Intervarsity 2008
The constitution of the competition is a long and especially boring document. A few of the more relevant sections are given separately.
The
Constitution 
has all the rules in it |
| The
Dress Code and Pictures
(Appendix 1 & 2) |
| The
Syllabus
(Appendix 3) |
| The
Indemnity Form
|
| The Trip Plan |
| The Excuse Letter Instructions |
| The Cost in more detail |
Intervarsity 2008 is on its way, so get permission (Note1) (form available here) to have the most awesome dancing experience ever! (Note2)
Intervarsity is an annual competition where Academic Institutions from all over the country collect in one place with the aim of dancing as much as possible in two days, while at the same time impressing everyone around them, family, friends, judges, people from the other institutions, and yourselves. Be prepared for the biggest rush on a dance floor (Note3).
So this year we are going to Port Elizabeth on a bus (more detail here). We may be sacrificing some sleep (Note4) and a day or so of tutorials and lectures (Note5). We will be leaving late on Thursday night and arive in Port Elizabeth in the morning of Friday with optional singing on the bus on the way. Then we get to chill for a few hours while settling into accommodation and noticing how near the beach is. On the Friday night is the pre competition social which ends early enough to get some sleep, but that's optional. Saturday is competition day, characterised by screaming at your friends dancing while they try to remember to smile and keep in time. To celebrate, after winning many medals and prizes, there is an afterparty, more dancing and perhaps merry singing. Finally we are evicted on Sunday morning and we mosey on back to Cape Town in time to catch ourselves on the evening news.
| Dates: | From 22:00 on 21st August 2008 to 19:00 on 24th August 2008 |
| Place: | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
| Cost: | R600 |
| Transport: | A 60 seater bus will get you there and back and anywhere else |
| Accomodation: | Two backpackers: |
| Helicharter Backpackers, | |
| 23 Windermere Road, | |
| Humewood | |
| Tel: 041 585 8649 | |
| Ikhayalam Lodge, | |
| 5 Windermere Road, | |
| Humewood | |
| Tel: 041 582 5098 | |
| Needed: | Money for all meals and shopping sprees, warm clothes, maybe some wind protection, copious amounts of energy, extra sleep (Note6). . . |
| Contact Info | Mark Britten 084 749 6414, email: BRTMAR016@uct.ac.za |
Feel free to ask for more information during the class times and check back here from time to time.
Note1: If you are going away for the vacation take a form to be signed by your parents, unless you pass the "I am old enough" part of the form
Note2: Except of course for the Formal
Note3: If you did a medal test and enjoyed the feeling, then you're in luck.
Note4: maybe all of your sleep, at this point details are sketchy.
Medal Tests
The “How to Survive Medal Tests” Manual
So, you’ve heard rumours of these evil tests which come round once a year and test whether you’ve actually got two left feet. Or maybe it’s that time of the year and you’ve just signed up for them – not really knowing what you’ve got yourself into.
What do you do now…
- tremble in fear?
- get yourself so worked up that you hyperventilate?
- wear a bag over your head so that they don’t know who it is?
Breathe easy, if this is you first time doing Medal Tests, its actually quite fun and easy (sorry for those who are at higher levels).
Medal Tests is a fun “examination”, for lack of a better word, which happens annually at UCT B&L. It’s a way of getting feedback as to what you’re doing right and what you’re not, in a constructive way.
I hear some people saying, “How can an examination be fun?” Well you do get to dance; isn’t that reason enough? I would be lying if I said that you won’t be a little nervous before doing the test, but once you are on the floor it’s all history.
“What is the process, so that I can be completely prepared?”
Somewhere after the year has started I’ll make announcements about the Medal Tests explaining it all again. At this time you will probably have found a few people who you get on reasonably well with and enjoy dancing with. Approach them (girls you too, this is the new Millennium) and ask them if they would like to do the test with you, repeat until someone says yes. If you can’t find a partner, it is not the end of the world. I repeat – IT IS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD. Come speak to me (timeously) and I’ll help find you a partner in your level, or if needs be a more advanced dancer who will help you out. Also note that you can dance with more than one person if they need a partner, but you have to choose with whom you will be marked.
Now that you’ve got a partner it’s time to sign up; sheets will go up asking for your name, contact details, partners name, time slot etc.
Then, (drum roll…) the day of the test. The test will happen on a Sunday. There will be only two couples on the floor, so you’ll have plenty of room to move without anyone getting in your way. The music will start and you’ll dance for a bit, the music will stop and the judges will furiously scribble down comments and then more music will play – until all the dances are complete.
The theme for these years’ tests is the “French Riviera”. So please feel free to dress up accordingly, especially for the social beforehand. It does make things a lot more entertaining.
So ends this guide to the Medal Tests. Hope to see you all there!
- Vaughan
Socials
Socials this year are going to be heaps of fun, so lets get the ball rolling and our feet on the dance floor, our hips swinging and smiles and laughter all round! J
To all the new comers, socials are the essential element to the UCT Ballroom Dancing Society. Together with out great committee, I organize social events for the year. And how we have drawn up this year’s calendar is as follows:
We have a social planned for roughly every second weekend, either on a Friday or a Saturday night, except in the holidays. So please have a careful look at the dates, diarize them ALL and don’t miss out on all the fun, all year round! J
Each and every Social has a fun and exciting theme (among them autumn, 80’s, African safari and pirates vs. ninjas) so come along outrageously dressed to the theme and win loads of prizes, but most of all it’s great to come along to the socials to practice the dance moves that we’ve learned in dance classes and to learn something new – and of course to meet loads of people and have a great time.
Our Socials are normally four hours in duration from eight to the strike of midnight ending with the last waltz. We have a well-qualified DJ at our music juke box to give a selection of hip and modern songs for a variety of dances, from boogie to jive to cha-cha, to waltz and fox trot and to the highly energized Vietnamese waltz. Our social evenings are loads of fun, and if your feet ache and pain at the end it’s a good thing, you’ve danced all night and that can only equal dancing PLUS great fun!
We start off the year with an old member’s Social (Circus-themed), to get the holiday feet working and exercising again after the festive season, followed by our beginner’s social (Hawaiian theme) to encourage our new members to practice what they have learned in their first few weeks. Beginners, this is your opportunity to get on the dancefloor without your instructor telling you which foot to put forward. This social is especially for beginners, so come along and don’t be shy!
We have a really fun and exciting year ahead, and after 2007, a tough year to follow. We will make 2008 a year to remember.
So make sure that you plan every second weekend around Socials, you don’t want to miss out on all the fun or you might end up regretting it at the end of the year.
See you on the dance floor!
- Priscilla