11 years ago, I could never believe I could insist to act as an organizer of DanceSport Championships and the only performers for the same event for 11th consecutive years!  For the past two years, I have always been thinking of quitting this Mission Impossible.  Fortunately, with the encouragement of my wife Gertrude Ko, I finally made this come true in Hong Kong at the 11th Best of Best Hong Kong Open DanceSport Championships on 2009 Christmas Day!  I was touched from the bottom of my heart that the number of entries and reputations of the Best of Best had been growing every year.   This year's event had to be commenced one hour earlier than last year, even though I had employed all possible ways to save the running time, the competitions finished later than expected, due to record entries for both Couples (over 180 couples) and Solo events (over 50 Solo dancers).   

Several other breakthroughs were recorded at 11th Best of Best : (1st) 14 countries and regions were represented ; (2nd) 18 couples entering Open Professional Standard event ; (3rd) one couple each from Borneo and France, one Solo dancer from Chile enrolled for the first time ; (4th) Prize Presentations were conducted simultaneously outside the Ballroom at the Foyer while the competitions were ongoing inside the Ballroom ; (5th) due to excessive overseas competitors and supporters coming to participate in this event and the extra-ordinary packed hotel occupancy in this year's Christmas in Hong Kong, I had to book three different Official Hotels to accommodate all the guests, competitors and adjudicators from overseas!      

In the evening dinner party, the 6th breakthrough unveiled, i.e. 42 dinner tables were sold out, the best selling for the past 11 years.  This year, I had had an unenviable task of dancing with two partners for two completely new Dance Numbers.  Firstly, I danced an exotic Rumba with tasteful Indian mood with my student Jennifer Lee.  The lift ending was one that I accidentally achieved. Thank God!  Here came the Under 13 Latin, the new format inaugurated from last year - an idea to present the young talent in Hong Kong and South East Asia. The special criteria for choosing the adjudicators for this special event was that all of them had to fly to HK, not by any other transportation.  10 "Qualified" adjudicators from six different countries put their marks for these lucky juvenile couples.  The show had to go on, immediately after the Final for Under 13 Latin, I danced a carnival playful Samba with my wife Gertrude.  Believe me or not,  the ending was not rehearsed at all, fortunately it was dramatic enough to draw unstoppable applause from the audience!  To"settle" the Shout for Encore from the guests, my wife had prepared to teach a Fun Group of Cha Cha Cha to the guests instead of Encoring another number - Ha Ha Ha!  Many guests came out to the floor to learn and dance the steps with us to finalize the Showcase of the night.  The hectic schedule for organizing 5 competitions a year, adjudicating overseas (2 times every month in average), heavy administrative works for our Council, all in all do not allow me to perform with adequate preparations! 11th Best of Best could most likely be the last time for Gertrude & myself to perform Latin-American Dance!

Lawrence Chan

11th Best of Best on 25/12/09

Prize Presentations of Open Professional Latin

Prize Presentations of Open Professional Standard

Lawrence & Gertrude's last performance for Best of Best