The International Latin American Dance Championships were created after the Second World War in England by Elsa Wells, and are now organised by Dance News special events. The current full title is the Elsa Wells International Dance Championships, and includes all categories in Standard and Latin American ballroom dance.

The series of Latin American International Championships were started once the initial choreography, teaching and adjudications standards for these dances were stabilised. This occurred in the 1950s, after a period of debate and discussion initiated by Monsieur Pierre

Monsieur Pierre

Monsieur Pierre, or simply Pierre, was the professional name of Pierre Jean Phillipe Zurcher-Margolle, . Pierre was a professional dancer and dance teacher: he was primarily responsible for introducing the Latin American dances to England, and for codifying them, and laying the groundwork for their...

 and his associates. Although English in origin and organisation, the championships were open to the world, as is the case today for all the major ballroom championships held in England. There are two main series, one for professionals, and another for amateurs, plus various age-limited categories. The division between amateur and professional has persisted in ballroom dance long after it disappeared in most other sports and pastimes.

The final stages for both Amateur and Professional Standard and Latin American titles are always held at the Albert Hall

Albert Hall

Albert P. Hall is an American actor.Born in Brighton, Alabama, Hall graduated from the Columbia University School of the Arts in 1971. That same year he appeared Off-Broadway in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and on Broadway in the Melvin Van Peebles musical Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death...

 in London. Qualification for these final stages, and the championships for other categories (Juvenile, Under 14, Junior, Under 21, Senior, Pro Rising Stars) are held at a preliminary two-day event before the main finals at Brentwood, Essex

Brentwood, Essex

Brentwood is a town and the principal settlement of the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the east of England. It is located in the London commuter belt, 20 miles east north-east of Charing Cross in London, and near the M25 motorway....

. Non-English adjudicators are always included in the adjudication panels. It is one of the largest regular, and genuinely international, events in the ballroom dance world.

This list (and competition) is not the same as the later WDC World Championships

World Dance Council

The World Dance Council Ltd , is a registered limited company, and the legal successor to the International Council of Ballroom Dancing, and was established at a meeting organised by P.J.S Richardson on 22 September 1950 in Edinburgh...

. The International Professional Latin and Standard Championships are now part of the World Dance Council's World Super Series.

The dances

The Latin American competition comprises five dances: cha-cha-cha

Cha-cha-cha (dance)

The Cha-cha-cha is the name of a dance of Cuban origin.It is danced to the music of the same name introduced by Cuban composer and violinist Enrique Jorrín in 1953...

, samba, rumba

Rumba (dance)

Rumba is a dance term with two quite different meanings.In some contexts, "rumba" is used as shorthand for Afro-Cuban rumba, a group of dances related to the rumba genre of Afro-Cuban music. The most common Afro-Cuban rumba is the guaguancó...

, paso doble

Pasodoble

Pasodoble is a typical dance from Spain march-like musical style as well as the corresponding dance style danced by a couple. It is the type of music typically played in bullfights during the bullfighters' entrance to the ring or during the passes just before the kill...

, and jive

Jive (dance)

In Ballroom dancing, Jive is a dance style in 4/4 time that originated in the United States from African-Americans in the early 1930s. It was originally presented to the public as 'Jive' in 1934 by Cab Calloway. It is a lively and uninhibited variation of the Jitterbug, a form of Swing dance...

, conducted in line with British Dance Council

British Dance Council

The British Dance Council was formed in 1929 as the Official Board of Ballroom Dancing . The name was subsequently changed in 1985 to the British Council of Ballroom Dancing and in 1996, the name was changed to British Dance Council...

 (BDC) regulations; the basis of the dances is described in standard texts. Advanced choreography has, however, broken through the traditional limitations of social dancing, and more obviously in the Latin and American dances than in ballroom (Modern or Standard).

Adjudication

The qualifying and lesser events days at Brentwood had, in 2009, three adjudication panels of eight former champions and other significant professionals. Early rounds had one panel of eight, alternating. Semi-finals and finals of lesser events had both panels. At the Albert Hall, there were four panels, each of 19 adjudicators. The semi-finals and finals of the amateur and professional titles were each adjudicated by a separate panel. This may be contrasted favourably with the number of judges used for those Olympic Games

Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...

 events which depend upon adjudication, such as ice dancing

Ice dancing

Ice dancing is a form of figure skating which draws from the world of ballroom dancing. It was first competed at the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, but did not become a Winter Olympic Games medal sport until 1976....

 and diving

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

. Results and adjudication details (marks for each finalist by each adjudicator) are posted after the event.

2009 entrants

In the Professional Championship there were 150 couples from 34 countries of affiliation (countries of origin not listed). In the Amateur Championship there were 289 couples from 31 countries of affiliation. Countries such as China, Japan, Russia and Italy sent multiple entries to all competitions. The countries listed in the table below are countries of origin, where known.