The German Open Championship of Stuttgart, Germany is hosting three World Rock ‘n’ Roll Confederation (WRRC) World Championships, and they are all Boogie Woogie. On Friday, August 10th, the Junior and Senior World Championships will commence. We have the pleasure and ability to watch live the Main Series on Saturday, where the bulk of competition lies. Anyone from the age of sixteen years old can compete in this age category.

37 couples from twelve countries are ready to fight for the grand title in the Hegel Hall of the Kultur & Kongresszentrum Liederhalle. By WRRC Ranking, France is at the top of the leaderboard with Thomas Audon and Sophie Allaf representing. We will have the pleasure of watching them go head to head with Juho Päivinen and Mari Munne as well as against Masi Saurén and Anna Tyutyunyuk, both of Finland. Juho and Mari have won the European Championship this year hosted May 19, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. Masi and Anna came in fourth, but Thomas and Sophie did not attend.

As we may see this coming Saturday, August 11th, the placings constantly shift from competition to competition in the Boogie Woogie division, and we are certainly excited to witness this event taking place in Stuttgart.

Boogie Woogie competitors dance two performances per round - a slow dance and a fast. Take a look below at Thomas and Sophie dancing their fast performance last year at the 2017 WRRC World Boogie Woogie Main Class Event.

Now, we shall look at the slow performance taken on by Juho and Mari at the same competition.

As you can see, much stamina must be practiced in order to perform such a style of dance, including great strength for the various tricks executed.

Boogie Woogie also has its own judging system by which the performers are assessed. There are four main qualities that are evaluated: Dance Technique, Dance Figures, Music Interpretation, and Dance Performance. Dance Technique and Music Interpretation account for most of the scoring with 22.5 and 25 maximum points possible for each element respectively.

What is extremely important in this style of dancing is the aspect of leading and following, all executed in harmony. A lot of the dancing is done in hold, either, double hand hold or single hand hold. Both the lady and gentleman have to be connected through the center to create the flow and rhythm between their bodies. They also have to be precise in executing proper foot timing, a critical element of critique for the adjudicators. 

We will keep our eyes out for the beautiful performances of these couples. The effortless feeling of their movement as their upper bodies keep still while their legs and feet show off incredible speed, timing, and placement is truly a joy to watch. Who will conquer the Fast and Slow sections and end up becoming the World Champions of the Boogie Woogie this year? The competitors will sure keep us on our toes as we experience the arena of the German Open Championship taking on the Boogie Woogie World Championship! Stay tuned here at FloDance.