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What is DanceSport?
Quite simply, Dance Sport is the sport of leisure and competitive social dancing as opposed to performing arts such as Ballet, Tap dancing, Stage dancing etc which are primarily concerned with entertaining an audience on the stage or concert. .
There are a number of disciplines within the sport. Although most involve 2 people dancing together, it is also possible for individuals to dance on their own. This is particularly the case with Line Dancing and Freestyle.
Currently, the styles or disciplines included within the umbrella of Dancesport are:
1. International Standard (Ballroom) Dancing - Waltz, Foxtrot,
Quickstep, Tango and Viennese Waltz.2. International Latin Dancing - Rumba, Samba, Cha Cha Cha, Jive
and Paso Doble.3. Latino/Club/Special Couple Dancing - Mambo, Salsa, Argentine Tango
Merengue, Nordic Tango, Bachata, Mixing Blues,4. Line Dancing - Western, Latin and Disco dancing performed in
lines.5. Sequence Dancing - Standard, Latin, Classical or Australian New
Vogue dancing, danced to a set 16 bar sequence of music.6. Freestyle Disco (Street Dancing, Hip Hop, Techno, Break Dancing,
Rock n Roll, Hustle.7. American Smooth/Rhythm Dancing - similar to International style
but with some major differences, ie you can dance apart for much
of the time and can perform lifts. Think Fred Astaire.8. Formation Dancing - this, as the name indicates is group dancing
creating patterns and shapes. All the above styles can be used.9. Synchro dance
Although, the various dances involved in Dance Sport are grouped together as indicated above, there is some overlap. However, they rarely overlap where competitive Dance Sport is concerned. The exception being International Standard & International Latin, where all 10 dances are often combined for 10 dance competitions.
Currently, only Standard, Latin, Ten dance & Formation Dancing is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for inclusion in IOC sponsored games such as the Olympics proper and the World Games. The latter is held every 4 years (as is the Olympics) for those IOC recognised sports which have not yet been accepted into the main games.
To view some videos showing Dance Sport's involvement in the World Games and how the sport wants to develop over the coming years, click here.
Social Dance Sport
Social Dance Sport is simply leisure dancing for pleasure. However, for those of you who feel like taking the sport a little more seriously, you can take part in medal tests, gaining a variety of awards. Social dancers also sometimes get the opportunity to delve into competition dancing. Occasionally, competition promoters will include a social dancers event to encourage the idea of competing. However, if your interest is in competition dancing proper, then keep reading.
Competitive Dance Sport
Like any other sport - Tennis, Football etc, Competitive Dance Sport is relatively highly organised. There are 3 types of competition. Both apply to amateurs and professionals. They are:
1. Closed Competitions
2. Open Competitions
3. Team Competitions (Closed or Open)
1. Closed events are for competitors who are invited, born or live in a particular area of the country. For instance, The British National Championships (held at the Blackpool Winter Gardens every November) is only for competitors who reside in the UK. Similarly, the North of England Standard Championship is for competitors who reside or were born in the North of England (from about Birmingham northwards) but excluding Scotland etc.
2. Open events are literally open to the world. The biggest Dance Sport event in the UK is the British Open Championships. In fact, this is considered by most people to be the most important Dance Sport festival in the world - akin the Wimbledon in Tennis. Again, it is held in Blackpool - the Junior {under 16} event taking place at Blackpool Tower, and the Adult event at the Winter Gardens. This festival attracts hundreds of competitors from all corners of the world. If you only ever go once to see it, it's a spectacle not to missed.
3. Team events fall into several types -(a) invitation inter school / club & nation; (b) Supadance League; (c) Formation Team.
Dance Sport Team can be made up of a mixture of Juvenile competitors (children under 12), Junior competitors (children 12 - 15), Adults (16+) or a mixture of all three main age groups. Normally, the number of couples in a team is no more than 8.
(a) Invitation events are closed to clubs, schools or countries invited to take part in a team match.
(b) Supadance League - this was set up many years ago and is similar in construction to the way the Football leagues operate. It is aimed at medallist & social dancers who would like to compete but without the costs involved in dancing in open events. The league is sponsored by Supadance, the dance shoe manufacturer.
(c) Formation teams are specially constructed teams with participants (usually 8 - 16 couples) creating different shapes and patterns. Competitive events are competitions between different formation teams.
If you would like to know more about competition dancing then do get in touch.
Wheelchair Dancing
One of the fastest growing aspects of Dance Sport is wheelchair dancing. This is particularly the case on the European continent. If this is of interest to you, then the following web sites should be invaluable to you.
(a) www.exploredance.com/wheelchairdanceinvite
(b) www.wdance.com
(c) www.paralympic.org/release/Summer_Sports/Wheelchair_Dance_Sport