European Tournament for Dancing Students

The ETDS spans four days, commencing on a Friday evening and concluding on Monday morning. While each ETDS is individual in its rules, contents and schedule, the event typically includes:

• Blind date program: On Friday evening, the vast majority of the Breitensport category pair up. The tournament uniquely enters most of its dancers as individuals to pair up just for the weekend, rather than couples.
• Competitions: Across Saturday and Sunday, participants take part in Ballroom and Latin Dancesport. This includes competing in DanceSport with their "Blind Date" partners, or "Jack and Jill" style.
• Social Events: Recent ETDS' have included a Themed party on Saturday and a Gala Ball on Sunday evening.
• Logistics: The hosting university provides sleeping accommodations and catering for participants and volunteers.

Additional events have been included to individual tournaments at the discretion of the organisers, such as the University Team Match/Varsity (Southampton), Discofox, Salsa and Polka.

The European Tournament for Dancing Students (ETDS) began as a small gathering of university dance teams from Clausthal, Braunschweig, and Kiel, who sought to connect through friendly competition. In its earliest days, the event was organized on an ad-hoc basis, with participants easily finding accommodation due to the small numbers.

A defining tradition emerged in November 1990 with the introduction of der Tanzmaus, a plush mouse awarded to the winning university, who would "host" it until the next tournament. Donated by the University of Kiel, Clausthal was the first to claim this prize. As word spread, the tournament grew. By December 1991, Berlin had joined, eventually hosting the event during Sinterklaas in 1993. The early tournaments had no separate skill divisions, and teams of all levels competed together.

Over the next few years, participation expanded. Dortmund joined in April 1992, followed later by Ulm and Marburg. By the spring of 1994, ETDS had gained momentum, with 15 German universities involved. That same year, the Netherlands entered the competition, with teams from Delft, Eindhoven, Mainz, Geisenheim, and Kaiserslautern. However, the rapid growth brought challenges. In autumn 1994, administrative issues in Kiel resulted in the university being barred from hosting for five years. The following spring, ETDS introduced skill divisions, splitting competitors into "Amateurs" and "Profis." Leipzig also joined at this time.

In the summer of 1995, ETDS reached a new milestone—it was held outside of Germany for the first time, with Eindhoven hosting in the Netherlands. The event had now evolved from an informal gathering into a biannual tradition, occurring every Pentecost and autumn at a rotating university. Groningen joined this same year. By 2004, a third skill division, "Masters," was added to the Breitensport section. At the 41st tournament in 2009 hosted in Groningen, over 500 dancers competed, leading to the creation of the "Champions" category. Just three years later, at Pentecost in 2012, ETDS welcomed 570 participants.

Expansion beyond its founding countries came in October 2015, when Brno, Czech Republic, became the first non-German or Dutch host. The international reach of ETDS continued to grow, culminating in two historic editions in the Southampton, United Kingdom and Wettingen, Switzerland, the first in both countries.^[5]The UK version welcomed British university teams on a large scale, with participants from universities including Imperial College London, University of Bath, University of Cambridge, University of London, University of Oxford, University of St Andrews and many more. This ETDS spearheaded a joint effort between the University of Bristol and the University of Southampton. The Swiss ETDS was acclaimed for its tournament quality and organisation. This also makes history as the first time two consecutive tournaments have taken place outside Germany and the Netherlands.

Because the focus of each individual organization alters the balance between social orientation and competition, Each ETDS to a degree is individual. Nevertheless, participants typically expect the following rules during each tournament:

Every European university or student dance society can participate.

The record for the most teams participating in an ETDS was set at 68th ETDS Southampton, where 50 teams from 11 countries took part.

More information Society Name, University ...

List of all participating teams

Society Name	University	Country	Notes
Unitanz Aachen	RWTH Aachen University	Germany	Hosted in 1993 (autumn), 1997 (Pentecost), 2001, 2006, 2010, 2017, 2025 (Pentecost).
S.D.V. AmsterDance	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands	Hosted in 2023 (Pentecost).
Antibes	N/A	France
Bath University Latin & Ballroom (BULB)	University of Bath	United Kingdom	Participating university. Set to host in 2026.
Unitanz Berlin	TU Berlin	Germany	Hosted in 1993 (Pentecost), 1996, 1998, 2002, 2007, 2015.
Unitanz Bielefeld	Bielefeld University	Germany	Participating university.
Bonn	N/A	Germany	Inactive team.
Bournemouth University BLD (BUBLDS)	Bournemouth University	United Kingdom	Participated in the 68th ETDS in Southampton.
Unitanz Braunschweig	TU Braunschweig	Germany	Hosted the first ETDS in 1989.
Bristol University Latin American Ballroom Dance Society (BULABDS)	University of Bristol	United Kingdom	Joined in 2023. Hosted in 2024.
Brno	N/A	Czech Republic	Hosted in 2015 and 2018.
Budapest	Budapest University of Technology and Economics	Hungary	Participating university.
Cambridge Dancers Club (CDC)	University of Cambridge	United Kingdom	Participating university.
Cape Town	N/A	South Africa	First recorded participation outside Europe.
CU Dancesport	Cardiff University	United Kingdom	Participated in the 68th ETDS in Southampton.
Unitanz Clausthal	Clausthal University of Technology	Germany	Hosted in 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003, 2006, 2019.
Unitanz Cottbus	N/A	Germany	Inactive team.
Crimea	Crimean Federal University	Ukraine	Participates under another university.
Unitanz Darmstadt	Technische Universität Darmstadt	Germany	Participating university.
D.S.D.A. Blue Suede Shoes	Delft University of Technology	Netherlands	Hosted in 2020 (postponed to 2022).[6]
Unitanz Dortmund	Technical University of Dortmund	Germany	Hosted in 1995 (Pentecost), 2000, 2007.
Unitanz Düsseldorf	Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences	Germany	Hosted in 2014.
Edinburgh University Ballroom Dance Society (EUBS)	University of Edinburgh	United Kingdom	Participating university.
E.S.D.V. Footloose	Eindhoven University of Technology	Netherlands	Hosted in 1995 (autumn), 1997, 2002, 2006, 2011.
D.S.V. 4 happy feet	University of Twente	Netherlands	Hosted in 2005, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2024. Set to host in 2026.
Unitanz Erlangen	University of Erlangen–Nuremberg	Germany	Participating university.
ETDSKasselTeam	University of Kassel	Germany	Participating university.
Unitanz Frankfurt	Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences	Germany	Inactive team.
Hochschule Geisenheim	Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute	Germany	Joined in 1994.
Gießen	University of Giessen	Germany	Inactive team.
Unitanz Göttingen	University of Göttingen	Germany	Inactive team.
SSV The Blue Toes	University of Groningen	Netherlands	Hosted in 1998, 2001, 2009, 2019.
Unitanz Hannover	Leibniz University Hannover	Germany	Participating university.
Unitanz Hildesheim	University of Hildesheim	Germany	Inactive team.
Hull	University of Hull	United Kingdom	Inactive team.
Imperial College Dance Club	Imperial College London	United Kingdom	Participating university.
Unitanz Kaiserslautern	Technical University of Kaiserslautern	Germany	Hosted in 1994, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2017.
Unitanz Karlsruhe	Karlsruhe Institute of Technology	Germany	Participating university.
Unitanz Kiel	Kiel University	Germany	Hosted in 1990, 1991, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2018.
Koln/Cologne	N/A	Germany
S.D.A. Leidance	Leiden University	Netherlands	Participating university.
Unitanz Leipzig	Leipzig University	Germany	Joined in 1995.
Liverpool Ballroom and Latin Society	University of Liverpool	United Kingdom
London Dancesport	University of London	United Kingdom	Participating university.
Lublin	N/A	Poland	Participates under another university.
M.S.D.V. Let's Dance	Maastricht University	Netherlands	Participating university.
Unitanz Mainz	University of Mainz	Germany	Joined in 1994.
Unitanz Marburg	Marburg University	Germany	Joined after 1992.
Unitanz Munich	LMU Munich, Munich University of Applied Sciences	Germany	Participating university.
Unitanz Münster	University of Münster	Germany	Participating university.
42 Confused Scientists	N/A (Formerly Neuss)	Germany	Participating team.
S.D.V.N. Dance Fever	Radboud University Nijmegen	Netherlands	Hosted in 2012.
Oslo	University of Oslo	Norway	Participates under another university, expressed interest but has yet to attend.
Oxford University Dancesport Club	University of Oxford	United Kingdom	Participating university.
Reading University Ballroom & Latin Society (RUBLS)	University of Reading	United Kingdom	Participating university.
Erasmus Dance Society	Erasmus University Rotterdam	Netherlands	Participating university.
Southampton University Ballroom & Latin Dance Society (SUBLDS)	University of Southampton	United Kingdom	Joined in 2005. Hosted in 2024.
Ballroom and Latin American Dancing Society (BALADS)	University of St Andrews	United Kingdom	Participating university.
Unitanz Stuttgart	University of Stuttgart	Germany	Participating university.
Tallinn	Tallinn University	Estonia	Participates under another university.
Tenacious D(ancers)	Formed as a neutral team for individual UK competitors.	United Kingdom	Formed in 2024.
Trondheim	Norwegian University of Science and Technology	Norway	Participates under another university, expressed interest but has yet to attend.
Unitanz Ulm	University of Ulm	Germany	Hosted in 1994, 2000.
U.S.D.V. U Dance	Utrecht University	Netherlands	Hosted in 2016.
WuBDA	Wageningen University & Research	Netherlands	Participating dancing society.
Warwick Latin & Ballroom	University of Warwick	United Kingdom	Participated in the 68th ETDS in Southampton.
Winterthur	N/A	Switzerland	Participates under another university.
York Ballroom and Latin Society (YLBS)	University of York	United Kingdom	Participated in the 68th ETDS in Southampton.
Zürich Tanzquotient	ETH Zurich	Switzerland	Hosted in 2025.

Close