Dancing in spite of criticism

There have been few Sundays this year in which the Concourse wasn’t filled with the noisy rehearsal of the Fashion in Motion dancers.

While the energetic volunteers cause the weekly commotion in preparation for their fashion and dance show which is performed to raise money for a different charity every year, some students have spoken out negatively as to the whereabouts of these practices stating their opinions on social media and even through the Dear Life section of The Cord.

What these students see and hear are loud, distracting dancers disturbing their study space, but as the president of Fashion n’ Motion Ian Watson described, “We dance we make noise and we bother people but we do it all to help people, we practice up to ten hours every Sunday … to do all that we can to help people.”

“We love to dance but we do it all so that we can raise money and create awareness,” he added.

One recently published Dear Life comment that is presumed to be regarding Fn’M referred to the dancers as “a talentless bag of never-has-beens.” In response to the harsh criticism, Watson said, “I want them to know why we do what we do. Maybe we disrupt their Sundays, maybe we disrupt their study time in the concourse but all were trying to do is raise money and awareness and lend a helping hand.”

He continued, “We know how to dance, we love to dance, we use something were passionate about and something we enjoy to try to give people more opportunity.”

Watson, who has been dancing since the age of six in styles such as hip-hop, ballet, crump, break dancing and salsa, will be dancing in the show as well as keeping things organized backstage. This may sound like a challenge but Watson reassures that he is fully prepared to deal with the chaos, “At this point it’s a matter of rising to the challenge, I have to and I’ll be there.”

With one week until show time the dedicated dancers and choreographers have been holding extra practices on top of their usual Sundays, meaning over 10 hours of preparing this week. Although this is the busiest time for club the Fn’M team works hard all year-round to create opportunity and awareness for their chosen charity, which this year is the Diabetes Foundation.

The chosen charity relates to all the dancers in some way and makes all their hard work worthwhile, but the Fn’M family not only benefits a charity with their passion. The club is also a support group for its members, coming together with enthusiasm and a positive outlook — one of the reasons Watson is so passionate about his position. “ I’ve been with Fn’M for three years now. It changed my outlook; everyone was energetic and optimistic.”

He continued, “Last year I was a choreographer, this year I’m president and it’s been worth it for me. I just want to give back to Fashion n’ Motion because it’s given me so much personally, so I wanted to do all I could to make the show as good as I can.”