Formation dance

Formation dance is a style of ballroom dancing. It is pattern or shadow team dancing by couples in a formation team. The choreography may be based on a particular dance or a medley of dances. Formation dancing may be done for exhibition or for competition between teams.^[1] There is also a type of formation in Bhangra.

International style ballroom: dance sport

Latin Formation Team TSC Blau-Silber Aachen

History

Formation dancing originated in 1932 in London's Astoria Ballroom. It was Olive Ripman who introduced it under the name "pattern dancing".^[2] Soon it became a competitive dance form.^[3]

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.^[4][5] 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.^[6]

Choreography

The choreography of a formation team includes both choreography of a dancesport 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 formation is a medley of dances that include the 5 International Latin dances: Cha Cha, Rumba, Jive, Paso Doble and Samba.

Standard or Ballroom formation is a medley of the 5 international ballroom dances Waltz, Quickstep, Tango, Viennese Waltz and Foxtrot.

The routines generally feature at least some free-form choreography in the walk on and walk off, which may include movements from jazz dance, ballet, 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,^[7] Roberto Albanese,^[8] Horst Beer,^[9] and Rachael Holland.

Competitions

The international governing body is the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF) (which has Olympic recognition^[10]). 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 4+1⁄2 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. 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.^[11] There were 22 Latin Teams and 18 Standard teams that compete annually in the World Cup

Country	Latin Formation Team	Standard Formation Team
Austria	HSV Zwölfaxing, TSC Schwarz Gold
Belarus	DC Mara, Minsk	Univers Formation-team, Minsk
Bulgaria	Ogosta Dance
Czech Republic	TK 1976 Most, TKG Hlinsko	TK TŠ Starlet Brno, TK Chvaletice
England	Fiver Latin Team Preston[permanent dead link‍] XS Latin (TDE Manchester)
Germany	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, FG TSZ Aachen/TD TSC Düsseldorf Rot-Weiß	TC Ludwigsburg, Braunschweiger TSC
Hungary	Gála TE, Botafogo Dance Ensemble	Szilver TSE, Ködmön TSE
Lithuania	Klaipėda University DSC "Žuvėdra" (A and B)
Mongolia	"Star" formation Mongolia, Moon dance formation Mongolia	Ulaan Sarnai Mongolia, Khatantuul Mongolia
Moldova	Codreanca
Netherlands	Double-V (A and B), Dance Explosion	Step in Time, Dance Impression, Old-Forest
Poland	KS Kamion Dance Warsaw, Dance Formation A-z Przemysl, Dance Formation SPIN Wodzislaw Slaski, Dance Formation Takt-Chelm, LA CMG Radom	LOTOS-Jantar, Kadry
Romania	Floris Dance Team	Floris Dance Team
Russia	Vera Tjumen, DSC Tsveta Radugi	Impulse
Serbia	Vracar Formation Team
Slovakia		KTS Interklub Madit, TC Košice
Wales	Ystrad Fawr Latin Team

Results

Below are the Winners of IDSF World Championships

Year	Venue	Standard Result	Venue	Latin Result
1995	Stuttgart, Germany	1. TC Ludwigsburg, Germany	Berlin	TSG Bremerhaven, Germany
1996	Berlin, Germany	1. TC Ludwigsburg, Germany	Vilnius	TSC Schwarz-Gelb Aachen, Germany
1997	Kishinev, Moldova	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Munich	TSC Schwarz-Gelb Aachen, Germany
1998	Berlin, Germany	Allround Berlin, Germany	Gothenburg	TSC Schwarz-Gelb Aachen, Germany
1999	Elbląg, Poland	Jantar Elblag Jantar Elblag Poland	Vilnius	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2000	Braunschweig, Germany	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Wels (Stadt)	TSG Bremerhaven, Germany
2001	Berlin, Germany	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Bremerhaven	TSG Bremerhaven, Germany
2002	Kishinev, Moldova	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Vilnius	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2003	Stuttgart	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Essen	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2004	Braunschweig, Germany	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Minsk	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2005	Elblag, Poland	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Munich	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2006	Moscow, Russia	Vera Tyumen, Russia	Bremen	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen Germany
2007	Stuttgart, Germany	1. TC Ludwigsburg, Germany	Bremerhaven	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany
2008	Kishinev, Moldova	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Wiener Neustadt, Austria	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2009	Ludwigsburg Germany [12]	1. TC Ludwigsburg, Germany	Bremen, Germany [13]	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany
2010	Elblag, Poland [14]	FS LOTUS Jantar Elblag, Poland	Moscow, Russia [15]	Vera Tyumen, Russia
2011	Braunschweig, Germany	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Vilnius, Lithuania	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2012	Ludwigsburg, Germany	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Bremen, Germany	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany
2013	Tyumen, Russia	Vera Tyumen, Russia	Bremen, Germany	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany
2014	Braunschweig, Germany	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Bremen, Germany	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany
2015	Ludwigsburg, Germany	1. TC Ludwigsburg, Germany	Wiener Neustadt, Austria	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany
2016	Pécs, Hungary	Vera Tyumen, Russia	Bremen, Germany	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany
2017	Braunschweig, Germany	Vera Tyumen, Russia	Vienna Austria	DUET Perm, Russia

See also

• List of DanceSport dances
• Swedish Dancesport Federation
• WDSF World Formation Latin Championships

References

1. Spencer, Frank and Peggy 1968. Come dancing. Allen, London. Chapter 3, p33.
2. History of Dancesport by Dancesport Ireland Archived January 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
3. "Classes and Cultures: England 1918–1951", by Ross McKibbin (2000) ISBN 0-19-820855-3, p. 405
4. Peggy Spencer Talks to BBC about Starting Formation Dancing
5. ISTD History of Formation^{[permanent dead link‍]}
6. ""Formation Dancing"". Archived from the original on 2011-10-04. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
7. Biography of Žuvedra Coach Archived 2004-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
8. German Wikipedia Biography of Roberto Albanese
9. German Wikepdia Biography of Horst Beer
10. Certificate of Olympic recognition of IDSF Archived June 26, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
11. "Formatieteams wereldwijd". Formatiedansen.nl. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
12. "ProDance Competition Results 28.11.09".
13. "IDSF World Formation Latin".
14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2011-06-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2011-06-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• current IDSF Latin Formation Results
• XS Latin, Currently the Englands Top Latin Formation Team
• TSG Bremerhaven Latin Formation Team Germany
• International Governing body
• Information about formation dancing in The Netherlands
• Double V Netherlands
• Formation Dance on YouTube
• Examples of Historical Costumes
• Irish Ceili dances