| Article | : | The Singapore Millennium 2002
International Open DanceSport Championships
On the spot report by
Werner J. Braun
We came by the official airlines of the event, the Airsilk Singapore Airlines. Twelve and a have hours from Frankfurt to Changi Singapore International Airport - a long time but a wonderful experience. Charming and very polite stewardesses took care of us and made us the flight more than comfortable.
John and Josephine Tan Dance Creative, the organiser of the event took us to the hotel, the Peninsula Excelsior, where a wonderful welcome dinner made us familiar with the high standard of Chinese cooking and gave us the opportunity to find out whether we did not forget to eat with the Asian sticks.
The event of the Championships took place at the Gala Hall of the Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre, a very attractive and suitable place for such a high-class competition. The organising committee under chairman John Tan and co-chairman Mrs. Elizabeth Sam and especially Mrs. Josephine Tan did everything to make the officials and the foreign couples feel at home. They new how to organise a championship. No questions were necessary: Each judge received his file with all the important information, the exact judging time table and the vouchers and badges needed.
Mr. Yeo Cheow Tong, Minister for Transport, held the umbrella of the event and participated as Guest of Honour. In his foreword he congratulated John and Josephine Tan for being the organisers of "this very prestigious Millennium Series of International DanceSport Competitions in Singapore". He continued: "Bringing international talent to compete here is an effective way of raising local standards, both for amateurs and professionals. It also helps to promote the sport, which is one that everyone, regardless of age or station in life, can enjoy. It is a life-long healthy pursuit, a good way to have fun, socialize and, at the same time, keep fit".
It was the third of their Millennium series and was accepted very well in the DanceSport scene. More than 360 international competitors from 30 countries participated. Among those were competitors from Australia, Belgium, China, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Thailand, Ukraine, USA and Singapore.
The frame program as well was of high class: Bryan Watson & Carmen, the current Professional Latin World Champions with an outstanding show performance and Luca Tonello and Ekaterina Baroulina, Russia, and Fabio Bosco and Marina Ferrari, Belgium, the currant Professional UK Rising Star Standard Champions, with their enchanting show "Dreams". A very big success as well had the German Formation A Team of Post SV Berlin with a very appealing Standard Formation presentation. It surely was a highlight of the evening!
The organisers were happy to have found generous sponsors who allowed them to realise their plans. To name just a few out of the 33 names and companies listed in the program: The Lee Foundation, Mastercard, City Bank, Mondial Jewellers, Raffles Hotel, the Singapore Airlines, The Hour Glass Ltd, The Peninsula Excelsior Hotel and many more. John and Josephine also built up a good co-operation with the leading DanceSport Associations, such as Lien Shui Seng, President of the Chinese DanceSport Union, Sunny Low, President of Singapore Ballroom Dance Teacher`s Association, Steven Han, President Singapore Professional Ballroom Dancers´Association and Ng Geng Whye, Chairman of the Amateur DanceSport Association Singapore, the official IDSF Member. This co-operation was especially important: It guaranteed that the comp of the amateur classes stood under the rules of IDSF and only IDSF licensed adjudicators were on the floor. This underlined the importance of DanceSport in Singapore. Remember, at the 35th GAISF Congress and Assembly held in Singapore last October, DanceSport was the only sport invited to give a presentation to all the international sports federation delegates and officials.
The panel of international DanceSport adjudicators was as well very renowned: 12 countries were invited: Under David Roberts, England, as Chairman of the judges, we saw the following officials: Susan Walker and Tony Bennet, England; Philip Banyer and Svitlana Verbytska, Switzerland; Glen Tierney and Keith Collins, Australia; Werner J. Braun, Bryan Watson and Carmen Vincelj, Germany; Julia Nagorska and Sergey Dorogovtsev, Ukraine; Branko Bohak, Slovenia; Jaroslav Krticka and Jana Krtickova, Czech Republic; Steven Han, Singapore, Chong Kim Yee and Y.S.Lee, Malaysia; Allan Tan Hwa Heng, Singapore; Lien Shui-Seng and Chen Lien Wei, Taiwan; Walter Luk, Hong Kong and Morakot Chantarat, Thailand. As Scrutineer we saw Agnes Ang, Singapore.
A full day was needed for the different classes, because either discipline were performed, by the Amateurs as well As by the professionals; Standard and Latin. The evening event was organised as a high class Candle Light Dinner Gala. The huge hall was crowded with a great audience who gave all the competitors a lot of hearty applause.
We were enthusiasted by the flair of Singapore, the cleanest city of the World. Singapore, the "Town of the Lion" when you translate the name. 5o years ago it still was a tiny tropical swamp island which turned into the most glamorous City of Asia nowadays. Glastowers, Luxury Hotels and everything shining clean. The city seems to be just a giant supermarket. An El Dorado for shopping enthusiasts! Singapore for example has one of the most modern airports of the World. The orchid gardens inside, the spacey and overwhelming modern architecture just makes you speechless. And the service - especially of the air companies - is just great. Coming from Malaysia we had to wait for some hours to get our connecting flight back to Frankfurt. To fill the time gap we were offered a complete guided sightseeing tour of Singapore including a River Kwai boat trip - and this free of charge. We did not regret to have accepted this generous offer. It just was like a dream!
For your notebook: The Singapore Millennium 2003 International Open DanceSport Championships will be held on March 30th, 2003.
Werner J. Braun
The Results:
Professional Standard Open
1. Mirko Selli/Marika Selli - Italy
2. Tomas Atkocevicius/Aira Bubnelyte - Lithuania
3. Adam Reeve/Karen Bjork - Iceland
4. Jason Thomas/Erin Lowe - Australia
5. Sami Yli-Pilpari/Karita Lehto - Finland
6. Tassilo Lax/Sabine Lax-Hoffman - Germany
Professional Latin Open
1. Markus Homm/Charlotte Egstrand - Denmark
2. John Byrnes/Jane Lyttleton - England
3. Adam Reeve/Karen Bjork - Iceland
4. Davide Gabusi/Claudia Tavalazzi - Italy
5. Sammy Ventura/Debbie Inskip - England
6. Sami Yli-Pilpari/Karita Lehto - Finland
Amateur Standard Open
1. Marco Cavallaro/Joanne Clifton - England
2. Zoran Plohl/Tatsiana Lahvinovich - Slovenia
3. Mario Maiello/Giovanna Maiello - Italy
4. Andrzej Sadeck/Karina Nawrod - Poland
5. Aleksi Tuominen/Kati Miettinen - Finland
6. Volker Schmidt/Ellen Jonas - Germany
Amateur Latin Open
1. Olexandr Prysyazhnyuk/Angelina Lokteva - Ukraine
2. Darren Bennett/Lylia Kopylova - England
3. Zoran Plohl/Tatsiana Lahvinovich - Slovenia
4. Alexander Sokolov/Julia Chernova - Russia
5. Mark Perkovich/Lauren Allen - Australia
6. Aleksi Tuominen/Kati Miettinen - Finland |
