IDO what are we and what are we doing?

During the last days I was working on a short description of IDO (International Dance Organization). I was thinking about how I can describe what the IDO is doing, which dance categories the IDO is covering and how many countries and dancers are part of this organization.

Then the tragical terror attack in Nice happened and a few days later the military occupation in Turkey.

And then it was quite clear for me

IDO is more than all of this. IDO is a family of dancers, dance teacher, coaches, presidents, national members, presidium members, judges, adjudicators, scruteneers. A big, big family, a family around the world.

A family which will first of all contact their friends and members in the countries, to ask „is everything okay with you?“ „are you okay?“ „is your family okay“.

It was the same when one year ago a crazy car driver was killing 4 people in Graz, when the military occupation in Turkey took place, or something else occurred in the world. We – the IDO family – was first of all asking our friends!

So we are more than an organization of people who are sharing the same hobby or the same sport. We are sharing also the opinion that dancing is more than sport dancing is also a way to connect people. Connecting people over the borders of countries, politics, religion and skin color.

South African Hip Hoppers with Danish Disco Dancers, Italian Salsa Dancers with Canadian Tap dancers, Russian Tango Argentino dancers with German Breakdancers. Dance is art and sport without borders. A way to respect people coming from different backgrounds, but sharing the same spirit.

So the IDO is a dance organization, like some others in world, but it is more, it is the biggest dance family in the world.