Report from IDSF World Formation Latin Championship. 27.11.2004 (eng)

World Latin Formation championship took place in Minsk last weekend. For the first time Republic of Belarus received dance sport competition of such a high rank so this event was expected by the public and it had a great resonance. Sport Palace was full not only during final rounds but also during preliminary competitions.


As it turned out formation dancing has some specific features which it different from competition between couples. First of all each team is lead to the floor by the coaches (or by one coach) for which there are special chairs in the center. They observe team’s performance supporting dancers by their gestures and emotions. Coach of the German Grun-Gold-Club e.V.A-team Roberto Albanese was especially remembered by the spectators. Being Italian he was so expressive that every time he was given special applause while leaving the floor. Besides every club has its symbol (mainly soft toys) which is also placed on the floor during team’s performance. Usually coach holds it in his hands but sometimes it can watch the formation lying on the coach’s back.

One more interesting detail is that adjudicators were not near the floor. All of them were sitting highly on the tribune. Such a position allows to evaluate the team correctly and to see all its mistakes. From the very beginning my attention was attracted by rather large dark blue cross in the center of the floor. This is also necessary condition because teams construct their figures around this sign.

Each performance lasts for six minutes and consists of three main parts: introduction, main part and departure. The latter is not evaluated. Main criteria of dancing skills are not only technique and artistic impression but also synchronicity of the elements performed, originality of patterns and choreography. Each team’s program has its own name or theme. Mostly it is defined by the main melody used in the music underneath. Usually one program is danced for one season and a half in accordance with the following scheme: World Championship – European Championship - World Championship or European Championship - World Championship - European Championship. It is connected with the fact that program preparation for the formation takes much more time than for one couple.

Twenty formations from twelve countries arrived in Minsk to take part in the World championship. Of course teams had different levels so sometimes one had to watch only beautiful walking to music. From the formations that did not qualified for the semifinal I remembered La Danza from the Netherlands. Their program we based on jazz tunes and looked very originally. When else one will have an opportunity to see samba danced to Jewish melodies in special adaptation.

The program “Fire” of HSV Zwolfaxing B-team from Austria was the brightest among the semi-finalists. Besides very interesting choreography and costumes everyone’s attention was attracted by thin and tall young man. It is well known that team is gathered from people of similar height and figure, but in this case the difference was rather huge. This very fact was used as a main emphasis in the program and the young man mentioned above acted as a god of the fire.

As for the finalists they already revealed themselves in the first round and kept their positions till the very end. Surely spectators mostly supported home team’s performance. It was club “Mara” with the program “Il Coure Italiano”.

This year they became European championship finalist and great hopes were put on them. Club met the expectations and deservedly won seventh place in the final. They certainly gained experience and program difficulty. But the team lacked power and assurance in performance. In the first round they looked great while in semifinal and final they felt tired and were not so bright against stronger teams. The most important for this achievement is to become an incentive for the further development not only of the team but of all Belorussian dance sport as a whole.

Sixth place went to Savaria TSE Szombathely with “Big Bad VoodooSwing”.

The quick-moving music excellently matched Magyar temperament so the team was paid a lot of attention. But they did not manage to dance without technical mistakes and non-synchronous performance of the elements. All this led to such a result.

Fifth place winner is Double-V team from the Netherlands with the show named “Latin Party”. The program was created comparatively not long ago and they have been dancing it for the five months only. It turned out to be very successful as for the first time Double-V managed to beat Savaria.

Fourth place went to Tsveta Radugi and “Chihuahua”. This is a special topic because I am fond of the team and watch their performances closely for a long time.

All they did was simply excellent. And it seemed to me that they were close to the third place as never before. Finally only one adjudicator’s voice separated them form becoming bronze medalists. From the very first round the team showed its skills reflected in choreography, technique and speed of the most difficult elements performance. The characteristic feature of Tsveta Radugi is frequent usage of lines both side and diagonal.

Third place was given to TSG Bremerhaven with the program “ABBA 2004”. The name is self-explanatory as famous songs of Swedish foursome became music underneath. All melodies are famous so the spectators sang and danced a little with the team. One more advantage is their beautiful costumes. All this created fabulous impression and one wished to take the floor and dance with them.

This season is not successful for the team because they lost national championship and came to Minsk as a second number. Bremerhaven was also defeated by the first German team in the European championship. And this time they again did not manage to beat their rivals. Besides they met strong resistance from Tsveta Radugi.

Second place was for Grun-Gold-Club and “Let me entertain you” on the famous Robby Williams’ song.

The team showed the highest level of dancing. Everything was performed so well and synchronously that one had an impression of one cloned couple instead of eight different ones. As it is usually said Das ist Fantastich.

It is not surprising that two German teams reached the final. There are several dance leagues in Germany and the teams compete in them according to the level of dancing. The strongest clubs are in Bundesligen. Only Grun-Gold-Club has five different teams. So this gives an opportunity to constantly hold competitions and as a result German teams have great competition practice.

Finally the champion is Zuvedra from Lithuania with the show “Viva Espana”. Reigning World and European champion retained the title.

It was impossible to take the eyes off their performance. Spanish style was presented in everything: music, costumes, choreography and even in the way of taking the floor. It was really dancing of the champions. Every their performance was accompanied by loud applause. The team did all difficult elements so easy! First German team competed with Lithuanian club head to head but latter’s advantage was in the program entirety. That is why Zuvedra again became champion.

You can also visit this wonderful championship with the help of photo gallery. Don’t be too critical as I just wanted to share the impressions with you. See you on the next competitions!