Jyväskylä Junior DanceSport Festival 20/09/2010

The  second consecutive Junior DanceSport Festival was held in Jyväskylä, Finland. The organisers were Sami and Karita Yli-Piipari together with Dance Club Tepika and in cooperation with the Finnish DanceSport Association and IDSF. We thank IDSF Sports Director Marco Sietas for visiting the event and for serving as Chairman of the judges as well as the international panel of adjudicators, who also willingly accepted our invitation and gave their knowledge back to the young dancers.

This year the competition gathered some 500 couples: juveniles, juniors and youth. Also Under-21 competitions were danced. There were the “Dance Stars”, beginners with only a few figures in two and in four dances. Also E- and D-classes were danced in Finnish style. A lot of juveniles took part in the IDSF Juvenile Open competitions, which were danced with five dances and only syllabus figures.

The Sunday started with team matches where all teams had made nice shows for the audience before the actual competitions. At the evening competitions on both days there was live music to dance to. The JAO Big Band consisting of young musicians from the Academy of Music had also included some Finnish original pieces in their repertoire. Thus the dancers had an opportunity to dance to melodies not found on any CD.

It is important to find more organisers for this kind of event targeting the younger generations. These competitions make it possible for children to dance close to where they live, even from neighbouring countries, to get more experiences and to make new friends in DanceSport. Working for children and youth is always valuable. With this kind of help the young people grow up to be responsible and honest citizens, who have a great attitude towards learning in life as well as to developing as human beings. This gives value in all matters of life. The discipline of dancing also guides the dancers to take care of their school work and studies with the same persistence and capacity. This is also the reason to their success in everyday life.

I am sure the audiences enjoyed the weekend watching these young talents. And so did we as the organizing group! It will be interesting to follow the young athletes' development from kids to adults in competitions through the years to come.  I wish to thank all the dancers with trainers and parents for participation in this festival and hope to see you all again next year!

Results and more information will be found on the website.

Carola Tuokko

President of the Finnish DanceSport Association