live from the K-Arena: one from the host broadcaster, Formosa TV, the other from the WDSF. The hosts put on a number of presentations of local folk dances and then the band began to rock. It’s a strange phenomenon how Dancers tend to be shy when it comes to dancing. But the ice was finally broken with a huge Conga Line that wove throughout the resort. Then the dancers settled into a large circle where one couple would go into the middle and perform an impromptu solo. No judges’ marks were submitted but the winning group went to the Boogie Woogie dancers who had so much charisma they stole the show, keeping even the Hip-Hop dancers at bay. All-and-all it was an evening that personified the unity of the games. The final day of competition featured HipHop, Cheerleading and Latin. The Latin final followed an already overally energetic day of competition. The U.S. National Champions, Nikita Malakhov and Nadezda Vlasova, made if obvious that they came to compete with a very strong showing in the first round that advanced them to the second round and placing 17th overall.
There were Differences, Similarities There are many things about a WDSF produced event of this caliber that differ from those we are used to in the USA. One thing you might notice immediately is the change of music throughout a round. In three rounds of Waltz they played three different songs, unlike the comps here in the USA that would play the same song repeatedly. In the solo portion of the final, each couple dances to a different piece of music. Another item that is only seen in the USA at the USA Dance Nationals is the rotation of the couples into different heats across for different dances. A competitor must keep track of their assigned heat and the judges get to see the dancers against a different composition of competitors as the event progresses. You might also ask why this event didn’t have the 90-200 couples, per event, like we see in some of the www.USADANCE.ORG
WDSF World Championships. Simple, as each discipline was limited to a specific number of countries and each country could only field one team by invitation from the WDSF. All designed to give a global representation to the world’s top dancers. Like a true sporting event couples had to progress to this level – not just pay an entry fee to be accepted. The USA was honored to be selected to compete in Standard, Latin and the two Showdance categories (all under USA Dance), plus Hip-Hop, Cheer and Country line Dance; each under their respective national/ international sport bodies. The Judging system was the same as that used in the Grand Slam format. This is the latest iteration of the system that has been under development for the past 4+ years. Three judges are assigned randomly to one of four categories: Movement to Music (MM), Posture/Balance/Coordination (PB), Partnering Skills (PS) and Choreography/Presentation (CP).
New Level of Pomp & Circumstance The Award Ceremony for this event, as well as the World Games, is a new level in Pomp-n-Circumstance for DanceSport. All awards were presented for each discipline at the end of the evening. Award platforms were carried in. The medals for Bronze, Silver and Gold were carried in on velvet pillows by uniformed, white gloved young ladies. Then a three-tiered flag stand was carried in with the flags displayed for the ceremony followed by the playing of the National Anthem for the winning country. This was the closest thing to an Olympic ceremony that DanceSport has ever seen.
2013 November - December 11