Many of us dance on nightclub floors in the city centre. A lot of us dance on tiled bathroom floors performing for the mirror. But some of us dance in unsafe locations away from campus, when there’s one, perfectly good venue under our very noses.
Many of us dance on nightclub floors in the city centre.
The Newcastle University Dance societies, consisting of the Swing Dance Society, Salsa & Bachata Society, Irish Dance Society and Latin & Ballroom Society, don’t have a dedicated venue to host their sessions. Some of them resort to using external venues outside of campus to host their activities, when the Ballroom in the Culture Lab is available and located on campus. The ballroom is a grand and beautiful space that isn’t used by anyone after 5PM. The Dance Societies aren't currently allowed to use the culture lab because there are no personnel in the building with the health and safety fire evacuation training present after 5PM.
The motion to use the ballroom was proposed by the President of the Newcastle University Swing Dance Society, Braydon White and seconded by Student Union Opportunities Officer James Geary. The motion was passed unanimously at the student council meeting on the 12th March. The motion proposed that the Dance societies would have exclusive use of the ballroom in the hours of 6-9PM to host their sessions. The motion being passed now means that the students union will lobby the university on the Dance Societies behalf to make this change and allow them accsess to the ballroom.
I spoke to Braydon before the vote, he commented that, “Securing the ballroom is securing a better future for all Newcastle University Dance Societies. Dance societies have been left too long without adequate venues, being forced to hire unsafe and far away external venues – ultimately leaving students who enjoy dance with a worsened student experience.”
Irish Dance Society also sometimes makes use of facilities on the Northumbria campus, which will surely infuriate people too invested in the Newcastle versus Northumbria rivalry.
Whilst the Newcastle University Sports Centre, located on campus, is used by the phenomenal Newcastle University Dance Club, the Dance Club is classed as a sports club, and the sports centre is not bookable for societies, such as the ones lobbying for the use of the ballroom. Whilst the internal venues offered to the societies, such as the Barbara Strang Teaching Centre or the student union building, are already overbooked as all societies utilise them. Some venues offered to these societies are also carpeted which is dangerous to dance on. Irish Dance Society also sometimes makes use of facilities on the Northumbria campus, which will surely infuriate people too invested in the Newcastle versus Northumbria rivalry.
Swing Dance Society and Salsa & Bachata Society currently make use of external venues to host their sessions. External venues cost money to hire, and the cost of using an these venues is passed onto the students, whereas the culture lab would come free of charge, meaning cheaper dancing lessons for dance societies and their members.
These external venues can also be far away from the campus, sometimes up to 25 minutes. Currently, students from these Dance Societies may have to walk in the dark and sometimes rain. This is not only impractical for students wanting to access these venues but also dangerous. If there’s an incident on campus, campus security is either on patrol or not too far away, but in these external venues, campus security is a distant dream. It’s also inconvenient for international students as well as first-year students who may not be able to navigate and traverse the city as easily as senior students or Newcastle natives.
Although the Culture Lab itself faces issues. Earlier this year, film programme students were told that there were ‘architectural issues’ that made the building unsafe for studying. Although these ‘architectural issues’ remained vague. This meant that the Culture Lab would be withdrawn as a teaching and independent study space for film programmes. A petition was launched in December 2025 to ensure the continued use of the space but was later closed that same month to ensure good relations with the university.
After the vote, Braydon said to me, “we are very pleased the motion has been passed. This is the first step to securing adequate venues for our members”. There’s battles been won but the war for the ballroom still needs to be fought. The student union now need to lobby the university. The university then needs to grant the dance societies use of the ballroom. Then the university then needs to train the staff in fire and safety evacuation procedures.
There’s battles been won but the war for the ballroom still needs to be fought.
Braydon ended our conversation by saying, “All student societies should have the right to a suitable, university-provided space for their members. This is why we are fighting for the ballroom.”