Hi everyone! I’m Emily, a second year English Language and Linguistics student, and I am currently your Classical and Modern Officer for Dance Soc. I’m very thankful for the role that Dance Soc has played in my university life so far: it has been the place that I have met some of my gorgeous best friends, and so many talented individuals that I wouldn’t know if it weren’t for the inspiring community that Dance Soc has built. I would love to have the opportunity to give back to the society that has given me so much, and what better way to do this than run for president!! I aim to boost inclusivity by bridging the inevitable divide between competition team dancers and those that attend weekly classes, giving everyone an opportunity to create special relationships in an inclusive space.

I thought I’d quickly go into a bit about my dance background just so you can all get a feel for what I’m about and the experience that I have which I feel is applicable to the role of president. So, I have trained in modern, tap, ballet and contemporary from a young age, and had the honour of being the Head Girl of my dance academy. More recently, in my gap year, I trained to be a dance teacher with ISTD, doing my DDE (Diploma in Dance Education). In studying for the DDE, I have been immersed within the teaching industry, learning what makes an encouraging environment, how to market a dance organisation and the all-important organisational skills which are extremely relevant to this role. I have danced through every year of my education- where I was the Head Girl of my secondary school and the Chair of their School Council. Here, I learnt to balance dance commitments, whilst chairing a team and sustaining a strong presence and being the voice of many students at school. 

This year, within Dance Soc, I have had so many amazing opportunities. I have choreographed for shows and competitions with Fusion advanced tap where we had 4 wins, highlighting both my creative and leadership skills. I also co-hosted Strictly Come Dance Soc- we all know that I am very confident in my communication skills! Furthermore, taking part in the icandance workshop and working with people with different needs when I teach weekly, means that I prioritise inclusivity and am quick to adapt and accommodate where necessary. In my role as Classical and Modern Officer, I proved my knowledge of the industry by hiring current professionals to teach for us- all of which gained amazing reviews from students that took their classes. I was the first face of the society that teachers met- ensuring to remain friendly, yet efficient and professional at the same time.

Here is my four-strand strategy for the growth of our society:

RISE: Working Hard to Succeed.

REINVENTION- I believe that our social media presence is ever growing, and we should capitalise on this in 2023/24. There could be more persistent promotion of classes and events to publicise our brand and reach new audiences- thus increasing participation and renumeration. Social media is a fast moving medium. We need to be following trends to grow our online presence: the use of TikTok and Instagram Reels are noteworthy vehicles for this.

Our workshop with icandance in the first semester was a huge success and such a lovely event for us to dance with inspiring young people in London. I have faith that we can do more of these events this year, to strengthen our connections with charities close to Dance Soc’s heart. This could manifest itself as something as small as joint social media posting, or a bigger event where we could offer our choreographic skills, making magical memories for both communities.

INCLUSIVITY- It is essential that we try to overcome the inescapable social gap between dancers in Fusion and dancers that solely take weekly classes. Although we advertise showcase opportunities and event opportunities to the whole of the society, we often find that it is only Fusion members that take part. We should use the Christmas Show as a platform for this unity- where we ask class teachers to work towards a short combination that can be included in the show, combining similar styles using the same song. Different students partake in classes each week, therefore this could serve as motivation to attend more classes, to work towards a goal that is introduced in the later classes of the year, with no pressure to be involved. Such idea may increase the feeling of community and bring more non-Fusion members to our events and socials.

Myself and my fellow styles officers ran ‘KCL Dance Soc: Battle of the Beasts’, which was a small event that brought in many non-Fusion Dance Soc members and a variety of dance styles. Feedback highlighted the potential for the event to be put on again at a bigger scale. Generally, battles are more hip-hop orientated, however we subverted this assumption and received comments expressing feelings of inclusion, empowerment and acceptance of EVERY style.

STRENGTH- This strand refers to not only physical strength and technique as dancers that is harnessed by our industry professional teachers, but also strength as a community. Such unity in our own society should allow us a better inter university/within KCLSU presence/ wider industry presence. Our presence in the London university dance scene has been cemented via our affiliation with QMDC this year, and our up-and-coming ballet workshops with LSE and UCL. Through our movement towards other university dance societies, more opportunities will arise, where we can feel involved in the London dance scene, and we can share costs between universities, reducing our society’s outgoings.

There are many other societies that share a love for dance, such as Hallyu, Cheer, Pole and Musical Theatre Societies. It was great to see the inclusion of these societies in our Christmas Show, and I believe that we should build on this to work with them more often. To exemplify, bi-monthly meetings with the President and VP from each society could be held, to discuss potentially a bulk purchase of tickets for one another’s shows, where many Dance Soc members would go to support fellow KCLSU societies at a reduced cost. This is just one idea which will strengthen our presence as a society within KCLSU.

EMPOWERMENT- Most importantly, we should all feel empowered by dance as a medium. As a university society, our values should be centred around dance as an outlet for self-expression, stress relief and feeling supported within our community. There was a reason that some of us decided against dance college, whether that be due to career prospects or other factors. As president of Dance Soc, I would want to expel any negative prior expectations of the industry, and help everyone fall completely, totally, utterly in love with dance again.

As I previously mentioned, we are equipped with the correct mechanisms; it is how we use these in an effective manner that matters to create success as a product. With my experience on committee, previous leadership roles and every committee member’s passionate drive to excel, Dance Soc as a community will only continue to RISE. There is strength in my belief that this will catalyse talent, enjoyment and the building of very special relationships.