PARA DANCE SPORT FAST FACTS

1.    Para dance sport was formerly known as wheelchair dance sport until it was rebranded in in 2016.

2.    The first competition was held in 1975 in Vasteras, Sweden.

3.    In 1985, the inaugural unofficial European Championships took place in the Netherlands. The first official Europeans was in 1991 in Germany, and 11 more were held. The most recent was in 2018 in Lomianki, Poland. 

4.    The first World Championships under the IPC umbrella took place in Japan in 1998. There have been nine more World Championships since, the latest being in 2019 in Bonn, Germany.

5.    History was made in 2016 with the first Asian Championships in New Taipei City, Chinese Taipei. 

6.    Freestyle and singles disciplines were introduced in 2014. Both were contested for the first time at a World Championship in 2015 in Rome, Italy. 

7.    Dancers are categorised into either sport class 1 for more impaired, and sport class 2 for lesser impaired. These classifications are specific to each event they compete in.

8.    Disciplines contested in Para dance sport are: standard, Latin, singles and freestyle.

9.    Couples can compete in two events: combi (one standing partner and one wheelchair partner) or duo (both dancers are in wheelchairs). 

10.     Disciplines in couples events are combi standard, combi Latin, combi freestyle, duo standard, duo Latin and duo freestyle.