The New Year may have only just arrived but already thousands of aspiring ballroom stars from across the World have made their way to the ‘Home of Dance’ The Empress Ballroom to compete at Champions of Tomorrow.
The world-renowned Winter Gardens Blackpool has been pivotal to the development of Ballroom dancing and has hosted dance Festivals for almost 100 years that have come to define the town’s dancing heritage and its position as the number one worldwide venue for Ballroom Dancing.
This last weekend, (3rd to 5th January 2025) The Empress Ballroom and Conference and Exhibition Centre were alive with Ballroom dancers who were in Blackpool for the first dancing event of the new year: Champions of Tomorrow - which attracted over 6,700 entries over 3 days of competitive dance.
Michael Williams, Managing Director of Winter GardensBlackpool commented: “It is a delight to welcome dancers back to Blackpool for Champions of Tomorrow. It is the first of many dance events that we host annually here at the Winter Gardens Blackpool which sees dancers from across the globe travel to Blackpool to compete in the magnificent Empress Ballroom.”
“To our delight the numbers attending our first festival of 2025, meant an expansion across the venue, utilising the Empress Ballroom and the new Conference and Exhibition Centre which received wide praise from competitors and spectators. This year, for the first time, we had a dance school who travelled from Mongolia to compete at the Festival in addition to competitors from 18 other countries.”
Champions of Tomorrow provides opportunities for dancers of all abilities to compete in categories from under 6 years of age right through to seniors, featuring competitions for solos, couples, all girls and ProAm/teacher students.
The scale of this year’s competition was truly impressive, with 426 events adjudicated by 58 experienced judges across two stunning ballrooms: the iconic Empress Ballroom and the modern Conference and Exhibition Centre. Adding to the international flavour, the competition welcomed dancers from three schools in Malta and three schools in Iceland, showcasing the global appeal of this prestigious festival.
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