| Years Active: | 1951-present |
| Location: | Changes every year |
| Organiser: | Student folk societies |
| Dates: | Last weekend of February or first weekend of March |
The Inter Varsity Folk Dance Festival (IVFDF) is the longest running folk festival in the United Kingdom, having been hosted annually since 1951.[1]
The festival is organized 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.
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.
| As Yet & Unnames | Penguins | Sheffield | N/A | |
| Cuthbert | Snake | Cambridge | The Round (Cambridge English and Contra dance society) | |
| Don | Elephant | Warwick | N/A | |
| Duncan | Highland Cow | Durham | N/A | |
| Floyd | Pig | Exeter | N/A | |
| Hamish | Thistle | Cambridge | Strathspey & Reel Club | |
| Nessie | Loch Ness Monster | Edinburgh | N/A | |
| Rustle | Ceilidh Monster | N/A | N/A | |
| Ducky | Duck | Lancaster | N/A | |
| N/A | Goose | York | N/A |
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 organized 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.
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, totaling 10 and 8 festivals respectively.
| Sheffield | 10 | 2022 | |
| Exeter | 8 | 2023 | |
| Edinburgh | 7 | 2019 | |
| Nottingham | 6 | 2020 | |
| Manchester | 5 | 1994 | |
| Cambridge | 4 | 2017 | |
| Bristol | 3 | 2021 | |
| Durham | 3 | 2010 | |
| Glasgow | 3 | 2000 | |
| Newcastle | 3 | 1990 |
| 1951 | Leeds | Leeds | 17 February[8] | Was known as Universities' Folk Dancing Festival. 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. | ||||
| 1952 | Newcastle | |||||||
| 1953 | Sheffield | |||||||
| 1954 | Edinburgh | 13 February [9] | 480 visitors | First festival to use the IVFDF name. | ||||
| 1955 | Birmingham | 12 February[10] | 600 | |||||
| 1956 | Manchester | |||||||
| 1957 | Bristol | 16 February[11] | Featured a Morris Tour | |||||
| 1958 | London | |||||||
| 1959 | Nottingham | 31 January[12] | 750 | |||||
| 1960 | Glasgow | 13 February | ||||||
| 1961 | Leeds | 11 February | ||||||
| 1962 | Manchester | 17 February | ||||||
| 1963 | London | 2 February | ||||||
| 1964 | Sheffield | 8 February | ||||||
| 1965 | Newcastle | 20 February | ||||||
| 1966 | Liverpool | 19 February[13] | ||||||
| 1967 | Exeter | 25 February | ||||||
| 1968 | Hull | 2 March[14] | 800 | |||||
| 1969 | Glasgow | Strathclyde, a sub-university of Glasgow | 8 February | |||||
| 1970 | Reading | 13 - 14 February[15] | 600 | Extended to a 2-day festival as a ceilidh was arranged for those who were staying overnight on Friday. | ||||
| 1971 | Nottingham | 6 February | ||||||
| 1972 | Durham | 12 February | ||||||
| 1973 | Liverpool | 3 February [16] | ||||||
| 1974 | Oxford | |||||||
| 1975 | London | 22 February | ||||||
| 1976 | Edinburgh | |||||||
| 1977 | Manchester | |||||||
| 1978 | Southampton | |||||||
| 1979 | Norwich | University of East Anglia | ||||||
| 1980 | Durham | |||||||
| 1981 | Leeds | |||||||
| 1982 | Reading | |||||||
| 1983 | Nottingham | |||||||
| 1984 | Sheffield | |||||||
| 1985 | Southampton | |||||||
| 1986 | Manchester | 28 February[17] | ||||||
| 1987 | Reading | 27 February - 1 March[18] | 200 | |||||
| 1988 | Edinburgh | |||||||
| 1989 | Exeter | |||||||
| 1990 | Newcastle | |||||||
| 1991 | Nottingham | |||||||
| 1992 | University of East Anglia | |||||||
| 1993 | Sheffield | |||||||
| 1994 | Manchester | |||||||
| 1995 | Exeter | |||||||
| 1996 | Edinburgh | |||||||
| 1997 | Cambridge | Anglia Polytechnic University | 28 February - 2 March[19] | 800[20] | Held in Anglia Polytechnic University and venues around the city. | |||
| 1998 | Sheffield | |||||||
| 1999 | Exeter | |||||||
| 2000 | Glasgow | |||||||
| 2001 | Cambridge | |||||||
| 2002 | St. Andrews | |||||||
| 2003 | Sheffield | |||||||
| 2004 | Exeter | |||||||
| 2005 | Norwich | 25 - 27 February[21] | ||||||
| 2006 | Cambridge | Cambridge University | 24 – 26 February | 1000+ | Many dance teams, including Stone the Crows, Black Swan Rapper, and Pig Dyke Molly. The usual complement of university-based teams from all over the country. | Organised by a committee made up of students and ex-students belonging to the universities' three folk orientated societies (Gog Magog Molly, The Round and The Strathspey, and Reel Society). Because Cambridge does not have a single large students union building, they hired a local school to accommodate the attendees. Workshops were held in various rooms, including the gym and sports hall, sessions were held in the library and common room, and people slept in the maths classrooms. | ||
| 2007 | Edinburgh | Edinburgh University | 2-4 March | Bands included Peeping Tom and John Dipper. Various demonstration dances, including Scottish and a dance to the soundtrack of The Sound of Music. Diverse workshops. | ||||
| 2008 | Sheffield | 29 February - 2 March | 1000+[22] | Bands and artists appearing were Glory Strokes (Pete Rees), Vertical Expression (Andrew Swaine), The Gloworms (Nick Walden), Janiver (formed from previous Jabadaw members), and Triple Scotch. There was also a concert with Crucible, Spiers & Boden. | ||||
| 2009 | Exeter | 27 February-1 March | Festival website (Archived 12 February 2009) | 1169 (most of any IVFDF) | The line-up included Kate Rusby, The Demon Barbers, and Jackie Oates also appeared with Jim Causley. Main ceilidhs were provided by The Committee Band and Stomp with over 40 workshops taking place over the weekend, as well as the Survivor's Ceilidh. | All events were back on one site, including sleeping, food and all the late night sessions. | ||
| 2010 | Durham | Durham university | 5-7 March | Festival website (ivfdf.org archive) | The line-up included Eliza Carthy and Aidan Curran, Whapweasel and Martyn Harvey, Vertical Expression, Fidola, alongside many workshops and a Morris Tour. | |||
| 2011 | Bristol | 25 – 27 February | Festival website Archived 22 July 2011 | |||||
| 2012 | Aberdeen | 2 - 4 March[23] | Festival website (Archived 11 October 2020) | |||||
| 2013 | Sheffield | 1 – 3 March | Festival website Archived 14 May 2013 | |||||
| 2014 | Edinburgh | 28 February - 2 March | Festival website (Archived 23 December 2014) | |||||
| 2015 | Exeter | 27 February – 1 March | Festival website (Archived 1 March 2015) | Held in the 'new buildings' of the University of Exeter and the Great Hall. | ||||
| 2016 | Coventry | University of Warwick | 26 – 28 March | Festival website | Notably used Coventry Cathedral as a dance venue. | |||
| 2017 | Cambridge | 24 - 26 February | Festival website (Archived 11 May 2017) | |||||
| 2018 | Sheffield | Sheffield University | 23 - 25 February[24] | Festival website | The line-up included Melrose Quintet, Buddy System, Steamchicken, Emily and the Simons, and Scottish Measure. | First year the festival went completely gender free for all its calling and workshops. | ||
| 2019 | Edinburgh | Edinburgh University | 1 - 3 March[25] | Festival website | The line-up included Hoik, The Night Before, Monkey Box, No&Mi, An Conasg, Hekety, Science Ceilidh, Matthew Maclennan Dance Band, Naragonia, and Point Five. | |||
| 2020 | Nottingham | 6 – 8 March | Festival website | Contrasaurus, Bearded Dragons, and several others. | ||||
| 2021 | Bristol (though online) | Organised by Bristol people; held online via Minecraft, Zoom and Discord due to the COVID-19 pandemic. | ||||||
| 2022 | Sheffield | 25 - 27 February[26] | Festival website | 600[27] | ||||
| 2023 | Exeter | 3 - 5 February | Festival website | |||||
| 2024 | York | 16 - 18 February | Festival website |
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.
| 2002 | Exeter | First ICBINI. | ||
| 2003 | Bristol [29] | |||
| 2011 | Exeter | |||
| 2012 | Warwick | |||
| 2014 | Warwick | Warwick Festival Announcement | ||
| 2015 | Lancaster | |||
| 2016 | Exeter | Exeter Festival Announcement | ||
| 2017 | Bristol | |||
| 2018 | N/A | None | ||
| 2019 | York | |||
| 2020 | N/A | None | Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. |