IDO Story

Mr. Moreno Polidori founded the International Dance Organization (IDO), as a non-profit organization, in Florence, Italy, on September 18th 1981. The main purpose of this organization was to provide Continental and World Championships competitions to both amateur and professional dancers, in all forms of dance, not covered by the World Dance and Dance Sport Council ant The World Rock´n Roll Association.

In October 1998 the IDO elected its first Presidium after a two year reconstruction procedure. The Presidium consists of a President, Executive Secretary, Senior Vice President and four Vice Presidents in charge of various departments.
The IDO is an affiliated member of the International DanceSport Federation (IDSF) and has now more than 60 National member bodies.

1991 Congress Centrum, Hamburg, Germany.
A young man with many visions conceived the IDO World Tap Dance Championships. Michael Wendt brought this first event to the prestigious Congress Centre in Hamburg, Germany, and invited the best Tap Dancers in the world to compete for the coveted title of World Tap Dance Champion and to take part in his International Dance Festival. It began with all tap dancers, including male, female and couples, competing against one another, for the title.

The first World Championship resulted in Bobis Laszlo from Budapest, Hungary, being selected as the winner and first IDO World Tap Dance Champion.

1992 Congress Centrum, Hamburg, Germany.
In the 2nd year of the IDO World Tap Dance Championships, a wonderful dancer from Prague, Czech Republic, Pavel Hrubec, danced himself into the hearts of the more than 3,000 spectators whom filled the CCH to capacity.

This year also proved that word was spreading very fast throughout the world about this extraordinary event. A very talented dance specialist from South Africa, Gloria Fish, who was the president of the South African Dance Teacher Association, had brought very talented, well-trained and very charming dancers from South Africa, making this event a multi-continental event.

1993 Sursee, Switzerland
The Tap Dance World Championship was moved to Sursee, Switzerland in the third year. Although America was involved before, a brilliant young tap dancer from America surfaced, by the name of Matthew Clark. Although the Championship was won by an outstanding riveting young tap dancer from Spain whose name is Ortega. Matthew charmed everyone involved and was the heartthrob of the international audience. An interesting situation occurred resulting in a new IDO rule. The routine that Ortega presented was done "a cappella" which means without music. Since timing the dance would be very difficult, and require timing every round, a new rule was put into effect, which required all a cappella tap to be contained within the music, be no longer than 30 seconds and never at the beginning or the end of the routine.

1996 – The Canadian National Dance Team comes to Europe.
For the first time the Canadian National Tap Team competed in the World Tap Dance Championships at the Dresden World Trade Centre and placed third in the Formation division.

Contrary to the usual clubs or dance studios that compete in world events, the Canadian's team was a true "National Team," with dancers from throughout Canada, from Vancouver to Montreal, who auditioned for placement on the team at the Canadian National Performing Arts Championships. The director of this competition, and leader of the team, is Bonnie Dyer, one of the most successful competition organizers in Canada.

However, the evening belonged to Matthew Clark. Once again, the audience loved this talented and charming, dynamic young dancer/ choreographer from Buffalo, New York. His ability to dazzle and electrify the audience had everyone stomping their feet with thunderous applause, for his stunning footwork and suave style. He placed third in the solo division, won the newly created duo/couple division with his partner Tiffany, and also danced his way to victory, along with his fellow dancers, in the formation division. Gloria Jean Cuming's formation gave a brilliant performance placing second.

1996 also saw Germany reach the top in the solo division, where a dynamic young man, Bernd Paffrath, from Leverkusen, Germany, performed a stunning Michael Jackson piece to perfection. Also unforgettable were the outstanding performances of Fabrice Martin, who placed second and Matthew Clark, placing third. Great sportsmanship was shown by both the American and Canadian ladies, by their enthusiastic congratulations and shower of kisses bestowed upon Bernd as he was presented his Gold Medal and Trophy on stage.

Bernd's competitive career spanned the first nine years of IDO World Tap Championships and although not always victorious, he always placed in the finals and was an admirable and very gracious sportsman.

In the duo category, Kerstin Albrecht and Oliver Bahle, from Georgsmarienhutte & Bielefeld, won a well-earned second place as the best Europeans, with an astonishing Tap Dance presentation, elegantly dressed in evening clothes. One-year prior, they won the European Tap Dance Championship in Annecy, France.

1997 – Goodbye Dresden, Hello Riesa.
Unfortunately and to everyone's disappointment, the Karstadt Dresden Dance Cup ended. However, the first mayor of Riesa, Germany, Herr Wolfram Kohler, provided the opportunity to continue the World Championships. He invited Mr. Wendt and the Tap Dancers of the world to the newly built Town Hall Stern, where they could demonstrate the skillful and astonishing Art of Tap Dancing.

The winner of the Solo division was Fabrice Martin of Lausanne, Switzerland, making this his second World Champion Gold Medal. Unforgettable at this event was the spectacular finish to his routine, whereby he jumped from the stage, directly into the arms of the excitedly applauding United States team, to the audiences delight.

The winners of the Duo division were a brother and sister team, Michael and Trisha Minnery, from New Jersey, USA. This young couple has gone on to a very successful career, where today, they are both in high demand as trainers and choreographers.

Once again, in the Formation division, Gloria Jean Cuming brought her team to a stunning victory, which was closely followed by the Canadian Team, coached and choreographed by Matthew Clark. The German Team, led by Kerstin Albrecht, from Georgsmarienhutte, Germany, placed a close third.

1998 – The World Tap Dance Championships move to the WM (World Masters) Sporthalle Riesa
Realizing that the Town Hall Stern was too small, Mayor Kohler moved the Championships to the WM-Sporthalle Riesa, which had a much larger capacity for seating and the dance area was much more adequate. The motto of the WM-Sporthalle Riesa is: "World Champions Are Created Here."

The spectators and dancers were both pleased with this new venue and all agreed that the skill and performance level of all dancers were shown at their best in this new facility.

The Solo division was won by an outstanding tap dancer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, William Larson, who astonished the audience with a brand new style of tap, which was very balletic. His multiple turns not only mystified but also were flawless. He later went on to be crowned "Mr. Dance of America" the following year.

The winners of the Duo division were Kara Prete and Allison Bailey from New Haven, Connecticut, USA, who gave an outstanding performance with very intricate footwork.

For the first time the Canadian Team won the Formation division with their unforgettable "Military Style" precision routine, choreographed by Matthew Clark. In second place was the ever-popular American team, once again led by Gloria Jean Cuming and in third place the Heidelberger Dancing School Nuzinger, choreographed by Marianne Heinrich.

1998 saw another very important change in the IDO rules. It was decided to split the solo division into two divisions, Male and Female. Due to the increasing dominance of the more athletically inclined male dancer, contrary to the more soft and elegant dancing of the female dancer, the IDO decided that beginning in 1999, male and female dancers would not oppose one another, and the categories would be separated. At the same time it was also decided to add another category, Small Groups, which would be from 3 to 7 dancers.

Kohler & Wendt bring the "Footlites" to Riesa.
While attending the North American Tap Dance Festival, which was held at the fabulous Marriott Marquis, in the heart of Manhattan, New York City, Wolfram Kohler and Michael Wendt were very impressed with the celebrated and quite famous Fabulous Footnotes. These "young at heart" tap dancers are a very entertaining and talented group of Tap Dancers, all over the age of 65, who reside in Florida, USA. Mr. Kohler and Mr. Wendt decided to invite the Fabulous Footnotes to Riesa to perform as guests, at the World Tap Event. Their performance was an enormous success, with the audience and fellow dancers giving them a standing ovation, which proved to all that Tap Dance keeps all age groups young at heart. This prompted Mr. Wendt to submit a proposal, through the German Federation, requesting that the IDO establish a new World Class event for Seniors.

1999 – The Tap Dance World Championships move to Berlin.
Due to the German proposal, the IDO decided in 1999 to establish this new age category in Tap Dance for Senior's, as a trial. This age was defined at 49 years old and over.

The first Senior World Cup, along with the World Tap Dance Championships were held in Berlin, Germany, at the newly built and elegant Estrel Convention Centre in Germany's capital city. The first competing countries were America, Canada, Germany and South Africa.

The winner of the World Cup Small Group was M-Team from Heidelberg, Germany, choreographer, Marianne Heinrich. The winner of the World Cup Formation was the formation from South Africa, choreographed by Gloria Fish.

For the third time Fabrice Martin was the winner of the Male Solo event, becoming the most successful Solo Tap Dancer of the IDO World Tap Dance history. The female winner was the 1999, Junior World Champion, who for the first time in the history of IDO, had won two titles in the same year, Miss Sarah Reed. She completely dazzled the audience. The Duo winners were Thomas Kolczewski and Jutta Maas from Munster, Germany. The winner of the Small Group was an absolutely awesome routine, danced by five Canadian young men, entitled "Five Guys Named Mo." Vice Champions in the duo division were quite unique because of their performance to live music. The group was called; Marianne's Team from Heidelberg, and the choreographer, Marianne Heinrich. The winner of the Formation division was, for the third time, the Gloria Jean Dancers, which was choreographed by Gloria Jean and Rennie Gold. Upon arriving back home in Connecticut, the Team was met with a police escort and taken through the streets of North Haven in a victory parade. They were also invited to the White House by Bill Clinton and were performing guests on three major national television shows. Gloria Jean has won three World Championships and two Vice Championships with her formation. An enviable achievement, indeed.

2000 – Back to Riesa and the magnificent SachsenARENA.
Once again the Mayor of Riesa, Wolfram Kohler stepped forward and invited Michael Wendt to present his World Championships in Riesa at the magnificent SachsenARENA, one of the most beautiful arenas of its kind in Europe. More than 800 of the best Tap Dancers in the world convened on Riesa to show their best technical and artistic abilities and dance for respective titles.

America makes a grand sweep in the Female Solo division receiving the first four places. The winner, Kara Prete from Connecticut, second, Sarah Reed from Oklahoma, third Martina Schneller from New York and fourth Katie Carrol from Texas. In the Male Solo Division, once again it was that dynamo from Lausanne, Switzerland, Mr. Fabrice Martin, who has won this title for the fourth time, with his brilliant Chinese Warrior routine, where he danced on chairs and used barrels as drums. The Canadian couple, David Cox and Tinslay Brittany won Duo division. The Small Group division was won by an American group, Everything Has Its Place, choreographer, Rennie Gold. The Formation division was once again won by the Gloria Jean Dancers entitled Warrior, which was choreographed by Gloria Jean, Paul Danek and Rennie Gold. The performance was worthy of a Broadway Stage.

In the Children's division the Male and Female children competed against one another with the following result: The winner was an outstanding young dancer from Switzerland, Daniel Borak. America took second through sixth place. In the Duo division, once again America prevailed with first place, Erica Fetera and Paige Keefe, followed by second place winner, Katie Kaufman and Shiloh Roberts. The Group and Fromations were combined and the winner was Gloria Jean Dancers 1, Choreographed by Gloria Jean Cuming.

In the Senior division the Small Group division was won by Gloria's Golden Girls from South Africa, who also won the Formation division. Gloria Fish choreographed both numbers.

Outlook – USA and Canada are in the forefront.
For many years now, the American and Canadian teams have dominated Tap Dance. This is due mainly to the fact that training begins at a very young age in both countries. Despite that many other nations are constantly improving and catching up and the talent is getting stronger and stronger every year, which is good for the audience as well as for Tap Dance itself.

Europe can catch up
For many years the Slovenian dancers have been improving under the tutelage and guidance of the Slovenian Tap Dance expert, Mr. Jadran Zivkovic. The Swiss, Germans, Hungarians, Czechs and Slovaks have made great strides forward with their dancers training and choreography. Young choreographers like Laszlo Bobis from Hungary are instilling that wonderful competitive spirit among their dancers.

The Future
It is expected that many more countries such as Australia will be competing next years, where plans are on the drawing board for one of the largest "Dance Festivals" in Europe to take place in Riesa in conjunction with the World Danceshow and Tap Dance Championships.