The "Live from Cali" blog will soon get archived too. The next one - "Live from Stuttgart" - is just around corner!
The full-length webcasts of the World Games DanceSport events continue to be available for viewing from the Cali Organising Committee's streaming site. The links are below! 300 photographs taken at the Cañaveralejo bullfighting arena by Helmut Roland have been added to the Gallery.
The World Games 2013 | DanceSport: Standard and Salsa | 28 July
The World Games 2013 | DanceSport: Latin and Salsa | 27 July
To appreciate the importance of The World Games for the participating athletes, one needs to be able to grasp the full range of emotions that they are exposed to during such an event.
German Salsa dancer Aki Kalaitzis had his camera running when he paraded together with his partner Maria and the other members of the DOSB delegation during the Opening Ceremony at the Pascual Guerrero Stadium on 25 July. Watch and share the emotions!
It was not easy to provide you with the usual depth and scope in our reporting as WDSF, like all the other IWGA Member Federations, does not hold any rights to the moving images of The World Games. But the hosts have ensured quality streams on both days of the competition, and communications team member Dr Helmut Roland has recorded what was allowed. Atmosphere, interviews, etc.
With this collection of interviews recorded prior to the competitions the "Live from Cali, COL" coverage on The World Games 2013 is about to conclude ...
Many considered it to be the time of their lives, the most unforgettable experience of their sporting careers ... And that was before the DanceSport competitions of The World Games 2013 got underway at the Cali bullfighting ring. A selection of interviews with athletes competing in Cali on the evening before two nights that lived up to everyone's highest expectations.
One week later, a recovered President Santos put in an appearance at The World Games, congratulating the Colombian athletes as well as the organisers for their respective achievements, and expressing the central government's gratitude with a generous gesture. One that will enhance the city's reputation as "World Capital of Salsa" even further. Keep on dancing, Cali!
In a press conference held at the International Media Centre he singled out the Salsa gold medallists Adriana Ávila - Jéfferson Benjumea as "role models for young Colombians" and pledged the govrenment's financial support for the construction of a "bailodromo" - a dedicated venue for DanceSport - in Cali.
Whereas their peers often resorted to a timid wave or a blown kiss, Sergei and Olga expressed the full range of emotions in a most telegenic way. After every solo dance!
We compared their performances with those of athletes in gymnastics and concluded that they are up to par with the very best there too.
DanceSport athletes still seem to be struggling a little when it comes to making a convincing on-screen appearance ... But things are definitely getting better with every competition where "K&C" is used.
After a rather sluggish start with natural reactions on the part of couples in the Latin competition on 27 July, the Standard couples were given some basic instructions in writing. The script read as follows.
Standard Couples at Kiss & Cry
After you finish your solo dances, you do what you usually do in terms of references to the public (definitely not longer than 10”), afterwards you proceed immediately to the floor exit where you will be expected and taken to the K&C
You set up in front of the screen where you will see the final portion of the replay of your dance … At one point, you will see yourself on this screen – and shortly afterwards you will see the scores appear. Once that happens, try to act naturally but do show some type of a reaction … A kiss, a wave, thumbs up, whatever … Try to think of the TV audience: do something that would make the people remember you. Stay in the K&C zone for 15” … Then turn and walk away slowly.
This K&C not only shows the human face of DanceSport, it also helps to promote you.
HAVE FUN!
"Errare humanum est," which would probably translate into a more contemporary and colloquial "s..t happens," serves as an acceptable excuse.
But some of the media appear intent to narrow their coverage on The World Games 2013 down to the mishap. For three days already. Come to think of it, nobody noticed the error any earlier than Sunday - even though quite a few medals were awarded on Friday and Saturday too.
Well, the TV channels' persistence seemed to have triggered another "s..tstorm" (very contemporary lingo) among the Cali and Cauca Valley residents. They're now calling for a boycott of Caracol and RCN TV, two major national channels ... Under the motto "Cali residents enjoy, the rest complains - one letter will never spoil our party!," they campaign for more spelling tolerance! And for tuning out of Caracol and RCN!
To some, the ballroom was, is and will be, forever, the very essence for the competitive match-up of skills between dancers.
Whether it describes a dance style (Ballroom vs. Latin) or the place where the dances are performed (e.g. Victoria Ballroom at the Ritz), ballroom seems to be an integral part of it all. At least in the Anglo-Saxon perception by some!
The World DanceSport Federation has long made considerable efforts in bringing changes to this perception. Maybe now, after the DanceSport events of The World Games 2013 on 27 and 28 July, many will concur that ballroom - in whatever sense of the word - is no longer appropriate.
When close to 17,000 people come to watch 128 sportsmen and women perform - athletically and artistically - in a setting like the Plaza de Toros Cañaveralejo, ballroom is probably the last thing that comes to mind. When the 17,000 sing Colombia's national anthem together with a very young couple that just won gold in Salsa, there is great formality too, but it's entirely different to the one that is implied by ballroom traditionalists.
It's an anecdote that the two winners of the Salsa gold, Adriana Ávila and Jéfferson Benjumea, tried to put into perspective. "Actually, for us they wouldn't have to change the medal at all," Jéfferson said. "What we have is the medal we were fighting for, the one that we were awarded in front of 16,000 people in an unforgettable night at the bullring."
"This is the medal we won dancing for Colombia, it has our tears and the endearment of the public on it already," is how his partner Adriana sees it.
Ron Froehlich, the President of the International World Games Association, sees the matter differently. "These athletes have worked hard over four years to get their medals, proper spelling is the least they can expect," he said.
1022 new medals will get shipped throughout the world!
As the "Athletes of the Day" they were interviewed by the Cali Local Organising Committee. Adriana and Jéfferson made one thing very clear, besides their trainers and coaches there was another, a divine, entity that intervened to get them to the highest echelon on the podium.
It was the first DanceSport competition ever that had to be halted for rain. Just like Wimbledon! Benedetto Ferruggia and Claudia Koehler, winners of the Standard event at The World Games 2013 Cali, reflect on it ...
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