News from the WDSF AGM 2022 16/06/2022

The 2022 WDSF Forum and Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place last weekend, 11th – 12th June 2022 at 13:00 CET. More than 120 delegates from 70 countries were registered for the AGM, along with Honorary and Associate Members, in the most important meeting of the year.

As part of a build up to the AGM, the WDSF Forum was held the day before to present current developments in WDSF, and to make space for delegates to provide suggestions for further improvement.

Granting of “DanceSport Legends Award”

During the Forum, the WDSF also granted the “DanceSport Legends Award” to Mr. Peter Maxwell, an award reserved for pioneers or exceptional performers in DanceSport who have, in their own way, shaped and sculpted DanceSport. As announced last year, the WDSF has come up with “Hall of Fame” awards to recognize outstanding individuals and role models in DanceSport. There are different categories of awards, each for athletes, coaches, volunteers, organizers, and pioneers.

This year, the WDSF recognizes the contributions of Mr. Peter Maxwell – former World Professional Latin Champion, World Cup Professional 10 Dance Champion, British Open Professional Latin Champion, British Amateur Latin and Standard Champion, WDSF Chairman, Adjudicator, Coach, and also Honorary President of the IPDSC as the Predecessor of WDSF Professional Division, among many other accolades.

Also prior to the AGM, A total of 24 reports were provided to NMBs via an e-booklet with more than 180 pages. These reports were offered as a display of the best practises of accountability to our NMBs, as they provided a full account of the work performed in the 11 months since the last AGM (25th of July 2021).

The AGM took place online, using the zoom platform for video conferencing and a new specific voting platform designed for the IWGA (International World Games Association) and adopted by the WDSF on a subscription basis. Votes were scrutineered by a Swiss Notary Public as supported by delegates of the General Meeting.

Motions Approved by the General Meeting

The WDSF Presidium proposed four motions for Delegates to be voted, which were all supported in voting by the delegates of the General Meeting:

1. Motion to amend the WDSF Statutes to include a Breaker on the WDSF Presidium with full voting rights. The intention of this motion is to ensure that the Breaking Community’s voice is heard within the most powerful decision-making entity within the WDSF second only to the General Meeting. A commitment was made to select a strong Breaking candidate to fill this position and to strongly support the collaborative development of Breaking over time.
2. Motion to remove Breaking fees from the WDSF Financial Regulations, thus providing more flexibility in amending the relevant financial regulations when necessary.
3. New Code for the Prevention of Manipulation as requested by the IOC.
4. Motion to update WDSF Competition Rule X related to WDSF Adjudicators’, Chairperson’s, Scrutineer’s and DJ’s licenses.  Rule X was also amended to allow different level of licenses (e.g. A, B, C licenses) in Standard and Latin disciplines for Adjudicators who may have different levels of expertise in Standard and Latin.

A total of 4 motions from WDSF Members 4 motions were submitted:

• Germany’s motion was successfully approved by the delegates to amend dress regulations for the intimacy area for female athletes, providing more protection for the younger athletes.
• In light of the discussion during the AGM and the approval and clarification of the Presidium motion to have a Breaker in the Presidium with voting rights, USA decided to withdraw all three motions lodged by its President.

Election of the WDSF Vice-President for Legal Affairs

The meeting continued for six hours and concluded with the convincing election of Mr. Jim Fraser as WDSF Vice-President for Legal Affairs with 92 votes to 28 received by Mr. Erich Staeldi of Switzerland.  Mr. Fraser, a Canadian lawyer who has had over 38 years’ experience in the legal profession, and has served for more than 20 years on the WDSF Presidium’s Legal Commission, will now serve during the unexpired 3-year term of his predecessor.

The WDSF President Mr. Shawn Tay said:

I personally miss the time when we could meet in person at the General Meeting, when we could spend 1-2 days with the WDSF Forum. I look forward to having in-person meetings and welcome member bodies to consider organizing the WDSF AGM in their countries

The WDSF exhibits principles of democracy through its Annual General Meeting, this time as an ASOIF member heading to the “Road to Paris” as per IOC Agenda 2020 + 5 and Paris24 Olympic Games itself.