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Through Challenge Week we are aiming to raise money for York Ballroom and Latin Society so we can continue to provide support to all our members and uphold our core values of providing an accessible entrance to Ballroom and Latin dancing. For this we need your help so we can give everyone an equal chance to compete and fulfil their ballroom dream.
York Ballroom and Latin society is the University of York’s most glamorous sports society! We run weekly classes in Ballroom and Latin dancing, taught by a professional teacher, and compete across the country against other university teams.
Our dance classes and practices are a really positive way of taking time away from university work, and other life stresses, and we are really keen to make sure all our members feel welcomed, respected, and included in all our activities.
YBLS has done a lot of competing this year. We may not be the biggest university team but we’ve made finals in every competition we entered, and had heaps of fun along the way! A particular highlight was the annual Inter Varsity Dance Competition at Blackpool, where we represented York in a national competition. More recently, YBLS very proudly represented York at Roses 2023, with our biggest team this year!
But we don’t just compete! Earlier this year we coordinated with YUSU, UYDS, and Swing Soc to produce Sabbs Come Dancing, a night of dancing which raised over £700 pounds for Independent Domestic Abuse Services (IDAS). Sabbs Come Dancing was recently highly commended at the YUSU Activities Awards for “Best Collaboration,” and we couldn’t be more proud!
Our ethos at YBLS is that dancing is for everyone. We keep our classes affordable without compromising on teaching quality, we subsidise competition costs as much as we can, and we have a stock of open dress for our dancers to use at competitions and performances, free of charge.
Your donation will give us the financial support to help maintain this ethos for our dancers, and make it easier for us to keep dancing affordable. YBLS is truly grateful for any donations you can make.
Our goal in challenge week is to fundraise £5,000 to allow us to provide for our growing society’s needs. We spend most in a year on transportation costs to competitions, so we will allocate up to £2,500 to subsidise transport costs for members which can be very expensive when travelling early in the morning or late at night either side of a full day of competing.
We will be allocating £1,000 of the funds raised to increase our wardrobe collection to include more open dress that couples can borrow for competitions if they do not have their own. We currently have a small supply of leotards and skirts available for couples to borrow, but with a growing competition team we need more, as well as some ballroom and latin shoes that couples can borrow if they don’t have their own rather than wear trainers on the dance floor. We will be expanding our collection with more gender neutral comp dress as well as waistcoats and bow ties to meet our equality and diversity goals, creating an open and welcoming environment.
This year our competition team has grown above our expectations, and we will spend £1,500 on professional coaching to provide more competition workshops to help our novice dancers move up into pre-intermediate categories at competitions. Outside of weekly lessons we do not currently provide professional competition workshops, but being able to offer these to our team would increase our couples’ confidence on the dance floor and help with the mental and physical preparation for our demanding competition days which can last up to 12 hours or more!
In the event that we raise less than the ultimate goal of £5,000, we would prioritise spending on the most essential aspects. For example, if we raise £3,500, we might allocate a portion of that amount to coaching to provide additional competition workshops for our dancers, as this investment would directly benefit their progression. The majority of funds will be reserved for transportation subsidy, and a smaller selection of competition dress will be bought, prioritising items we currently don’t have in the society.
Our values at YBLS aim to provide a welcoming and accessible environment for a sport that is often perceived as inaccessible due to high costs. As our competition team increases we have been struggling to fully support our members to ensure a positive, welcoming and fun experience. By raising £5,000 we will be able to remove some of the challenges we have faced this year and bring about significant positive changes for our society.
By continuing to subsidise transportation costs, we will ensure that all our talented couples, regardless of their financial circumstances, can attend more competitions and showcase their skills on the dance floor. By providing access to these events, we aim to break down barriers and offer opportunities for personal growth, confidence-building, and the development of lifelong friendships.
By increasing our collection of open dress options, including gender-neutral comp attire, waistcoats, and bow ties, we will create a more inclusive and welcoming environment. This is really important as dress wear can be very expensive as a lot of it is custom made which makes the entry into competing daunting for new dancers. Enabling aspiring dancers to participate without the burden of financial constraints will improve confidence and success at competitions, and promote equal opportunities and nurture a sense of belonging within the society.
Our society is unified by a love of Ballroom and Latin dancing, irrespective of ability, and we take great pride in welcoming new members and providing everyone with the opportunity to develop their dancing skills through a warm and encouraging environment. Your donations will help us continue to uphold York’s values and allow our dancing stars to shine!
Below are the challenges we will be taking on over the course of the week:
Attempt to break some dance world records eg:
And some additional challenges:
Follow our journey this week on our various social media platforms where we will be regularly updating our progress and achievements with the challenges taking place. Find us on:
Instagram @yblsoc https://www.instagram.com/yblsoc/?hl=en
Facebook York Ballroom and Latin Society https://www.facebook.com/YBLSoc/
TikTok yblsoc https://www.tiktok.com/@yblsoc
Twitter @YBLSoc https://twitter.com/yblsoc
Website https://www.ybls.co.uk/
We would love you to donate as much or as little as you are able and any donations are hugely appreciated. Your donation could also help us unlock fundraising challenges which will help us reach our goal even faster (you can see these on the challenges page).
If you are looking to support an individual dancer or challenge please put a message with your donation saying who! The best message accompanying a donation will unlock a bonus challenge reward!
Alternatively, if you are unable to donate then please do spread the word by signing up as a Challenge Week ambassador for our club, and sharing our social media posts to your own socials so as many people as possible can read about our efforts!
When your club reaches 60 donors you will unlock £125
When your club reaches 120 donors you will unlock £250