Striking Gold in Baku 21/11/2014

When the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) entrusted Spanish director Pedro Toro with the production of the official film on the inaugural edition of the World DanceSport Games, it knew that it had assigned the best man to the job. Sport and music are Pedro’s passion – and both were at the very core of the multi-disciplinary event held for the first time in Kaohsiung, TPE, in September 2013.

When “Do your dance,” Pedro’s film on 800 top-level athletes competing over five days in different DanceSport disciplines, premiered during the WDSF General Meeting in Bucharest, ROU, this June, it was above all dancers who rose to their feet for a long ovation. But more critical acclaim was to follow soon thereafter from broadcasters around the world.

Now, on 20 November, the film won the Gold award at the II Baku International Sports Film Festival held in the Azerbaijani capital under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the National Olympic Committee. Some 130 productions from 33 countries had been entered into the festival; 48 of them were selected and considered for the awards by an International Jury headed by Dr Florian Endre Gabor, HUN.

WDSF Presidium Member Heidi Goetz represented the sports governing body as the producer of the documentary in Baku and received the award on behalf of the director. In her acceptance speech, the chair of the WDSF Communications Commission thanked Pedro for making a film that transmits the enthusiasm and the pure joy that dance as sport is capable of generating in a way like none other had done before.  She also thanked the other members of the WDSF Communications team, the games’ organiser - the City of Kaohsiung - and the host broadcaster Formosa TV for their respective parts in the making of “Do your dance.”

Reacting on the news of the festival win in Azerbaijan without delay, WDSF President Carlos Freitag and WDSF First Vice-President Lukas Hinder sent their congratulatory messages to the entire WDSF Communications team late last night.

“This win will certainly help when we launch our bidding process for future editions of the WDSF World DanceSport Games,” President Freitag wrote. 

“This proves that we have the best people on board and I hope that we will achieve other milestones in the communication of DanceSport soon,” First Vice-President Hinder stated in his message.

The 69-minute film (director’s cut) is available through the WDSF video-on-demand platform for purchase (US 14.95) or rental (US$ 4.95 for 30 days).

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/doyourdance

Broadcasters in many countries will soon start airing a shorter version of “Do your dance.”


Cities interested in organising future editions of the WDSF World DanceSport Games find very useful information in this 6-minute reel that was produced with footage of the games held in 2013 in Kaohsiung, TPE.