What it is
The WDC was founded on 22 September 1950 in Edinburgh as the International Council of Ballroom Dancing, by fifteen countries. It was called the World Dance & DanceSport Council from 1996 and the World Dance Council from 2006. It is organised as a company in the United Kingdom.
It grew from professional teachers and dancers, and it awards the professional World and European titles in Ballroom (Standard), Latin, Ten Dance and Showdance. It also has committees for social dancing and for dance schools, and a Pro-Am department.
Members
Members are national bodies, often a national dance council that brings together a country's teaching and professional organisations. In the United States that is the NDCA; in Great Britain the British Dance Council. WDC has several membership categories, and new members start with an introductory period without a vote.
Membership changes: in April 2026, for example, the WDC changed which body it recognises in Russia. We have not found a current member count on WDC's public pages, so we do not give one.
Competition system
Professional. The WDC World Championships are its top titles. National members choose the couples they send, usually from their own national championships, and a World Series has its own ranking.
WDC Amateur League. Founded in 2007, the Amateur League licenses amateur dancers and designates amateur world and continental championships, including Open World Championships.
WDC's age groups, adjudicator licensing and ranking methods are set in its own rules. Its website restricts automated access, and we have not been able to read those rules directly, so we leave the detail to WDC's own pages.
Main events
The WDC World Championships week has often been held at Disneyland Paris, and WDC world titles have also been held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. The Blackpool Dance Festival itself, home of the British Open Championships, is run independently and is not a WDC title, although many WDC dancers compete there.
How it is governed
- General Council. The annual meeting of member delegates, the top body. It ratifies new members and rule changes.
- Presidium. The President and Vice-Presidents, elected by the full members every third annual meeting.
- Committees. The World Competitive Dance Committee, the World Social Dance Committee, the Amateur League and a Competitive Dance Executive Board.
Official links
We do not print the names of current presidents or board members, because they change. The links above go to the federation's own list.
This page is an independent summary written from the body's own published sources. DanceFlow is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sanctioned by it.
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Sources
Checked on November 3, 2026. Each document is linked in the language it was published in. Where sources disagree, the text says so.