The 2018-19 committee members are:
President
Kathryn Aveyard
I dabbled in salsa as a fresher at York uni when my housemate dragged me to a class but became obsessed with it recently at Oxford because of the amazing teachers we have here. I now dance salsa and Bachata in Oxford around 4 nights a week and try to get to some congresses too.
Secretary
Gabriela Pirgova
I am originally from Sofia, Bulgaria but have been in the UK for 7 years already. I was always a fan of watching dance performances but didn’t dance much myself before I came to the island. Here I started with swing dancing, and also dabbled in Bulgarian national dances and keilidh. Only when I came to Oxford three years ago, did I discover salsa, a year later – bachata (yes I was that slow). Now I dance at least once a week and cannot recommend it enough – dancing is one of the best addictions one can have.
Team Captain
Matthew Law
Dancing has always been in my family as my parents met dancing Ceroc and subsequently ended up being Ceroc teachers for many years following before switching to ballroom/latin dancing. I unfortunately was a bit slow to the party as when you’re a teenager doing what your parents do seems like the un-coolest thing ever! However a few years ago I eventually gave in and went to a beginners’ ballroom/latin class where I concluded that actually it wasn’t so bad after all. A year later, I expanded my horizons to include salsa/bachata and suddenly I was catching the dancing bug and wanted to learn as much as I could!
Conveniently I also made the decision to move from a small city in New Zealand to Oxford where suddenly I found myself in a thriving dancing city that has incredibly good teachers and an amazing social dance scene! I am now starting my third year as a member of the Oxford University Salsa Team and my second year as Team Captain, and you will usually see me at most of Oxford’s salsa/bachata events.
I also try and take advantage of how many amazing dancing congresses there are nearby in the UK and in Europe – so far I’ve travelled to Spain, Germany, Poland, Croatia and Morocco just for dancing related events and I hope to continue this trend with many more exciting congresses in the future!
Treasurer
Quincy van den Berg
Social Secretary
Gwyneth Anne
Senior Member
Phillip Torr
IT Officer
José Manuel Ordóñez-Mena
Marketing/Sponsorship office
Joanna Mackie
Ball Organizer
Junyi Hou
Class Manager
Safa Fanaian