University Team Match – Egham 9th Dec 07
Sent in by Shaun

Philip Wylie played host to this University Team Match at his competition in Egham on 9th Dec 07. The concept of this Open Circuit (OC) Uni Team Match was developed through IVDA – the Intervarsity Dancesport Association, which is the main body within the Uni Dancesport Circuit. One of the motivations to hold this type of event was to gently introduce University dancers to the OC.

IVDA, through is Member Societies, boasts an associate membership which I believe is somewhere around 30% of EADA’s. So it is a huge body of dancers. Very few of these dancers make it out of the Uni Circuit onto the OC, which is a great shame as the Universities represent a huge cultivation opportunity for potential OC dancesport competitors. I myself started dancing first at Southampton University in (ahem, cough) the 1980s, and upon graduation struggled to find my way through this then strange world of the Open Circuit. I therefore have a great deal of respect for what this event is aiming to achieve.


The highlight of each Uni Circuit competition is a team match. The OC Uni Team Match format follows that of the IVDC (Intervarsity Dance Competition which is at the pinnacle of the Uni Circuit, held in March). As this wasn’t a conventional Uni Circuit team match, teams were allowed to field ex-students as long as they had competed on the Uni Circuit in their time (hence my inclusion). Each team enters four couples who dance one dance each: Waltz, Quickstep, Cha and Jive. The team’s performance is assessed as if the team was dancing as one individual couple doing a 4 dance. So it is the number of recalls and final placing marks across all 4 couples/dances, that determines whether or not the whole team gets recalled, or where it is placed in the final.

At this event, there was representation from six universities entering a total of 9 teams. The teams were:

Bristol
Imperial College A
Imperial College / Surrey Combination
Oxford A, B & C
Royal Holloway A & B
Southampton

Unsurprisingly there was a Southern bias to this event due to the location. Oxford & Imperial, along with the absent Cambridge are the recent dominators of the Uni Circuit. Within the ranks of the uni teams were a smattering of regular OC competitors which gave a balance to the teams as well as an example for the less experienced team members to aspire toward.

It was especially pleasing to see Royal Holloway bring not only one team but two. RH is not, historically, an established Uni Circuit society but I know that they have a new keen and fresh interest in taking part, and to bring two teams to an event like this is a credit to their committee. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, faced with both the might of Oxford and IC, as well as being made up of mostly beginners and novices, neither RH team made the final. However, I do hope that they are not disheartened by this, and indeed are invigorated by the experience, and the display of dancing that they saw, to keep at it.

For this sized Sunday Circuit competition (with no EADAs) the Uni Team match nicely bolstered the attendees and unusually for a Southern Sunday Circuit Competition all levels of open (ie non-senior) competition events had multiple rounds, typically 3, including the Am and the beginners. And the latin actually lasted longer than an hour – students much prefer latin. As a result the competition did run a little late, but less than averagely late for a Sunday Circuit event. Having said that, I don’t think the event could have coped with many more Uni teams bringing competitors, so perhaps there is a balance to be cut, and a risk of this event becoming a victim of its own success in the future. This would certainly be mitigated if there were more such events held during the Uni season, across other parts of the country.

It was also good for the students to see some of the top calibre OCers, including those from their own ranks. For them to be able to see the quality of the likes of Richard and Morgan can only inspire them in their dancing aspirations. I also like to think that seeing some of the country’s best Seniors also proved to show that folks of their parent’ ages can also cut it.

Overall I was very impressed by the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it, not least to get an invite from my old university, Southampton, to take part and as the most senior couple there to be pitched against the keen latin youngsters in Cha. This was the first competitive outing I’d had with my new partner, Janine Denman, since we’d formed our permanent partnership three weeks earlier. So it was a little under-rehearsed and therefore nervy but we were pleased with our overall performance.

Just to pass a few observations that I’d ask the Uni teams and organisers to take into consideration. First, I think the Team Captains should brief their team members on a bit of competition etiquette. It is bad form during the general dancing to practice the Cha when they are playing a waltz. Also consideration should be given when walking around, or indeed across, the floor during general dancing to those who are actually dancing. Also not to stand in huddles on the floor. A little briefing on line up conventions (in terms of which way to form the line and progress down the line) wouldn’t go amiss either.

In terms of the event itself, it is a shame that it clashed with the same weekend as the University competition hosted by Manchester. Of the Unis that were there, none are regular Manchester attendees (with maybe the exception of Bristol). But it does give some Unis who like to attend Manchester a dilemma like London, Warwick and Cardiff. It’s a shame to have to chose. It may be unlikely that the Northern Unis would go that far South for such an event, so to them the clash is less material.

The Uni circuit is crammed into the first and second terms and there are in fact very few weekends where any sort of clash could be avoided. I believe that this is only the second time that this OC Uni Team Match has been held, and on this observer’s viewing I’d actually say it’s a big success and should not only continue, but perhaps be hosted in the Midlands, or have an additional one in the North. I know a lot of the Egham success is down to the support of Philip Wylie, so perhaps there’s a Northern promoter who would like to look at replicating the format. This debate has various facets with which I will bore you no longer.

So finally to the results:

1st Oxford A
2nd Southampton A
3rd Imperial A
4th Oxford B
5th Oxford C
6th Imperial-Surrey

The Southampton team were so used to the might of Oxford and IC sweeping all before it (it’s not unusual for Oxford B & C to beat most Uni A teams), that none of us were paying any attention when 2nd place was called out. We had to do a double take – I think Philip saw our lack of attention and announced it very, very firmly.

We were very, very pleased.
But congratulations to Oxford A, and indeed all of the Uni competitors for not only making it a fun team match but a nicely rounded competition as well.

Shaun Brannigan, 10/12/07
ex Uni Dancesport competitior
Soton 84/85, 85/86, Manchester 86/87, 87/88, 05/06, Warwick 06/07