The Blackpool Dance Festival has been part of Blackpool, England`s history for over eighty years. It is the oldest the most famous, the biggest and most prestigious Dance Championship Competition in the world.

In the year 1920, during Easter week, Blackpool held its first Dance Sport Festival.  The site of this dance championship competition was the Blackpool Tower in the magnificent and glorious Express Ballroom in the Winter Gardens.  The Blackpool championship competition included all traditions of the ballroom dance sport:  Proper dance etiquette... including proper code of behavior, good manners, proper protocol and proper attire .   The Dance Festival featured a live orchestra, which played traditional classical ballroom dance music.  The women who competed wore elegant formal evening dresses, which were fashionable during this time.  The men wore traditional formal tail suits.

It is amazing how much ballroom dancing has changed over the years.The Blackpool Dance Festival to this day has managed to preserve all the old ballroom dance traditions that were present at the beginning of the twentieth century {1920} Blackpool competition.  It still has the same live orchestra, the same dance etiquette, the same protocol, and the same requirement for proper attire. The site of this world famous festival is still at the Blackpool Tower in the Express Ballroom in the Winter Gardens.

Over the years, the required number of dances, the style and technical requirements began to change.  In the early first festivals in the 1920`s Modern Ballroom {English Style} and Latin American dances had not yet been introduced.   Blackpool Festival Competitors danced only three simple dances--the Waltz, the Two Step and the Fox trot.   These were not difficult dances.  All couples were required to dance the same routine around the floor.    Soon they added new dances and styles.  The technique and syllabus began to become more difficult. People during this period also began to become interested in the "English Style" of Dancing and the competition requirements began to change.   In 1961, they introduced Latin American Dancing.    This style had a major impact on the Blackpool Festival Competition and the rest of the Dance Sport World.  The dances were becoming much faster, and the choreography more difficult. The choreography began to be more active with more tricks and drops, that were unheard of in the 1920`s.  

The style of costumes changed too. The costumes began to emphasize the body`s shape and movement.  The costumes began to be lighter and skimpier.  They became more colorful with various color combinations.

In 2005, they added new categories, The British Rising Star Amateur Ballroom and Latin Competition, and two invitational events, a professional Team Match and an Exhibition Competition.

The Dance Festival moved to May in the early twenty first century.  To this day, it is still in May.  Blackpool Dance Festival is always at the same time every year. It was and still is a gala celebration for the dancers.

Today, in 2008, they dance ten different dances.  Waltz, Tango, Viennese Waltz, Fox trot, and Quick step (Standard) and Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive (Latin)

The winners of Blackpool feel like the king and queen of the dance world. Only the most famous and the most respected adjudicators in the world adjudicate this world famous competition.  They are all former champions or former finalists of Blackpool themselves; nobody can ever argue the decision of these distinguished adjudicators.

Blackpool Dance Festival has never been and never will be just an ordinary championship competition.  It is famous, prestigious and glamorous.  It is the dream of every dancer in the world to have the opportunity to dance in the Blackpool Dance Festival!