If you’re fond of western dance forms like the cha cha, rumba or salsa, here’s an opportunity to enjoy all of them under one roof. DanceSport India, a school that promotes , is organising the fourth Maharashtra DanceSport Championship.
Dancesport (originally, competitive ballroom dancing) is a team sport that was featured in the 2010 Asian Games and is fighting for inclusion in the Olympics too. To encourage the sport here, DanceSport India invites couples from across the country to compete in various forms.
“Shannon (Benjamin; co-founder, DanceSport India) and I represented India in international competitions, and that is when we decided to introduce the concept in India as well,” says Priti Gupta, co-founder, DanceSport India. There will be more than 150 competitors battling it out in two broad categories — Latin, including cha cha, rumba, samba, jive and paso doble; and ballroom, which has waltz and tango. Other categories will include salsa, bachata and Argentine tango.
“Over the past three years, the number of schools participating in the championship has gone up. In the first year we had only 30 couples but this year we have more than 150 entries,” says Gupta.
She also adds, “Participants from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Goa have registered. But I’m surprised by entries from smaller cities like Kolhapur and Nashik, which don’t have that many dance schools for contemporary forms,” says Gupta.
She also adds, “Participants from Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Goa have registered. But I’m surprised by entries from smaller cities like Kolhapur and Nashik, which don’t have that many dance schools for contemporary forms,” says Gupta.
DanceSport India did, however, play some part in creating this interest in the smaller cities. “We sent our trainers there to conduct boot camps,” says Gupta. There are also some underprivileged participants in the championship this year whose participation fees have been waived.