2008-9

Old Team New Team Match

After a good night’s sleep and restoration, members of OUDT, old and new, travelled to Cowley Conservative Club for this year's Old Team-New Team match. As ever this event gave everyone a chance to catch up with old members and friends, and to show off on the dance floor! The day started with the customary walk-ons (which featured some interesting use of the Viennese timing from the New Team), and then straight into the Ballroom section. As always the first dance was the Waltz, followed by the Quickstep. The relatively small size of the floor, combined with six couples dancing, proved challenging at times but most people left the floor unscathed (the biggest problem was the music skipping due to the hops, skips and jumps!). Once all eighteen ballroom dances were complete there was a brief break before the Latin started. With so many Alumni couples entering this year, a few of the ballroom couples dropped out to make room for some of the Latin oriented (to the despair of many on the New Team!). The Latin dances also progressed swimmingly, although they actually may have contained more collisions than the ballroom! Once the results were in the Old Team (AKA Old Gits) came away on top. Congratulations to all of our Alumni that took part. For the individual awards, Oli and Marja were the New Team's best Ballroom couple with Simon and Laura winning the prize for best Old Team Ballroom, and best overall Ballroom couple. Tristin and Indika were crowned the best Old Team Latin couple and won best overall Old Team couple with Tim and Jumin, who performed the Ballroom dances. Will and Sarah walked away with the top honors though; New Team's best Latin couple, the overall best Latin couple, New Team's best overall couple and the best overall couple of the event. With only nine couples in the New Team, there was also a B Team Match for the other twelve blues couples. This extra 6v6 event ensured that everyone had a taste of Varsity, and gave an idea of which dances needed working on. A special mention to Luke and Paul who, as well as dancing with their own partners, shared Haibo as Terry was ill on the day. Needless to say they were pretty tired after doing 3 consecutive dances! It didn't stop them though; Paul and Fran came away as the best Ballroom couple, and Luke and Amanda took the prize for best Latin and best overall couple of the B Team Match. The day finished with the Open events. Due to lack of time only four of the Open dances were used (much to the despair of those that wanted to do the Tango and Paso!). Tristan and Indika continued their dominance of the Latin floor winning both the Rumba and the Samba, while Simon and Laura came top in the Foxtrot and Oli and Marja won the Viennese. We would like to thank all our Alumni for taking part; we look forward to seeing you again next year!

National Championships

After two terms of hard work, the day OUDT had been waiting for finally arrived; the Inter Varsity Dancesport Competition at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. It was very much a day of two halves for the Dark Blues’, whose great success in the Open events was clouded by the Team Match. Beginner couple Charlie Byers and Florence Graham-Dixon opened the show, coming 5th in the Waltz and taking 3rd place in the Quickstep, overcoming the squash court sized beginners floor and the huge Empress Ballroom with equal competence. At Novice level Oxford truly reigned supreme in the Ballroom; eight couples made the hotly contested final, five of which were from OUDT! Boris and Jo built on their success at SUDC, walking away as the new National Novice Ballroom Champions. A fantastic achievement, augmented by the fact that they have only been dancing together five weeks! Clair broke through the pain barrier to come in 2nd with partner Lucas, overcoming a niggling shoulder injury that has plagued her all year! Completing Oxford's dominance were Joseph and Ginger, Eric and Jola and Qu and Charmaine, who finished in 4th, 6th and 8th respectively. At the Intermediate level, Oxford was well represented by two of our most consistent couples; Paul and Fran and Joseph and Ginger. The former once again swung, swayed, hopped, skipped and jumped their way into the Intermediate Ballroom final (which contained a few Advanced standard couples), finishing 4th. The latter wowed judges with their sexy Cha, energetic Jive and powerful Paso, finishing a close 2nd in the Latin. The real highlight however was once again our Advanced couples. In Ballroom, Captain Will and partner Sazzle showed the world their Varsity credentials (and scared Cambridge I would imagine!) by reaching the final. They were joined by Oli and Marja who went one better than their SUDC result, coming 4th, and Martin and Sarah, who finished runners up by a narrow margin. The high standards in Ballroom were matched by fantastic performances in the Advanced Latin event. Both Peter and Reka and Ivan and Helen made the final, and were excellent representatives of Oxford. Between them they ruled the show, with no other couple coming close to matching their performance. The battle for first place was tight, but after the marks were collected Peter and Reka were crowned the new National Advanced Latin Champions, with Ivan and Helen claiming 2nd place. After the break, and some light entertainment provided by the Offbeat and Rock 'n' Roll events, OUDT prepared for the Team Match. As always there was tough competition from Cambridge and IC, amongst others. All four Oxford teams comfortably reached the quarters, with the A and B teams making the final. Once again Peter and Reka dominated the Cha event, with Ivan and Helen coming 2nd in Jive and Alex and Annemarie finishing 3rd in Quickstep. Despite this, Oxford A came a close second to Cambridge, who were also crowned the overall winners of the competition. Well done to all our couples! And with many doing equally well in both disciplines, the signs look good for Varsity.

Southern Championships

A week after the Sheffield Social OUDT took the shorter trip to Crawley to take part in the Southern University Dance Competition. As always Oxford came away with some fantastic results despite the other universities fielding strong teams. In the Opens, beginner couple Felicity and Kathy were back on form, coming in 3rd in the Cha and winning the Quickstep. In the Novice category both Boris and his new partner Jo and Qu and Charmaine reached the Ballroom final, finishing in 5th and 6th respectively. In Latin many of our Novice couples moved up to Intermediate so we weren't as well represented in the final rounds as usual, but Lucas and Clair were still there to fly the Oxford flag, finishing 4th.

In Intermediate Ballroom Paul and Fran finally conquered their demon and took the top prize, with Owen and Joanna closely behind coming 4th. Also, Joseph and Ginger continued to do Oxford proud coming 4th in Intermediate Latin. As impressive as these results are, with a couple in almost every final again, our Advanced couples stole the show. In the Ballroom both Martin and Sarah and Oli and Marja reached the final, taking 2nd and 5th place. The Advanced Latin couples did even better, with three couples reaching the final. Captain Will and partner Sarah came in 6th with Ivan and Helen taking the bronze medal. Saving the best until last, the SUDC Advanced Latin title went to Peter and Reka who once again dazzled in all four dances.

As per usual the Team match provided lots of drama, with some thrown in before it even started this time! Martin, who is enrolled at Brookes this year, and his partner Sarah were tormented as we received conflicting information on whether they were available to dance for us. The result came back against us which prompted the team to be reshuffled at the last minute. But with OUDT's depth we were more then up to the task. Huge congratulations to Peter and Reka who again dominated the team Cha event, Ivan and Helen who ‘kicked and flicked’ to the top of the team Jive, and Will and Sarah followed in 4th. In the Ballroom, Oli and Marja came 4th in the Team Waltz and Alex and Annemarie came 2nd in the Quickstep behind ancient Cambridge couple Paul and Vesna (so basically they were the top student Quickstep dancers!). Once all the results were in Oxford's A team came up victorious! Congratulations again to the A team for this fantastic result. The B, C and D team's didn't have the same level of success with the judges, all narrowly missing out to Cambridge. Boosted by this the team is now ready to take Blackpool by storm on the 28th.

Sheffield Social

Barely three weeks into the start of term OUDT braved the snow to take the long trip up to The Octagon to compete in the Sheffield Social. With our beloved captain unfortunately absent the team was left in the capable hands of Amanda, who provided hugs, Ivan, who provided inspiring speeches, and Oli, who provided doughnuts. Boosted from the successes of last term the team once again had a great competition, with a dark blue in almost every final.

In the Beginners events, undeterred by the non-rectangular floor, Ben Williams and Felicity Rhodes took the bronze medal in Quickstep and finished 4th in the Waltz. They were joined by Robert Walport and partner Georgia Clegg in the Waltz final, who came 6th. Ella Davis and Elizabeth Manly also walked away with a medal after finishing 6th in the Jive.

Our Novice couples continued to dominate their events; Tom and Wanzhen switched disciplines to win both the Novice Waltz and Quickstep. They were closely followed by Joseph and Ginger who finished 2nd in Waltz and 3rd in Quickstep. Lucas and Claire also reached the Waltz final, finishing 5th, and Christo and Natalia and Melvin and Rebecca came 4th and 6th in the Quickstep. In Latin Stuart and Sonia came 4th in Cha, with Lucas and Claire finishing in 6th. Stuart and Sonia upped their game for Jive, finishing 2nd, with Melvin and Rebecca and Eric and Jola placed right behind them in 3rd and 4th.

In the Intermediate Events, Paul and Fran made the Ballroom final once more, taking 3rd place. The Latin final, like last term, was filled with Oxford couples; George, with chest hair on full display, and Danielle took the top prize, Joseph and Ginger took 3rd place with Alex and Annemarie finishing 6th. In the Advanced events vice-captain Oli made a big splash (which isn't surprising given his size) with his partner Marja on their debut to the 08-09 circuit, finishing 2nd in the Ballroom competition. Alex and Annemarie also made the hotly contested final, finishing 5th. As per usual Ivan and Helen were more Latin than Enrique Iglesias, finishing 2nd in the Advanced event. As well as the regular contests there was an Open Viennese and an Open Paso. The former provided surprisingly few collisions, with Oli and Marja finishing 3rd. With the Intermediate Latin dance at IVDA being the Paso, many used this open contest as a trial run, with some rather amusing outcomes. Oxford's own God and Goddess of Latin, Peter Kecskemethy and Reka Balogh, won with an overwhelming margin, with Ivan and Helen also featuring in a fantastic final. With no Oxford dancer dropped during the event, despite it's potential for disaster, I think we can count it as a huge success!

Onto the team match; the depth of the team was proved beyond a doubt with 16 dark blue couples making it to the semi final in their dance! We had our share of victories too; our C1 team went on to win the C team trophy and our C2 team (or D team) came in 3rd behind Cambridge's C1 team. Unfortunately the A and B team very narrowly missed out on their trophies, coming in 2nd behind Cambridge's A and B team. Congratulations to Peter and Reka again, who dominated the team Cha event, and George and Danille and Joseph and Ginger who also made the Cha final. Ivan and Helen and Oli and Marja came 2nd in the Jive and Waltz and Alex and Annemarie came 3rd in the Quickstep. Our Beginners Team was also unlucky, coming 2nd to Cambridge in the beginners team match.

The competition ended with the Knockout event, which as usual provided it's dramatic moments. Oxford had a tough ride, being drawn against the Featherwaites and Liverpool before competing in the three-way final with Cambridge and IC. It was a heated final but we came away the trophy; or at least we would have but Cambridge “forgot” to bring it. We'll get it off them at SUDA....

Open circuit competition at Egham

For the third year running OUDT took a sizeable number of dancers to the Open circuit competition at Egham. Like in previous years the team had great success in both the opens and team match.

In the Open competition all our couples made finals, some making as many as seven! Special mention for Will and Sarah who came 1st in the prechamp Latin, 2nd in the amateur Latin and 3rd in the open Jive. They had success in the ballroom also making the final of the prechamp Ballroom and Open Viennese Waltz, the latter of which was won by Martin and Sarah. Alex and Annemarie showed their Varsity credentials by winning both the Intermediate Ballroom and Intermediate Latin and making 5 other finals! Stuart and Sonia came top in the Novice Latin event, and made the final of the Ballroom. Both Novice finals were also reached by Luke and Amanda, who came top of the Ballroom and second behind Stuart and Sonia in the Latin. Alumnus Millie and her partner Andre came in 2nd in the prechamp Latin event, and Nick and Erin grabbed the bronze in the Intermediate Latin final. Finally, Paul and Helen finished runner-up in Intermediate Ballroom and 4th in the Intermediate Latin, making a couple other Open finals along with that.

In the team match all three teams made the final, with Oxford A walking away in first place for the 3rd year running. The team would like to thank alumni Hazel and Millie, and their partners Hanno and Andre, who danced for us in the team match. Cambridge were there again with their video camera, although their view was 'accidentally' blocked every so often by a dark blue who wishes to remain unnamed! All the filming must have distracted them though; Cambridge A finished below all three Oxford teams in the team match....

Nottingham Varsity Ball

Less than a week after an exhausting Warwick competition the team came out fighting, dominating the Open events and the team match. In fact, there was at least one Oxford couple in every final!

In the Beginners Open events wonder couple Felicity and Kathy made all four finals! They took 1st place in both the Waltz and Quickstep, 3rd in the Cha and 5th in the Jive. Jill and Aurelie bossed the Latin dances, coming in 2nd at both Cha and Jive, and reaching the semis of both the Ballroom events. Tiffany and Kelsey also had success, coming 3rd in the Jive and 5th in the Waltz, and like Jill and Aurelie they made the semis of the other two. Anuvrat and Sarah came 6th in the Jive to round off Oxford's representation in the Beginners finals. The Novice events were ruled by Oxford couples; six of the seven Ballroom finalists and four of the five Latin finalists were dark blues! In Ballroom Qu and Charmaine took top honours, with Tom and Wanzhen and Joseph and Ginger following in 2nd and 3rd. Lukas and Claire finished in 4th, Eric and Jola took 5th place and Dom and Jo came 7th. In the Latin event Tom and Wanzhen went one better and won, with Chris, who only started dancing this year, and Kate coming in 3rd. Lukas and Claire matched their ballroom result by coming in 4th and Faisal and Rachel completed the quartet of Oxford couples, finishing 5th.

At the Intermediate level Paul and Fran took the bronze in the Ballroom competition, undeterred by the extra competition from couples dropping down due to the Advanced event being a five-dance. Like at Warwick we were well represented in the Latin final, with Joseph and Ginger finishing 1st, George and Danielle coming 3rd (even after practicing the wrong dances!) and Alex and Annemarie finishing 4th.

The Advanced events where fantastic to watch, with each couple undertaking all five dances in that discipline. Our captain/ex-captain partnership, Will and Sarah, came 4th in Ballroom followed by Alex and Annemarie who came 5th. Will and Sarah shone brighter in the Latin, finishing 2nd behind our vice-captain, and current national champion, Ivan and his new partner Helen.

We had similar success in the team match; every couple from the blues squad made the top three! Considering that the D, E and F teams were grouped together this was particularly impressive from the lower end of the team. The other teams put up a good fight but the dark blues won A, C and D team matches and finished joint top with Imperial in the B team match. Congratulations to Ivan and Helen and Will and Sarah who won A team Jive and Cha respectively. Joseph and Ginger rounded off a very successful day to win B team Cha, and George and Danielle won B team Jive. All four C Team couples won their contest, and not a single blues couple in D, E or F teams was placed below a couple from another team! Being the generous team that we are we let Imperial take the B team trophy; we already had the other three and we didn't want to overload the coach on the trip home!

Warwick Varsity Ball

After 6 weeks of injuries and illness the team took the short journey to Birmingham to compete in a rather full Warwick competition. There was fierce competition at all levels, with Bristol, Cambridge and Featherwaits fielding strong teams, but we still came away with some good results.

In the Opens, future ballroom stars Ian Yenney and Harriet Ackland won both the Beginner Waltz and Quickstep, with Tiffany, and partner Kelsey, and Felicity, who partnered Kathy, right behind them with 2nd and 4th in the Quickstep. In the Novice ballroom Qu and Charmaine walked away with the bronze medal, followed by Luke and Ania who finished in 6th and Eric and Jola finishing in 7th. Saiqi and Diana showed us why they aren't on the Latin team by finishing 5th in the Intermediate Ballroom and Martin Bird and Sarah Ward Jones went on to win the Advanced Ballroom event, despite suffering a nasty fall in the first round.

We had success in the Latin events also. Three Novice couples made the final; Faisal and Rachel finished 2nd, Melvin and Rebecca came 4th and Stuart and Sonia came in 5th. The Intermediate final was packed with Oxford couples; Alex and Helen took the top prize despite Helen suffering an injury in the Ballroom Opens that morning! They were closely followed by Joseph and Ginger in 2nd place and George and Danielle in 3rd. Finally, Alex discarded his tails to come in 5th with Annemarie. Roger's animated Latin face was back on show in the ex-student category, where he and his partner Danielle came in 3rd. They had similar success in the Ballroom, finishing 6th. The team match held mixed results; all 6 Oxford teams made the top division with A, B, D and E teams making the final 12. The A team made the final but unfortunately lost out to Cambridge. The beginners A team (or the Oxford G team) had more luck, narrowly missing out on the top spot in the 2nd division thanks to Warwick's B team (but more importantly beating Cambridge's G team!).