A chant begins from one corner of Iffley Sport Centre as athletes in waistcoats and dresses return from the dance floor to the spectating area.
As the exhausted Quickstep dancers quickly grab a drink of water, two rival chants begin elsewhere around the main floor in support of Trinity and Teddy Hall. Finally, the compere – competitive dancesport’s version of a master of ceremonies – booms over the PA system the numbers of the competitors who have made the fourth round of the Jive. The chants are replaced by localised cheers as the successful couples take the floor.
For a moment, an anxious silence settles amongst the over 300 spectators and competitors. The atmosphere is still and tense in anticipation. Finally, the bouncing beats of Christina Aguilera’s “Candyman” come over the loud-speakers. Immediately, the colleges resume their raucous yelling as the couples take hold and fly into a flurry of kicks and flicks.
All this commotion is a result of Oxford University Dancesport Club’s annual Cuppers competition. Following on from Cherwell Sport’s preview of the Dancesport Cuppers competition in Issue 4 this term, we bring you the review. Over 200 participants from 25 colleges took part in the biggest dance-off of the year. In the competition, each college creates teams of four couples, each competing in either the Waltz, Quickstep, Cha Cha, or Jive. Each couple must be made up of at least one beginner and the teaching format is similar to that of Strictly Come Dancing. Experienced dancers teach beginners as much as they can starting anything between 3 weeks and 3 days before the event. Couples score points based on how far they advance in the competition. These count towards two categories – a team match and an overall college score. This year’s overall winners, Trinity College, recruited 40 dancers creating five full teams. By a 2.5 point margin, they beat Keble College, who fielded a team of 30 dancers. The best four-couple team went to Keble.
To get ahead in the game, some participants attended classes in Ballroom and Latin hosted throughout the year by the dancesport club, OUDC. The club’s Ballroom and Latin classes are part of a broader social and competitive dancing framework that includes the full-Blue competitive team, a beginner’s team, a competitive Rock ‘n’ Roll team, the Rueda Komrades, and a variety of social dancing classes in each discipline.
The competitive Ballroom and Latin main and beginners teams, along with the Rock ‘n’ Roll squad went head to head with Cambridge at the Varsity Match one week prior to Cuppers, in addition to five other competitions across the country in Michaelmas and Hilary terms. The highlight of the year is the Inter-Varsity Dancesport Competition at the Blackpool Winter Gardens Ballroom, where approximately 800 people from university teams across the entire country compete.
Many of the experienced dancers who compete for OUDC were on hand at Cuppers to captain the 25 college teams and coach the new, inexperienced dancers to victory. A lot of these now experienced dancers started their dancesport career after competing in a previous Cuppers event and then subsequently joined the Beginners Team.
Cherwell Sport’s very own editor attended the event out of curiosity and stayed for the whole competition. The level of skill involved with ballroom dancing throughout the university was very high, but was complemented nicely by an array of beginners getting involved.
Dancesport is arguably one of the fastest growing sports in Oxford, with a growing number of participants, and an increasing turnout from supporters each year. The Cuppers competition is definitely something worth getting involved in for dancers of all levels, and particularly beginners who want to learn the basics and perform them in a relatively short space of time. It was great to see the surprise and delight on the faces of the beginners that managed to progress through the rounds, with some going on to make the final.
The commentary team were also entertaining, and always on the ball, providing jokes, which were sometimes at the expense of the dancers, to keep the crowd entertained in the short intervals.
Even if only to spectate, make sure you get down to Iffley Road for the competition next year, as it really is a pleasure to watch and a great day out for both dancers and audience!
