Around two weeks ago I completed one of the greatest challenges I have ever taken part in. Cycling from London to Paris? Nothing on this. Finishing my Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award was a breeze in comparison. And don’t even get me started on carrying a table with George Sampson on Waterloo Road – it doesn’t even come close. Okay, maybe I’m quite proud of these three previous adventures, but the magic that occurred on Monday 16th November required lots of effort from numerous parties, as well as a shedload of patience.
Enough of the cryptic clues and allusions – what the hell am I going on about? University of Nottingham’s Strictly Come Dancing (in support of Dementia UK) organised by the Latin, Ballroom and Salsa Society (LBSS) of course!
The journey began around a month ago, when I was asked to be one of nine celebrities for the upcoming charity event. I’d be lying if I said I was shocked that I was picked. I form part of many integral cogs that help the University run smoothly, so it was inevitable that I was going to be selected… Despite this fact, I was officially affiliated with the wonderful URN, but could have represented a number of establishments: Hockey, The Tab, Her Campus… the list is endless.
Pre-Show: chilling with my radio co-host and fellow competitor Danny. GAME ON!
But in all seriousness, I was slightly sceptical when training started to loom, due to my limited knowledge and ability with dance. Into the fire I threw myself to be greeted by a friendly (but firm) resident of Hull who goes by the name of Steph. Little did I know that over the following week and the run up to the event itself, Steph would work me harder than any next level personal trainer ever could. After a little research and some insight into my wooden legs, we decided that the Paso Doble would suit me best. For those who don’t know, this is a dance that consists of very aggressive and purposeful movements, with a big focus on the theatrical. For those of you who know me, you will understand how perfectly such a dance would fit me – especially the focus on acting. Think of a matador and his/her battle and control of their bull, and that’s what you’ve got with the Paso Doble. It sounds bloody cool as well!
During the experience, I actually forgot that I was at uni to get a degree. In true Billy Elliot style, dancing became my life. An escape (or rather excuse) from looming assignment deadlines. Everything that could have happened, happened during our 8+ hours of training. Banging headaches and a throat rougher than sandpaper in the Saharan desert? Check. Lots of repetition of pointers I deemed to be niggly, but in hindsight were actually very important for the aesthetics of the performance? Check. Creating a whole new form of dance language to communicate to me? Check. Constant frustration with how I couldn’t smash the correct move for whipping my cape around like a lunatic? Check. Eventually though, and with a lot of detailed help, we grafted on, as the day of Strictly came closer and closer. I even managed to nail the cape after a spot of help from Steph’s usual competition partner, Tom (also part of a competing couple) and a metal pole which ensured my arms went around my head separately, rather than all in one motion. But enough of that technical nonsense.
Then came the day of the event. During this Autumn semester I’ve been lucky enough to get Mondays off, so I essentially had a full day to mentally prepare myself. The aim was to get some much needed work done and then head to the Lakeside Theatre Centre a couple of hours before to do some final practice on the stage itself. As is often the case with predicted plans however, no work was completed as I became consumed by the stress of having to actually perform our dance in front of a crowd and of course, those all-important judges.
The build up to performing was similar to that which you might experience before an exam: you know you know what you need to know, yet having to hang about for the exam to start makes you doubt yourself. It just so happened that me and Steph were 7th in the running order and so we had a fair bit of time to hang on. I allowed myself some time to relax as we watched the others perform fantastically from the green room, which was our little haven away from the main stage. Then we were called to the stage. Fully guy-linered up in my pirate costume, looking like a retired, slightly chunkier, more intoxicated Jack Sparrow, I was ready.
The guy-liner life chose me.
Or so I thought. As our previously recorded VT (video tape) ran on a screen above the stage, me and Steph got ourselves into our starting position. This involved me crouching down in an awkward position that didn’t offer much stability. It was now that I realised how much I was shaking. Not an ideal situation considering – as previously mentioned – the Paso Doble requires a lot of firm movements.
VT finished, build-up of “He’s a Pirate” (a slowed down version) bubbling away, it was time to focus. Up I got and I flung my cape around like a nutter who really wanted to kill his bull. There was almost a slip-up but I managed to really get into it, combining well with the fantastic Steph and then, the dance was finished and as I tried to suck in much needed oxygen, I couldn’t help but think: “You know what, we’ve done alright here.” Then came time for the judges’ comments. Steph and I were commended for our passion and theatrical performance throughout the dance, with Rob Jennings adding one of his now infamous puntastic comments. We were then given a chance to offer our own response to how we thought our dance had been. If I’m honest, before heading out for the performance I’d started to prepare a few bits of speech I could rattle off, but in the euphoria of such brilliant feedback from the judges I only managed to utter a few generic, clichéd lines: “We’ve worked hard for this”, “Steph has been amazing”… And before we knew it, it was time. Time for those all-important scores. The little numbers that could determine whether my future lay in the realms of dance, or whether it was back to analysing books. Oh how shocked I was – I thought we’d done well, but not this flippin’ well! 10, 10, 10, 9, were the scores that came back, with only two more couples to go to try and beat our total judge score of 39/40. Steph and I had managed to launch ourselves into the top spot for judges’ scores and we’re not talking in superlatives when I say we were over-the-moon. We headed back to the green room to huge congratulations and believe it or not, in the face of success I actually become very modest – almost awkwardly so.
Our hearts were in our mouths when the next couple to perform (which just so happened to include Steph’s usual competition dancing partner- Tom) looked like they were set for 10s across the board, however their total eventually came to 38/40 putting them in a very close second. An impressive performance from our very own SU President Angharad Smith was to round the competition off and it was time for the second part of the judging system. The crowd were able to visit an online poll where they could vote for their favourite couple. How this worked overall was that depending on where you placed in each section (so 1st for me and Steph in the judges scores) your couple was assigned a certain amount of points. 1st place for both sections (judge scores and crowd votes) equated to 7 points; 2nd – 6 points and so on and so forth. The points for each section were then added together and the couple with the highest total would go on to win the fabled Strictly Come Dancing prize. Phew, it was tougher explaining that than it was doing the actual dance… ok maybe not.
It seemed from the results that were coming in from the crowd vote that the competition was really heating up. Danny and Nikki who scored very well anyway during the judges’ section were running away in 1st with the crowd votes and it really was anyone’s crown to claim. After two questionable but highly entertaining and sensual performances of an all-male Rumba, all the couples were invited back onto the stage for the revelation of the final results. The Glitter Ball Trophy was gleaming, as were the eyes of expectant competitors who knew they were in the running. Couples began to be gradually eliminated and the intensity really heated up when it got down to the last four couples, ready for the top three to be announced.
And we’d made it!
The final three consisted of Me and Steph, Danny and Nikki and Laura and Tom.
Laura and Tom were then announced in third place and the dream of actually winning this whole thing became very apparent. The standard dramatic pause was given when it came to the revealing of second place, which turned out to be… Danny and Nikki. Those clever ones of you out there will have already now worked out what this entails – but hold the excitement for a moment. With great expectation it was time for 1st place to be formally announced.
BRAD AND STEPH!
Life complete. Had you asked me right at the start of the process I would have happily admitted that we would have had to put up a real fight to make it into the top three and I constantly told Steph that that would have to be our aim thanks to my lack of dancing ability. Apparently however I had made up for this in passion and focus and all thoughts faded away as we headed up to grab the trophy, our medals and the adoration of millions of fans in the crowd. An encore ensued and I was absolutely terrible, but I’m putting that down to being drunk on shock – I was already thinking about the celebrations at the after-party most likely.
The winning couple in full attire. “Why are the VKs always gone!?”
But that was it, competition over. And just like that a huge void appeared in my life. The week immediately after it had all finished, everything seemed a little strange as I was expecting to head into the studios at some point to get those dancing legs moving, but alas it had all come to an end.
I cannot thank the society and everyone involved enough for what has been yet another fantastic experience to add my university timeline and the fact that we managed to raise a large sum for such an important charity is amazing as well. Also, big thanks of course to the brilliant Steph, for keeping me on my toes and putting up with me generally. Absolute gem!
Still basking in the glory two weeks later. Pride and swag are just gleaming off the surface of that glitter ball.