The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), formerly the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF), is the international

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

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 ...

and

Para dancesport Wheelchair dancesport, also known as Para dance sport, is a form of competitive dancesport where at least one of the dancers is in a wheelchair. The sport corporates the rules of the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF). Sport Wheelchair couple ...

, as recognised by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

(IOC) and the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

(IPC). Founded in 1957 as the International Council of Amateur Dancers (ICAD), it took the name IDSF in 1990. In 2011, it was renamed to WDSF to emphasise the global character of the organization.

Presidents

History

* 1909 First unofficial ballroom championships in Paris * 1957 ICAD founded in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

on 12 May 1957 * 1960 First television broadcast of Dancesport * 1990 Name changed to IDSF * 1992 Becomes a member of the

General Association of International Sports Federations Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) was the umbrella organisation for all (Olympic and non-Olympic) international sports federations as well as organisers of multi-sports games and sport-related international associatio ...

(GAISF) * 1995 World Rock & Roll Confederation (WRRC) joins IDSF as an associate member * 1997 Recognised by the IOC * 2001 Subscribes to

World Anti-Doping Code The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

* 2004 International Dance Organisation (IDO) joins IDSF as an associate member * 2007 Presentation of the VISION 2012 project to the IDSF General Meeting * 2008 IDSF and the

"enter into a collaboration agreement to promote Wheelchair DanceSport jointly" * 2008 United Country and Western Dance Council (UCWDC) joins IDSF as an associate member * 2008 IDSF General Meeting delegates the praesidium to pursue a restructure of the federation under VISION 2012 * 2010 Launches the IDSF Professional Division * 2011 Changes name to WDSF on 19 June

Members

Regions

The WDSF has 97 national member associations (In 5 October 2023: 14 in Americas, 48 in Europe, 2 in Oceania, 11 in Africa and 20 in Asia), 76 of which are recognised by their

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

. 77 of them are full members while 20 are provisional members: # Asia (17+3):

DanceSport Asia 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 organizatio ...

(DSA-1996-Taipei, Taiwan): India-China-Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan-Hong Kong-Indonesia-Japan-South Korea-Lebanon-Macau-Malaysia-Philippines-Singapore-Thailand-Uzbekistan-Vietnam + (Cambodia-Mongolia-Turkmenistan) # Oceania (2+0):

DanceSport Oceania 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 organizatio ...

(DSO): Australia-New Zealand # Africa (3+8):

DanceSport Africa 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 organizatio ...

: Botswana-South Africa-Lesotho + (Namibia-Cameroon-Democratic Republic of Congo-Morocco-Senegal-Tunisia-Uganda-Zimbabwe) # Europe (47+1):

DanceSport Europe Dancesport is competitive ballroom dance, 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 dances ...

(DSE-Stuttgart, GER): Albania-Russia-Ukraine-Armenia-Austria-Azerbaijan-Belarus-Belgium-Bulgaria-Croatia-Cyprus-Czech Republic-Poland-England-Luxembourg-Ireland-Serbia-Slovenia-Denmark-Germany-Estonia-Portugal-Andorra-France-Italy-Finland-Georgia-Hungary-Iceland-Israel-Latvia-Liechtenstein-Lithuania-Macedonia-Malta-Moldova-Montenegro-Greece-Netherlands-Norway-Romania-San Marino-Switzerland-Slovakia-Spain-Sweden-Türkiye + (Bosnia and Herzegovina) # Americas (6+8):

DanceSport Americas 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 organizatio ...

: Argentina-Canada-United States-Colombia-Ecuador-Trinidad and Tobago + (Guatemala-Panama-Uruguay-Brazil-Peru-Chile-Dominican Republic-El Salvador) Associate Member:

World Rock'n'Roll Confederation World Rock'n'Roll Confederation (WRRC) was registered in 1984, although its history traces to 1974. It is an umbrella organization for national professional and amateur Rock and Roll dancesport federations. Its statute that it "aims at promoting ...

Full members

Provisional members

Associate members

Sport directors

Membership in other organisations

Global Association of International Sports Federations Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) was the umbrella organisation for all (Olympic and non-Olympic) international sports federations as well as organisers of multi-sports games and sport-related international associatio ...

(GAISF; formerly SportAccord) *

International World Games Association The International World Games Association, abbreviated as IWGA, is an international association, recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that organises every four years, beginning in 1981, the multi-sport event called The World ...

(IWGA) *

Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations The Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF) is a non-governmental, non-profit organisation constituted through and recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The ARISF's members are international spor ...

(ARISF) *

International Masters Games Association The World Masters Games is an international multi-sport event held every four years which, in terms of competitor numbers, has developed into the largest of its kind. Governed by the International Masters Games Association (IMGA), the World Mas ...

(IMGA)

Relationship with the World Dance Council

The WDSF is not the only international organisation in the field of competitive dance: the

World Dance Council The World Dance Council Ltd (WDC), is a registered limited company, the legal successor to the ''International Council of Ballroom Dancing'', and was established at a meeting organized by Phillip J. S. Richardson on 22 September 1950 in Edinburgh, ...

(WDC) is another prominent international dance organisation. In the past, the WDC focus was on administering professional dancers and competitions. However, the launch of the WDC Amateur League in 2007 put the two organisations in direct conflict. The launch of the IDSF Professional Division in 2010 has since become an additional point of conflict. The WDSF formerly prohibited its members from participating in any competition that is not listed and registered by either WDSF or a WDSF National Member Body. WDC competitions fall into this prohibited category. This policy was revoked in 2012 at the Annual Meeting by vote of the members and since then WDSF encourages athletes to support only WDSF DanceSport and imposes certain restrictions on athletes who compete outside the WDSF DanceSport system. Like the WDC, WDSF bans same-sex couples from entering competitions, under rule D2.1.1, which states a couple must consist of a man and a woman.

Publications

''The International News'' (Tanzsportmagazin), which served as WDSF's official publication since 1998, was replaced in 2004 by ''DanceSport Today,'' and in 2009 by ''World DanceSport'' magazine.

Latin World champions - Adult

Latin European champions - Adult

Standard World champions - Adult

Standard European champions - Adult

10 dance World champions - Adult

10 dance European champions - Adult

World Games - DanceSport champions - Latin

World Games - DanceSport champions - Standard

World Games - DanceSport champions - Salsa

World Games - DanceSport champions - Acrobatic rock 'n roll

World Games - DanceSport champions - Breaking B-Boy

World Games - DanceSport champions - Breaking B-Girl

Latin World champions - U21

Standard World champions - U21

10 dance world champions - U21

Standard World champions - Senior IV

Standard European champions - Senior IV

Standard World champions - Senior III

Standard European champions - Senior III

Latin World champions - Senior III

Standard World champions - Senior II

Latin World champions - Senior II

10 dance World champions - Senior II

Standard World champions - Senior I

Latin World champions - Senior I

Latin European champions - Senior I

Latin World champions - Senior III10 dance World champions - Senior I

Breaking World champions - Adult - B-Boy

Breaking world champions - Adult - B-Girl

Breaking European champions - Adult - B-Boy

Breaking European champions - Adult - B-Girl

Breaking European champions - Adult - Crew 5vs5

Hip Hop European champions - U21

Disco dance World champions - Adult solo

Disco dance World champions - Adult duo

Disco dance World champions - Youth solo

Disco dance World champions - Youth duo

Latin WDSF PD World champions

Latin WDSF PD European champions

Standard WDSF PD World champions

Standard WDSF PD European champions

10 dance WDSF PD World champions

References

{{Authority control Sports organizations established in 1957 Dancesport organizations Ballroom dance International organisations based in Spain

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 ...

Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations