Dance addiction!

As usual, I'm flat out busy with course work and dance commitments. So, so, so many dance commitments. Getting really involved with several of the amazing dance societies at university has been fantastic. In my first year it allowed me to meet a ton of wonderful and talented people who I've now become great friends with.

My first dance social event was 'Where's Wally' themed. If I remember correctly, it was their third social of the year. I was reluctant to go to the socials in the beginning because I still didn't know anyone that well – but the truth is that I really had nothing to worry about and socials are actually a great opportunity to get to know people better.

Making new friends at my first dance social event

This was taken at this year's Halloween social which is one of the events I missed last year.

On the topic of socials, last Saturday the jazz dance society hired out the inflatable assault course at the Jubilee Sports Centre on campus. It was unlike any of the other dance socials I've been to so far – not to mention a surprisingly good workout too! I absolutely loved it so hopefully we can organise another like it in the future.

Other interesting socials I've been to include the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton's city centre to watch ballet productions. Not so surprisingly, this was organised by the ballet society. The most recent show I went to was in October when we watched Le Corsaire by the English National Ballet. I thought the performance was incredibly entertaining and completely captivating. Watching the dancers live and up close is really motivating and inspiring (especially for a dancer). You can't help but aspire to be as beautiful as they are.

In the Mayflower waiting for everyone to arrive

In the theatre right before the performance is about to start

It's really up to you how much you want to get involved in. In my first year, as well as now in my second year, I auditioned for three of the University's competition squads: advanced ballet, jazz and contemporary. By joining several of the competition squads I've been lucky enough to travel a bit while attending various competitions, as well as meet dancers from other universities.

Here's a photo of everyone from Southampton who competed at the Loughborough annual dance competition. It includes members from the tap, street dance, ballet, contemporary and jazz squads.

Being a part of the competition squads does require a lot of commitment (especially if you join more than one – like I did and have done again this year!). On top of attending regular dance classes I also attend extra rehearsals for the squad routines which is why I end up dancing six days a week, sometimes twice a day. In addition to studying for my degree this can become very demanding! I often wish there were more hours in each day but knowing me I'd probably find a way to fill them and end up being just as busy as I am now.

Me and the advanced contemporary squad at Loughborough last year

We won't be attending any competitions until after Christmas but we're already starting to feel the pressure to do well and have being adding in EXTRA rehearsals for all of the squads I'm in!

On top of all of this I'm also the president of the jazz dance society which involves a number of other responsibilities. These include organising a teacher for our classes, which is normally pretty straight forward seeing as the society has had the same teacher for the past five years – however this year we've had to say goodbye to her as she’s been offered an exciting opportunity to teach in Canada.

Saying our last goodbyes to Gemma. We'll all miss her!

This has meant that I've needed to conduct interviews for a new teacher. I'll admit that this was at first a very daunting thought (seeing as the people I interviewed were both older and more experienced than me) but knowing that it's your responsibility to sort everything out, you just get on with it and do it. I'm happy to say that we've been able to secure a fantastic new teacher, however due to her being unable to start until next week, the jazz committee have had to cover classes this week which resulted in me spending five consecutive hours in the dance studio on Thursday. Good time management has never been so crucial!

I'm also responsible for applying for funding which is essential for us in order to attend competitions and offer classes at the prices we do. In addition to this (but not necessarily a requirement of the position) I've organised a workshop which involves hiring an experienced dancer to come and teach a few extra classes. It's great to switch things up a little and learn something new. They're often a lot of fun and everyone has a unique style of teaching so it's interesting to get advice from people with different dance backgrounds. I also work together with the other dance societies to help organise events and keep the members of my society up to date with everything that's going on.

Me and two of my awesome committee members at this year’s Bunfight

For those of you who don’t know what the Bunfight is, it's an event which is held at the beginning of semester one when all the new students are settling in. On this day, the majority of the University's societies and clubs set up stalls on campus to advertise themselves to all the new students. However, all students (new and continuing) are welcome to go along and see if there's anything they might want to get involved in.

There's an endless number of things you can get involved in at university. I've talked a lot about dance because it's become such a huge component of my student life, however I've also joined a couple of other societies and I have friends who are members of a huge variety of societies so I know that most of them offer similar things. A chance to meet new and interesting people, a chance to try something you haven't done previously or improve on something you did before you came to university and the possibility (for those who want) to get more involved and potentially take on a position of responsibility such as being president, treasurer or secretary of a society – which is not only fun and rewarding but also fantastic for your CV.

Kristin