- Formation dance
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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]
Contents
International Style Ballroom: Dancesport
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] David Mallabone 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.
Current Formation Teams
This is a list of Adult Formation Teams currently competing in the IDSF World Ranking Competition. There are currently 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 XS Latin, Fever Dance Company Fever Latin Team Preston Germany Grün-Gold-Club Bremen, TSZ Velbert TC LUDWIGSBURG, BRAUNSCHWEIGER TSC Hungary Valcer Dance Studio, Botafogo Dance Ensemble SZILVER TSE, KODMON TSE Lithuania Klaipėda University DSC "Žuvėdra" (A and B) Moldova DSC CODREANCA Netherlands Dance East Oldenzaal, Double V Latin Formation Team MOVING ACTION, Step in Time Formation Team Poland KS Kamion Dance Warsaw, Dance Formation A-z Przemysl, Dance Formation SPIN Wodzislaw Slaski LOTOS-JANTAR, KADRY Romania Floris Dance Team FLORIS DANCE TEAM Russia Vera Tjumen, DSC Tsveta Radugi IMPULSE Serbia Dance Club Aurora Slovakia KTS INTERKLUB MADIT, TC KOSICE 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 Deutschland Germany 2009 Ludwigsburg Germany [11] TC Ludwigsburg Germany, Vera Tyumen Russia Bremen, Germany [12] Grün-Gold-Club Bremen Germany, Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania, 2010 Elblag, Poland [13] FS LOTOS-Jantar (Poland), Braunschweiger TSC(Germany) Moscow, Russia [14] Vera Tyumen, Russia, Žuvėdra Klaipėda University, Lithuania, See also
- List of DanceSport dances
- Ballroom dance
- Dancesport
- International DanceSport Federation
- Žuvėdra
- XS Latin
- Swedish Dancesport Federation
- Blackpool Dance Festival
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
- ^ 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
- current IDSF Latin Formation Results
- XS Latin, Currently the Englands Top Latin Formation Team
- Fever UK
- 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
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