UK Open Dance Festival: a week of ballroom at the BIC

If you have ever wondered what it is like when an entire town turns into the centre of the international dance world, the UK Open Dance Festival is the answer. It is one of the most respected fixtures on the global dance calendar, and it has made the Bournemouth International Centre its home for four decades. The most recent edition ran from 20 to 25 January, and it is worth knowing what the week actually looks like, because it is a lot more than just a few competitions.

The festival takes over Windsor Hall, the largest room in the BIC, and turns it into a proper arena for the week. The programme is built around Ballroom and Latin, with the two styles sharing the floor. Each day follows a similar rhythm: qualifying rounds in the mornings and afternoons, building towards the evening finals when the lights go down and the best couples of the day compete for the titles. It is a long, rewarding format that lets you follow a pair from their first heat through to the final, which is a big part of the appeal for anyone who knows their way around a dance floor.

What makes it work is the sheer range of what you see. You get the grace and poise of the Ballroom alongside the intensity and rhythm of the Latin, and the standard is genuinely world-class, with elite professional dancers sharing the bill with rising stars. It is not just for the competitors either; the evening finals are staged as proper performances, and the atmosphere in the hall when the music starts is something you will not find at a smaller local show. For a week in January, Bournemouth becomes a hub for dancers and spectators from across the globe, which is no small thing for a town on the south coast.

Behind the scenes, the festival is run by Cre8tive Productions Ltd, and the BIC is operated by BH Live, the registered charity and social enterprise that manages the venue in partnership with the local council. The building itself sits right on the seafront at Exeter Road, so the whole thing comes with a view of the coast, which is a nice contrast to the intensity inside the hall. To give you a sense of the scale, the 2023 edition drew in more than 4,000 competitors and over 10,000 spectators, so it is a proper event rather than a quiet weekend.

If you are planning to go, the best way to do it is to book in advance. Tickets are sold for individual sessions as well as full days, and the detailed schedule only comes out closer to the event, so it is worth keeping an eye on the BIC website. Because the venue is so central, it is easy to build a day or two around it, with the seafront restaurants and coastal walks right on the doorstep. And if you miss this year, there is already a date for the next one: the 2027 edition is set for 19 to 24 January, back in Windsor Hall, so the cycle carries on.