Hannover Offers to Host Wheelchair Dance Championships

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) conducted a site inspection visit to the city of Hannover, Germany, from where a bid application for the 2010 IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships has been received.

The inspection visit took place at the beginning of February, with IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport Manager Athena Charitaki. Ms. Charitaki met with members from the local bid authority to discuss the bid documents, give constructive feedback, answer questions, and to discuss the further steps that need to be taken to host successful World Championships. The Championships would take place at the Convention Centre in Hannover, which is located at the Deutsche Messe.

The Deutsche Messe is the biggest Exhibition Centre in the world, offering a total of 496,000 square metres of covered indoor space, 58,000 square metres of open-air space, and 27 halls and pavilions. Apart from the distinct architecture of the Exhibition Centre’s halls, it has a number of other features, among them its aforementioned Convention Centre with 35 functions rooms.

The previous IPC Wheelchair Dance Sport World Championships occurred last year in Minsk, Belarus. Wheelchair Dance Sport involves athletes with a physical disability that affects the lower limbs. Wheelchair dancers may participate in “combi”-style dancing with an able-bodied (standing) partner or duo-dance for two wheelchair users together. Standard dances include the waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, slow foxtrot and quickstep. Latin-American dances include the samba, cha-cha-cha, rumba, paso doble and jive. There are also Formation dances for four, six or eight couples dancing in formation.