Zhang Chanwen 1215820631@qq.com FRIDAY is the final day of the 19th World Ballroom Dance Championships, which kicked off July 13 at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian District. As one of the three most prestigious dance competitions in the Asia-Pacific region, the competition attracted more than 7,000 contestants from 30 countries and regions. The competition caters to both professional and amateur dancers, and participants’ ages ranged from 3 to 78. The organizing committee invited over 30 international judges as well as more than 120 Chinese judges. As one of the most influential sporting events of its kind, the championship has been held in Shenzhen every year since 2003. It is also listed on the Shenzhen Culture Menu. “It’s really an amazing dancing event, and I have witnessed Chinese competitors improve year by year,” said 82-year-old Robin Short, who is the honorary president of the World Dance Council and has served as a judge for the competition for 19 consecutive years. During the opening ceremony July 17, dancers in the competition’s top-tier categories, which included both professional and amateur categories of modern dance and Latin dance, vied for the championship title. Ultimately, in the professional category of modern dance, Stanislav Zelianin and Irina Cherepanova, from Singapore, secured the championship. Salvo Sinardi and Alexandra Kondrashova, from Italy, claimed the championship in the amateur category of Latin dance. The teenage section, held July 13 to 15, included dancers from Russia, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China, among others. This section of the competition had a friendly atmosphere that facilitated exchanges between young dancers from around the world. Shenzhen Daily photographers Sun Yuchen and Lin Songtao captured some of the competition’s most exciting moments. | 