Formation dance is a style of ballroom dancing. It is pattern or shadow team dancing by couples in a formation team. The

choreography Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

may be based on a particular dance or a medley of dances. Formation dancing may be done for exhibition or for competition between teams. There is also a type of formation in Bhangra.

International style ballroom: dance sport

History

Formation dancing originated in 1932 in London's Astoria Ballroom. It was Olive Ripman who introduced it under the name "pattern dancing". Soon it became a competitive dance form. Formation team contests began in the 1930s in England, and spread to many other countries. International matches have taken place. Formation dances were an important part of the BBC TV program '' Come Dancing'' when Frank and Peggy Spencer's formation teams competed against Constance Millington's team. The peak of popularity was in the 1960s, and is now growing from strength to strength with formation teams from all over the world competing against each other.

Choreography

The choreography of a formation team includes both

of a

dancesport Dancesport is competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. In the case of Para dancesport, at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair. Dancesport events are sanctioned and regulated by dancesport organizat ...

routine of an individual couple and the overall pattern of movements of the couples on the floor. All couples are expected to follow the beat of the music and movements should be executed simultaneously. Teams are marked on their synchronicity Latin

Dancesport Dancesport is competitive ballroom dancing, as contrasted to social or exhibition dancing. In the case of Para dancesport, at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair. Dancesport events are sanctioned and regulated by dancesport organizat ...

formation is a medley of dances that include the 5 International Latin dances: Cha Cha, Rumba, Jive,

Paso Doble Pasodoble (Spanish language, Spanish: ''double step'') is a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops. Its speed allowed troops to give 120 steps per minute (double the average of a regular unit, hence its name). This often wa ...

and

Samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

. Standard or Ballroom formation is a medley of the 5 international ballroom dances

Waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

Quickstep The quickstep is a light-hearted dance of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal ...

, Tango, Viennese Waltz and

Foxtrot The foxtrot is a smooth, progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band (usually vocal) music. The dance is similar in its look to waltz, although the rhythm is in a time ...

. The routines generally feature at least some free-form

in the walk on and walk off, which may include movements from jazz dance,

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, or any other type of dance. This is clearly marked by a gong. A complete routine usually lasts a total of 6 minutes. Formation routines allow dancers to show off their own technique in addition to their ability to move as a team. Unlike individual competitions tricks such as "round abouts", "chain reactions" form a large section of the choreography. Shapes (also known as patterns or images) that are an accepted part of choreography are diamonds, squares, diagonals, circles and lines. The routine is judged by the distribution of competitors across the floor, how "readable" the patterns are and the transitions between these patterns. Specialist formation choreographers include Ona Skaistutė Idzelevičienė, Roberto Albanese, Horst Beer, and Rachael Holland.

Competitions

The international governing body is the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF) (which has Olympic recognition). Competing teams must be a member of one of its member organisations such as the English amateur dancesport association ltd (EADA) The following is a summary of the IDSF rules for European and World Formation competitions. *Each member country may send 2 formation teams to compete in each of the 2 international styles (Latin and Standard). *These are selected by national competitions, such as the British National Championships at the Blackpool Dance Festival. *International competitions have a minimum of 4 countries *The usual sporting anti-doping rules apply. *All competitors must be amateurs. *Each team must contain between 6 and 8 couples. *In the standard section Men's dress must be black or midnight blue. *In Latin men may wear coloured shirts but all men must dress the same. *In standard formation, solo work is restricted to 8 bars. This does not apply in Latin where solo work usually plays a part. *Lifts are not allowed in the main "judged" part of the routine, but are usually allowed in the walk on and walk off, which is clearly marked by a gong. *A routine is a maximum of 6 minutes long including entry to and from the floor (a walk on and walk off). Only minutes of this is judged so a gong is used to clearly signify which sections are to be judged. *Competing teams are judged by those experienced in formation. In early rounds, judges mark if they believe teams should go through to the next round. In final rounds teams are ranked and the skating system applies. Other competitions of note are the Blackpool Dance Festival and the Donaupokal Invitational Competition

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. Germany is notable in having several leagues of formation teams, and holds several competitions each year.

Formation teams, 2013

This is a list of Adult Formation Teams competing in 2013 in the IDSF World Ranking Competition. There were 22 Latin Teams and 18 Standard teams that compete annually in the World Cup

Results

Below are the Winners of IDSF World Championships

References

External links

current IDSF Latin Formation ResultsXS Latin, Currently the Englands Top Latin Formation TeamTSG Bremerhaven Latin Formation Team GermanyInternational Governing bodyInformation about formation dancing in The NetherlandsDouble V NetherlandsFormation Dance on YouTube

Irish Ceili dances
{{DEFAULTSORT:Formation Dance Group dances Competitive dance Ballroom dance Dancesport