2 Dance Beat <strong>World</strong> 1234 S. Dixie Hwy. # 346 Coral Gables FL 33146 USA phone (+1) 305-531-3087 email info@dancebeat.com Keith Todd Editor Trudy Faust Advertising & Subscriptions Tara Christensen Design Director DANCE BEAT WORLD is published weekly and is registered as a corporation in the state of Florida. Opinions expressed in Dance Beat <strong>World</strong> are not necessarily those of Dance Beat <strong>World</strong>, LLC. or its staff. <strong>World</strong> Artistic Sport Games moving forward for 2012 - Carlos Frietag reports. Dear Didio, As mentioned in Salou, <strong>IDSF</strong> has pushed very hard during the last year to be able to organize, through SportAccord, the <strong>World</strong> Artistic Sport Games, which should be the Games related only to Music, Movement and Rhythm. SportAccord is very interested on the organization of these Games as this could be a very important and great success. They have contacted 8 International Sports Federations, which also have disciplines related to the same three principles and they all are extremely interested (for example Gymnastic, Synchronized Swimming, Artistic Roller Skating, Artistic Cycling, etc). Therefore, everything is going forward. SportAccord has agreed to organize this event for the first time probably in 2012, as many important cities and coun- tries are interested to held them for the first time. From our side we will include into these Games, not only Latin and <strong>Standard</strong>, but also Formation and many of the other DanceSport disciplines which will be included in the future <strong>World</strong> DanceSport Federation. Of course, you can use this information on your website. Best wishes for Christmas and next year. Regards, Carlos Frietag President <strong>IDSF</strong> Letters to Dance Beat <strong>World</strong>......... From Stefano DiFillipo Dear friends of the Dancing <strong>World</strong>, I chose to speak to all of you in this great world of dance that we share,by using the most direct means of communication. Like all of us, at timeswe can feel like “hanging our shoes up” and stopping dancing, becausemaybe we reach a plateau, or find problems in our partnership, cost, orsome other problem. However, if you really want you can always find a way around the problem,everything is possible, real and valid! But I believe it is not acceptable or valid to be put into a difficulty orproblem by the choices and decisions of someone else, which is motivatedby politics and power and not about dance. In particular I am talking about the ban on dancing the biggestcompetitions in the world which are run in England such as the U.K,BRITISH and INTERNA- TIONAL Championships . For dancers they are, and havealways been, something to build for and gauge your success throughout yourcareer. Recently I have been pressured not to dance in U.K. Competitions, and whenon one occasion Olga and I were allowed to dance in England from ourFederation, we found we have to suffer financial consequences afterdancing !!??!! When we danced recently in the International final, contd. pg. 30 From a concerned reader So You Say You Support Freedom To Dance? Dear “Supporters” of Freedom To Dance, For months now I have seen letters written to inspire us and to help our fellow couples rally against the oppressions that have come about due to political fighting between the different dance authorities running our competitive nation. I strongly believe that while some high level individuals might say they support this cause, I feel otherwise. Don’t misunderstand me. I do believe some really do support this cause - not all. I have had multiple personal experiences where certain “supporters” of the freedom to dance movement have not supported the individual dancer during times of need. I want to scream and shout “Hypocrite” at the top of my lunges but of course that would lead to political ruin for my partner and I. If these individuals truly cared about changing the way competitive ballroom is run then they would start changing some of the biggest issues such as how ballroom is judged. If these individuals really wanted to change competitive ballroom they would either dedicate themselves to judging or teaching, not mixing the two together. Having a judge as a teacher brings politics into ballroom. I think that once a dancer retires and if they decide to continue in the dance industry they should have to make a choice. Judging or teaching. I realize contd. pg. 16