10/08/2024
With the Olympics here (albeit nearly over) Break Dancing is the first DanceSport discipline to be included in this year's event.
While this is great news, the biggie disciplines are still not included even though they draw the crowds far more than any of the other sports I believe. I suspect one of the reasons for not being included is the continual rift between professionals and amateurs plus the surfeit of governing bodies.
The ONLY governing DanceSport body that is recognised by the IOC is the World DanceSport Federation. So, with that in mind I have copied a history of how the WDSF came about and how it became part of the IOC family of sports.
How It All Started
1920 - 1999
Throughout the 1920s, several European nations were the pioneers in the gradual emergence of dance as organised sport. They defined the norms and launched the concept of its worldwide governance. In 1929, British dance teachers defined the standards for an “English Style” that was soon adopted everywhere. The German Imperial Association for the Fostering of Social Dance was the initiator of the Fédération Internationale de Danse pour Amateurs (FIDA). Founded by nine European countries on 10 September 1935 in Prague, CZE, it staged the first world championship truly deserving of such title in Bad Nauheim, GER, one year later. FIDA existed for 20 years – a period marked by World War II as well as feuds between the amateur and professional camps – before it suspended activities in 1956.
Otto Teipel
Germany assumed the lead once more and immediately proposed to regroup in a different organisation. At the Wiesbaden home of German Dance Champion Otto Teipel, eight European nations started the International Council of Amateur Dancers (ICAD) on 12 May 1957. The delegates to the founding assembly elected Teipel as President. With four more nations joining one year later, ICAD registered growth in Europe – but also faced persisting difficulties in the attempt to reconcile with the organisation of the professional dancers.
Otto Teipel eventually stepped down – worn out by the quarrelling – and was succeeded by Heinrich Brönner and Rolf Fincke, who both held office for a short time. In June 1965, a young and ambitious Detlef Hegemann was elected ICAD President. He was to bring great vision and relentless drive to the organisation for many years to come. Just four months after his election, Hegemann signed a landmark agreement with the International Council of Ballroom Dancing (ICBD), led by Alex Moore at the time.
The “Bremen Agreement” of 3 October 1965 established that ICAD was henceforth to grant and control international championships for amateurs – and that ICBD was to do the same for professionals. The Joint Committee set up through the agreement drafted the terms for co-operation between the two bodies, which then allowed ICAD Adjudicators to officiate at international competitions, although only in a 3:4 minority.
ICAD membership grew steadily over the next 25 years. More and more national amateur bodies joined the organisation that itself set out to become part of the global sports movement. In 1990, ICAD decided to change its name to International DanceSport Federation. Embracing its interpretation of dance as sport in the new name helped to secure wider acceptance almost immediately. Good strategy and persuasive lobbying were the other pillars in a campaign to correct erroneous perceptions in the minds of many. In 1995, IDSF was accepted as a member of the General Association of International Sports Federations, the umbrella organisation for all world sports governing bodies. The International Olympic Committee recognised DanceSport. IDSF became a member of the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations and of the International World Games Association. The determination of President Hegemann and the lobbying efforts by Presidium members had brought about significant change.
When Detlef Hegemann chose not to stand for re-election, he left a fundamentally reformed and thriving International Federation to his successor, the Swiss Rudolf Baumann. Membership had arrived at 65 national member bodies, the financial situation was excellent and, above all, the young federation had established an impeccable track record in fulfilling its statutory mission. Hegemann was elected as IDSF Honorary Life President in recognition of his visionary leadership over 33 years. Baumann took the baton and ran with it … into a new Millennium!
How It Continued
2000 - 2010
Bassano, ITA - 2 February © Roland The IDSF Presidium under Rudolf Baumann kept up the pace in the new Millennium too. A representation agreement between IDSF and the International Management Group IMG had secured global television exposure for the main DanceSport championships. To improve this television product further, subtle changes to the competition format were implemented over the next years. Solo dances in the finals, a new judging system and other amendments to the traditional way of conducting the contests met the approval of athletes and spectators alike.
IDSF’s participation in The Sixth World Games 2001 Akita, JPN, was an unqualified success. DanceSport ranked first in revenues generated from ticket sales among all 36 sports on the programme. Rock ‘n’ Roll – whose governing body WRRC had joined IDSF as an Associate Member – featured alongside the Standard and Latin disciplines in The Seventh World Games 2005 Duisburg, GER.
The creation of an IDSF Anti-Doping Commission and the adoption the Anti-Doping Code made the federation fully compliant with the stringent norms imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The 2002 Olympic Programme Commission Report confirmed DanceSport’s eligibility for admission to future Olympic Games and defined the criteria that will need to be met by candidate sports in the review process undertaken by the IOC at intervals of four years.
In 2003, IDSF elevated select International Open tournaments in Latin and Standard to a “Grand Slam” status, with record purses awarded to the athletes directly by IDSF. The altogether ten Grand Slam tournaments have since become annual fixtures on four continents and make up the International Series that culminates in the IDSF Grand Slam Finals.
The International Dance Organisation (IDO) opted to become an Associate Member of IDSF in 2004, bringing its nearly 50 styles to DanceSport and contributing to making the sport's constituency as diverse as dance itself. The United Country and Western DanceSport (UCWDC) is the most recent Associate Member, joining IDSF in 2008.
The IDSF Annual General Meeting approved the establishment of an independent Disciplinary Council and an Athletes' Commission in 2006 and 2007, respectively, thus filling two gaps in its governance structure. The IDSF Athletes’ Commission is a consultative body, submitting opinions held and requests articulated by the active athletes in DanceSport directly to the Presidium.
DanceSport's spectacular growth and popularity led to the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) include it on the programmes of the Asian Games and the Asian Indoor Games. Furthermore, IDSF became a member of the International Masters Games Association (IMGA). From 2011 athletes in the Senior I to III grades will be able to compete in their very own international multi-sport games.
IDSF sternly supported the community of professional dancers in their effort to set up an independent body, the International Professional DanceSport Council (IPDSC). In December 2007, an agreement was entered into by IDSF and IPDSC, providing for both organisations to co-ordinate dates and other matters pertaining to their competitions, and to work cooperatively in developing, implementing and enforcing the WADA-compliant rules of DanceSport. Since then, IPDSC was dissolved and became the IDSF Professional Division in 2010.
In October 2008, IDSF entered into a formal co-operation agreement with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Under the terms of this agreement, the two bodies pledge to jointly develop and promote Wheelchair DanceSport, and to work towards establishing a single governing body for DanceSport, including Wheelchair.
From 2007 IDSF worked incessantly on an ambitious development plan, VISION 2012, and it set out to bring even further unity and diversity to DanceSport at long last. On 14 June 2009, the IDSF Annual General Meeting held in Macau, CHN, unanimously passed the following motion.
"That this meeting directs and encourages the Presidium to continue working on VISION 2012, and to establish a working group including representatives of Associate Members, representatives of key IDSF Member Bodies and representatives of other dance disciplines."
The VISION 2012 Working Group met for the first time in Sant Cugat, ESP, in October 2009 to discuss the proceedings in trying to have IDSF evolve into the World DanceSport Federation, a body. A joint declaration was drafted between the representatives of the different organisations at the conclusion of the meeting, all expressing their support of VISION 2012 under the declaration's title "DanceSport as the Unifying Force."
For me I am proud to call the WDSF my governing body. It is just a pity those bodies in Britain who purport to govern my sport still choose to create division rather than working with the WDSF.
