The 2015 WDSF World Latin Formation Championships were held in Wiener Neustadt, Austria on December 12th.
For the previous three years, GGC Bremen had hosted, and won, the competition in their home town. The last time the Championships were NOT won by the host team was in 2008, also in Wiener Neustadt, when Zuvedra memorably won with their Bond routine. Consequently, there was much excitement and anticipation about the 2015 competition and whether Bremen could win again, or if the Russian teams could challenge their title! Excitingly, many teams were also performing new routines, including four of the six finalists.
XS Latin B team were invited to represent England as the second team and made their second appearance at a World Championship (their first being two years ago). Many of the B team dancers were making their first international appearance, and for one dancer it was her first ever formation competition. They drew 10th, and performed Vogue with customary enthusiasm, showing much improvement since 2013 and embracing the experience. A video of their performance is available here.
XS Latin A team drew 18th and were feeling encouraged after months of good training sessions and great team cohesion. They walked on to the floor with confidence to perform The Girl from Tiger Bay for the last time, and produced what they considered to be their best performance to date, which can be viewed here.
Based on this, the team was disappointed not to make the semi-final and to place 14th; however, less than one point separated the teams placing 9th-14th, showing that these six teams were all closely matched and XS were pleased to beat the 9th placed team in two of the four marked categories (Movement to Music and Team Skills). The team and coaches were proud to say goodbye to The Girl from Tiger Bay with such a performance, and, following the incredible support received in their crowdfunding campaign, are now extremely excited about what their new, as-yet-secret routine will bring in 2016!
Stu Cork, who joined XS in 2010 and is now one of the team’s most experienced dancers, was delighted and privileged to become the second XS member to be invited to read the Competitors’ Oath during the opening ceremony (the first being Rachel Hardisty, at the 2012 Championship).
Bremen presented a reimagined version of their iconic, World Championship winning Rocky routine, last performed in 2007. The risk paid off, and after dancing a strong final with their classic choreography were the clear winners. Duet Perm placed second, but were the audience favourites with The Race, a very fast and innovative routine with many extremely difficult tricks. Their walk-off included a memorable effect involving the men emulating a moving wheel and the majority of the crowd rewarded them with a standing ovation. The vast difference in style and direction between the two choreographies was obvious and caused much debate amongst dancers following the competition.
Vera Tyumen debuted their routine Mars and Venus to take third place. Aachen-Dusseldorf gave a much stronger performance of their Showstars – Rise and Shine! routine than that given at the recent German Championships, overcoming the challenges of a large recent turn-over of dancers to place fourth.
HSV Zwolfaxing, the host team, gave an aptly beautiful performance of It’s a Beautiful Day, the last time they will perform this routine at the World Championships, placing fifth. The final spot in the final was taken by Schwarz-Gold Wien debuting Invictus.
XS Latin would like to thank HSV Zwolfaxing for all their work in organising this year’s World Championships.
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