The history of the Dance World Cup
In 1972, a young German dancer called Korinna Sohn arrived in London. During her stay she was told of an “All England” dance competition which took place for children every other year. Being a dancer herself she found this fascinating as she had never heard of such a competition before.
So in 1973, she decided to take two pupils from her mother’s dance school in Germany to London to participate in this dance competition. The dancers were very successful and their success made the headlines in Munich and all over Germany. Korinna was delighted.
Korinna decided to return to London again the following year, this time with four other pupils and again they were extremely successful at the event.
In 1980, Korinna decided to retire from her dancing career to take over as Principal of her mother’s dance school.
In 1982, Korinna and a small group of like-minded people got together and founded the “Ballettfoerderkreis Muenchen e.V” which is a charity association for the benefit of children. Their idea was to support children who loved to dance whether they were going to become professional dancers or not.
The first German Dance Competition took place in 1983 in the north of Munich. Korinna wanted to follow the same rules and regulations as the “All England” competition. Dance schools all over Germany were approached to take part in this event. One hundred and fifty children up to the age of sixteen years competed from twenty different German dance schools from as far north as Moelln and Hanover. This new dance competition was held every two years.
Eventually more dance schools entered the event and the German Dance Competition became well known within the country as well as attracting young performers from Austria, Switzerland and Denmark.
In 2000, one of the adjudicators at the German Dance Competition was a Greek dance teacher. She was so fascinated by the idea of the event that she asked the team to help her organise a similar competition in Greece.
Korinna and her team therefore organised the Hellas Dance Festival in 2001 which was an international dance competition for children in Athens, Greece.
The German Dance Competition continued to expand with participants entering from more countries including Russia and China. It had now become an international dance competition and in 2004 the first Dance World Cup competition was formed and the junior dance took place for the first time in the beautiful theatre in Fuerstenfeldbruck near Munich, Germany. Ten international dance schools took part that year including schools from Israel, Nigeria and Mexico.
After 2004 it was decided that Dance World Cup would now become an annual event taking place in a different country each year.
Competitions have been held in the following countries:
2005 Wroclaw, Poland
2006 Faro, Portugal
2007 Jalta, Ukraine
2008 Vancouver, Canada
2009 Jersey, Channel Islands
2010 Sardina, Italy
2011 Disneyland Paris, France
2012 Villach, Austria
2013 Brighton, England
2014 Algarve, Portugal
2015 Bucharest, Romania
2016 Jersey, Channel Islands
2017 Offenburg, Germany
2018 Sitges, Spain
2019 Braga, Portugal
2020 ** Rome, Italy - Postponed due to COVID
2021 Telford, England
2022 San Sebastian, Spain
2023 Braga, Portugal
2024 Prague, Czech Republic
John Grimshaw - Chairman
John initially studied Music and Drama in London, specialising as a soloist in Baroque Trumpet and Organ recitals. His interest in dance was sparked during his time at college, and particularly influenced by its association with Ballet Rambert.
In 1995, after a successful career in finance in Hong Kong, John returned to Jersey to continue his work in the finance industry and began supporting local dance competitions and events being held on the island.
In 2004, while visiting Munich, John attended the Dance World Cup competition and was introduced to Korinna Sohn. Through their ongoing discussions, they established a partnership for DWC Limited, which led to the planning of future events starting in 2009.
The Dance World Cup 2011 was the first competition held under this new company structure, successfully hosted at the Disneyland Paris Newport Bay Convention Centre.
Korinna Sohn - Founder
Korinna, originally from Germany, is the principal of her own school in Munich, where she teaches the RAD and Vaganova methods.
In 1972, Korinna visited London and attended the All England Dance Competition for the first time. She later entered her students into this competition, achieving notable success.
In 1983, Korinna established a dance competition in Germany, now known as the German National Competition and the official German qualifier for the Dance World Cup finals. This annual event laid the foundation for the first Dance World Cup competition, which was held in Greece in 2001.
Over the years, Korinna has introduced children from around the world to the Dance World Cup competitions.
In 2020, Korinna decided to leave the Dance World Cup to explore new opportunities and focus on her personal interests.