President's Opening Address

Opening Ceremony

Here is the speech that WDSF President Lukas Hinder held during the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 World DanceSport Championship Ten Dance in Vienna - Schwechat, AUT.

I am glad to be back in Vienna – Schwechat for yet another World Championship. Returning to the Multiversum year after year with one of our main events creates an atmosphere of familiarity for all the parties involved. For dancers who measure the length of their careers by the number of times they competed here, for champions who could end up winning more than one title, and for the officials who know perfectly well that they can count on seasoned organisers and friendly hosts.

As if two World Championships plus nine other WDSF sanctioned competitions were not enough, this year we impose on the Austrian DanceSport Federation and the Tanzsport Wien organisers with hosting two important meetings. From today and through Monday, our Managing Committee is holding its fall meeting here too. The members have flown in from all corners of the world to work long hours on keeping this federation on course to a bright future.

Then, tomorrow, the members of the Task Force to Combat Competition Manipulation in DanceSport will also be in session here in Vienna. Much has happened since this task force held its first meeting in Stuttgart back in August. Most notably, the release of the White Paper signalled to the community that this fight was taken on in earnest and with the aim of winning it eventually.

As a reaction to this paper, many of the stakeholders have contacted us and manifested their willingness to contribute with their views to the process that is nothing short of shifting paradigms that were considered valid for 100 years.

We will start with our first hearings tomorrow and expect to gain important insights from them. But even if progress will be made, we cannot set any dates for the process to advance to the level of implementation. What I pledge is to keep everything as transparent as we did until now. So look for more information from our Task Force in the near future.

Now I take the opportunity to thank the hosts – the city of Schwechat, our Member Federation ÖTSV, the working bees of Tanzsport Wien and above all the volunteers – for putting on another successful edition of the Austrian Open .

To our most complete dancers, the decathletes who contest the World Ten Dance title, I wish

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD DANCING

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By WDSF Communications on 19 November 2016 18:30