On the 17th November several clubs and societies’ members took to the stage for a special one off dance show for Children in Need. “Strictly Come Bangor” invited society members to don their best dance moves in a competition judged by Emyr Bath, Ash Kierans, and BU Dance Captain Victoria Kirk, culminating in an audience vote for the winning society.
The winning society or club would net a massive £50, whilst this may not seem like a huge prize an amount like this could be the difference between an AU club making it to their next match, or a society earning that much needed prop.
BEDS saw themselves net the winnings, with members Dan Short and Samuel Ball, taking part in a Ballet dance to “Beautiful” by One Direction; the crowd found it as funny as it sounds. Sarah Homerstone, also of Beds took part in the quickstep, alongside two Storm FM members.
However the real winner of the night was Children in Need, the reason that all of the dancers were willing to take to the stage just 14 days after rehearsals started; and in front of a very packed Powis Hall; over 100 people attended the event.
BU Dance captain Victoria Kirk said “’It was a fantastic night with everyone giving us some great performances! We raised an amazing £250 for Children In Need so thank you to everyone!”
The night followed a format similar to the hit TV show with dancers and judges being interviewed after every dance, as well as occasional participation from the audience. The light-hearted feeling of the night was definitely visible during the interviews and this no doubt relieved some of the pressure from the dancers.
The dances were most certainly quite interesting with a mixture of discipline and shock value being brought to the stage in equal measures. A Latin version of Psy’s Gangnam Style kicked off the night with members of Storm FM, Canoe Club and JapSoc showing us their Cha Cha Cha skills. We then moved on to witness a fairly disciplined and well-practised Hip Hop routine, a slow dance involving an improvised stage fight, a Bollywood dance to the Pussycat Dolls hit Jai Ho, culminating in the ballet.
The societies and clubs that took part in Strictly Come Bangor included: The Bangor Linguistics Society, Storm FM, JapSoc, Canoe Club, and BEDS.