KU Dance Society, one of the largest KUSU societies, is pleading for assistance from the university after growing too large for university facilities to cope.

The society faces either increasing its prices or cutting its classes because of the cost of private rental and a lack of university space which can be used free of charge by societies.

 
Christina Elise Roren, the Dance Society President said:  “We have been all around Kingston looking for space, schools, gyms, but the problem is that they are too expensive.  The cost of renting privately means that we cannot keep the prices down for our members, realistically we need to use university space.   We are not in it for profit, we only need to break even.”  

 
The society has approximately 200 members, which far exceeds the number of dance students which has 110 attending the course.

 
Jason Piper, Head of Dance at Kingston University said: “We have two studios and the use of the Surrey Club Hall with a lease which runs until 5pm, but the Dance Society needs to run evening classes.  We have enough hours to run three year groups, but we are currently in negotiation to extend the lease on the Surrey Club Hall to accommodate the Dance Society and extra-curricula activities.”

The university recently spent £50,000 refurbishing one dance studio which includes a fully sprung harlequin floor, double bars and full mirrors.  However, the Dance Society’s time at the university dance facilities has been cut from 11 per cent of non-curricula studio time last semester to 3 per cent this semester due to pressure on resources.

 
Ms Elise Roren said: “The dance faculty have been really nice to us and given us the time that they can, but they had to cut down to two hours because they needed more time for themselves. “

 
Mr Piper added: “We have enough [space for the dance students], we are currently negotiating so that provision can match the ambition of the course.“

 
Concerns were raised by a dance student at the Student Union meeting this month that there was too much pressure on university dance facilities due to the numbers of students taking Dance Society classes.

 
Mr Piper denied that there is a clash of interests because of resource issues: “The Dance Society are using one session a week, 8-10pm on a Wednesday night, which is not usurping of resources.“  He also said the society and the faculty work closely together and all Dance Society classes are free for the dance students to attend.

 
However, Ms Roren reiterated the dire need for the university’s assistance: “The student union have helped us a lot with finances, but because we have to keep moving from one place to another and change timetables we have lost loyalty from a lot of members, so now the Student Union are saying we might have to cut some classes.  They are supporting us very much, but there is only so much they can do.”

 
Becky Pearson, Activities Officer at the Student Union said: “The Dance Society try not to use any university dance facilities for their activities except when absolutely necessary and we work with the dance faculty to ensure that this will not impact upon dance students. As with any society, they are able to apply for funding from the Students' Union which will ensure that they can continue to run their classes for their current cost. The society will continue to expand until it reaches a level whereby, due to the lack of university sports facilities, the facilities they require are not available at the times and days they would like. However, this is an issue faced by the majority of our sports clubs and is not unique to the Dance Society.”