Azerbaijan Dance Festival Open to the World and “Night of Dancing Diamonds” - a celebration of dance and beauty in the heart of Baku!

This year, Baku has once again become a center of attraction for dancers and fans of dance art from all over the world. On October 25-26-27, 2024, in the very heart of Azerbaijan at the JW Marriott Absheron, a large-scale dance, sports and cultural event took place for the second time, which united the AzerbaijanDance Festival and the grand evening “Night of Dancing Diamonds”. Three days of dance celebration, the program of which included the WDC World Championship among professionals in the European show program, the European Championship in the Latin American show program and the International Dance Congress.

The organizers of the event were the Azerbaijan Dance Union, led by its President, People's Artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan Tarana Muradova, and the SRDS company, led by Olga Krasnyanskaya and Eldar Dzhafarov.

Baku, with its unique atmosphere, ancient heritage and hospitality, has become a meeting place for true dance connoisseurs. Guests of the festival highly appreciated the majestic architecture and sincere, open people of Azerbaijan. Dancers and spectators noted that holding the championships in Baku gives this event a special zest, making it unique among other dance competitions.

The capital of Azerbaijan was visited by festival participants from more than 20 countries, including Japan, China, Singapore, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkey, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, USA, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, France and many others.

Over the course of two days, Open World tournaments took place in the European, Latin American and American Smooth programs. More than 500 couples and solo performers performed on the floor at the Open World Championships in ballroom, Latin and Smooth dancing among amateurs, youth, juniors and children, and Pro Am couples. The Pro-Am tournament was held in six directions - Latin, Ballroom, American Rhythm, American Smooth, Argentine tango, Caribbean Mix in categories A, B and C.

It is important to note that this year competitions in the Smooth discipline were held in several categories: Solo Smooth among Juveniles and Juniors, among pairs of Juniors and Professionals. Smsusists, despite such an early age of the discipline, demonstrated the highest level of dancing. Bravo!

The highlight of the Azerbaijan Dance Festival this year was the WDC World Championship among professionals in the European show program, the winners of which were Vladlen Kravchenko and Marianna Butuzova, as well as the European Championship in the Latin American show program, where Andrey Larin and Nina Trautz became gold medalists.

On October 27, SRDS presented the Azerbaijani public with a unique gala show “Night of Dancing Diamonds” for the third time, which brought together the best dancing couples in the world. The final performances of the WDC World Championship among professionals in the European show program and the WDC European Championship in the Latin American show program became the highlight of the Night of the Dancing Diamonds. Competitions of this level are held here for the third time and are a landmark world dance event for Azerbaijan. The host of the gala show was the Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, People's Artist of Russia, President of the Russian Dance Union, Honorary Vice-President of the World Dance Council, President of the Euro-Asian Dance Council - Stanislav Grigorievich Popov.

On October 25, within the framework of the Azerbaijan Dance Festival, the International Dance Congress was held, which became a real academy of excellence for all participants.

Famous world experts in the field of ballroom dancing performed at the congress, including GaynorFairweather, Donnie and Heidi Burns, Mirko Saccani, Robin and Rita Short, John Kimmins, Caterina Arzenton, BarbaraMcColl, Hannes Emrich, Olga Foraponova, Talat Tarsinov, Eldar Dzhafarov and Anna Sazhina, Warren Boyce, Alessio Potenziani, Alex Ivanets, Viktor Nikovskiy, Ruslan Aidaev, Evgeniy Smagin, Polina Kazachenko. The Congress has become an integral part of the festival, providing the opportunity to personally communicate with world leaders of dance art and gain insight into their professional experience.

The special atmosphere of the festival was created by the accompaniment of a symphony orchestra led by Boris Myagkov, who for the second year created stunning musical arrangements of the most famous musical works of Azerbaijan.

At the Azerbaijan Dance Festival on October 28, another important event took place in Baku: an international cooperation agreement was signed between the Baku Choreographic Academy and the Chelyabinsk State Institute of Culture.

As part of the signing of this agreement, the first founding conference was held, where reports were presented by leading experts in the field of choreography, such as Stanislav Popov, Valentin Reshetnikov, Talat Tarsinov and Eldar Dzhafarov, as well as the first practical seminar on the Solo Smooth® discipline, organized with the support of SRDS and AzDC.

At the end, according to tradition, festival guests plunged into the culture of Azerbaijan: excursions to the sights of Baku with the legendary guide Fuad Akhundov made this day special.

These three days were a real celebration of art: from exciting performances to vivid emotions and impressions that will remain in the memory for a long time. The dancers captivated the audience with their beauty, skill and incredible charisma, and the atmosphere of the festival made everyone feel like they were part of this enchanting show.

Special words of gratitude to the partners and sponsors of the festival:

To the general partner and sponsor of the festival, co-founder of the Azerbaijan dance festival & Night of the DancingDiamonds, SRDS Company, led by its president, Olga Krasnyanskaya.

Official partners of the festival:

JW Marriott

Premium Park Hotel

The Port club baku

Official Sponsors:

AZAL - Azerbaijan airlines

VilaVermont

The Heritage

Vertango Design

Merci Baku restaurant

Information partners:

Trend.az

Milli.az

Day.az

Azernews

AzTV

ITV

Medaniat TV

In Group production

The Azerbaijan Dance Festival has once again proven that Baku is an ideal place for growth and inspiration in the world of dance, where you want to return again and again.

We sincerely thank all the participants, winners, guests, colleagues, partners and everyone who became part of the first Azerbaijan Dance Festival and thanks to whom this three-day celebration of dance and beauty took place! We look forward to seeing you next year at Azerbaijan Dance Festival 2025.

Festival results:www.wdcdance.com/Baku2024/