Sidewalk Entertainment Inc.
Creator of STEPIN, the Official Dance Esports Platform of WDSF
Forging the Future of Virtual Sport and Dance Esports
Ratified at the 2026 WDSF Annual General Meeting in Rome, Sidewalk Entertainment Inc. has officially partnered with the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF). This historic agreement designates Sidewalkâs proprietary AI-powered platform, STEPIN, as the Official Dance Esports Platform of the WDSF, establishing a comprehensive ecosystem for a brand-new discipline: physical esports.
Founded as an innovative technology startup specializing in real-time, on-device motion-recognition artificial intelligence, Sidewalk Entertainment Inc. is transforming the global sports landscape. By utilizing advanced computer vision, the STEPIN platform precisely evaluates and scores performance using only a smartphone camera, eliminating the need for expensive hardware and democratizing access to competitive dance worldwide.
A Structured Pathway for Virtual Athletes
Through this collaboration, WDSF and Sidewalk are co-developing a dedicated international tournament structure within the STEPIN platform, seamlessly transitioning global online qualifiers into official National, Continental, and World Championships. To support National Member Bodies (NMBs) and grassroots development, the STEPIN Tournament Toolkit enables local federations to run automated competitions with zero operational overhead, allowing organizers to independently secure and integrate their own local sponsorships.
To ensure financial flexibility, Sidewalk provides a highly cost-effective digital alternative to traditional offline events, designed to adapt to various tournament scales. Under this framework, smaller grassroots competitions can be hosted free of charge to encourage frequent participation, while larger-scale tournaments are subject to scalable service fees that still remain significantly more cost-effective than traditional event operations. Furthermore, to assist with institutional planning and transparency, Sidewalk works closely with the WDSF to provide indicative, non-binding cost estimates and scenarios upon request, ensuring that federations can map out their digital tournament strategies with confidence before execution.
Safeguarding Integrity and Honoring Tradition
Addressing institutional demands for fairness, STEPIN utilizes a rigorous hybrid judging system where objective, tamper-resistant AI logs manage high-volume qualifiers, while elite finals blend automated technical data with human insight from WDSF-appointed judges. Furthermore, the partnership introduces an innovative revenue-sharing model engineered to protect copyright and properly compensate choreographers globally.
As DanceSport expands into the digital frontier, both organizations remain deeply committed to preserving the artistic soul of the discipline, ensuring that tradition and innovation work hand in hand to empower the next generation of athletes, fans, and creators worldwide.
Discover more about Sidewalk Entertainment Inc. and the future of virtual dance at Sidewalkplay.com
Published on 6 July 2026 (last update on 6 July 2026)