Ballroom Dancing
Time: Saturday 12.00
Location: Goodricke College
Points: Lancaster 4
York 1.5 - Lancaster 2.5
Anyone who was expecting a lesser known sport such as ballroom dancing to pale in comparison in terms of competitiveness against, say, rugby, would have been shocked at the scene in Derwent college on Saturday morning.
Hollering was de rigeur, (sentences such as “Watch that ass, 27!”) and the atmosphere was professional and tense throughout.
Each beginner’s dance saw three couples each from York and Lancaster taking to the floor for two or three minutes, whereas the advanced dances were done by only two couples from each university.
The event started with the beginner’s waltz, which, whilst it left a few couples bumping into each other, was enjoyable to watch, and was dominated by couple 7, Rob Simpson and Claire Hunter, York. The advanced waltz was of a higher calibre, and the audience was soon shown that this was not going to be one of the more lacklustre parts of Roses. The waltzs were followed by the beginner’s quickstep, and then the advanced tango.
The advanced couple to watch from York was soon established to be the society’s President and her partner, Carla Hogg and Rich Woolacott, who injected real flair into their performances. Their main competition came from Lancaster’s President, Danielle Moorhouse, and her partner, who danced gracefully and with wholly determined expressions.
The Latin dancing took up the second part of the event, which started with the beginner’s cha cha, followed by the advanced rhumba; then the beginner’s jive, and finally the advanced samba. This part of the competition was far more exciting, and actually left many of the members of the audience with goosebumps. York’s couple 7, Rob and Claire, dominated the beginners dances again, but there was some good opposition from a same sex female couple from Lancaster, who blew away many of my expectations of competitive ballroom dancing.
By the end everyone was exhausted, and a fun-dance was arranged for members of the audience to have a go whilst I chatted to the judge, professional dancer Joel Chapman, about the standard of dancing this year. “I am privileged to have been asked! It’s the first competition I have judged properly…Everyone has put in a lot of effort, and it was really good to see people having fun with it. It was tough to judge, as the standard was very high and very similar, especially in the Latin part.”
When the results were announced, York swept the board for individual trophies, with Rob and Claire winning every single beginner’s dance, and Carla and Rich winning every advanced dance. Despite this, Lancaster beat York’s overall score by 2.5 points to 1.5 points, and the Roses Ballroom Dancing title went to them.
Moorhouse commented on Lancaster’s victory, “I’m really proud of the team, especially the beginners…thank you to everyone for all the support!”, and Hogg smiled with exhausted jubilation, saying “It’s fantastic. I’m shocked and really pleased! Some of the beginner’s have been dancing for a week, I’m really proud of them all.”
Venetia Rainey
maureen flanighan
Just found your site. Great Report on what has obviously been a great day.
We teach Social Ballroom Dancing at Dance City in Newcastle. This is very informal introduction to ballroom and latin dancing with dozens attending classes every week.
We all have a great time.
Happy Ballroom.