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Hello, I’m Annie and this year I’m running to be your President! I’ve been dancing and competing with Leeds Modern for 2 years now – and you might recognise me from committee as I’m one of your competition reps this year 😊 I have had so much fun organising comp season and helping with other events as part of committee. I’m going into my final year of my Computer Science degree next year and would love to carry on with all the great traditions that make Leeds Modern Dance the BEST dance society ever! (and maybe add a few new ones too...). The main reason I’ve enjoyed being on committee so much was the opportunity it gave me to make amazing friends & get to know people outside of my classes! It has given me some unforgettable and unique experiences, like planning and organising a 350+ people event, choreographing dances & interacting with dance committees from other Universities.

I believe I would make a good President as I love working in a team! Getting to work alongside Ellen this year has been an incredible experience and taught me so much about how valuable teamwork really is! I believe we made a big difference to comps this year with Wildcard, using an external venue & extras such as the poster making social. As President, I would support & encourage committee members to push existing traditions and, taking on feedback from the society, make changes or add new elements to their roles.

Something I’m really interested in is making a positive community impact. I truly believe we are such an amazing society and have the potential to make a real impact in the wider community outside of just our society. It would be great to have some outreach - maybe to local schools, other societies or organisations that we could help support with free dance classes lead by society members or fundraising events.

I also know that we will miss all our society members who are leaving this year and would love to organise a centralised form of communication with our alumni. Alumni are an important part of the society, as we often rely on help from them with big events like comp or show. I would love to introduce an alumni newsletter, where they can be updated with modern news, maybe once or twice a semester. I think it would be a great way to foster these relationships and maybe even a gateway to a Modern reunion!

Something that I think has been really successful this year is the extra performance opportunities that have been created – the Christmas fundraiser and Varsity being the main two. I would love to push this even further as I had so much fun working with all the varsity girls on pulling together a dance that we could be proud of and have so much fun performing. It would be great to perform at varsity again and maybe even more/bigger events than the Netball! I would also love to work on our own dance varsity against Beckett, where we would have a short competition against them in all our styles, potentially combining efforts with other Uni Of dance societies such as Street Dance, Ballet & Irish!

Finally, as President I really want to contribute to an inclusive, welcoming & kind culture within the society. I would aim to do this by always being a friendly face, encouraging positivity among society & committee members, offering support and encouraging people to ask for any help they may need.

Thank you for reading my manifesto, and hopefully I’ll see you at all the exciting dance events to come!