In this section you can find information about the first dance competition to be known in Europe.
Before Dancing established as sport, each one of the competitive dances had been having its own direction of developing.
Many factors have influenced the forming of the character of a given dance like the social group it originated from, the time it came into being and started developing, and last but not least – the message that the dance brings.
You can have a detailed reading about it if you visit the section about each of the dances you are interested in.
Here I offer Dance History since the moment they differentiated as sport till today.
(It is important to have in mind that the present website doesn’t give a prime source information, thus it is not a good idea to read only from here when you are about to have an exam in “Dance History”, for instance.
Of course, I have done my best so that the information written here is trustworthy – it is taken from at least two different sources, presenting the same point of view.)
The first dance competition to be known in Europe was for the Tango-lovers. It took place in Nice, France in 1907 and was organized by Camille de Rhynal who was a dancer, а choreographer and a dance-instructor at that time.
The dance competition was so successful that it led to organizing the same competition in Paris lately that year and as a result - in 1909 the First World Championship was held also in Paris.
The event soon became annual. Because no World Organization existed at that time and because the competitors came mainly from nearby regions, the Rhynal’s Tournaments are not referred to as World Championships nowadays.
Since 1920 more and more countries have been participating in the Tournament, acknowledging its sports character.
The World Championship held in London in 1922 can be considered to be “The Great Beginning”, where there were different categories, such as Professionals and Amateurs for the first time.