Inter Varsity Dance Competition

On Saturday 8th March the Inter Varsity Dance Association, kindly sponsored by the IDTA, presented the 46th Inter Varsity Dance Competition at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

This is the annual national student championships and this year’s event, organised by the Featherwait team from Oxford, was the largest on record with just under 900 competitors in each of the ballroom and latin opens and with 75 teams contesting the evening’s team match. With the number of competitors growing steadily over the recent years the decision was taken this year, for the first time ever, to hold the competition over two floors, with a second floor being specially laid in the Arena room, adjacent to the main Empress Ballroom. A packed venue of competitors, friends, family and spectators witnessed a fantastic days dancing including a stunning 5-dance ballroom demonstration by Italian couple Mirco d’Agostino and Arianna d’Amico.

The standard of dancing throughout the opens was particularly high with both advanced finals being hotly contested: Ryan Lamb and Katie Armstrong of the University of Durham ultimately triumphing in the ballroom event :




and Ivan Lubenko and Pippa Underwood of Oxford University in the Latin.



As the day went on excitement grew in anticipation of the evening’s team match – always the highlight of the day. This year the event was incredibly closely contested with the University of Cambridge A team winning by the narrowest of margins (Rule 11!) from rivals Oxford University A team. With the Oxford B team finishing third, the EADA trophy for the best overall university went to the wire but was also ultimately won by Cambridge for the third successive year. With the last final over, all presentations made and every trophy handed out to its new winners, competitors, coaches and spectators alike saw in the early hours of the morning with a social dance and disco.

The IVDA executive committee would like to thank the day’s comperes Nicky Miles, Bruce Richardson and Lee Williams as well as the scrutineer Estelle Grassby for all their help in organizing the event, Paul Fielding for his brilliant music and adjudicators Alan Grassby (Chairman), Gary Foster, Maureen Ford, Diane Haywood, Nigel Horrocks, Richard Hunt, Mark Lunn, Neil Lunt, Alan Merrall, Angel Pryer, John Taylor and Mark Willemite. The IVDA would also like to express its thanks to the IDTA and its directors for their continuing support of university dancing at all levels.