On Friday 31st October, a series of unlikely duos took to the stage at the Greenwood Theatre with the return of KCL dance societies annual charity event, Strictly Come Dance Society.
The event follows the same principles of Strictly Come Dancing, but with a twist. Instead of celebrities, a sports society member is paired with a member of the dance society and faced with the task of learning a dance routine to be performed on the night.
Over £2,900 was raised for charity as a result of ticket sales, with 22 members from different sports societies across King’s taking part in the competition.
The show began with an Addams Family themed group routine from the judging panel which included Dance Society president Christiana, Joshua, Steven from KCL Rugby alongside last year’s winner, Nia.
This was then followed by the contestants running onto the stage and being introduced by our hosts for the evening: Cate and Seddig.
Opening the show were Coco and Toby representing KCL Lacrosse who got the crowd going with a macarena dance which scored 20 out of a possible 40 and as the night went on we saw everything from a Willy Wonka themed routine to a Tate McRae inspired dance.
A competition wouldn’t be complete without some friendly rivalry amongst the GKT (medical) sports teams and KCL sports societies, with the crowd booing certain members to the point where our hosts had to calm them down.
The event taking place on Halloween, transformed Guy’s Campus into a spooky extravaganza with the couples alongside audience members dressing up in their best Halloween costumes. A costume contest took place with KCL Netball stealing the show with their cutlery Halloween costume.
After a round of voting amongst the audience, it was ultimately Rahul (GKT Men’s Hockey) and his partner Esme who won the audience vote.
For the judges choice, there was a tie, and after a competitive dance off it was Pedro (KCL Water polo) and Eva who won the competition with their Latina Snow White number.
The pair divided the winnings between their two chosen charities which were icandance, a charity that offers dance sessions for disabled children, and Disability Sports Coach, which brings disabled people together across London to keep active.
Speaking to The King’s Tab, Christiana president of KCL Dance Society explained that the evening was “a huge success this year. We had a really fun Halloween theme, and everyone – the audience, couples and judges all rose to the occasion, dressing up in some brilliant and spooky outfits!”
She added: “The performances themselves were of such high level, I truly did not expect our couples to exceed my expectations. A huge shout out goes to all of the insanely talented choreographers who put together such brilliant pieces and concepts, they really brought the show to life. It is also so incredible to see so many non-dancers from sports teams become dancers on stage! It takes so much courage to dance on stage, so for all of them to have no prior dancing experience, it was really amazing to see them perform so wonderfully.
When asked about how she thought the competition went, she said: “Overall, I am just so grateful that the event was able to bring the student community at King’s closer and it was the perfect opportunity to bridge the sports societies together. Especially considering this was a charity event, it was such an amazing event, and I am so excited for future Strictly’s.”
