Metu Open

Overview

The Metu Open is one of the most prestigious International DanceSport Competitions in Turkey, hosted since the year 2000. It is one of the top 10 highest coefficient competitions of the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF).

The first IDSF (now WDSF) competition in Ankara was held in both the Latin and Standard divisions in 2009 as IDSF Open events. The first WDSF "World Open" competition was organized in 2013 in the Latin division. Hosting a WDSF "World Open" each year since then has brought together more and more domestic and foreign athletes to METU.

The METU maintains goals of growing this major competition and maintaining the exhilarating feel of World DanceSport Federation (WDSF) events. With use of artistic lighting and decor as well as a judging panel that includes National, International and WDSF Adjudicators, competitors have the opportunity to dance in front of some of the top critics in the business, at the same time doing so in an inviting and energetic environment.

• Two days of competition
• National, International and WDSF World Class Adjudicators
• Top WDSF ranking couples from all over the world
• Live Video Stream

Dates

Being dedicated to the Republic Day of Turkey (the 29th of October), the METU Open is centered around the week of this national holiday. As a result, the organization committee mostly organizes this event annually at the end of October or the first week of November.

In Turkish, many still call the METU Open the "National Republic Cup" for the reason of celebrating the national holiday, but since 2009, in English, the competition has been officially named the METU Open.

About METU

The Middle East Technical University (METU) is one of the world's highest ranked universities, located in Ankara, Turkey. Being an international university, it was founded in 1956 to contribute to the development of Turkey and the Middle Eastern countries and especially to train people in order to create a skilled workforce in the fields of natural and social sciences.

METU has been ranked in the top 80 among the world’s most reputable 100 universities as the only Turkish university in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings of 2014. Owing to the quality academic education that emphasizes merit and excellence in scientific, cultural and intellectual studies as well as owing to the accomplished and qualified METU graduates, the University has become one of the most distinguished and respectable institutions of Turkey. Due to high demand towards METU being so great, most of the departments of the university accept only the top 1% of approximately 1.5 million applicants taking the National University Entrance Examination each year.

METU currently has about 26,500 students. Undergraduate and graduate students from many countries attend a semester or a year-round at METU as a "Special Student" or "Exchange Student". METU has 19 international joint degree programs with European and American universities and hosts over 1,700 international students from nearly 94 different countries studying toward a myriad of academic degrees. The official language at METU is English. Therefore, every service given in the campus can also be maintained in English.

The campus has a dormitory capacity of approximately 7,000 students who benefit from a shopping area, banks, a post office and many eating places. Also, a wide variety of sports facilities, including gymnasiums, tennis courts, basketball and football fields, jogging trails, an olympic-sized indoor swimming pool, and an outdoor swimming pool are available on the METU campus. METU is a pedestrian campus. It is promoted to travel within the campus on foot or by bike. Hence, it would be a nice journey on foot since METU has a scenic campus. The campus area is 4,500 hectares and the forest area is 3,043 hectares, including Lake Eymir, which is about 20 kilometers from the center of Ankara. The lake is available to METU students for rowing, fishing, picnicking and general recreational activities.

There are more than 100 student groups in the university. Every year, more than 1,000 events are organized by these student groups. The "METU Open" is one of these 1,000 events.

Organization

The METU Open is organized annually by the Organization Committee of the Middle East Technical University (METU) DanceSport Club.

• Head of Committee: Arif Göktuğ Karacalıoğlu
• Co-Head of Committee: Özgün Çağlar Ersoy
• Co-Organizer: Ozgur Firat Akel

Each year the organization committee changes its seats. However, many know the METU Open by the roles the above three members institute in establishing this event.

Events

Events at the METU Open include competitive dancing in the International Standard and Latin styles throughout the Juvenile, Junior, Youth, and Adult age groups in the Amateur division.

2018

The 2018 METU Open hosted various WDSF sanctioned events including:

• WDSF Junior I Latin & Standard
• WDSF Junior II Latin & Standard
• WDSF Youth Open Latin & Standard
• WDSF Rising Star Latin (Adults)
• WDSF World Open Latin (Adults)
• WDSF Open Standard (Adults)

Member of

• Turkish DanceSport Federation (TDSF)
• World DanceSport Federation (WDSF)