The 32nd year celebration of the German Open Championship is soon to commence this coming Tuesday, August 7th, 2018. 5 days of exhilarating competition hosted until Saturday the 11th, various competitive events will take place simultaneously throughout the Kultur & Kongresszentrum Liederhalle and the Maritim Hotel of Stuttgart, Germany, the grand arenas hosting this prestigious event year after year. The Kultur & Kongresszentrum Liederhalle will host events in the Beethoven Hall and Hegel Hall while the Maritim Hotel will host events in its Alte Reithalle (translated as the Old Riding Hall). The Beethoven Hall will be holding the WDSF PD Standard and Latin Professional Super Grands Prix as well as the WDSF Standard and Latin Grand Slams. This is the heart of the competitive arena, where the orchestra chimes in during the quarter-final, live music filling the hall and sending butterflies throughout each and every dancer. The essence of having live music to perform to during a competition is an inexplicable feeling. Any audience member, whether watching from the stands or watching with us here through FloDance live streaming, will notice the effect on the presentations of the couples. Music is everything to dancers. Live music especially fills up the soul and truly allows the performers to live in each and every moment, to show what they love to do more than anything in the world - dance.

If watching live on FloDance, you will be able to take in a bit of the enchanting aura that the GOC arena exudes. One of the many reasons that the German Open Championships of Stuttgart are so prestigious and known worldwide to every single dancer, is exactly because of the atmosphere experienced once there. As soon as one GOC concludes, dancers begin preparing the very next day for the GOC of next year. 

Another reason that accounts for the German Open Championships’ prestige is the combination of its grand locale along with the countless number of vendors, cafes, and restaurants that together form almost a mini dance city and a mini dance mall within one area. To understand this further, just take one look at the many locations of the GOC arena where vendors are located:

Schiller Hall

• dance-point

• Romy Dance Noschese

• Dancing „JULIA“ Kindermoden

• MARABO

• Arte-Creo Styling

• Schiller Hall Foyer

  • Shezhen Nayi Garments Co., Ltd

  • Nico Dancers

  • Dance Shopper

  • TANZTOPSHOP International

  • Wika S.C.

  • AIDA Dance Shoes

  • LEBEDEV - EURODANCELUX

  • BD Dance

  • DSI  London

• Silcher Hall Foyer

  • JFDanze

  • Chursina Style

  • Supreme Designs

• Check-In

  • Studio Anastasia Eremeeva

• Beethoven Hall Foyer (Lower Floor)

  • SUPADANCE Deutschland

  • Chrisanne Clover

  • SAPIEL SRL

  • Abraham Martinez

  • LELLA MILANO

• Beethoven Hall Foyer (Upper Floor)

  • edda hsu 

  • Armando Dance

  • Lalafarjan

  • SWAROVSKI

  • MALYstore

  • Casa musica Musikvertrieb

  • MDM Münzhandelsgesellschaft

  • Ajour Design

• Hegel Hall Foyer

  • RS Atelier

  • Paoul SRL

  • 2HB

  • BM Airbrushtanning

  • DANCEBOX

  • TT Dance Shoes

  • Alfa Fashion

  • Photo Team

  • Charles Dance Shoes

  • Dincher-Vyazoff Ballroom Couture

  • TANIETZ

  • KATIA CONVENTS

  • RS Atelier

  • Atelier Silvia

  • Charming Crystals

  • CHOICE - ERNESSA

  • Azmodel

  • DanceCos Tanning Company

• Hegel Hall Main Entrance

  • EM Salonas

Looking at the list above, it is clear why one may consider the Kultur & Kongresszentrum Liederhalle a mini dance city! There is a great chance that if you plan on attending the German Open for the first time, whether as a dancer, or audience member, you may very well just lose your way around! GOC is any dancer’s dreamland. Aside from competition, you can find new dance shoes, order a new custom-made dress or tail suit, acquire new practice wear, order photographs from the competition itself, get beautified with hair and makeup before your performance, listen to new dance music, and make some new contacts. 

The granditude of the locale invites dancers from all over the world because the capacity of multiple arenas is able to accommodate various events at one time, a greater number of dancers simultaneously. Point blank: GOC is the one of the largest event of WDSF. A marathon for dancers, the multitude of competitors establishes multi-day hosting for one event. For example, currently the WDSF Latin GrandSlam has 293 couples registered thus far. The first round will be hosted on Friday, August 10th, with various heats lasting throughout an array of hours due to the number of registrants. The second round, all the way through to the final, will continue the very next day on Saturday the 11th. In order for all couples to perform, the event must be spread out within two days time! That is a lot of dancing!

As an overview, 2018 is the 32nd year that GOC will be hosted. The very first German Open Championships were held in 1987, running for only three days in the beginning of September in the city of Mannheim at the Rosengarten Congress Center. Only about 600 couples were registered in that beginning year. As of today, GOC now has over 5,000 entries and the competition has stretched to five days length, to a new city, and new venue.

FloDance will be capturing live the wondrous atmosphere of the German Open Championships of Stuttgart beginning this Tuesday the 7th. Make sure to stay tuned to get a taste of the enchantment dancers and visitors of GOC feel as they step into this mini dance city. It’s something you won’t forget.

Watch WDSF Stuttgart live on FloDance.