The Future Of British Competitive Ballroom Dancing

Press Release Issued By The Ballroom Dancers’ Federation of Great Britain

The Future Development Committee of The Ballroom Dancers’ Federation, was set up to investigate and report on a number of issues related to dance in Great Britain. One of their topics was the competitive scene in the Great Britain. The following was the result of their passion to create a greater depth and quality of dance.

The Ballroom Dancers’ Federation recently set up a sub committee to look at the future development of Ballroom Dancing, as concern has been expressed that at the present time there are very few British couples currently making the finals of the major championships both in the UK and abroad.

Our main ambition is to develop couples that will be capable of reaching the finals of the British Open Ballroom Dancing Championships at Blackpool and once again challenge to become the ‘best in the world’.

Following the success of Great Britain in 2012 Olympic Games, we must all realize the terrific amount of hard work, training, and dedication necessary for the athletes to achieve their dreams. We must also realize that this would not have been possible without support from the Sports Council and National Lottery Funding. Nevertheless, we now all know that British athletes can be successful at the highest level.

Ballroom Dancing in this country has never had a system for training competitors. In fact it was a lack of any system which gave dancers of the past the fight and determination to become the best in the world, and the record books show that for many years this proved to be sufficient for British dancers to become World Champions. As you may be aware, this is not the case today and Great Britain is falling further and further behind other counties in the major events.

We would like to suggest that the British Dance Council set up a sub-committee to discuss and examine the points above, with the intention of producing competitors in the future who can once again challenge the best in the world.

Future Development Committee, BDF

It goes without saying that the Ballroom Dancers’ Federation will continue to provide lectures, seminars and congresses for dancers in this country but we feel that we need to work together with our fellow Dance Associations and Societies, under the auspices of the British Dance Council to provide the intensity and level of teaching that would help our couples.

This report was printed in Edition No. 2308 of DANCE NEWS.