Sports editor Saoirse Byrne rounds up a night of dancing and drama as KCL Dance Society teamed up with 20 sports societies for a night to remember.
The King’s sporting community is full of fierce rivalries that play out each year on the pitch at Macadam – but each winter, these age-old grudges are settled on a different battleground: the stage. Now a yearly fixture in the King’s sports calendar, KCL Dance Society’s ‘Strictly Come Dance Soc’ gives competitors the opportunity to swap swimming hats and boxing gloves for skirts and sequins as they take to the Greenwood Theatre stage .
This year’s event was a classic, with no shortage of drama, rivalry, and most importantly, really great dancing. The competition featured 19 couples, each consisting of an experienced Dance Society member paired with a representative from varying KCL and GKT sports teams. This wide range of societies drew in scores of passionate supporters, selling out the 450-seat theatre for another year running and raising £2,836 for the chosen charities: I Can Dance, Green Candle and UNHCR (the winner’s choice). Dance styles ranged from hip-hop to ballet, and the Dance Soc experts had only a few weeks to choreograph their dances, remix the music, and coach their partners.
When speaking to Roar, Christiana Todd, President of Dance Soc the charity incentive ensured “sign up slots filled super quickly!”. Calling it a “community event”, Christiana was proud to continue the now eight year tradition, which sold out within two weeks.
“The night could not have gone smoother! I could not be more grateful for the whole production team and Dance Soc Committee. Everyone has worked really hard to make this event so incredible and that reflected during the show”
Christiana Todd, President of KCL Dance Society
Hosts Emily Bull, who hosted for the third year running, and Kai Patel did an admirable job of supporting the dancers as well as keeping control of an increasingly rowdy crowd. The judges panel featured an array of memorable faces from previous Strictly events: Dance Soc Treasurer Talya Edanur; George Song of KCL Men’s Rugby and KCL Tennis’ David Nana (both of whom were previous contestants); and last year’s Judges’ Choice winner Ainsley Stewart of GKT Hockey. The judges were looking for commitment, confidence, and ‘face’ – the performers certainly delivered on all three.
Kicking off the night was KCL Surf’s Mili Shetty, who performed a crowd-pleasing pom-pom routine to Chappell Roan’s ‘Hot To Go’ which had audience members singing and dancing along. She was followed by Jessica Gollop of KCL Netball and her partner Freya Ross, who took inspiration from Britney Spears’ ‘Oops I Did It Again’ music video for their surprisingly acrobatic jazz dance.
Third in the line-up was KCL Women’s Rugby treasurer Hannah Povey, who impressed both judges and audience with an energetic and well-executed commercial hip-hop style routine with Dance Society’s President Christiana Todd.
The real pre-interval standout was GKT Men’s Hockey’s Bill Wong, who had the whole theatre roaring with support by the end of his performance. After chants shouting ‘Bill! Bill! Bill!’ from his teammates, Bill and his partner Eva Dos Santos were electrifying in their reggaeton routine. When asked how he felt his performance went, Bill simply replied, “I’ve got a hard on”. He scored a perfect 40 from the judges: “it had face, vibes, sex – just great”.
The second half of the show brought more strong performances, along with a few that didn’t quite live up to expectations.
Some dancers chose to incorporate elements of their partner’s sport into the routine, to varying effect. KCL Muy Thai’s Alan Chan brought some tasteful kicks and punches onto the stage, whilst Renica-Renee Thompson incorporated a Rugby ball into her routine. On the other hand, Max Wood from KCL Men’s Hockey received the lowest score of the night after spending much of his performance grinding against a hockey stick. “There was no dance,” remarked the judges, “it just made me a bit uncomfortable.”
Carter Michaels (GKT Cricket) and Izac Zentar (KCL Swimming and Water Polo) both brought a calmer atmosphere to the show in their performances, choreographed by Sophie Florencio and Maddie Ayris respectively. Though Carter’s emotional ballet performance did receive some criticism from the judges, it was also noted that the style chosen was by far the hardest of the evening,
KCL Lions Cheerleading and GKT Hockey both gave solid performances: Phie Brown was aware of the big boots she had to fill following judge Aynsley’s win for the club last year. Her Commercial/Bollywood style dance, selected by partner Batool Naqvi, received the joint third highest score of the night from the judges.
KCL Lions’ Angelika Gritsevskaya and partner Cindy Guo had the audience chanting for more after their bold routine involving pink tutus, balaclavas, and pom-poms. The judges, however, did have expectations of “better lines and sharpness” from a cheerleader.
Fikunmi Olutunbi dusted off the KCL Men’s Rugby heels for another year and strutted his stuff alongside partner Ify Anumba. Any sex appeal was, however, promptly lost as he downed a pint of milk immediately after.
The real star of the night came in the unexpected form of a KCL footballer. Seddig Mohamed hit every beat during his jazz routine with partner Nia Sutherland. After successfully completing some seriously impressive lifts the duo won the Audience’s Choice award.
The pair told Roar:
“Winning on that stage, with over 400 people cheering Nia and I on was electrifying. Throughout our dance, I could hear the crowd and I think that just gave us the edge to push harder. Nia was great to work with, she knew what she was doing with the choreography and I had full faith we were in a good chance of winning”
Seddig Mohamed, KCL Football, Chosen Charity: UNHCR
“Strictly is my favourite university event by far. It brings so many people together all in the name of charity and being crowned the winners by a sold out audience made it even more special! I couldn’t have asked for a better partner; Seddig was full of ideas… I am so proud of the piece we came up with”
Nia Sutherland, KCL Dance Society
To round off the evening, GKT Women’s Rugby’s Renica-Renee Thompson and partner Cadessa Dacer performed a sharp and energetic dance which received a controversially low score of ‘1’ from judge George, clearly influenced by his allegiance to KCL Rugby. Spurred on by chants of ‘GKT’ and ‘KCL’, George joined in a final dance off with the pair. Despite his tie getting stolen in full pantomime fashion, the competition ended with George, Renica, and Cadessa – representing KCL, GKT, and Dance Soc – all together on stage in poetic fashion.
It could almost have been a scripted finale, save for the flustered expressions of the hosts as they attempted to reign the in chaos for KCL Fusion’s Wildcard performance. The winners were announced – Bill and Eva (GKT Men’s Hockey) for the Judges’ Choice, and Seddig and Nia (KCL Men’s Football) for Audience’s Choice.
Some might see KCL’s internal sporting rivalries as petty or immature, but each year Dance Society proves that they can bring out the best in us: they can give a cricketer courage, a netballer heart, and a rugby boy a pair of fluffy white heels. Whilst sports teams may have to wait a little while before they can reignite old fires at Macadam 2025, Strictly Come Dance Soc provided a brief opportunity for GKT and KCL to unite through the power of dance; long may it continue.
