Issue 60 - University of Surrey's Student Union

Societies Editor: Shalini Thondrayen | Copy Editor: Hannah Wann
The Stag | 29 th May 2013
SOCIETIES 33
Societies
SUNS Inter-Uni dance competition
By Neelam Gurung, President of SUNS
One of the highlights of the
International Festival 2013
at the University of Surrey was
non other than the Inter-Dance
Competition, held by Surrey
University Nepalese Society (SUNS)
and led by the president, Neelam
Gurung. It was undoubtedly the
most successful event of the year,
all the contestants delivered raw
energy and pumping moves. This
involved a diversity of dances
from North to South Nepal, from
hip-hop to cultural, Bollywood to
Hollywood, from past and present,
to emphasize the influences and
contexts of dances in Nepalese
culture. To add more diversity to
the show, the Pakistani Society
exhibited their traditional cultural
wear, as well as getting the
whole audience singing classical
Bollywood songs.
The SUNS was established in
2009 and was nominated the “Best
International Society of the year
2012”. The society has found success
over the years and has featured and
headlined at most international
events held by the University.
Inter-Uni Dance Competition,
which was held on 9th March,
wowed the crowds with dynamic,
thunderous dances. Ten different
Nepalese Society from universities
across the UK participated in the
competition and the retired Lt
Lal Bdr Gurung (choreographer),
Sashi Thapa Subba (theatre artist/
performer), Sexy Shishi (B-Boy
dancer) and Parika Ale (1st runner
up of Miss Nepal UK, dancer) were
on the judging panel. The event
took a formal start at 2.30 pm with
the inauguration by his Excellency,
Dr Suresh Chandra Chalise.
With an astonishing
performance the first prize of
£500 was won by Bournemouth
University Nepalese Society (BU-
NS) with dancers Kevin Rai, Kewal
Rai, Brik Shahi and Suju Gurung.
These performers dazzled the
judges and the audience by their
improvised moves on “The Harlem
Shake” and their breathtaking
sexy dance steps that set the dance
floor on fire. The all-girl group
from Brunel University Nepalese
Society, who performed the famous
Bournemouth University (BU-UN) with their gold medal.
Nepali classic song “Darpanchaya”,
won the second spot and took
home the price of £300. Following
closely on third place was South
London College (SLC) who made a
tremendous effort in delivering
mesmerizing moves to the
evergreen Nepali song “Mero Geet”.
The event would not have been
successful without the wonderful
audiences,
hard-working
volunteers, judges, sponsors, and
media partners. This event was
kindly sponsored by SO Asia, Thai
Express and Gurkha Global Security
Services. The net amount raised
from this event will go towards
a worthy cause, Health Camp in
Nepal. The event ended around
7.30 pm but the fun continued
throughout the evening where an
after party was held for everyone
to show off their dance skills.
Surrey Student PEN welcomes new committee
By Zoe Field, PenSoc
Surrey Student PEN has been a
society at the university since
2011, and in that short time has
produced events and campaigns
to recruit new members and raise
campus awareness of English PEN.
English PEN is a charity that works
promoting free speech, human
rights and literature, and Surrey
Student PEN was established to
promote its work.
The AGM was held on 30th April
and new committee members voted
in. The new position holders are as
follows: President – Sophie Smith;
Vice President - Sophie Vickery;
Treasurer & Press Officer - Annie
Driscoll; Press Officer - Zoe Field;
Student Liaison Officer - Bimotife
Ayanbadejo; Marketing Officer -
Apria Hunjan.
There are still spaces available
on the committee to be filled, so
if you are interested in joining
the committee or becoming part
of the street team, then email
ussu.englishpen@surrey.ac.uk.
As always, everyone is invited to
attend meetings, events, socials
or to take up a position! It doesn’t
matter what year you’re in or what
degree you’re doing, this is your
chance to get involved.
So far Surrey PEN has
collaborated with The Stag, GU2
and Stag TV, and plans for the next
academic year include connecting
with other societies, particularly
politically-minded ones. There
are also hopes for more trips and
activities to create opportunities
for more students to be engaged and
have their own impact on human
rights and freedom of speech.
Previous events held or
attended by PEN include promoting
international authors at the USSU
International Festival, insightful
book readings with featured guests
(and free wine!) and visits from
award winning, internationally
renowned authors.
As well as offering valuable
experience and helping you to
provide a positive impact on the
world, joining PEN is a great way
to have fun and make new friends.
Look out for us at Fresher’s Fayre
and like the society page on
Facebook for updates and plenty of
chances to get involved.
Do something more with your
time at University; become a
member of PENSoc.
Shalini Thondrayen
Societies Editor
Hey all Stag readers,
I’m going to try and refrain
myself from crying as I write
this message. It has been a
really a fantastic year, I honestly cannot believe how
fast it has gone! It feels like I was laying up the very
first issue back in September, yesterday. Despite trying
my hardest to do it myself, I remember it ended
up with me calling Alexandra for a STAG EMERGENCY!
Anyways, I’ll keep this short. I want to say thank you
to my reliable copy editor Hannah Wann and Societies
writers that have sent me emails this year. You’ve all
been great. It’s sad knowing that this is my final issue
but I know I have left it in the capable hands of Alice
Wilkinson; who I am sure will continue to make the
Societies section as fun and colourful as it
should be!
Alice Wilkinson
New Societies Editor
A brief low-down about me: I’m currently going into
my third year as an English Literature with Creative
Writing student, whilst doing my second year as Marketing
Director for LitSoc. As you may have already
figured, you are at ‘the’ hotspot for societies’ news,
events and updates where I hope you will be left feeling
in the know, and thus ravenous for more juicy information.
If you’re an aspiring writer/journalist and
are dying to be part of my section, well, SOCIETIES
NEEDS YOU! (Yes, I’m pointing at you.) I’m a one (wo)
man band at the present, and it would be a delight if
those willing to get involved join, so we can hypothetically
become an orchestra and make sweet music. Simply
drop me an email!
Well done to all Society Committees,
you’ve had a fantastic year! Best of
luck to next year’s leaders, who I’m
sure you’ll be reading about in these
pages.