The Festival began in 1920 in
the Empress Ballroom at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, you can find out
more by visiting our
History section. 2008 sees the event in its 83rd year.
Covering a period of nine days this is by far the largest of all the five
Blackpool Festivals.
The Festival covers Ballroom and Latin American dancing, incorporating the
British Open Championships for Adult Amateur and Professional couples, plus
Formation Teams. 2005 saw the introduction of two new events, the British
Rising Star Amateur Ballroom and Latin Competitions.
The two Invitation events, the Professional Team Match on the Saturday and
the
Exhibition Competition on the Thursday evening, create a vast amount of
interest and crowd appeal.
There were 62 countries represented in 2007 and a total number of 1,829
couples entered the various events.