Dancesport Cuppers
Wadham couple Ben Quigley and Liz Bowling in this year’s Danceport Cuppers competition
Coming just a week after Oxford’s Varsity success in Dancesport, Trinity took glory in the Cuppers competition at the John Radcliffe Hospital last Saturday. Cuppers dancesport is different from that of Varsity, with more of an emphasis on fun and involvement. Teams contained four couples so that a pair from each team danced Waltz, Quickstep, Cha Cha Cha and Jive.
Each couple has to have at least one complete beginner, so this allows people the chance to experience competitive dancing even if they’ve never done so before.
On the day, it was clear people had made a big effort �" Univ had matching t-shirts, Christ Church entered 5 teams and Merton/Teddy Hall brought a giant squirrel as a mascot! The recent popularity of Dancesport, with primetime TV shows such as ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, meant 33 teams (11 more than last year) and 111 couples traipsed all the way to Headington for the event.
Much of the credit for success of Oxford dancesoprt can be attributed to Bruce Richardson, Oxford’s head dancing coach, who also lightened the atmosphere by turning compere for the day. The competitors were fortunate to have the dancing judged by Diane Isaac, former number one in the world and professional judge, to ensure fair results. Despite the relaxed atmosphere the competition was fierce.
On the ballroom side, waltz was won by Sauwai Law and Cecile Rebow (St Antony’s A) with a graceful performance. Chiu Fan Lee and Anna White (Univ B) took the quickstep title after performing a challenging routine which included good floor craft. The pair weaved in and out of other couples well �" a dramatic change of discipline for previous Oxford cox, White.
On the Latin side, Rhiannon Harries and Monica Barker (Univ A) were clear winnners from the very beginning with a sexy, eye-catching Cha, with matching, slinky dresses finishing their look. But Jive was certainly the most fought-over dance with five jivers from the current main team all competiting against each other. Damjan Vukjevic and Emma Stephany (St Hugh’s A) won first place with their slick and energetic jive �" not a surprise, given Vukjevic’s success at Varsity.
The most important result of the day, of course, was which college was adjudged to have the best team. Following their success last year, Trinity retained the title, much to the satisfaction of their enthusiastic captain, the renowned Jerome Clarisse. Dancesport cuppers is a tactical game: you have to announce your teams before the competition, forcing you to predict which of your couples the judge will prefer.
If a B team couple beats your A team, this weakens the position of the A team, as we saw this year with Univ’s Quickstep. Despite this, Univ weren’t too disappointed as they had the satisfaction of getting teams into second and fourth place, which was an excellent achievement. All in all, this year’s Cuppers dancesport was a great success.
A fantastic atmosphere was created, and the event was patricularly enjoyble to watch and, most importantly, it introduced over 111 people to what is an exciting sport.
25th May 2006