SUDA

Oxford A team prevail once again and the overall Southern Champion title is also bestowed upon Oxford, with the B and D teams also emerging victorious. Our new advanced latin champions Simon Douglas and Dasha Pluzhnyk were joined in the final by runners up Ivan and Pippa, and 4th place went to Will and Helen. The advanced ballroom was also crowded with Oxford couples- Simon and Dasha came a very close second, followed by Martin and Sarah in third place and fresh partnership Nikita and Millie in 6th place. And the intermediate ballroom final saw places 1-4 held by Oxford couples. Winners Roger Abbott and Caroline Gray went on to come second place in the team match quickstep, which saw four of the top six couples from Oxford. Almost unbelievable!

Sheffield

3 out of the top 6 couples in advanced ballroom were from Oxford, with Simon and Dasha the winners, followed by Martin and Sarah in 4th and Ian and Charlotte in 6th. Advanced latin saw a similarly fantastic result, with 4 finalists from Oxford- Simon and Dasha in 2nd, Ivan and Pippa in 4th, Will and Helen in 5th and Sean and Sazzle in 7th. Luke and Ginger won novice cha, Oli and Fran placed 3rd in Intermediate ballroom and there were plenty of Oxford couples in other finals too! In the team match, Oxford A dominated, with particularly good results in the cha which saw Oxford A and B, Will and Helen and Sean and Sazzle, place first and second respectively above Cambridge A! Martin and Sarah also won team waltz.

Open circuit competition at Egham:

For the second year running, OUDT took a large group to the open circuit competition held at Egham on 9 December – enough dancers to fill three teams. Oxford A, B, and C all made it into the finals of the university team event, with Oxford A winning the event once more. In the opens, all our couples made finals in their events. Special mention to Simon and Dasha for finishing second in prechamp ballroom and fifth in the amateur division; and to Oli Zeldin and Fancesca Barrow, who were runners up in the intermediate ballroom, and came out on top in the novice. On the Latin end, Ivan and Pippa won prechamp latin, and Nick Haines and Erin Lane made finals in the intermediate 3-dance. Roger and Caroline continued to have more success in latin than in their own discipline, winning the novice 2-dance, with Alex Robinson and Anne Marie Wait finishing second.

Nottingham Varsity Ball

With Cambridge and Imperial presenting a strong front and Oxford missing two of its A-team couples, the Dark Blues fought hard to produce excellent results in the team match. Our A team drew with Cambridge for first in the A team, in fact gaining more first places overall, while our B team came second by only one mark. Much to our relief, the trusty D team won back the trophy which somehow failed to materialize in the Oxford cupboard. Congratulations to Ivan "Travolta" Lubenko and Pippa Underwood for winning A team jive, and to Simon and Dasha for winning A quickstep. The latter overcame tough opposition from veteran tab couple Paul and Vesna, still a threat despite their age. Saiqi Lu and Laura Bury, and Maciej Kula and Alice Pillar, won B quickstep and cha, respectively. Kitty Meeks and Glenn Lacki won D quickstep, and talented Beginners Team couple Ania Szmuksta and Brais Louro Lariño won D jive, beating several finalists from the intermediate latin in the process.

Oxford had a good run in the opens as well. Cheeky Simon and Dasha were runners up in the advanced ballroom, while lightning-fast Will and leggy Helen finished third in advanced latin and second in intermediate ballroom. Roger Abbott and Caroline Grey successfully changed out of their ballroom outfits to win the novice latin. Roger's animated facial expressions delighted his supporters and the judges as much as they horrified his partner. Lastly, well done to Ian Preston and Charlotte Woolley for breaking into the advanced ballroom finals. Ian and Clive are not only Oxford's tallest couple, but currently Oxford's longest-lasting partnership as well, now in their fourth year together.

OUDT couple dance IDSF

Congratulations to Martin Bird and Sarah Ward Jones, one of two English couples selected by David Douglas to compete for England in the Slovak Open Dancesport Festival in Bratislava on the 24th/25th November. Martin and Sarah are in their second year dancing on the Oxford University Dancesport Team together and have had a number of successes both on the university and open dance circuit.

Warwick Varsity Ball

The Warwick Varsity Ball proved to be a fun and successful warm-up comp, with Oxford dominating both the open and team events. To start off, newly-partnered William Lee and Helen Pearce won the Warwick Four Dance, as well as intermediate tango, rumba, and jive. After deciding that one year at Cambridge was more than enough, Will defected to join our A-team Latin side. According to Bruce, “nothing good ever comes our way from Cambridge” – here is the first exception, and may similar ones follow! Well done to Simon Douglas and Dasha Pluznyhk for winning both advanced samba and advanced quickstep, and to Martin Bird and Sarah Ward Jones for winning the advanced foxtrot. Alice Pillar and Maciej Kula were runners up in the intermediate latin events, and Mark Penwill won the novice jive with Wanzhen Tang, who just joined OUDT this year. In the Team event, Oxford A, B, C, and D made the finals, finishing first, second, third, and fifth, respectively. Oxford E and F both made the semifinals of the division one team event.