Smooth and beautiful dance matches

The finals Ballroom Dancing in Ahoy were held on Thursday morning and evening in front of a crowd of some 300, which included the Rotterdam Mayor, Mr. Aboutaleb. The participants were competing for prizes in female and male classes A-D; Germany came out as the big winner in both the female and male competition in the A class. This is a short report from our roving reporter.

Enthusiasm

It is already from the excited audience that one can feel that these are going to be interesting matches. Couples from many European countries compete; with a large number in both the female and male categories A through D coming from Germany and the UK. All eight classes hit the dance floor four times in order to determine who is best. The music was carefully selected, and the crowds get more excited with each round. Spread along the dance floor is the 5 to 6 member jury. With their discerning eye they score all the couples; a charming lady collects the point, which are then processed; after each round a few couples must leave the floor.

Dressy and elegant

In spite of the smooth organization did the first official European same-sex dancing championships still take a few hours longer than planned. But this did not diminish the great atmosphere. After the quarter and semi-finals it is time for the true finals to commence. Tension is rising as each time 6 couples compete on the dance floor. The dancers twist, turn and jump and sometimes bump into each other in front of an ever increasingly enthusiastic audience. No less than five different dance forms are performed during the finals. 

Germany

Steaming from sweat and excitement do the last couples finally hear the verdict from the judges.  Prizes were given in front of an ever-enthusiastic audience. The excitement builds even further when the result of the Class A matches for females and males are announced. The winners in both categories hail from Germany. Mayor Aboutaleb, who was matching the matches for several hours, then hands out the medals to the European A-Champions. The German national Anthem is played twice as proof of the official recognition of these same-sex dance matches. However fierce the competition might have been, the hugs and kisses after the award ceremonies are proof that it was all fought in the true spirit of sportsmanship.

Sixth

One Dutch couple, Joshua van Schendel from Breda and Lorenzo van Beek from Leiden, made it to the men’s class A finals. Hot from the excitement they were willing to let us in on some of the goings-on in the serious same-sex competition world. They have been dancing now for a long time and did progress to the A levels. Both of them did also dance with female partners before. Lorenzo: "At first I was against same-sex dancing. I thought to myself “ do we really have to do this?” I really had serious reservations“. Joshua had the same doubts. He also commented  "In the male-female dance world it often was a true battle zone with dirty tricks being played to eliminate competitors. In our same-sex dance world this is clearly much less the case. Above all, we are dancing to enjoy ourselves, although we still want to win!”  Unfortunately for this couple, they ended up in sixth, and last, place.

Respect

Just recently did Joshua and Lorenzo dance in Putten, a small town in the Dutch Bible Belt. Joshua: "We feared that we might be stoned, but that was far from the case. We wanted to show that we are athletes. Dancing is something you can still do at a higher age. And the people watching showed their respect for that."

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