Members of the IDO are national dance federations; only non-profit organizations can join.

IDO was founded on September 18, 1981, by four countries: France, Gibraltar, Italy and Switzerland.

[1] The IDO Presidium consists of the EPM and 6 Vice Presidents with specific duties.

[2] Nils Hakon Carlzon, Bill Fowler and Michael Wendt have been honoured as Honorary Lifetime Presidents.

To enable the experts in each specific field to discuss their department matters at the level where the dancers are, IDO has installed the following committees and departments: IDO has more than 90 member nations and contacts on all six continents, representing more than 250,000 dancers worldwide.