Discourse by Leena Liusvaara 12/06/2016

The delegates to the 2016 General Meeting unanimously approved the work carried out by the WDSF Presidium during the 12 months since the 2015 General Meeting held in Granada, ESP.

They did so following the discourse and the motion presented by Leena Liusvaara, the President of the Finnish DanceSport Federation.

Here is the full text of her discourse.

Dear Friends:

I am honoured to stand before you today as a representative of my country, but also as a representative of DanceSport and a supporter of WDSF, to propose a Motion to you. We meet today in Rome as delegates to the Annual General Meeting, but also as friends in sport. In my opinion, our work in WDSF should always be a cooperative effort, a group effort, in sporting friendship.

We meet as representatives of our countries, but also as a group which is determined to do the best for our sport, around the world. The WDSF Presidium has had to administer our international federation until this day.  They did this work in a world filled with new developments and emerging problems, but also in a DanceSport community that expects a clear, correct effective sporting system that will operate every day to provide a worldwide, integrated sporting system which is fair to the athletes and which allows them to progress in competitions that have the same rules and the same standards in every country they visit. By the way, Ladies and Gentlemen, in my opinion it is that kind of work and that kind of sensible, clear system that provides a true FREEDOM TO DANCE!

We do not see them at work often, but today we can tell that our Presidium has done this hard, time-consuming work, every day, to maintain the WDSF sporting system around the world, nearly all of them without any payment, as volunteers representing us in a time when some people want to challenge us all the time. They have done this so that our athletes can compete and progress in their sport without fear of unfairness or inconsistency. 

This Presidium has also met the very well-known challenges of the past twelve months with courage, with calmness, with fairness toward all, with dignity and common sense, in a way that reflects our values, our beliefs, and our determination to make a better DanceSport.  It has not been easy.  But they have done this by insisting on a correct legal basis and modern principles of business administration and good governance, and the clear principles and policies that the WDSF Annual General Meeting has approved many times. 

No one is perfect, and we all disagree with each other sometimes, in good faith, and in sporting friendship, on important matters. But this weekend has confirmed for me again that our Federation is strongly led by a Presidium that is exceptional in its talents and exceptional in its dedication to our sport and to each of our countries.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe that this Presidium has served us well.

And so, dear friends, I am pleased to MOVE: 

THAT THIS MEETING APPROVE THE PRESIDIUM’S WORK DURING THE PAST TWELVE MONTHS. 

I thank you very much for your kind attention.