The annual Intervarsity competition took place on the 8th August 2015, hosted by Maties Dans in Stellenbosch. Intervarsity was a jam-packed weekend starting Friday the 7th August, with the UCT team ‘road-tripping’ to Stellenbosch. We attended the ‘Uptown Funk’ Intervarsity social where we got to meet our fellow friendly dance competitors from NMMU, Rhodes, Tuks and Maties! Saturday was THE BIG DAY where we had 317 dancers across the five universities participating in the competition, with 94 participants being from UCT! Our dancer strutted their elegant Ballroom moves and shook those Latin hips in the various sections for the adjudicators with loud cheers and applause from our supporters in the background! Our surprise dance this year was a Surprise Cha Cha, where our male partners were blindfolded (!!) – it took true skill not to bump into fellow dancers!
The prize giving ceremony which was held at the end of the day saw UCT walking away with seven Bronze, seven Silver, and seven Gold Medals!! UCT received Silver medals for the Team Dance and Formation, and was placed second overall with our friends Maties winning the overall event! Well done Maties! Our 2015 Chair also walked away with the Ballroom Queen award – well done Nicol! The weekend ended off with a celebratory supper at the Dros and breakfast in Stellenbosch Sunday morning! Congratulations to all those who participated and a big thank you to those who supported us! Intervarsity was an unforgettable experience, and at next year’s competition, which will be hosted by NMMU in PE, we will have even more fun and work even harder to bring back those trophies to where they belong – UCT BALLROOM! See you there! Intervarsity – one of the most exciting things you can do in your life! Think Medals. Trophies. Dancing in front of a cheering crowd. Amazing dresses. Awesome music. Making friends. Laughter. Adrenaline. FUN!!! Intervaristy is an annual, friendly, social-based, dancing competition, attended by 5 of the universities in South Africa. We aim to bring ballroom and Latin dancers, from all over the country, together, to enjoy a main meal of jam-packed fun dancing, with a little competitive spirit on the side. This year we will be taking a trip up to Port Elizabeth, where intervarsity will be hosted by Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, or NMMU for short. When signing up for Intervaristy, there will be a range of different dance sections that you can sign up for. These include Ballroom and Latin sections (level appropriate), Salsa, Boogie, Paso Doble, and Sokkie (open sections)! For the Ballroom and Latin sections, you get to compete at your level with dancers in the same level. For the Open sections, you can compete with dancers from all levels from Beginners to Novice, and your partner can be at a different level to you if you wish! HOW DOES THE jOURNEY BEGIN? The weekend of intervarsity will be full to the brim with exciting opportunities to dance, make new friends, have fun, and possibly bring home a medal or a trophy! We start with boarding the bus on the Friday, and begin our drive up to Port Elizabeth. Once we arrive at our accommodation, we drop off our luggage and then drive up to the social, hosted by NMMU, where you have the chance to meet other dancers. We will leave the social a bit earlier than other socials, so as to get enough sleep for the big day on the morrow. WHAT HAPPENS ON THE DAY OF INTERVRSITY? Having already entered as many different dance sections as you want to participate in, you will arrive at the dance hall on the Saturday, with a program, knowing exactly when you are dancing, and with whom. You will dance all your sections with your chosen partner, and after each round, the judges will call back the dancers they would like to see in the next round. There will be a break at midday for lunch, where you can relax and chat to other dancers, and then the excitement and dancing will continue. Before, in between or after your time on the dance floor, you can also join in the team spirit by encouraging your fellow UCT dancers, and shouting for them whilst on the dance floor! AND THEN? At the end of the day, once everyone has finished dancing, there will be a prize-giving where the judges will announce the winners for the various sections, as well as trophies for Best Formation Team, Best Team Dance, Best Team Spirit and Best Overall University! UCT Ballroom has a history of winning most of the trophies each year, but in 2015, Maties Dance (Stellenbosch University) won the overall trophy. In 2016, we aim to work hard, improve our dancing, bring our team spirit, and collect as many trophies as humanly possible! Make sure your name is first on the sign up for an unforgettable experience of a lifetime! STILL NOT CONVINCED? HERE ARE THE BIG 5 REASONS WHY YOU NEED TO DO INTERVARSITY:
For details on the dress code this year, consult this document. FEEL LIKE GETTING INVOlVED? So you feel like you have a brilliant team cheer, or have an idea to help dancers get their team spirit on, or you just want more information on intervarsity and how it works? Feel free to email me at [email protected] or come and chat to any of the Comm members in class. |
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