Max Lee( Coll:, 23-) tells a story of pirouettes, persistence and possibly a mild revolution
The Wykehamist
The Art Left Out at Winchester
Max Lee( Coll:, 23-) tells a story of pirouettes, persistence and possibly a mild revolution
Not many people fully appreciate the artistic opportunities on offer at the College. I remember being dumbfounded by the interminable maze of hallways in Music School, or by the printers in Art School literally taller than me— not that this is much of a feat, of course. Considering this, though, when first-year me heard that there was neither the space nor the people to support a dance community, I was taken aback; in a place so full of creativity, it felt wrong that dance had never found its footing.
Three years later, I can proudly say that I have founded and fostered the first modern dance community in the 644 years of the College’ s history. As I prepare to leave this year, it feels only right to look back on my journey, then urge any of you who care at all to carry on the legacy.
By April 2024, we boasted seven regular members— Cassian Hoare( K, 22-)( co-president today), Ezekiel Tejevo( K, 22-24), Jimmy Henstock( K, 19-24), Mansour Al Faisal( D, 19-24), Kansola Olateju( I, 23-25)( co-president last academic year), Nico and myself. This is to say that without a dance studio, without any proper infrastructure to support dance, we were able to build a community for ourselves.
2023- 2024
I first raised the idea of a dance society with ATHL in October of 2023, only to be met with a long checklist from 2M. For example, I was asked to find a don when, at that point, I had only had about three weeks of lessons and was still learning everyone’ s names. Naturally, I reached out to the don I knew best, my tutor LJQ. After about a month, the first session of dance— then known as‘ Pop Soc’— was held in the College common room Pingers, with only two other people present: Nico Cordonier-Gehring( Coll:, 22-25) and August Deeming( Coll:, 20-25), two brave souls I had to personally beg to come. It seemed immediately clear that, in order to expand our membership, a so-called‘ blanket e-mail’ was in order—‘ choreograph a song and win up to 500 pounds’. Sixteen dancers— including the surprising duo of Henry Spoerri( Coll:, 21-) and David Wang( Coll:, 21-)— performed choreography to songs ranging from Charlie Puth’ s‘ Light Switch’ to Cardi B’ s‘ WAP’. In short, this competition was definitely not approved by SMT.
20