- International competition features participants from across the world.
- Expected to attract 3,500 competitors and an additional 2,000 parents to Jersey next summer.
- Read about the history of the event below.
JERSEY will welcome thousands of visitors from around the world next summer after it was announced that the Island will hold the 2016 Dance World Cup.
The event, which is expected to attract 3,500 competitors aged between four and 25 and an additional 2,000 parents, will be held at Fort Regent and the Opera House in the last week of June 2016.
- Ballet and Demi-Character
- Fusion Ballet
- Hip Hop and Street Dance
- Jazz and Showdance
- Modern and Contemporary
- National and Folklore Dance
- Song and Dance
- Tap Dance
It will be the second time that Jersey has hosted the World Cup, which features dancers competing in the genres of ballet, modern dance, tap, song and dance, hip-hop, national, jazz and show dance.
Since it was last held in the Island six years ago, the competition has grown significantly, with 30 countries, including Japan, Malaysia, South Africa and Mexico, due to be represented in 2016, compared to just 18 in 2009.
Islander John Grimshaw, chairman of the Dance World Cup, said that Jersey was chosen ahead of a number of major European cities to hold the event.
‘We are really lucky to get this event,’ he said. ‘The core countries of Italy, Germany and Portugal, who enter the largest teams, asked to come back after having such a good experience in 2009.
‘This is the Island’s chance to show people what we can do.
‘We have been really well supported by Economic Development and Tourism and we are very excited about next June.’
- The Dance World Cup is the worlds biggest amateur dancing contest.
- The entire event is run and funded by a Jerseyman, John Grimshaw.
- Despite having no previous interest in dance, Mr Grimshaw was so impressed by what he saw when he watched the first contest in Germany back in 2004 that he decided to get involved.
- After being financially involved with the following four Dance World Cups, John was then asked whether Jersey would like to hold the contest in 2009.
- The 2008 contest in Sardinia was the first year that Team Jersey entered.
- Following the 2009 Dance World Cup at Fort Regent it was decided to change the way that the international contest was run and it was felt that a management team was needed to uniform and brand the competition.
- In 2010, Dance World Cup Limited was established – a Jersey-registered company of which John is chairman
- Born in Jersey, John was educated at Le Rocquier School, Victoria College and Jersey College for Girls where he was the first ever male student before going to college in the UK to take a degree in music and English.
- In 1986 he was responsible for setting up the Jersey Symphony Orchestra and he was also a former chairman of the trophies for the Jersey Eisteddfod in the late 1980s.
- During this period he was also chairman of the Caesarean tennis club.
- He has been involved with the Dance World Cup after being impressed when he watched the first contest in 2004 and has been the chairman of Dance World Cup Limited since 2010.
The history of the Dance World Cup
In 1972, a young German dancer called Korinna Soehn arrived in London. During her stay she was told of an ‘All England’ dance competition which took place for children every other year. Being a dancer herself she found this fascinating as she had never heard of such a competition before.
In 1973, she decided to take two pupils from her mother’s dance school in Germany to London to participate in this dance competition. The dancers were very successful and their success made the headlines all over Germany. She returned with four other pupils the following year.
In 1980, Korinna decided to retire from her dancing career to take over as principal of her mother’s dance school.
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- China
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Egypt
- England
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Guernsey
- India
- Italy
- Japan
- Jersey
- Kazakhstan
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Nigeria
- Northern Ireland
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- South Tyrol
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United States [/breakout]
In 1982, Korinna and a small group of like-minded people got together and founded the “Ballettfoerderkreis Muenchen e.V” – a charity association for the benefit of children. Their idea was to support children who loved to dance whether they were going to become professional dancers or not.
The first German Dance Competition took place in 1983 in the north of Munich. Korinna wanted to follow the same rules and regulations as the ‘All England’ competition.
As the years went on, more dance schools entered the event and the German Dance Competition became well known within the country as well as attracting young performers from Austria, Switzerland and Denmark.
In 2000, one of the adjudicators at the German Dance Competition was a Greek dance teacher. She was so fascinated by the idea of the event that she asked the team to help her organise a similar competition in Greece, which they did in 2001.
The German Dance Competition continued to expand with participants entering from more countries including Russia and China. It had now become an international dance competition and in 2004 the first Dance World Cup competition was formed and the junior dance took place for the first time in Fuerstenfeldbruck near Munich, Germany. Ten international dance schools took part that year including schools from Israel, Nigeria and Mexico.
After 2004 it was decided that the Dance World Cup should become an annual event taking place in a different country each year.
Dance World Cup venues to date:
2004 – Fuerstenfeldbruck, Germany
2005 – Wroclaw, Poland
2006 – Faro, Portugal
2007 – Jalta, Ukraine
2008 – Vancouver, Canada
2009 – Jersey
2010 – Sardina, Italy
2011 – Disneyland Paris, France
2012 – Villach, Austria
2013 – Brighton, England
2014 – The Algarve, Portugal
2015 – Bucharest, Romania
2016 – Jersey
