More than 600 dancers from 40 countries spun, flew, and shook their bon-bons in the first World Latin Dance Cup in San Diego, which culminated in Saturday night's showdown.

Teams and couples from Latin America, Australia, Japan and a handful from the United States, including one pair from Pennsylvania, participated in 20 dance categories, which included salsa, cumbia, bachata, cabaret, among others.

The flags from their countries decorated the main ballroom at the Town & Country Resort and Convention Center, where the first competition of its type in the world was held.

Dancers ages five to 45-plus, professional as well as amateur, gave it their all on the main stage. After four days of competition, which started Wednesday, the best qualified for the Ultimate Competition on Saturday night.

San Diego and Tijuana were represented by the group Alma Latina, a team that swept nine categories, including first place in the children's division.

Adolfo Romero, an 11-year-old from Tijuana, has trained with Alma Latina for almost four years under the instruction of Martin González, who also qualified for the Ultimate Competition.

"Although this is such a discipline, children from a young age can take on this great extracurricular activity that to me should be considered a sport," said Adolfo's father, Mauricio Romero, sitting next to his son proudly Saturday night.

The months of training paid off for Adolfo and his partner, who took home first place in the children's division. His fun moves and his charisma captivated judges and the hundreds of people that showed up for the showdown.

"To me, dancing gives me a feeling that, ‘Ah! It's like a gift!'", said Adolfo, closing his eyes and smiling.

The public, not judges, selected the winners of the Ultimate Competition.

Christian Oviedo and Liz Lara, from Los Angeles, received the most claps and cheers from the crowd, around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, and took home World Latin Dance Cup, along with its $5,000 prize money.

The Cup is the brainchild of producer and choreographer Albert Torres, who organizes Latin dance competitions across the world.

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micaela.arroyo@sandiegored.com