This weekend Seoul played host to a huge gathering of professional and amateur dancers.
Not ballet, but ballroom and Latin dance.
It was the Korea Open International Dance Championship.
Dancesport, as it's called, and the Korea Open itself... are growing fast.
Our Park Hee-jun was there.
In the past couple of decades, dancing has become more than a Saturday night pastime
-- it's a competitive sport, and for many, a lifetime passion.
On Saturday, thousands of people who share that enthusiasm came together in Seoul to
paticipate in the 2018 Korea Open International Dance Championship -- the sixth event of its
kind.
"Dance, for us, is everything.
We have nothing left other than this.
And I have never thought about stopping.
I never even have a small thinking about taking a break or resting a few months.
Never."
"This is my life, that I cannot live without.
I love dancing, I love the music, and I love the movement, and I love to dance with my
partner.
So I don't think I could really stop to dance."
This is Korea's largest international dancesport competition.
And it's not only for professionals -- amateurs just looking to have fun can join in too.
Around 2-thousand dancers took part in this year's Korea Open, coming from the United
States, Europe, China, Japan and elsewhere.
They competed in 5 disciplines of Latin dance -- rumba, cha cha cha, samba, jive, and paso
doble,... and 5 of Ballroom dance -- waltz, tango, quick step, fox trot and Viennese waltz.
"This event is very special because normally European competitions do not play with a live
band.
We're a very special competition- we have a live band, we have many judges here.
And as you can see all the audience-- the ticket power is fabulous in our event.
Recognized by the World Dance Council as one of the most attractive international dance
competitions,... the Korea Open is more than a sporting event -- it's a celebration.
Participants and spectators can marvel at the music and the dancing -- while sharing
their love for dance.
The organizers plan to promote the event even more down the road... to boost the popularity
of dancesport... and to build up the heat for next year.
Park Hee-jun, Arirang News.
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