All Set in the South of Brazil for the World’s Greatest Dance Festival

By Ricardo Wegrzynovski

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian swing, which is one of its people’s features, is taken very seriously by those working with dance; so much that Brazil has held the prize since 2005 and remains unbeatable to this day, as the host of the World’s Greatest Dance Festival.

The event, which takes place every year in July, in Joinville, Santa Catarina, in Brazil’s South, annually welcomes over 230,000 people to watch some 8,000 dancers.

Technical expertise is among the details that define the Joinville Dance Festival as an international reference. Additionally, there is diversity, as several dance categories compete in the festival.

“It is a competition between dance schools of eight dance genres, such as tap dance, jazz, classical, contemporary, and urban dances, in the children, junior, and senior dance groups,” says Ely Diniz, president of the Festival of Dance Institute. This year the event will take place from 16th to 27th July.

The dancers take part in the Competitive Exhibition and also perform at the open stages that are spread around the city. In parallel to the shows, the festival establishes itself as a great school, because during this time there are options for professional improvement, courses, workshops, lectures, debates, and countless actions directed to dancers and choreographers.

“The Joinville Dance Festival has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records since 2005 as the largest dance event in the world, by the number of participants. The trend is for it to continue because there is no record of any other dance event with so many people,” says Ely Diniz.

A small team works year-round to organize the event, employing 1,200 workers, directly or indirectly, at the peak of the Festival.

During the year the groups are selected, and videos are sent, hoping to obtain a spot in the competition. “There are dance schools from all over the country. This year, for instance, they will come from 23 Brazilian states,” Ely Diniz points out.

The Feira da Sapatilha (“Dance Slippers Fair”) is yet another interesting attraction at the Festival. This area is both a stage for dance performances and meeting and sale point for any number of different products, in particular slippers, clothes, and books.

Follow some of the performances of the Joinville Dance Festival, 2018 edition, on the playlist.