2016 World Standard

Here it is! The much awaited Vimeo on Demand programme with all of 91 minutes covering the 2016 World DanceSport Championship Standard in Aarhus, DEN. Ask anyone who was there: it was a final that had all the ingredients you could possibly want. First the outstanding dancing by all six finalists, then two top contenders burning the floor in their effort to win a second World Champion title, finally, the drama of a tight competition, where the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat are closer together than ever.

6-camera production in High Definition covering the decisive stages of the 2016 World Standard. With full graphics. The programme is made up of four parts: the full-length semi-final, interviews with the finalists, the full-length final and interviews with the medallists. US$ 3.75 for 3-month streaming period! 2016 World Standard

More than 100 videos and 500 photos have been published so far as coverage of the two World Standard that were held on Friday and Saturday last week in Aarhus, DEN. They are all in the Galleries above.

We should have one video and around five photos of each couple that had entered either championship. At least that was the plan! But as Karina Nawrot discovered and let us know on Facebook, the plan failed: no videos are availbe of her and partner Andrzej Sadecki. Good thing they made it to the PD World final, because there they will be featured prominently in the Vimeo on Demand programme that gets released on 25 November. 2016 PD World Standard

Tomorrow, 18 November, we will release the Vimeo on Demand programme covering the decisive stages of the 2016 World Standard

Here is the trailer. It is set to the tunes of the Boris Myagkov Big Band. Like all the other music in the World Standard, it is available through Casa musica. Here is the playlist for the championship.

Annette Sudol: Everybody gave his or her best tonight. We did the best we could, I think better than this is not possible on this night, and we pulled out everything we had in our bodies. We enjoyed it a lot, people enjoyed it a lot. But there is something in dancing that is not in our hands.

Simone Segatori: Dancingwise this is what we can do. It is difficult to compete against other stuff. Of course, we are not happy. We feel that we danced the best we could, maybe eleven experts didn't find it was enough. And that's not up to us!

Watch the decisive stages of the 2016 World Standard plus all the interviews through our Vimeo on Demand service! US$ 3.75 for a 90-day streaming period!

2016 World Standard

Dmitry Zharkov: "I think that tonight's final will go down in the history of WDSF forever. And I also think that two couples deserved to win tonight. I don't know what to say, but for us it is a big honour to dance with these guys on the same floor and to be togther. They push us to the maximum. I don't know what to say, I have never felt like this before."

Olga Kulikova: We gave all our emotions, our soul, in the dances and we feel a little bit empty. We cannot full realise what has happened. But it must have beeen something very important, for sure.

Watch the decisive stages of the 2016 World Standard and all interviews through the Vimeo on Demand service! US$ 3.75 for a 90-day streaming period!

2016 World Standard

The proverbial fat lady has sung, twice and on consecutive days, for dancers who are professionals and for others who are anything but amateurs. Those who were concerned that one World Championship could eclipse the other saw all possibilities for that to happen curtailed on day one, when eagerly awaited contenders for the professional title chose once more to stay away and thus reduced the drama of competition to half. But their absence did not affect the quality of the dancing by the 43 couples who did make it to Aarhus – nor did it reduce the particular emotions that surrounded the championship in the Professional Division. Too bad that these emotions were brought about by World Champions announcing their retirement from competition just minutes after being crowned.

Saturday's live broadcast on DR TV, the Danish public broadcaster, included parts of the final that was danced on Friday – plus stunning images of Emanuel and Tania bidding farewell to their friends and fans.

That brings us to the World Championship on Saturday. It provided all the drama that only true competition, a closely fought couple-versus-couple battle on and off the floor, produces in the highest of dosages. Quite possibly one of the most suspenseful finals ever danced, it had the entire audience on the edge of the chairs. With the fortunes going back and forth between the two top couples that – according to a statement by their third-placed peers – “burned the floor” more than ever before! The outcome was what it is. For two to claim victory, there must be two others to go down in defeat. That is what happened – and by the narrowest of margins. The true experts might be able to feel with each couple in its respective situation – and those who are not should simply pull their hat to both!

The two World Championships Standard in Aarhus are part of DanceSport history already, even though there is still more to come in terms of coverage. Videos and photos, but also some thoughts on what happened here over the past two days that were emotionally draining for those who had the spotlight on them.

As the members of the Communications team head home - some with as many as four different flight legs - they will try to add more content from the airports.

Stay tuned!

If you look at the results of the World Standard final and conclude that the margin between first and second place is a mere decimal plus a few fractions you appreciate that winning and losing can be awfully close to each other. As Dmitry Zharkov summed it up in an interview after he and partner Olga Kulikova were crowned World Champion for a second time,"Nobody should have lost today!"

Many people here in Aarhus would probably agree with that, including the third-placed Evaldas Sodeika - Ieva Zukauskaite, LTU, who saw the first two couples "burning the floor." And that didn't help to have them cast anything but third today. And they have been third three times already!

It was a special final all around - much like the one in Vilnius, LTU, last year. Runners-up Simone Segatori - Annette Sudol, GER, felt that they had given it their best shot and wouldn't know right now where to start making further improvements. After what we learned from the interview with them yesterday, we should all consider us privileged that they will stick around long enough to make them.

Someone jokingly suggested on Facebook that a tie between Simone Segatori - Annette Sudol, GER, and Dmitry Zharkov - Olga Kulikova, RUS, would be the best possible outcome of this World Standard here in Aarhus. "With the lovely Sodeika coming in 3rd ...," he/she added.

Get serious, we thought when we read it - and before we looked up at the standing after three dances. Look on the left! This is what it has come down to!