Formation Dancing 

How and were formation dancing was started is not clear. Between 1920 and 1930 in Germany, England and France demonstrations were given by showteams who danced e.g. a Waltz with 4 couples on the floor, these couples danced the same figures in a synchronized manner. In that time no complex pattern were danced and all shows were done on live music. England was on of the forerunners in the development of Formation Dancing.

In 1932 Formation Dancing was shown by Mrs Olive Ripman at the astoria Ballroom. It was introduced as "pattern dancing" or "shadow dancing" which is exactly what it should show to the audience and judges. In that time teams of four couples were allowed to compete, today a Formation team should contain at least 6 couples and preferable 8.

In England Peggy Spencer started in 1938 a four-couple Quickstep team which competed in the first big Formation contest at the "Star" Ball in 1938 , the team of Mrs Olive Ripman won the competition. In the Netherlands at that time Mr. Bronmeyer (sr) was one of the first initiators of team/formation dancing.

After the World War II Formation Dancing developed further and in several countries formation competitions were held. In England Formation Dancing (standard) was added to the "Open British" in 1957 winner were the standard team of Peggy Spencer . In 1961 the Latin Formation was added to this world famous dance festival in Blackpool and still every year Formation Dancing is on the program in Blackpool Tuesday evening the standard and Friday evening the Latin.
In Germany the first Official German Championship were held at 1964 well known coaches of that time (some of them are still active) were: Wolfgang Opitz (Hamburg) and Gunter Dreesen (Dusseldorf) the Opitz team "TTC im Harburger Turnerbund" won the first German Championships. But still in this period the British Teams were superior followed by Germany and Denmark, the teams from Freddie Pedersen Kopenhagen.
The first World Championships were in 1973 the winners were TC Harburg, Germany and they were the first team using a special prepared music composition on tape as we know today. In England it was not allowed to use these kind of tapes until 1985 maybe that's why the British teams are still far behind? The first major Championships and there winner were:
European Championships Standard 1965 F& P Spencer Standard Team, England
European Championships Latin 1965 F& P Spencer Latin Team, England
World Championships Standard 1973 TTC Harburg im HTB, Germany
World Championships Latin 1973 TD Rot-Weiss Düsseldorf, Germany

In the Netherlands the first standard Championships were in 1985 and the Latin in 1979 as the Chart shows in the past the team Quick Motion, Soest dominated the Latin and Vida, Doetinchem the Standard.