2002-3

Varsity

In the final chapter of another resoundingly successful year, Oxford won both the A and the B-Team matches at the Oxford-Cambridge varsity comp.

You could smell the tension in the air as the B-team results were read out but in the final analysis, Oxford pipped Cambridge by six points - victory by less than half of a percent! Cambridge put on a strong show and had very good couples spearheading their team. but as always, found themselves confounded by the sheer depth of the Oxford B-side.

As the results for the A-Team were read out, we quickly realised that unless Cambridge had pulled something remarkable out of their latin bag, the dark blues had it. Sure enough, in the final tally Oxford stood with one and a half times the marks of Cambridge and every single best couple prize.

Individual prizes: A-Team:

Best Overall

Oxford Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

Best Ballroom

Oxford Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

Best Latin

Oxford Tris Neagle and Jumin Wong

Best Newcomer

Oxford Wolfram Schmitt and Emmy Spencer

Best Oxford Overall

Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

Best Oxford Ballroom

Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

Best Oxford Latin

Tris Neagle and Jumin Wong

Best Oxford Newcomer

Wolfram Schmitt and Emmy Spencer

Oxford Couple of the year

Wolfram Schmitt and Emmy Spencer

B-Team:

Best Overall

Cambridge Ben Woolley and Elizabeth Ayer

Best Ballroom

Cambridge Ben Woolley and Elizabeth Ayer

Best Latin

Cambridge Ben Woolley and Elizabeth Ayer

Best Newcomer

Oxford Ailsa Longmuir and Anton Suchaneck

Best Oxford Overall

Greg Mucklow and Georgina Weeds

Best Oxford Ballroom

Greg Mucklow and Georgina Weeds

Best Oxford Latin

Greg Mucklow and Georgina Weeds

Best Oxford Newcomer

Anton Suchaneck and Ailsa Longmuir

Beginners Waltz

Oxford Helen Dixon and Ian Watson

Beginners Cha

Imperial Sam Jayatilaka and David Tan

Beginners Quickstep

Oxford Helen Dixon and Ian Watson

Beginners Jive

Imperial Sam Jayatilaka and David Tan

IVDA

IVDA was the second compeition organised by Oxford this year and another great success. Despite a number of extra offbeat entries received on the day and scheduling extra heats into the grand modern and Latin comps, the event ran only 10 minutes over time and was thoroughly enjoyed by pretty much everyone who attended.

Battles on the floor were fierce and all of the universities turned out highly trained and talented dancers to compete for the titles. The Advanced four-dance trophies were both won by Cambridge couples but Oxford took the Intermediate Modern trophy and the beginners jive.

Oxford also swept through the team results taking all team trophies except the B-Team and a host of firsts to boot. In a remarkable finale, the A-Team was announced to be a three way tie between arguably the closest competitors of the year, Oxford, Cambridge and Cardiff.

First places for Oxford included:

A-Team Waltz

Peter Nixey and Jane Higgins

B-Team Waltz

Robin Schlinkert and Monika Faltjeskova

B-Team Quickstep

Sugata Kaviraj and Hazel Crow

C-Team Waltz

Daniel Lubrich & Sarah Schaaf

C-Team Quickstep

Neil Herring and Susan Gillingham

C-Team Jive

Alex and Sarah Hobbs

D-Team Quickstep

Tim Biggs and Kristen Pak

D-Team Cha

Ben Usher and Louisa Christofidou

D-Team Jive

Anton Suchaneck and Ailsa Longmuir

Intermediate Modern 3-dance

Tim Biggs and Kristen Pak

Beginners Jive

Anton Suchaneck and Ailsa Longmuir

SUDA

SUDA was a hard day for a lot of Oxford couples with some very surprising results coming out in Latin. There was also an unfortunate shortage of judges after Mathew and Nicole Cutler double booked and endup up in Hong-Kong by mistake.

Oxford cam first equal in the A-team match, first in the B and C teams, and 2nd in the D team.

First places for Oxford included:

Advanced 4-dance Ballroom

Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

Beginners Jive

Anton Suchaneck and Ailsa Longmuir

Sheffield Social

Oxford bring it on once more to win all team matches and the knockout. As the year goes on the standard across the universities is definitely spiralling upward. Competition was hot from the usual foes at Cardiff, Cambridge, and Southampton but also new and talented couples from Sheffield, Bristol and Imperial.

Sheffield holds a mixed team match with all levels competing against all other levels and Oxford wrapped up three out of the four first places and three more of the seconds. Six out of the eight opens were won by Oxford couples and our beginners once more walked away with the jive trophy. All in, it was definitely a good day!

First places for Oxford included:

Team Waltz

Peter Nixey and Jane Higgins

Team Cha

Dave Weston and Georgina Weeds

Team Quickstep

Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

Open Viennese

Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

Basic Quickstep

Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

Intermediate Tango

Dave Weston and Georgina Weeds

Open Jive

Dave Weston and Georgina Weeds

Advanced Samba

Dave Weston and Georgina Weeds

Basic Cha

Dave Weston and Georgina Weeds

Beginners Cha

Arvi Luoma and Andrea Zitna

Oxford Social

Yet again, all of the Oxford teams romp home with a full complement of first divison wins. Strong competition came from excellent couples at Cambridge, Imperial and Southampton but unrelenting pressure across the dances took the Oxford teams to victory.

The event was a great success and Oxford would like to extend a big thank you to all those universities who made it such a good day. All the competitors entered the fun-comps in the spirit intended and we hope enjoyed theirselves along the way. A big thank you also to everyone who helped on the door, setting up and clearing up.

First places for Oxford included:

Intermediate Foxtrot

Greg Mucklow and Caroline Cheeseman

Intermediate Paso Doble

Greg Mucklow and Luba Mandzy

Advanced Paso Doble

David Weston and Georgina Weeds

Back to back Waltz

Nick Faull and Harriet Smith

3-person Cha

Tomas Hellebrandt, Laura John and Georgina Weeds

Inter-uni Quickstep

Hazel Crow (Oxf) and Stuart (Southampton)

Inter-uni Jive

Tris Neagle (Oxf) and Indika (Imperial)

1st Division Waltz

Robin Schlinkert and Monika Faltjeskova

1st Division Cha

Dave Weston and Georgina Weeds

Beginners Jive

Arvi Luoma and Andrea Zitna

Warwick

The team swept the board at Warwick this year taking first place in all six teams, and has finally recovered the A-Team trophy which eluded them for the last three years.

Very close competition came, once again, from Cardiff but with one point in it, Oxford took the A-team.

First places for Oxford included:

Basic Jive

David Weston and Georgina Weeds

Warwick-4-Dance

David Weston and Georgina Weeds

A-team Cha

Tris Neagle and Erica Witherington

BCD open Rumba

Wolfram Schmitt and Doina Cebotari

BCD open Tango

Daniel Lubrich & Sarah Schaaf

Best Latin Beginners

Arvi Luoma and Andrea Zitna

Cha beginners

Arvi Luoma and Andrea Zitna

Jive Beginners

Arvi Luoma and Andrea Zitna

Welsh Spectacular

Held in Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, this was a unique occasion for the university circuit as we were invited to compete, as university-representatives in an open-circuit competition.

The university comp itself consisted of the traditional parade on of the university teams followed by a straight final in the four team-dances: Waltz, Quickstep, Cha and Jive.

Unlike other comps during the year each university was invited to bring only one team and there were no beginners competitions.

Each dance lasted about two minutes and so with couples going from nought to final in as much time as it takes to warm up the entire thing was over pdq!

After Bath pulled out at the last minute, the universities competing were Oxford, Bristol and Cardiff and the results were:

1st Cardiff - 39 points

2nd Oxford - 36 points

3rd Bristol - 33 points