IVFDF

Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival

Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival

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The Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival (IVFDF) is the longest running folk festival in the United Kingdom, having been hosted annually since 1951.[1]

Quick Facts Dates, Location(s) ...

The festival is organised and hosted by university folk societies, and is held in a different location each year. Ex-students and folk music enthusiasts gather at the host university for a weekend of music, dance, and song. The festival at Exeter University in 2009 was attended by around 1169 different ticket holders — the most of any IVFDF up to that time, as the previous record was just over 1000 attendees at the IVFDF in Manchester in 1986.[2]

The festival was held online in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hosted by people based in Bristol. The most recent festival was held in York in 2024.

Mascots

Society mascots are considered to be a large part of the festival. Mascot Ransoming is now banned at IVFDF after several people sustained injuries at one festival. While Mascot Ransoming has been banned, mascot intentional misplacement is prevalent at IVFDFs.[clarification needed]

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History

The first festival was held in 1951 under the name "Universities' Folk Dancing Festival", hosted in the city of Leeds.[3] The festival was jointly organised by the Hull University College Folk Dance Society and the Leeds University Scottish Dance Society, however Leeds was chosen over Hull as the location for the festival due to its superior accessibility and facilities at the time.[4] The following 2 festivals were hosted under this name before the term Inter-Varsity was used for the 1954 festival hosted in Edinburgh.[5]

Initially the primary activity at the festival was the "Display Ceilidh", during which the University groups in attendance would take turns to perform dances as a demonstration to the other groups. The dances presented could be newly choreographed or traditional, and could be chosen to raise awareness of a particular folk style or show the skill of the group.[6][7] In some early festivals a dance was also held in the evening after the Display Ceilidh, and by the 1959 festival this had been expanded to two evening dances.[8]

The festival has never been held in the same host city two years consecutively, with 22 different cities hosting thus far. The most frequent hosts have been Sheffield and Exeter, totalling 10 and 8 festivals respectively.

More information Host city, Number of festivals hosted ...

All IVFDF events

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ICBINI

I can't believe it's not IVFDF (ICBINI) is a smaller annual spin-off festival held in November. The first ICBINI was held at Exeter in 2002.[28] ICBINI is like the main festival in many respects, in that it is held at a different location each year and hosted by student folk societies; however, if a suitable host cannot be found, a festival is not held that year. The activities are similar to those at IVFDF.

More information Year, Location ...

References

  1. [1]
    "IVFDF". Ivfdf.org. Archived from the original on 25 October 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  2. [2]
    "The Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival 2009 - eFestivals.co.uk". www.efestivals.co.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
  3. [3]
    Schofield, Derek (2016). "Norman Peacock (1925–2015)". Folklore. 127: 107–109. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  4. [4]
    "Hull idea". Hull Daily Mail. No. 20359. 22 February 1951. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  5. [5]
    "Early IVFDF Involvement". The Round. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
  6. [6]
    "Folk dancing". Hull Daily Mail. No. 20357. 20 February 1951. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  7. [7]
    "Edinburgh will see new dance". Aberdeen Evening Express. No. 23664. 11 February 1954. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  8. [8]
    "750 at city dance festival". Nottingham Evening News. No. 22796. 2 February 1959. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  9. [9]
    "Folk dance festival". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. No. 32282. 19 February 1951. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  10. [10]
    "Student Folk-Dancers Gather in Edinburgh". Edinburgh Evening News. No. 25224. 9 February 1954. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  11. [11]
    "Dancing down the festival line". Birmingham Weekly Mercury. No. 1884. 13 February 1955. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  12. [12]
    "Sword team at Bristol folk dance festival". Bristol Evening Post. No. 7703. 18 February 1957. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  13. [13]
    "What's on". Liverpool Daily Post. No. 34417. 19 February 1966. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  14. [14]
    "Hull idea comes home at last". Hull Daily Mail. No. 25614. 4 March 1968. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  15. [15]
    Linton, Mitchell (12 February 1970). "Folk dancers to step out in Reading". Reading Evening Post. No. 1370. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  16. [16]
    "Varsitites in dance festival". Liverpool Echo. No. 28950. 5 February 1973. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  17. [17]
    "What's on today". Middleton Guardian. No. 5904. 28 February 1986. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  18. [18]
    "Dancers descend on area". Reading Evening Post. No. 5803. 2 March 1987. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  19. [19]
    "City in step for feast of folk dancing". Cambridge Daily News. 27 February 1997. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  20. [20]
    "Varsity Morris Men invade city streets". Cambridge Weekly News. 12 March 1997. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  21. [21]
    "Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival". Eastern Daily Press. 25 February 2005. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  22. [22]
    "BBC - Radio 2 - Folk and Acoustic". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  23. [23]
    "Dancers descend on Aberdeen". Aberdeen University. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  24. [24]
    "PICTURES: Sheffield welcomes UK's longest running folk dance festival". The Star. 24 February 2018. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  25. [25]
    Campbell, Fiona (23 February 2019). "UK's longest-running folk dance festival in Edinburgh for 2019". All Media Scotland. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  26. [26]
    "Folk dance festival celebrates ancient tradition". Sheffield Tribune. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  27. [27]
    "Supporting the return to dancing in person". English Folk Dance and Song Society. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  28. [28]
    "University of Bristol Union : Folk Club : ICBINI". Archived from the original on 6 December 2003.
  29. [29]
    "History 2010 - 2019 - IVFDF". Ivfdf.org. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
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