Forever ...
To some, the ballroom was, is and will be, forever, the very essence for the competitive match-up of skills between dancers.
Whether it describes a dance style (Ballroom vs. Latin) or the place where the dances are performed (e.g. Victoria Ballroom at the Ritz), ballroom seems to be an integral part of it all. At least in the Anglo-Saxon perception by some!
The World DanceSport Federation has long made considerable efforts in bringing changes to this perception. Maybe now, after the DanceSport events of The World Games 2013 on 27 and 28 July, many will concur that ballroom - in whatever sense of the word - is no longer appropriate.
When close to 17,000 people come to watch 128 sportsmen and women perform - athletically and artistically - in a setting like the Plaza de Toros Cañaveralejo ballroom is probably the last thing that comes to mind. When the 17,000 sing Colombia's national anthem together with a very young couple that just won gold in Salsa, there is a great formality too, but it's different to the one that is implied by ballroom traditionalists.
The "Live from Cali, COL" blog continues to take up the hompage of worlddancesport.org through 3 August. If you access the mobile version of the website with a smartphone or tablet, you are able to proceed to the latest post in the blog by clicking here.
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