Strictly Come Dancing UEA!

Yet another viictory for the PIRATES as they run away as champions of the first UEA Strictly Come Dancing event!

Dancing uea

UEA got Strictly fever as the Dancesport competition arrived in quickstep.

The competition on Monday night saw the UEA Pirates achieve victory in the Strictly Come Dancing showdown, where American Football’s Sam Walford and Dancesport’s Sarah-Jayne Aston took the judges and crowd by storm, achieving the renowned glitter ball.

The competitors had been training three to four hours, two times a week to perfect their routines and conquer big lift sequences prior to the event, and their efforts paid off as they put on a spectacular show of bravery and gyrating hips wowing UEA as the first event of its kind.

Each sports student, including Men’s Rugby president Andy Driver, was paired with a member of UEA Dancesport and was taught the 90 second routine that they performed in the final.

Routines included the tango, foxtrot, waltz and the rumba. Despite rather suspect costume choices, the couples performed well with Driver making the biggest strongman lift, elevating his partner Nollie above his head at arm’s length. The winner Sam Walford also impressed, by flipping his partner Sarah-Jane over his shoulder almost effortlessly.

Each pair recorded a video diary of their training. Like the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing, it was aired before the final performance, showing the couple’s progress, the sport they represent and making any lack of dancing ability obvious. Once the couples performed the scores were counted and the final three couples performed again before presenting themselves to the clap-o-meter where the audience cheered for the winner.

The event itself was presented by Gurdas Sually, Dancesport publicity manager, and Emma Webb a Dancesport team member. They like Tess and Bruce on the show introduced each of the 15 couples and submitted them to evaluation by the event’s judging panel: Claire Grace, Rob Bloomer, Maxwell Rogers (the surrogate and rather scary Bruno Tonioli impressionist) and Mathilde Stenersen.

One of the students competing, and winner of second place is UEA Karate instructor Simon Russell. In an interview before the event he said: “learning dance steps is not dissimilar to learning a kata but I keep returning to a Karate stance after each sequence.” This showed as Simon’s Dancesport partner; Hannah Godfrey ensured part of the choreography included a small kata leaving the audience quite impressed with the modern Kung Fu Panda twist of the traditional Strictly Tango.

The performances were interrupted at intervals to stage a few renditions of songs from the Wicked soundtrack and performances from Dancesport beginners and professionals that competed at Derby Day.

 Gurdas Sually concluded that: “we hoped to increase Dancesport’s profile on campus, raise money for the union to support UEA sport and encourage fun and positive competition between societies.”

 £2 from each ticket sale has been given to the 15 UEA sports societies participating in the event which Gurdas said is ‘crucial at a time when all of our budgets are being cut.’

Well done to all the competitors and a special well done to the winners!
 

Photos taken by Ga Chun Yau