The World DanceSport Federation (WDSF), formerly the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF), is the international governing body of dancesport and Para dancesport, as recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (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.
Contents
History
1909 First unofficial ballroom championships in Paris
1957 ICAD founded in Wiesbaden 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 (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
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 International Paralympic Committee "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 (On 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. 77 of them are full members while 20 are provisional members:
Asia (17+3): DanceSport Asia (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 (DSO): Australia-New Zealand
Africa (3+8): DanceSport Africa: Botswana-South Africa-Lesotho + (Namibia-Cameroon-Democratic Republic of Congo-Morocco-Senegal-Tunisia-Uganda-Zimbabwe)
Europe (47+1): DanceSport Europe (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: 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
Membership in other organisations
Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF; formerly SportAccord)
International World Games Association (IWGA)
Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF)
International Masters Games Association (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 (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.