A sport for all ages - this is the jive talk from the Hong Kong DanceSport Association, which spent more than HK$10 million on staging the East Asian Games competition, dominated mainly by China, yesterday.
Kim Cheng, a member of the association's executive committee, believes it is money well spent because dance sport needs the high profile offered by the Games.
It was one event where anyone aged from three to 83 could take part, she said. 'That is the age of our youngest and oldest member.
'To coincide with this competition, our members took part in a march from Kowloon City to Kowloon Bay, and we will be applying for a place in the Guinness World Records for the range of age of our members.'
Age might not be a barrier, but dance sport had to shake a leg to get into these Games after it was originally slated only as a demonstration sport. 'Once the organisers gave us medal-sport status, we decided to have a year-long series of competitions, both local and international, to prepare for this big day. And when you include all the costs over the year, it comes to more than HK$10 million, but thankfully we got some good sponsors,' Cheng said.
Six Hong Kong couples were among the 60 competitors from six countries and regions who took part in the 12 events - split between standard dance and Latin American dance. A packed audience of 2,500 inside the Star Hall, at the Hong Kong International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kowloon Bay, watched the couples go through their moves - from the jive and samba, to the waltz and foxtrot.