Unlike at the international level where DanceSport has long been appreciated , locally dance is still widely interpreted as nothing close to a sport. However this is drastically changing following the initiation of Uganda DanceSport Federation in mid-2018. UDSF was and is still faced with a challenging task to create awareness about dance as a sport all over the country.
Following a number of DanceSport awareness programs spread out in all regions of Uganda, DanceSport began to attract acceptance and appreciation from many active dance athletes and other stakeholders but like any new idea, there was need for continued explanation about what makes dance a Sport.
In the efforts to streamline the UDSF governance and technical systems, Regional DanceSport Associations and District DanceSport Associations were created with an aim to have DanceSport well-structured from grassroots. Currently DanceSport is in 116 districts of Uganda. Through these District Associations, leaders, judges, trainers, athletes and event organizers are identified and educated about DanceSport through UDSF capacity building courses and workshops.
All that done, the public perception and dancers interpretation maintained a certain level of ambiguity in terms of DanceSport classification alongside other sports and how to different DanceSport from recreational dance. Dance as a Sport demands four sporting elements which include physicality, technicality, musicality, performativity and creativity. DanceSport being a qualitative rather than a quantitative sport, it calls for critical observation and understanding of the technicalities of a specific DanceSport discipline by the judges to guide their decisions.
UDSF being the regulatory body, it directly involved its Sports Commission in the organization of the pioneer Breaking DanceSport Championship which was labeled “UDSF Breaking For Gold”. These were regional qualifiers for the WDSF World Breaking Championship 2021 in Paris, France. The qualifiers were held in Westnile, Buganda, Kampala and Northern Uganda regions. UDSF used the qalifers to select two Breaking boys (Bboys , Ndawula Ronald and Kayiira Ibrahim who represented Uganda at the WDSF World Breaking Championship 2021.
By the end of 2021, UDSF had acquired provisional membership status to its international body, the World DanceSport Federation. Soon thereafter in February 2022, UDSF was fully recognized by National Council of Sports and Uganda Olympic Committee as the National regulatory body responsible for the promotion, protection and development of DanceSport in Uganda. UDSF has set its aims high enough to ensure persistent development of DanceSport and preparing top athletes to represent Uganda at all International DanceSport Championships and Games.
