Netherlands Latin Dance Awards & Stage Competition
The Issue
Initiator: Stichting Latin Fire | info@latinfire.net | KVK: 97109738 | Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Letter of Intent & Community Support
Netherlands Latin Dance Awards & Stage Competition
Dear Sir / Madam,
We, the undersigned — a broad coalition of Latin dance professionals, schools, performers, event organizers, DJs and musicians from across the Netherlands — write this letter in full and enthusiastic support of the Latin Dance Awards & Stage Competition, an initiative led by Stichting Latin Fire (KVK: 97109738, Rotterdam).
We believe this project is long overdue. The Netherlands has one of the most active and diverse Latin dance communities in Europe, yet it is the only major European country without a nationally recognized stage competition or professional awards platform for salsa and Bachata. Professionals work in isolation, without opportunities for mutual recognition, quality exchange or collective visibility. Latin Fire Connect will change this — and we are proud to stand behind it.
What We Are Supporting
The Latin Fire Awards & Stage Competition is a long-awaited revival of professional Latin dance recognition in the Netherlands, bringing together...
1. Professional Stage Shows
Open to professional solo and couple performers from across the Latin dance sector — salsa, Bachata, and related styles. Participants present carefully choreographed stage performances in front of a professional panel and a live audience. This is not a classic competitive format: it is a showcase designed to elevate the art form, inspire peers, and create a visible national stage for professional talent that currently has no such platform in the Netherlands.
2. School Show Competitions
Open to dance schools and studios across the Netherlands. Schools enter choreographed group or team performances representing their own style and pedagogy. The school show competition serves as a quality benchmark, a celebration of the teaching craft, and a bridge between the professional community and the next generation of dancers. It creates healthy, friendly rivalry that motivates schools to invest in their artistic output and collective standards.
3. Star Gate Competition — Professional Open Category
The Star Gate is the open competitive category for established professionals: an invitation to test their skills against peers, receive structured feedback from international evaluators, and be recognized by their own community. While competitions exist within individual festivals across the Netherlands, there is currently no dedicated national platform that brings the professional circuit together in one place, with consistent standards and cross-community recognition. Countries like the UK, Germany and Spain have benefited for years from exactly this kind of structured national competition circuit — and it is time the Netherlands has one too.
Why This Matters
Salsa and Bachata are not recreational hobbies. They are living forms of intangible cultural heritage with deep roots in Latin American and Caribbean culture, actively practiced by hundreds of thousands of people across the Netherlands. The professionals behind this culture — the teachers, choreographers, performers, school owners, DJs, musicians and even event organizers — are the custodians of that heritage.
Yet today, these professionals work largely in isolation. There is no national stage for their work. There is no moment of collective recognition. There is no shared benchmark for quality. Schools compete for students without ever seeing what the best in the country are doing. Performers develop their craft without knowing how it measures up nationally.
The Latin Dance Awards & Stage Competition initiated by Latin Fire directly addresses this gap. By bringing professionals together in a spirit of collaboration, healthy competition and mutual celebration, we create the conditions for the entire community to grow — in quality, in cohesion, and in national and international visibility.
Our Joint Commitment
We will support Latin Fire’s initiative for Awards & Stage Competition — a professional stage event dedicated to celebrating and elevating the Latin dance community in the Netherlands.
We believe this event serves a genuine need: a dedicated national platform where professionals can showcase their work, schools can present their students, and the community can come together to celebrate its talent.
We look forward to participating, promoting and contributing to making this a success.
Stichting Latin Fire has organically grown a professional network of 400+ Latin dance professionals and a community of 1,500 dancers across WhatsApp, 22,000 Instagram followers and 3–5 million monthly views. This was built over nearly three years entirely on a voluntary basis — no salaries, no structural funding, just genuine dedication to the community.
That foundation is now ready to take the next step. With the right support, what has been built through passion can become something lasting for the entire Latin dance sector in the Netherlands.
We are available for further questions as needed.
Yours sincerely,
153
The Issue
Initiator: Stichting Latin Fire | info@latinfire.net | KVK: 97109738 | Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Letter of Intent & Community Support
Netherlands Latin Dance Awards & Stage Competition
Dear Sir / Madam,
We, the undersigned — a broad coalition of Latin dance professionals, schools, performers, event organizers, DJs and musicians from across the Netherlands — write this letter in full and enthusiastic support of the Latin Dance Awards & Stage Competition, an initiative led by Stichting Latin Fire (KVK: 97109738, Rotterdam).
We believe this project is long overdue. The Netherlands has one of the most active and diverse Latin dance communities in Europe, yet it is the only major European country without a nationally recognized stage competition or professional awards platform for salsa and Bachata. Professionals work in isolation, without opportunities for mutual recognition, quality exchange or collective visibility. Latin Fire Connect will change this — and we are proud to stand behind it.
What We Are Supporting
The Latin Fire Awards & Stage Competition is a long-awaited revival of professional Latin dance recognition in the Netherlands, bringing together...
1. Professional Stage Shows
Open to professional solo and couple performers from across the Latin dance sector — salsa, Bachata, and related styles. Participants present carefully choreographed stage performances in front of a professional panel and a live audience. This is not a classic competitive format: it is a showcase designed to elevate the art form, inspire peers, and create a visible national stage for professional talent that currently has no such platform in the Netherlands.
2. School Show Competitions
Open to dance schools and studios across the Netherlands. Schools enter choreographed group or team performances representing their own style and pedagogy. The school show competition serves as a quality benchmark, a celebration of the teaching craft, and a bridge between the professional community and the next generation of dancers. It creates healthy, friendly rivalry that motivates schools to invest in their artistic output and collective standards.
3. Star Gate Competition — Professional Open Category
The Star Gate is the open competitive category for established professionals: an invitation to test their skills against peers, receive structured feedback from international evaluators, and be recognized by their own community. While competitions exist within individual festivals across the Netherlands, there is currently no dedicated national platform that brings the professional circuit together in one place, with consistent standards and cross-community recognition. Countries like the UK, Germany and Spain have benefited for years from exactly this kind of structured national competition circuit — and it is time the Netherlands has one too.
Why This Matters
Salsa and Bachata are not recreational hobbies. They are living forms of intangible cultural heritage with deep roots in Latin American and Caribbean culture, actively practiced by hundreds of thousands of people across the Netherlands. The professionals behind this culture — the teachers, choreographers, performers, school owners, DJs, musicians and even event organizers — are the custodians of that heritage.
Yet today, these professionals work largely in isolation. There is no national stage for their work. There is no moment of collective recognition. There is no shared benchmark for quality. Schools compete for students without ever seeing what the best in the country are doing. Performers develop their craft without knowing how it measures up nationally.
The Latin Dance Awards & Stage Competition initiated by Latin Fire directly addresses this gap. By bringing professionals together in a spirit of collaboration, healthy competition and mutual celebration, we create the conditions for the entire community to grow — in quality, in cohesion, and in national and international visibility.
Our Joint Commitment
We will support Latin Fire’s initiative for Awards & Stage Competition — a professional stage event dedicated to celebrating and elevating the Latin dance community in the Netherlands.
We believe this event serves a genuine need: a dedicated national platform where professionals can showcase their work, schools can present their students, and the community can come together to celebrate its talent.
We look forward to participating, promoting and contributing to making this a success.
Stichting Latin Fire has organically grown a professional network of 400+ Latin dance professionals and a community of 1,500 dancers across WhatsApp, 22,000 Instagram followers and 3–5 million monthly views. This was built over nearly three years entirely on a voluntary basis — no salaries, no structural funding, just genuine dedication to the community.
That foundation is now ready to take the next step. With the right support, what has been built through passion can become something lasting for the entire Latin dance sector in the Netherlands.
We are available for further questions as needed.
Yours sincerely,
Petition Updates
Share this petition
Petition created on June 2, 2026