''Bailando por un Sueño'' is a franchised TV series in various Latin American countries. Meaning "Dancing for a Dream", it is a

reality series Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

that commenced on the Mexican television network

Canal de las Estrellas Las Estrellas () is a Mexican television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. Its first official broadcast took place on 21 March 1951. It airs free-to-air through affiliate stations throughout Mexico, based on XEW-TDT in Mexico City. It is co ...

, in which celebrities are partnered with common, everyday people with dreams they want to fulfill, who each week compete against each other in a competition to impress a panel of judges. In each show, the two couples who receive the lowest score go head to head against each other to survive potential elimination. Through a telephone poll, viewers vote who should stay and who should go, the results of the poll being combined with the ranking of the panel of judges. The process continues until only two couples standing. Rather than the promise of a large cash prize, the winner gets a previously stated wish granted. The show is also broadcast in the United States on

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

. This includes a lot of famous actors and actresses from Latin America. Many Latin American countries developed their own versions in a similar format after the success of the launch. Countries broadcasting similar format shows include

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay,

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

(as El Gran Show), and on the European continent, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia (as ''Tanečný pre Dream'') and Romania (as '' Dansez pentru tine'').

Legal controversy

In September 2011, Italy's

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

owned by

Mediaset Mediaset S.p.A. is an Italian mass media and television production and distribution company that is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE – MediaForEurope (the original ...

launched a series, hosted by Barbara D'Urso, called ''Baila'', based on ''

Bailando por un Sueño Bailando may refer to: * Bailando (Paradisio song), "Bailando" (Paradisio song), 1996 * Bailando (Enrique Iglesias song), "Bailando" (Enrique Iglesias song), 2014 * Bailando (Rouge song), "Bailando" (Rouge song), 2018 * ''Bailando!'', special prom ...

''. The owners of

Dancing With The Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetised BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

, and local RAI presenter

Milly Carlucci Camilla Patrizia "Milly" Carlucci (born 1 October 1954) is an Italian television presenter, actress and singer. Carlucci played the role of Urania in the 1985 film ''The Adventures of Hercules''. In 1996 she became a Goodwill ambassador for UNI ...

took

to court, arguing that ''Baila'' infringed on the rights of

. The court agreed, finding that the addition of 'dreamers' was not a sufficient difference in the format, and a later court upheld that judgement in November 2011. Baila was quickly taken off the air.

Bailando por un Sueño worldwide

International events

Bailando por un Sueño: Campeonato Internacional de Baile (Meaning Dancing for a Dream: International Dance Championship) was a pan-national competition between winners from various countries. There were two such contests one in 2007 and another in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantando por un sueno Las Estrellas original programming Dance competition television shows