The Inter Varsity Dance Competition (IVDC) is an annual student dancesport competition organised by Inter Varsity Dance Association (IVDA). The IVDA write rules regarding entries, dress code and which dances will be part of the competition.
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All UK universities may send representatives provided they are a member of the IVDA, and students who study at universities that do not have teams may gain special consideration to dance for another university. Currently approximately 33 UK universities take part in the competition.
Whilst dancesport in the UK has seen a decline that shows like Strictly Come Dancing have rectified, the Inter Varsity Dance Association (IVDA) has remained consistently popular and struggles to find a UK venue large enough for its annual competition. Since 2007 the competitions have been hosted at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool.
At this time there is no student equivalent in other countries although the US has a strong student scene, and mainland Europe is building up its own competition scene.
IVDC is run with cooperation from the IDTA and the English amateur dancesport association ltd but remains an independent competition.
Competition and events
IVDC is an annual event running since 1962 and hosted by different UK member universities and normally occurs in February or March each year. There are individual competitions during the day in ballroom, Latin, rock'n'roll, offbeat and the Team Match.
For the Latin and Ballroom Events students are divided according to experience: Beginner, Novice, Intermediate and Advanced. Ex Students are also able to compete in some competitions. In lower ranking competitions dress restrictions apply. Beginners are encouraged and there is the "Best Beginners Team Trophy" which presented to the university with the most successful beginners overall. Other individual returnable trophies available:
The Offbeat Competition is a "Fun" team "freestyle" even - the university can enter a 3-minute routine in any dance style. Interpretations vary from fun routines such as "The Full Monty" to serious high quality street dance routines. The Offbeat Winners Shield is presented to the winning team.
The most important event of the competition is the team match, which pits teams of 32 dancers from each member university against each other (These are split into teams of 8: A, B, C, D). This competition has undergone a drastic overhaul in recent years following innovations by Alistair Braden whilst at Bristol University. The team match is now a two-division system that ranks all universities entered, instead of the traditional team match. The following Team Trophies are awarded at IVDC:
The trophies held in the highest regard are the EADA Overall trophy and the A-Team trophy.
History of results
The Offbeat results are as follows:
2016 Nottingham
2015 Cardiff
2014 Manchester
2013 Kent
2012 Liverpool
2011 Birmingham
2010 Imperial
2007 Imperial
2005 Imperial
2004 Sheffield
2003 Bristol
2002 Sheffield
2001 Cambridge
2000 London
1999 Essex
1998 Sheffield
1997 Imperial
1996 Bath
1995 Imperial
1994 Nottingham
1993 Imperial
1992 Manchester
1991 Bath
1974 Manchester