That was “Hessen tanzt” 2026
The 51st “Hessen tanzt” has come to a close, and it was once again a major dance sport spectacle that brought together many dancers from all over the world at the Frankfurt Ice Rink. There were 2,475 competition entries from 1,392 couples and soloists representing 30 nations (including distant countries such as China, the Philippines, South Africa, and the United States of America).
In addition to 55 open tournaments in various age and skill categories for couple dancing, 15 world ranking competitions were once again held, with the two International Open competitions in the adults group being two of the biggest highlights. Both were won decisively by the reigning German champions. In the standard section, Yahor Boldysh and Irina Averina from Dresden thrilled the audience with their high energy combined with striking elegance. In the Latin dances, Artur Balandin and Anna Salita from Bochum impressed the judges with a combination of powerful expression and high technical precision.
New this year were two solo competitions in the Youth B class, which, with six competitors in the standard section, were not yet very well represented, but the discipline still needs to establish itself. In the Latin section, things looked much better with 25 competitors.
In between, there were also several well-curated performance segments. HTV state coach Omar Qiami, along with three other B-boys, put on a thrilling breaking show. The German Gymnastics Federation sent the “Funtastix” show group from “SV Concordia Welkers”, which presented a creative choreography in the field of show acrobatics featuring elaborate lifts and high throws.
But there was one more highlight to round out the event. For the first time in the long history of “Hessen tanzt,” an international championship was incorporated into the event.
74 couples from all over Europe had come to Frankfurt to perform on the main dance floor (all other dance floors were paused during the European Championships, so that this one received the full attention of all spectators). The European championship title went to Frantisek Beres and Miriam Beresova from Slovakia, while Marc Becker and Nicole Giersbeck from Maintal (Germany) took home the silver medal, and the bronze medal was awarded to Petri and Ulla Jarvinen from Finland.
Another major innovation for the event was that both WDSF courts were streamed live throughout the entire three days. The recording is also available for viewing afterwards at https://sporteurope.tv/dtv. Unfortunately, however — as has been the case with other major tournaments in recent years — there was an imposter who set up a fake Facebook page in an attempt to redirect interested viewers to a fraudulent streaming service. The most reliable way to access the official livestream is via the address listed above or at https://www.tanzsport.de/de/sportwelt/tanzsport-tv.
Speaking of moving images, it’s also worth mentioning that the Hessischer Rundfunk was on site on Sunday and recorded a short segment, which was broadcast that same evening at 7:30 p.m. on Hessenschau. The program will remain available for a few more days via the HR media library (the segment on Hessen tanzt begins around 0:21:30).
Of course, there were also a number of photographers and videographers on site; their names and website links are listed on the press page.
Next year, Hessen tanzt will take place over the Pentecost weekend (May 17–19) and, as a special exception, from Saturday through Monday. Perhaps this will allow even more dancers to come to Frankfurt, to make the event even bigger than it already was this year.