Sheffield IVFDF 2025

Information

Timings

IVFDF will run from 4pm on 28th February to 5pm on 2nd March. Arrival is from 4pm; please do not arrive before this time except by prior arrangement. If you expect to arrive after 2am on the Friday night (Saturday morning) and will need access to a sleeping venue, please contact us. The first event will start at 6pm.

The Front Desk will be located in the Plaza in the entrance to the Students Union.

This is where you will come to collect wristbands and merchandise when you arrive. You can contact the front desk on 07457 400 457. If you arrive outside of the times stated below you will be able to contact the committee here.

Front Desk Open Times:
Friday: 16:00-21:00
Saturday: 9:00-21:00
Sunday: 9:00-16:00.

Day Ticket Collection Times:
Friday Evening: 16:00 – 21:00
Saturday: 09:00 – 21:00
Saturday Evening: 17:00 – 21:00
Sunday: 09:00 – 21:00

These are approximate timings. If you arrive before these times you may be asked to wait to collect your wristbands. If you have any problems please contact the committee.

Code of Conduct

• Be patient and gentle with new dancers – you were new once too!
• Anyone can ask anyone to dance.
• Anyone can refuse a dance without needing to give a reason.
• Don’t take it personally if someone doesn’t want to dance with you.
• Respect people’s boundaries and personal space.
• Give and receive any feedback politely, gently, and kindly.
• If someone hurts you, don’t feel you have to suffer in silence – talk to someone on the committee or a steward.
• Don’t assume – ask people if they are alright, if they want to add variations, what swing style they want, etc.
• When the caller is talking, please don’t.
• Ask for help from the caller if you need it – extra run throughs are fine!
• If someone looks like they are going wrong but it’s not affecting anyone’s enjoyment of the dance, leave them be.
• We are a gender free dance festival; respect everyone’s gender identity, partner choice and dance position choice at all times.
• If someone makes you uncomfortable, come and talk to anyone on the committee or a steward – they are there to help!
• Don’t touch wheelchair users’ wheelchairs without permission.
• If you are a wheelchair user, D/deaf, hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired or have another access need while dancing please feel free to make yourself known to the caller so they are aware of your presence.
• We will not be enforcing mask wearing but please feel free to wear one if you would like. If someone is wearing a mask, please respect this.

Interactive Map

https://use.mazemap.com/#v=1&campusid=2066&zlevel=4&center=-1.487518,53.380780&zoom=17.9

Stewards and Committee

On duty stewards will be wearing yellow t-shirts and will help with any queries you may have. If they ask you to do something, please try to help – if there are any issues, please contact 07457 400 457. On-duty committee members will also be wearing a yellow shirt and will have a badge stating they are on committee.
Please do not bother stewards or committee members who are not on duty (they need some time to enjoy the festival too!).

Getting Here

Most of the dances and workshops will be held at the Sheffield Student’s Union building and the adjacent Octagon Centre. Our other evening dance venue and the sleeping venues are all within a 20 minute walk.

The nearest bus stop to the SU is on Western Bank and is served by bus numbers:

• 7a
• 51
• 52
• 52a
• 257
• 751a
• H1
• X57

There is also a bus stop below the SU on Glossop Road which is served by bus numbers:

• 6
• 30
• 30a
• 120
• 181
• 271
• 779
• 781
• X30
• X55

However, this entrance to the SU is on a steeper slope. We would advise using Google Street View to check which entrance is most suitable.

The University of Sheffield tram stop is about a 5-minute walk; this is probably the easiest access route from Sheffield train station as there is a tram stop at the back of the train station. If you are coming by bus, the 51, 52/52a and the 120 pass closest to the coach and train station.

See Travel South Yorkshire for detailed public transport information. Google Maps is also useful, but be aware that it is not always reliable at weekends.

Walking to the SU from the train/coach station takes about 30 minutes and includes steep hills.

If you need weekend parking close to the university we recommend Durham Road Q-park car park, adjacent to the main venue. This cost £5 after 18:00 on Friday, and £6.50 all day on Saturday and Sunday.
Disabled parking bays are available on the ground floor of the Q-park, and there is step free access to the Octagon from there.
Street parking in the vicinity is almost all permit-based. Some permit requirements no longer apply after 18.30 weekdays or on Saturday and Sunday but we advise that you check before parking to avoid being ticketed.

If you need a lift to IVFDF, we encourage you to post in the IVFDF Facebook group.

Who Can Attend?

IVFDF is open to anyone. You don’t have to be a student to attend. You also don’t have to have done any folk dancing before – we will have workshops for beginners and there will be lots of friendly faces to help you out.

Accommodation

Standard accommodation at IVFDF is indoor camping – bring a sleeping bag and sleeping mat and sleep in a hall with other festival-goers! This is a small extra cost (usually £2) on top of tickets.

Broomhall Centre, Broomspring Lane, S10 2FD
Friday Night: 22:00 – 10:00
Saturday Night: 22:00 – 8:00
St Mark’s Church, Broomfield Road, S10 2SE

Friday Night: 22:00 – 9:00
Saturday Night: 22:00 – 9:00

Note: we are using the upstairs room at St Mark’s. There is a lift available. If this is going to be an issue, speak to the front desk about being in a different sleeping venue.

When you collect your wristbands you will be asked to choose a sleeping venue to make sure all the venues have sufficient space. If you wish to sleep in the same venue as your friends, arrange with them in advance to choose the same venue!

Sleeping venues will be open at the times listed above, and you will need to be out by the specified time. All our sleeping venues have rooms for leaving bags during the day on Saturday, which you will not be able to access again until that venue reopens that evening. All also have small kitchens for making tea and coffee in the morning.

Sleeping venues will be stewarded all of the night these stewards will make themselves known at the start of the night. If you cannot find a steward and you need assistance, please immediately call the committee on 07457400457. In the event of an emergency call 999 and then call the committee to let us know you have done so.

If you are unable to use indoor camping for accessibility reasons, and cannot afford a hotel, please contact us to see if we can help. We cannot promise to be able to arrange other accommodation, but we’ll try our best!

Unfortunately this year due to the University’s Safeguarding policy we are unable to host under-18s in our sleeping venues. If anyone needs some assistance organizing alternative accommodation due to this we encourage you to contact the committee and we will do our best to help you find an alternative arrangement.

Gender-Free Calling

All our events will be called gender-free; this has been fairly standard for IVFDFs since the Sheffield IVFDF in 2018.