Past Activities

Euro Dance Festival 2007

Dance festival of superlatives at Europa Park

3.700 m² of newly laid laminate for 4,500 dance enthusiasts

The world’s best dancers, trainers and choreographers for standard and Latin American dance, as well as Salsa, Discofox, Tango, Swing, Hip Hop and Break-dance met at the Europa Park. In collaboration with Freiburg-based Gutmann Events, the first “Euro Dance Festival” took place at Germany's largest amusement park between 21st and 24th February 2008. Visitors could choose from over 200 workshops and receive instruction from the world’s best trainers and choreographers. A huge programme of shows, presentations and more concerning dance completed the event.

Around 4,500 dance enthusiasts visited the Euro Dance Festival over the four days. Two-thirds of visitors came from across Germany and neighbouring countries, Hesse and Bavaria were heavily represented in the visitor numbers.

Anyone could take part who had previously taken dancing lessons who just loved to dance, as the workshops were split into different levels of ability. Visitors could learn all the moves – from the basic steps to demanding combinations. Even absolute professionals could discover a whole range of new things.

The installation work in the dance halls at Europa Park may also have been record-breaking. More than 3700m² of high-quality laminate was installed in just a week – equivalent to 18,754 individual pieces of laminate and a weight of 100 tonnes. Thanks to its numerous buildings which are used throughout the year for a large number of conferences and events, Europa Park offered dance enthusiasts huge scope for personal development and maximum dance enjoyment.

Famous TV stars including Isabel Edvardsson, winner of the RTL show "Let's Dance" or 2005 Dance Star Kenny Dressler shared their knowledge in the workshops, as did reigning world champions in various dance styles, which wowed guests in various dance shows. Fusion, Jürgen Neudeck and Kristina & Peter Stokkebroe also added to the workshops with their presence in the first ever Euro Dance Festival at the Europa Park.

The diverse daily programme was rounded off all four evenings by spectacular dance parties which held across several dance floors with live music and world-class dance shows. Winner of the Euro Dance Trophy Latin, the international dance tournament on Saturday evening, was the undisputed top pair in Latin American dance, Kristina & Peter Stokkebroe, whose perfect preformance wowed spectators and jury alike. On Friday, Isabel Edvardsson and partner Markus Weiß managed to win the Euro Dance Classics tournament with their glamourous and stylish routine.

Participants also had the chance to demonstrate what they had learnt in the workshops on the various dance floors in the evening. For all those who could not experience this event this time round, there is a good chance that the festival will also take place next year due to the thoroughly positive resonance it generated. Matthias Blattmann, one of the three owners of the Gutmann dance school: “We were all very positively surprised about the amount of interest visitors had not only in their own dance styles but also other directions, also about well everything had fit together harmoniously and the easy and uncomplicated manner with which participants approached each other. An event of this size is only possible with the support of partners and associations, and a good level of cooperation, which worked out in the best possible way.”

The Europa Park is open daily from 9am-6pm during the summer season 2008 between 15th March and November 2nd, extended opening hours in the peak season.

Winter season: 6. December 2008 to 11th January 2009. (not 24./25/12. 2007).

More information: www.europapark.de