University of Leicester Modern Dance Society

My hobby as a child was dancing, a hobby which took up a fair amount of my spare time. I would spend up to 9 hours a week at dancing, with every Saturday spent at the dance school. I owe a lot to dancing; my organisation, impeccable time-keeping and ability to work in a group are just some of the skills that have helped me a lot at university. Plus it kept me in great shape! Some of my best friends are the ones I met at dancing, not surprisingly after spending so much time with them in the studio and travelling around the Midlands to countless competitions.

During my first year at Leicester, I joined the Modern Dance Society. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I expected and so didn’t do the competitions. In my second year I joined again and enjoyed it a little more, but I found the teaching style to be a little different to what I was used to. It’s difficult to be in a group where everyone is at a different standard and the teacher is not aware of everyone’s abilities and technique. Where I was so used to constantly being pushed to improve at my dance school, the society seemed a lot more informal.

I was undecided on whether to join the society again this year, mainly because I knew how busy my final year would be. However, I popped along to the taster sessions and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We have a new teacher and she’s great, bringing new choreography every week and challenging everyone. She also gets us to do things on our own, or in very small groups, giving everyone a chance to show off their skills and also letting us learn by watching others. I’ve loved coming back to dancing and I feel like I’m finally taking it seriously again. Obviously I’m very out of shape compared to the days when I was dancing for 9 hours a week, but I’m slowly regaining some flexibility and enjoying that post-dancing ache! I’ve signed up to do the competitions, so that will be something to look forward to later on in the academic year.

I’d say that everyone at university should have a little hobby (going to Shabang every Friday night probably doesn’t count I’m afraid), as it allows you to forget about the stresses of university life for a few hours a week and is also an opportunity to make new friends. After sticking my tap shoes on for an hour, suddenly those tutorial questions seem a lot more straightforward…

During my time at Leicester I have also been part of the Biological Sciences Society and the Curry Society (always a conversation starter), which are both great societies! There are so many out there, a lot of which are very random and there is guaranteed to be something for everyone here at Leicester. You’ve just got to keep an open mind and find the one(s) for you.

Daisy x