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Business & Culture
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Dance Your Way to the Stars Through Cardiff University Dance Competition

Hundreds of students were all dolled up in glittery colourful costumes, some were seen huddled together with matching jackets with their University logo, and others were practicing their choreography in corners all over the student union. Each and every one of those students were preparing for their upcoming performance in Cardiff University Dance Competition.

 

If you are a fan of traditional dances such as Irish,

 

or modern dances such as street pop,

 

or any other genre of dances,

 

then Cardiff University Dance Competition is the place for you. With 352 dancers from 7 different universities around England and Wales, this may be the biggest dance event in Cardiff this year.

One of the many performances of the day

The brains and girl power behind this event is Cardiff University Broadway Dance Society, who have been hosting the University Dance competition since 2011.

“We’ve got 7 universities, 50 dances all together and 352 dancers,” says Livi Knight, the Vice President of Cardiff University Broadway Dance Society. “The genres are Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, Irish, and Wildcard—something that just doesn’t fit into any of the other categories.”

The Cardiff University Broadway Dance Society has been preparing for this event since April 2016 and hopes that they can host a bigger event next year.

 

Jess McVeigh as competition coordinator has worked really hard to prepare for the event since April

 

“We’re holding another one next year around the same time, we’re getting bigger and bigger every year,” says Jessica McVeigh, the competition coordinator. “From past experiences we’ve kind of picked on what things we can improve on. It started out with three to four Universities in our first year and it’s getting bigger and bigger.”

Most of the contestants have been preparing for the competition since September

Competitors from the University of West England, Saida Melgar and Charlie Managhan who got first place for Intermediate street performance were very happy that their hard work paid off. “We’ve been practicing and preparing everything since September, all 11 of us has been working really hard,” said Saida.

Students from Buckinghamshire New University have also been rehearsing since last September. James Kearns and Amber Whiteheads said that they trusted their choreographer and they would rehearse anytime their choreographer asked them to.

“We take turns rehearsing because there are a total of 60 students in groups competing in different genres. We make sure everyone gets enough practice and ready for the big day,” said James

 

 

 

For the one special day, the girls of Cardiff University Broadway Dance Community also made a nice snapchat filter that can be used by anyone in Cardiff!

Cardiff University Dance Competition Snapchat Filter

 

 

Here are the teams who came in first place

 

Intermediate Ballet:

Gloucester University

 

Advance Ballet:

University of West England

 

Intermediate Contemporary:

Cardiff University

 

Advance Contemporary:

Gloucestershire University

 

Wildcard:

Buckinghamshire New University

 

Intermediate Jazz:

Imperial and Buckinghamshire New University

 

Advance Jazz:

Cardiff University

 

Best costume:

Gloucestershire inter ballet

 

Best choreography:

Cardiff University advance street

 

Best performance:

UWE advance contemporary

 

Judges choice:

Imperial

 

Audience choice:

UWE advance street

 

Here are some of the performances from the competition:

Winning performance of Irish Dance from Cardiff University