thesis (USA). 

2018 was a year of new prospects opened for Breaking, and the FDSARR is developing a strategy aimed at attracting new athletes into the federation by giving them an opportunity to take part in high-level international sports competitions. Thus, the Russian National Breaking Championships will be held this year for the first time from 28^th February to 1^st March in the city of Kazan. The Russian National Breaking Team will be nominated based on the results of this National Championship and will take part in all WDSF’s international Breaking events. The first one being the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship in Nanjing (CHN) on the 23^rd of June. 

The FDSARR will also organize the Sochi Open 2019 (June 23-30), a global DanceSport event which will unite Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll, Standard, Latin and Breaking into one big and friendly family on the Black Sea side. The Sochi Open will feature international competitions in all these disciplines culminating with the FDSARR Cup on June 30^th, 2019. 

Following the success of 2018, the Russian Open Breaking Championship 2019 (ROBC), will be held again on October 18-20, 2019 in Moscow. 

Today, Breaking is gaining more and more fans and making the Olympic prospects for our sport closer to its ultimate goal. 

The All Russian Federation of DanceSport and Acrobatic Rock’n’Roll (FDSARR) invites all WDSF National Member Bodies to the FDSARR Breaking events to be held in the Russian Federation this year.  

The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) warmly welcomes today’s announcement from Paris that Breaking has been proposed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for inclusion on the sports programme of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

 
In addition to Breaking, Skateboarding, Sport Climbing and Surfing were also shortlisted by the Paris 2024 Organising Committee for possible inclusion at the XXXIII Olympiad. The package of four sports will now be considered by the IOC Executive Board (EB) in March. Should the EB approve the package, the sports will then be submitted to the IOC Session for final approval during meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland from 24-26 June.

 
Breaking made its Olympic debut last year at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, but its inclusion on the Paris 2024 programme would be the first time any DanceSport discipline has appeared at an Olympic Games.


“It is an incredible honour and privilege that, for the first time, a dance discipline is being considered for inclusion in the Olympic Games. It is a humbling experience for all members and supporters of DanceSport,” said WDSF President Shawn Tay, who added that, if included, “Breaking would be an outstanding success at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.”


The Paris 2024 organisers proposed the four sports in response to a new level of flexibility afforded to Olympic Games Host Cities to encourage innovation in the Olympic programme. Host Cities, beginning with Tokyo 2020, now have the option of suggesting new sports and events for inclusion in their edition of the Games that are not binding on future Games hosts.


Skateboarding, Sport Climbing and Surfing were also included on the programme for Tokyo 2020, making Breaking the only new sport under consideration for the 2024 programme.

Our Associate Member WRRC organises the opening event of the season in Valbonne Sophia Antipolis, France, on Saturday. World Cup in Boogie Woogie Main Class, Juniors and Seniors has attracted a good number of couples to start their international season of 2019. As there has been a break of almost three months since the 2018 World Cup Finals, couples have had plenty of time to rest, practice and to design new figures. We are looking forward to seeing them in action!

About an hour flight northwest, in Lyon, France, there are more than 400 couples shining on the dance floor of the Palais Des Sports. 65 couples are on the starting list of WDSF International Open Latin on Saturday, and 43 couples have registered for the WDSF International Open Standard on Sunday. In addition to these two competitions there are WDSF Opens in Youth and Senior 1-4 age groups as well as many French Open competitions during the two days.

In Lisbon, Portugal, latin rhythms fill up the venue on Saturday as all age groups have their Portugal Open Latin competitions during the day. The cherry on the cake will be the WDSF World Open Latin which will start at 16:20 local time (15:20 CET). WDSF Youth Open Latin with some national championship competitions will complete the weekend in Lisbon on Sunday.

Last, but certainly not least, there are WDSF International Open Standard and Latin, WDSF Open Youth Standard and Latin, and WDSF Open Rising Star Standard and Latin events in Moscow Region, Russia during the upcoming weekend.

With these amazing events we will say goodbye to the winter and start preparing for the spring season. There is a lot to look forward to… but before that, let’s enjoy this weekend in full! Good luck to all competitors, and for the organisers we wish a great success with your events!

Our associate member, the World Rock’n’Roll Confederation, started their competition season in Valbonne Sophia Antipolis, France, on Saturday. World Cup in Boogie Woogie Main Class turned out well for Jonathan Haug – Emma Danielsson (SWE), who started the season with a win over their fellow Swedes Viktor Edlund – Wilma Edlund and the Italians Simone Corsi – Giulia Cornelli. The young Russian couple Fedor Klimov – Diana Leonteva won the World Cup in Juniors and the French couple Raphaël Dupas – Laurence Nograbat won the World Cup in Seniors.

Lisbon, Portugal, hosted the second World Open event in February. 62 couples started the first round of the World Open Latin competition at Casal Vistoso Sports Hall. After five rounds our reigning World Champions in Ten Dance, Konstantin Gorodilov – Dominika Bergmannova (EST) were announced as winners while Winson Tam – Anastasia Novikova (CAN) ranked second and Artur Balandin – Anna Salita (GER) ranked third.

WDSF International Open Latin in Lyon, France, had 63 couples registered for the first round on Saturday. Maxim Elfimov – Evgenia Churikova (RUS) took home their first win of the year at Palais des Sports de Lyon. On the following day, on Sunday, 54 couples had registered for the WDSF International Open Standard. After five rounds Alexey Glukhov – Anastasia Glazunova (RUS) were announced as winners.

Moscow Region, Russian Federation, hosted two WDSF International Open events during the weekend. A respectable number of 155 couples participated the International Open Latin competition on Saturday. Viacheslav Benko – Elena Klepikova (RUS) were announced as winners after a six-round competition. Evgeny Nikitin – Anastasia Miliutina (RUS) won the International Open Standard on Sunday, which also had a good number - 110 - couples on the starting list.

With another weekend of DanceSport behind us we can now start preparing for the events in March. The 2019 GrandSlam Series kicks off at Bucharest, Professional Division Super Grand Prix -events take place in Tokyo and Pieve Di Cento, and there are five World Opens on the calendar (Brno, Kyiv, Tokyo, Pieve Di Cento and Skopje). With all these, combined with International Open and Open competitions, it will be a busy and wonderful month in DanceSport and we are already looking forward to it.

The 3rd Edition of the RushDoc International Documentary Festival has awarded WDSF documentary ”We Dance TOGETHER” the Best Sports Documentary Award 2019.

It is the second WDSF DanceSport production by award-winning director Pedro Toro, a WDSF Communications team member since 2012. With his previous film ”Do Your Dance” he won the first prize award at the Baku International Sport Film Festival in 2014.

The one-hour documentary tells the story of some of the 150 dancers who represented their sport in the 2017 World Games. ”We Dance TOGETHER” portrays the exceptional dancers in their respective quests for gold. Their rhythms may be different, the attires too, but at the core it is all one and the same. They all dance TOGETHER!

Many congratulations to WDSF, to Pedro and to us all!

Watch the trailer:

The announcement of the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championship has created positive vibes within our National Member Bodies (NMB) as national qualifiers have been organised and many more are expected to be held in March.

As reported earlier, our Russian National Member body, the FDSARR, has put together the Russian National Breaking Championship last weekend in Kazan. The Russian National Breaking Team for Nanjing will be nominated based on the results of the qualifiying event, and the team will also represent Russian Federation in other WDSF’s international Breaking events.

Other National Member Bodies, which have scheduled their qualifiers for the 2019 WDSF World Breaking Championships include for example: Colombia, Germany and Austria. The German Breaking Championship will be organised on March 24th in Aalen, qualifying the winners and the runners-up from Germany to participate in the World Championship.

And, that is not all, there are some National Member Bodies who have already selected their representatives and are about to send the entry forms to the Chinese DanceSport Federation way ahead of the deadline.

We can only wish the best of luck to all B-girls and B-boys who still have the qualifiers ahead. And congratulations for all who have already qualified!