Pure Dance 2014 and more

Here comes yet another dance related post but probably my last one for a while (maybe ever)! Last weekend I took part in the annual Pure Dance show along with over 300 other dancers from the University’s 10 different dance societies including jazz dance, bhangra, break, street dance, ballet, ballroom, belly dancing and more! As you can imagine, there was therefore a huge variety of performances, not only due to the wide range of styles but also the range of levels. Some of the performers in the beginner routines had never danced before they came to university while others in the advanced routines have been dancing their whole lives. No matter the level, I know that everyone in the show worked extremely hard throughout the year to improve their abilities and learn the routines and it showed! We’ve had great reviews about the shows (we performed a total of five shows, each of which were three hours long) and it feels fantastic to be a part of such a successful event. During the course of the shows the dance societies from the University of Southampton also managed to raise over £1000 towards Cancer Research! We all had a lot to celebrate by the end of the last performance so we ended the weekend with a great night out full of even more dancing.

Here are some photos from the show, taken by members of the SU Photo Society Events Team.

Before the start of the show!

The Bhangra performance

The Break dance performance

All the girls in the advanced jazz class routine, outside for a group photo

Street dance

The Contemporary dance performance

The Tap dance performance

A collaboration between the breakers, street dancers and contemporary dancers. I loved working together on this routine. 

Finale with all the committee members of the various dance societies on stage.

It’s actually quite sad that it’s all over; both the competitions and now the annual Pure Dance show. Many of the third year students will be graduating and leaving this year (most of them already have jobs organised!) meaning that the show was probably the last time we’d ever perform together. Some of my closest friends at university are people I've met through being a part of the dance societies and it’s hard to accept that some of them won’t be here next year. As a further celebration of the year and our successes, we surprised the advanced contemporary squad captain with a meal in one of the local restaurants.

Our surprise meal to celebrate the year.

This week I also went on a social with the ballet society to watch Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton’s City Centre.  I really enjoyed watching a different interpretation of the classic ballet and absolutely loved the choreography performed by the male swans!

I’ve also just handed in the last pieces of course work due in before the Easter vacation. I’m definitely ready for a break and I’m looking forward to flying home and seeing my mum and sister. During the Easter break in my first year, all the Biology and Zoology students went on an exciting field trip to Bolonia in Spain where we were able to gain valuable hands on experience doing field work. This included identification, collecting specimens, using transects and designing our own field experiments.

A photo from my first year field trip!

Did I mention that during our stay we lived literally one minute from the beach? I’ll try and write more about that in my next post seeing as this field course has also been one of my highlights at university so far.

Kristin