Dancesport

Phan Hiển (right) and Thu Hương will be competing at the WDSF Vietnam Dancesport Festival 2025 in July in HCM City. Photos courtesy of Khánh Thi

HÀ NỘI HCM City has been selected to host the first-ever WDSF Vietnam Dancesport Festival 2025 in July, which features three large competitions - regional, continental and world championships.

The five-day festival will be at the Military Zone 7 Gymnasium on July 9-13.

It is a joint event of the Sports Authority of Việt Nam, the Việt Nam Gymnastics Federation and Khánh Thi - KTA King The Art Company.

"After tireless effort, we have proved our abilities and finally persuaded the World Dancesport Federation (WDSF) to allow Việt Nam to host an international tournament and we decided to make it three in one," said Khánh Thi, a representative of the Gymnastics Federation.

Khánh Thi, the national 'queen of dancesport', added that a notable highlight of the event was that the women's solo category would be held for the first time after it was recognised as an official event of every dancesport tournament.

She said it would be the first time the Southeast Asian Dancesport Championships are organised and would be an annual tournament.

Previously, dancesport athletes in the ASEAN could only shine through the SEA Games, which is a biennial event.

"Being selected to host unprecedented tournaments not only shows the special trust from the WDSF but also is a clear demonstration of the organisational capacity and reputation of Vietnamese Dancesport on the international sports map," Khánh Thi added.

More than 3,000 athletes will take part in the WDSF Vietnam Dancesport Festival 2025 in July.

Currently, more than 3,000 athletes and 100 referees from 36 countries and regions have registered to dance in HCM City, making it the largest dancesport event in the history of Southeast Asia.

To ensure Việt Nam's high results, coach Khánh Thi covered all expenses to send her Latin dance duos Phan Hiển and Thu Hương, and Ngọc An and Tố Uyên to Asia and Europe for training and competing in WDSF's tournaments since early this year.

Tournaments in China, Malaysia, Denmark and Germany helped them sharpen their skills and collect points for the world ranking.

Meanwhile, coach Chí Anh, who takes charge of the Standard dances category, sent his two pairs, Trung Thực and Ngọc Anh, and Minh Xuân and Gia Linh, to China for intensive training.

“I don’t organise the festival for my fame or profit but because the Vietnamese dancesport community needs a real step forward, being professional, methodical, and capable of connecting with the world,” said Khánh Thi, who paid most of the organisation costs which was estimated around VNĐ7 billion (US$268,000).

"We believe that athletes and supporters will feel happy and proud when the Vietnamese can compete as well as international dancers and wave our flag on the podium," she said.

Ngọc An (left) and Tố Uyên compete in a WDSF tournament in Berlin, Germany in June.

In addition to competitions, the organisers will also open a series of cultural exchange activities, street dance performances and a seminar on coaching, aiming to spread the dancesport movement to the community.

Khánh Thi expected that the festival would inspire people, especially the youth, to take part in dancesport in particular and sports in general.

She said the festival was also to prove that Việt Nam was home to strong dancing athletes and good event organisers. The country would be closer to a plan to become an ASEAN leading dancesport hub. VNS