back to news Inter Varsity Dance Competition 2007 On Saturday 10th March 2007 I attended the Inter Varsity Dance Competition (IVDC) that was being held in the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. I was amazed at the size of the competition. There were over 900 competitors attending on the day, representing a total of 26 universities from across the country. This was the largest entry ever seen at this competition and reflects the surge in interest in competition dancing on the university circuit. With over 9,000 members, the Inter Varsity Dance Association is booming at present. The first part of the day consisted of beginners, novice, intermediate and advanced competitions in ballroom and Latin. It was quite incredible to hear that the first round of the beginner’s competition had an entry of over 175 couples. The standard and enthusiasm of the beginner’s competition was fantastic and the overall winners of the beginner’s team trophy were Imperial College, although the finalists were from a variety of universities. The winners of the beginners, novice and intermediate events qualified for the upcoming ‘stars of the future’ competition in Brentwood. It will be great to see these couples compete on the open circuit and continue to develop their dancing further. There was also a Rock n Roll competition where over 50 couples took part. The couples from Cambridge dominated this event demonstrating a high level of acrobatics. The advanced competitions were extremely exciting to watch. Again all the couples were of a very high standard and had worked extremely hard for this event. I noted two individual couples in these events who are very promising dancers. In the advanced ballroom competition I noted Blaise Thomson and Felicia Yap from Cambridge (Pictured below). Although they only finished 4th, this couple show real potential for ballroom. Blaise has a great frame, and Felicia filled this with an elegant poise. They both possess a great softness and musicality that elevated them above all the other couples on the floor. Blaise Thomson and Felicia Yap The second couple I noted were Lev Kravchenko & Toni Lea Issacs from Bristol, who were the winners of the advanced Latin competition (Pictured below). This couple were clear winners. Lev was the only male dancer in this competition to use his back in co-ordination with the lower half of his body. Toni acted as a great foil for Lev and they both showed great body rhythm from start to finish. It would be terrific to see both of these couples to continue their dancing further, as they both have great potential. Lev Kravchenko & Toni Lea Issacs One of the highlights of the day was a team match from some of England’s young dance talent. This was greatly received by the crowd and all the couples who took part performed extremely well. It was also great to see all the display couples were EADA members, and EADA would like to thank these couples for representing Amateur dancing in England to a very high standard. The day finished with the team match where all the universities compete against each other. The team match is one of the highlights of the day for the competitors. The overall winners of the A, B and D team events were Cambridge, with Oxford coming a close second, although Oxford won the C team event. IVDC 2007 was a great success for all those who participated. It was an extremely long day with the first round starting at 9.30am and the final of the team match taking place at 12.30 am the following morning! Understandably all participants were very tired, but credit must be given to all competitors and spectators who all had an abundance of enthusiasm throughout the day. It was great to see so many dancers enjoying themselves whilst competing, some of whom were competing for the first time. Congratulations to all those who took part in the event and to those who organised that day. I will hope and look forward to seeing some of the participants competing on the open circuit in the near future. Photographs by Laurie Young Report By Stephen Arnold 23/03/07 .