History
The first recorded dance competition was a tango tournament organized in Nice, France, by dancer, choreographer and dance instructor Camille de Rhynal in 1907. It was such a success that held a similar tournament in Paris later that year and, in 1909, he staged the first dance world championships, also in Paris.
That became an annual event. But, since there was no international organization involved and competitors came from a rather limited area, de Rhynal’s tournaments can hardly be considered true world championships.
During the 1920s, though, more countries became involved in dancing as a sport. In fact, the world championships were held in London in 1922, when separate competitions for amateurs and professionals were introduced.
A couple of years later, de Rhynal fought with the English organizers and went back to staging his own "world championships" in Paris.
The sport’s first formal organization was the German Reichsverband zur Pflege des Gesellschaftstanzes (Imperial Association for the Promotion of Social Dancing), commonly known as the RPG. In 1935, the RPG invited English dance officials to join in organizing an international governing body for dance sport.
However, that didn’t come about until 1935, when the Federation Internationale de Dance pour Amateurs (International Amateur Dancers Federation), or FIDA, was founded at a meeting in Prague by national associations representing Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Yugoslavia.
The FIDA staged the first genuine world championships in 1936 at Bad Nauheim, Germany, shortly before the Olympic Games opened in Berlin. Competitors came from 15 countries on three continents.
During World War II, the FIDA fell into disarray. An attempt to revive it in 1950 failed, but a professional group, the International Council of Ballroom Dancing (ICBD) was founded that year by representatives from 12 countries.
The FIDA was put together again in 1953 with six member countries, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy and Yugoslavia. Finland, the Netherlands, and Switzerland joined later. But the amateur association wasn’t able to work out an agreement with the ICBD and suspended activities once again in January of 1956.
A different organization, the international Council of Amateur Dancers (ICAD), was founded in 1957. The founding member countries were Austria, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Belgium, Norway, Sweden and Yugoslavia joined the following year.
The ICAD became the International Dance Sport Federation (IDSF) in November of 1990 and was accepted as an affiliate of the International Olympic Committee in 1997. The same year, dance sport was added to the World Games program. The organization includes 84 national federations representing about 4 million athletes worldwide.
The IDSF conducts world championships in standard, Latin, and ten-dance categories. Standard championships comprise the waltz, tango, viennese waltz, slow foxtrot, and quickstep. Latin championships comprise the samba, cha cha cha, rumba, paso doble, and jive. All of the standard and Latin dances are included in ten-dance championships.
The World Rock’n’Roll Confederation (WRRC), an associate member of the IDSF, conducts championships in rock and roll, boogie woogie, and Lindy hop.
The ICBD was renamed the World Dance & Dance Sport Council (WD&DSC) in 1996 and became the World Dance Council (WDC) in 2006. It has 49 member countries.
The amateur governing body in the United States is the National Dance Council of America (NDCA). Originally organized in 1949, the NDCA joined the WDC in 1962.