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

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 and a half 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 Chvaletice
England	Fever Latin Team Preston XS Latin
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)
Moldova	Codreanca
Mongolia	Star formation Mongolia	IFE Ulaan Sarnai (Red Rose)
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 First and Second Place results for the IDSF World Championships

Year	Venue	Standard Result	Venue	Latin Result
1995	Stuttgart	Braunschweiger TSC TC Ludwigsburg	Berlin	TSG Bremerhaven, Germany TSC Schwarz-Gelb Aachen, Germany
1996	Berlin	TC Ludwigsburg, Germany Braunschweiger TSC	Vilnius	TSC Schwarz-Gelb Aachen, Germany Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania
1997	Kishinev	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova Ludwigsburg, Germany	Munich	TSC Schwarz-Gelb Aachen, Germany TSG Bremerhaven, Germany Deutschland Germany
1998	Berlin TC	Allround Berlin, Germany DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Gothenburg	TSC Schwarz-Gelb Aachen, Germany TD TSC Düsseldorf Rot-Weiß, Germany
1999	Elbląg	Jantar Elblag Jantar Elblag Poland TC Allround Berlin, Germany	Vilnius	Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania TSG Bremerhaven, Germany
2000	Brunswick	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Wels (Stadt)	TSG Bremerhaven, Germany Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania
2001	Berlin	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Bremerhaven	TSG Bremerhaven, Germany Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania
2002	Kishinev	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova Vera Tyumen, Russia	Vilnius	Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania TD TSC Düsseldorf Rot-Weiß, Germany
2003	Stuttgart	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Essen	Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania TSZ Aachen, Germany
2004	Brunswick	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Minsk	Klaipėda University Team Žuvėdra, Lithuania Grün-Gold-Club Bremen Germany
2005	Elblag	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Munich	Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania Grün-Gold-Club Bremen Germany
2006	Moscow	Vera Tyumen, Russia DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova	Bremen	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen Germany Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania
2007	Stuttgart	TC Ludwigsburg, Germany Vera Tyumen, Russia	Bremerhaven	TSG Bremerhaven, Germany, Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany (joined first) Klaipėda University Žuvėdra team, Lithuania
2008	Kishinev	DSC Kodryanka Kishinev, Moldova TC Ludwigsburg, Germany	Wiener Neustadt, Austria	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania Green-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany
2009	Ludwigsburg Germany ^[12]	TC Ludwigsburg, Germany Vera Tyumen, Russia	Bremen, Germany ^[13]	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2010	Elblag, Poland ^[14]	FS LOTOS-Jantar, Poland Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Moscow, Russia ^[15]	Vera Tyumen, Russia Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania,
2011	Braunschweig, Germany	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Vilnius, Lithuania	Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania Vera Tyumen, Russia
2012	Ludwigsburg, Germany	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany TC Ludwigsburg, Germany	Bremen, Germany	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania
2013	Tyumen, Russia	Vera Tyumen, Russia Braunschweiger TSC, Germany	Bremen, Germany	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany Vera Tyumen, Russia
2014	Braunschweig, Germany	Braunschweiger TSC, Germany Vera Tyumen, Russia	Bremen, Germany	Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, Germany DUET Perm, Russia

References

^ Spencer, Frank and Peggy 1968. Come dancing. Allen, London. Chapter 3, p33.
^ History of Dancesport by Dancesport Ireland
^ "Classes and Cultures: England 1918-1951", by Ross McKibbin (2000) ISBN 0-19-820855-3, p. 405
^ Peggy Spencer Talks to BBC about Starting Formation Dancing
^ ISTD History of Formation
^ "Formation Dancing"
^ Biography of Žuvedra Coach
^ German Wikipedia Biography of Roberto Albanese
^ German Wikepdia Biography of Horst Beer
^ Certificate of Olympic recognition of IDSF
^ "Formatieteams wereldwijd". Formatiedansen.nl. Retrieved 17 April 2013.
^ http://www.spaeker.de/c09/wm_st/pd/M2811FDS.HTM
^ http://www.spaeker.de/c09/wm_fla/0001/index.htm
^ http://www.spaeker.de/2010results/10_23_elblag_f/M2310FDS.HTM
^ http://www.spaeker.de/2010results/10_30_moscow/M3010FDL.HTM

External links

[1] Spencer, Frank and Peggy 1968. Come dancing. Allen, London. Chapter 3, p33.

[2] History of Dancesport by Dancesport Ireland

[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

[6] "Formation Dancing"

[7] Biography of Žuvedra Coach

[8] German Wikipedia Biography of Roberto Albanese

[9] German Wikepdia Biography of Horst Beer

[10] Certificate of Olympic recognition of IDSF

[11] "Formatieteams wereldwijd". Formatiedansen.nl. Retrieved 17 April 2013.

[12] ttp://www.spaeker.de/c09/wm_st/pd/M2811FDS.HTM

[13] ttp://www.spaeker.de/c09/wm_fla/0001/index.htm

[14] ttp://www.spaeker.de/2010results/10_23_elblag_f/M2310FDS.HTM

[15] ttp://www.spaeker.de/2010results/10_30_moscow/M3010FDL.HTM

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