CU dancers waltz their way to success at Inter-Varsity competition

Cardiff’s dancers came away from Winter Gardens, Blackpool with a fourth-placed finish at the biggest university competition of the year.

Donald and Hannah Garfield dancing to a Latin beat

33 universities competed on the prestigious dance floor from all across the country. Competitors included Cambridge, Oxford, Edinburgh, Warwick and Southampton and the venue held around 1000 participants and spectators.

Ex-student Seb Buchert and Lauren Warrington grooving to the Cha

At the end of the long day the top 5 universities were Cambridge (56 pts.), Oxford (54 pts.), Bristol (52 pts.), Cardiff (50 pts.) and Nottingham (45 pts.)

TC Sophie Timbers and Ali Naeem dancing the Quickstep

CUDC Team Captain Sophie Timbers was ecstatic with the outcome of all the hard work. She reflected, “Cardiff A made the final of the Team Match Division 1 which is something that hasn’t been done in 11 years… taking the grand place of 4th! Offbeat were a brill 2nd! & we had lots of couples in most finals and semi finals!”

TC Bethan Edwards and Laurence Lovell dancing to the Latin beat

Bethan Edwards, the rather chuffed Team Captain danced in her last IVDC as a student. She gushed, “Fantastic results and amazing team spirit throughout the whole weekend. Sophie and I couldn’t have wished for more, you were all brilliant!”

CUSU President Cari Davies and Becky Lambert dancing the Jive

Amongst its talented dancers, CUDC boasts dancer Bryan Heggs. He (and former partner Bethan Jones) won the World Championship Latin Formation 2013 in Paris. Along with his new partner Natasha Dumigan, they helped CUDC accumulate more bling.

“This was my first IVDC. It’s such a high standard on the university circuit and such a tough competition. Cardiff’s team spirit is insane – I’ve never seen anything like it!”

“Everyone is always so supportive of each other; especially in the team match, making the A team final (the crème de la crème of uni dancers) was such a proud moment. Plus dancing the last dance, the amount of support me and Tash had was awesome.”

Heggs & Dumingan dancing the Cha in the Team finals

Amongst ballroom and latin dances, the competition also included an Offbeat section. Here, each university participating had to choose a theme and perform accordingly. Cardiff’s chosen theme was Burlesque and CUDC came 2nd amongst 15 universities.

Lauren Rogers said: “As a choreographer, I was extremely lucky to have such a dedicated and hard working group of dancers to take to IVDC 2014. They performed beyond my expectations and the response from the audience and the feedback I received was amazing and they couldn’t have made me more proud!!!”

The dancers oozed attitude and sexiness during the Offbeat performance

The fantastic day also included showcase performances by Andrew Escolme and Amy-Louise Baker, British National Amateur Latin Championship finalists. They danced and entertained the competitors and showed how it’s done!

Escolme and Baker dancing

“We are now one of the strongest teams and one of the most successful on the uni circuit this year

The gap between us and the leaders is increasingly becoming smaller and smaller,” said Laurence Lovell.

“It is now more of a thin margin and they know we are getting closer. They’re worried. I’m excited to see what we can do in the near future.”

If you’re interested in joining, the society hosts team practice at Taly sports on Thursdays and Saturdays as well as social sessions in the SU on Tuesdays (Salsa from 6 – 7pm and Ballroom & Latin from 7:00 – 8:30pm).