Poppy Read-Pitt
On 26th November, UoN’s Latin, Ballroom and Salsa society (LBSS) hosted their annual varsity competition, where universities from all across the country competed against one another in different dancing styles. This year saw 11 teams competing, with Nottingham being joined by Glasgow, Durham, Bournemouth, Leeds, Lancaster, Leicester, Manchester, York, Sheffield, and the University of East Anglia. Poppy Read-Pitt gives us the low down on the competition.
To start off the day we had the Ballroom heats, with the quickstep and the waltz. As a part of the Ballroom heats each team took part in the charity dance, a competition tradition in which a twist is put on a traditional dance to make it trickier.
After the heats came the awards, where the Nottingham team cleaned up
This year Notts LBSS (@lbssnotts on Instagram) had decided to raise money for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), and we saw each team competing with a three-person waltz. After the heats came the awards, where the Nottingham team cleaned up! Daisy Lucas and Eve Mcguinness came 3rd in Novice 2 Ballroom, Simon Clarke and Andreea Manu came 2nd in Advanced Ballroom and 1st in Open Viennese Waltz, Isabelle Sims and Oliver Mowbray came 3rd in Open Viennese Waltz and 3rd in Advanced Ballroom, and Cerys Stock and Kara Prior cane 2nd in Ex-Student Novice Ballroom.
After the Ballroom heats we had the Latin heats, where teams danced the cha-cha-cha, the jive and the rumba. The Latin heats also came with a Latin charity dance – this time they danced a Straight Leg Samba and Nottingham’s Oliver Mowbray and Andreea Manu snagged first place.
On top of this, in the Latin awards Asher Greateroux-Dugan and Natasha Chan placed 4th in Beginners Cha-Cha, Amelia Mercer and Georgie Mills came 2nd in Same Sex Latin and 3rd in Pre-Intermediate Latin, Daisy Lucas and Eve Mcguinness came 4th in Novice 2 Latin, Simon Clarke and Andreea Manu came 2nd in Advanced Latin, Isabelle Sims and Oliver Mowbray came 3rd in Advanced Latin, and Cerys Stock and Kara Prior came 2nd in Ex-Student Novice Latin.
The last waltz: a tradition where everyone comes onto the floor and dances
To round off the event was the Team Match, where a couple from each team competes against each other in the waltz, quickstep, cha-cha-cha and live. In the Team Match B final, Nottingham placed 3rd and in the Team Match A final they came 2nd.
The last event of the day was the last waltz: a tradition where everyone comes onto the floor and dances, a lovely end to a great event.
Speaking to Laura, the event organiser, she said: “I’m very happy with how the day went. The organisation process started around April/May, and to see everything come together was brilliant… I thought everyone did incredibly well.
It was amazing to watch them grow in confidence
“We had two beginners couples compete, who had only been dancing for a few weeks, and they progressed through the heats and won medals, and it was amazing to watch them grow in confidence.
“For me, that’s the best part. My favourite part of the day would be seeing how much everyone enjoyed it. The team spirit from the Nottingham team was incredible and speaking to other teams afterwards, I’m so happy that they all enjoyed the day too.”
Poppy Read-Pitt
Featured image courtesy of @keon.k_photography. Permission granted to Impact for use. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @keon.k_photography. Permission granted to Impact for use. No changes were made to this image.
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