The lights came down on St John’s College auditorium on Saturday 1 March, revealing a group of dancers in sequined skirts. As the beat kicked in, the energy in the room exploded as a sassy jazz routine to P!nk’s “Get the Party Started” was performed. The Oxford University Competition Dance (OUCD) showcase not only acted as a display of these dancers’ talent and passion, but also as a triumphant homecoming after emerging victorious against Cambridge at the Varsity competition last month. If this opening number was anything to go by, I knew the rest of the audience and I were in for a treat.
And a treat it was. The showcase featured a smorgasbord of styles. As a former dancer myself, I could appreciate the gorgeous lines, technique, and body control exhibited by the dancers in the lyrical, ballet, and jazz routines. The show proved to be a real hit with everyone watching, regardless of previous dance experience, partly due to crowd-pleasing hip-hop, tap, and musical theatre numbers.
A particular favourite with the audience was “Half-Time” (choreographed by Josh Redfern and Ruby Suss-Francksen), a lively basketball-themed hip-hop number. This Varsity routine was not only bursting with skill but also fun, energy, and passion. This proved to be a theme running through the showcase—each routine was more than a sequence of steps, it was evident that the dancers were putting their hearts and soul into each 8-count and this translated clearly to the audience.
It’s not that the concepts of each dance were groundbreaking. School-themed tap dances, basketball hip-hop routines, and contemporary pieces themed around clowns have been almost run to the ground. The choreography however, was innovative and intriguing. Despite being entirely self-choreographed, the standard for the routines was exceptional on the whole, utilising each dancer’s unique abilities. I particularly enjoyed the routines in which two or more styles were fused, such as “The 4 O’Clock Club” (choreographed by Cam Tweed), a personality-filled tap routine, incorporating hip-hop motifs to create an engaging and enjoyable watch.
Obviously there were differences in quality between the routines that competed at Varsity-level and the routines that were performed for the first time at the showcase, but this gave the show a really nice balance. On one hand there were the polished Varsity routines, where barely a finger was out of place, and then there were the routines which really allowed the dancers’ personalities to shine through (where else could you get gorgeous ballet solos on the same stage as an enticing jazz routine to “Rasputin”?). This meant the showcase didn’t come across too seriously, which I really appreciated and I am sure this made it more accessible to those with no dance background as well.
The showcase did an amazing job at displaying not only the effort put into these routines this past year, but years spent training and perfecting the art of dance. I’m very excited to follow these talented individuals throughout the rest of the competition season.
[Oxford University Competition Dance (OUCD) showcase ran for three shows at St John’s College auditorium, 28th Feb-1st March]