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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!
But we don’t just compete! We were very proud to be invited back to perform for a special 90th birthday celebration at York Cocoa Works care home, after a successful performance there last year. Coming up, we’re looking forward to being involved in Sabbs Come Dancing - a fundraising event which raised over £700 for Independent Domestic Abuse Services (IDAS) last year, and a schools outreach programme, where we’ll be teaching students from local schools some ballroom and Latin steps. Our annual summer showcase is always a fantastic way for the society to show off what we’ve learned over the year, and for everyone to get involved - whether they’ve competed with us or not!
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 £3,500 to allow us to provide for our growing society’s needs. We spend most of our funds in a year on transportation costs to competitions, so we will allocate up to £2,000 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.
This year our competition team has grown above our expectations, and we will spend £1,000 on professional coaching to provide more competition workshops. Our workshops have proven very effective on top of our regular class timetable, and we want to expand this provision for our members so they can get the most out of their membership.
Looking ahead to home Roses 2025, we would also like to allocate £500 towards organising that competition in good time and to a high standard to make the day run as smoothly as possible for everyone.
In the event that we raise less than the ultimate goal of £3,500, we would prioritise spending on the most essential aspects. For us, transport to and from competitions is our greatest outgoing, and we would spend the majority of the Challenge Week money making sure we can still subsidise competitions as much as possible. However, we recognise that workshops have been highly popular this year, as well as accessible to all members - competitive or not - so we would also make sure we set funds aside for those opportunities.
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 £3,500 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.
Workshops and training are an essential part of our success as a competition team and as a society - without them, we couldn’t exist! We want to provide more training for our dancers from professional teachers in York, to help everyone progress. This year, our members’ feedback has shown that dedicated workshop time alongside regular classes has helped to develop their understanding of dance technique and made them feel more confident in their abilities - particularly before competitions!
When we host Roses next year, we want to be in the best possible position to win! By increasing the number of workshops we can run, and making competing financially accessible throughout the year, we can ensure our dancers are ready to go and take the ballroom and Latin trophy.
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 some of the challenges we will complete as part of the week:
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 athlete or challenge please put a message with your donation saying who!
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 50 donors you will unlock £100.
When your club reaches 100 donors you will unlock £100.
When your club reaches 25 Friends and Family donors, you will unlock £100.