Despite his interest in dance since a young age, William’s experience in dance is, to be blunt, virtually non-existent. Originally hesitant to join another club amongst the dozen he had already paid for, William suddenly found himself plunged into a world full of passion and dedication at his first Flare class of the year. Since then, he has been inspired and encouraged by his fellow dancers and newly made friends to keep improving and immerse himself in his dancing, exploring all the different styles offered by Flare.

​In the coming year, William hopes to motivate everyone to venture out of their comfort zones, whether experienced in dance or not, and discover what they can achieve through hard work and determination.

Initially hesitant to start dance, Karlo came into his first dance class an uncoordinated mess. Unable to concede defeat and determined to better his wiggling abilities, he persisted and eventually joined Flare Dance Ensemble in 2013. Since then, he has picked up several styles of dance and hopes to continue growing as a dancer for as long as his knees and joints will allow.

With Flare becoming larger each year, Karlo hopes to put structures in place to support this growth. He is excited for the coming year and looks forward to working with the rest of the Flare committee. He has very big shoes to fill and hopes he can do the past committees proud.​

Jiwon's dance experience has vastly come from Flare in the past 4 years since she joined. Since then she has helped choreograph a KPop production piece as well as various gig pieces and teaching casual classes. Although her favourite dance genre is choreographed street dance, Jiwon hopes to expand her experience in other genres and improve her choreographing skills.

Flare has been a supportive community and family to Jiwon, and as vice president for 2016 she hopes to give back as much as she can to not only the senior members, but also to anyone who is willing to take their first step in dance.

Before moving to Melbourne and joining Flare in 2015, Kristie was already exposed to many different dance styles. She began with ballet at the age of 5, but soon started learning jazz, hip hop, and tap as well. However, she was mainly a jazz dancer, and completed most of the ATOD exams as well as a few CSTD exams for jazz.

Kristie was always interested in Performing Arts ever since she was young. She learnt both the piano and flute from a very young age, which therefore made her a very experienced performer. Even up to this moment, she regularly performs as a musician. She also participated in annual dance performances with other students of the same dance school. Since Kristie mainly concentrated on being a jazz dancer while growing up, she stopped doing other dance genres during her teenage life.

Joining Flare has allowed her to experience many different genres once again. This year, she would like to share her love for dance with current and future Flarians and also hopes to encourage many people to join the Flare community.​

Aaron's passion for dance has grown immensely since moving to Melbourne in 2014. By joining Flare, not only did it help him grow as a dancer, it also helped him overcome the feeling of being homesick as Flare welcomed him with open arms by providing a platform to not only dance, but to meet and befriend others with similar interests.

Since coming over to Melbourne, Aaron has had a lot of opportunities to get to know and learn from both international and local choreographers, which is an amazing start to his dance journey. Aaron strives to reach the point where he would be able to inspire others and share his passion for dance with everyone.

Boyuan fell in love with dance as a little girl, watching So You Think You Can Dance on TV and wishing she could be as good as those amazing talented people. Although that dream was never accomplished, her passion for dance has only grown as the years have passed. In year 9 she recruited a group of friends to perform a KPOP dance cover at school. The following year, they were adopted by another school dance group. It became a tradition to perform every year.

From the 'small' city of Perth, Boyuan hoped to continue dancing at university. Following the advice of a friend from her former dance group, she joined Flare Dance Ensemble in 2014. Flare not only gave her the opportunity to try many styles of dance she hadn’t even considered before, but also gave her a sense of community and belonging. She participated in 4 production pieces in 2015 ranging from various genres such as Contemporary and Breaking. With rehearsals every week, and friendly people every rehearsal, dance was not only fun but also a way for her to relieve stress. Boyuan hopes to encourage everyone to try a class with Flare, whether it is to follow your passion or to try something new!​

Barry has always had a keen interest in dance but never had the proper opportunity to explore this passion before joining Flare Dance Ensemble back in 2014. Without access to any dance classes, Barry spent most of his time watching tutorials and other dance videos on YouTube in order to gather what techniques he possessed. However, through these few years in the club, not only has that interest and passion grown further; being a part of the last two productions and multiple performances to date, but by participating in all sorts of classes; his dance style has improved as well.

With a particular fondness of styles from the hip hop community, Barry aims to further improve his own dance style and technique by exploring and drawing inspiration from other dancers and particular dance styles out there. He encourages all new members with the passion for dance to frequent club classes so that they may also develop their own style and technique and be a part of the community that is “Flaremily”.

Barry is highly motivated to be a part of the Committee team in 2016 and is driven to stay organized and interactive, allowing for all the members, new and old, to enjoy another fantastic year at Flare Dance Ensemble.​

Prior to joining Flare, Simon (from BYS) already had a passion for acting and only began his journey in dancing in 2013 where he performed in a flash mob. Captivated and inspired after the performance, he decided to pursue dancing as a hobby. After joining Flare, Simon was introduced to a new world of dance, with numerous dance classes with different styles and genres on offer he was able to step out of his comfort zone, make new friends, improve his skills and eventually joined the 2016 Flare committee.

Though he believes he is still a beginner, he has performed on stage numerous times and is still in loving it. Performing with his K-pop dance cover group ‘BYS’ and in the Flare 2015 production: BE, he still feels an adrenaline rush from performing in front of hundreds of people and hopes to perform even more in the future.

As a member of the committee in 2016, Jacqueline wishes to help Flare grow and inspire more dancers, and give Flare more exposure to not just potential new dancers, but also the dance society in Melbourne.

"Although it can be a struggle during auditions, memorising and learning foundations, the reward of performing a piece in front of hundreds of people is motivation for me to continue doing it everyday"
- Simon Kong 2015

Starting with ballet, Chermaine has been dancing since she was a little girl. She has since then added the styles of jazz and contemporary to her belt.

​Prior to becoming a student at The University of Melbourne, Chermaine studied design and has already earned herself a Diploma of Visual Design which she hopes will help her in the future as she aspires to become an architect. This knowledge and her love for dance was what led her to join Flare's graphics team in 2016. Her inspirations include Rihanna and Queen Bey because she believes RNB and hip hop play a major part in her life.

Chermaine hopes that with her contribution to Flare, it will become an even greater place where anyone can express themselves and feel at home with no judgement, a place where anybody can develop their passion for dance and have the greatest fun doing it.​

Tim discovered breakdancing at the end of high school at the age of 18. Upon observing a high school mate dance, Tim decided to start dance and began introductory classes, training with other dancers and learning from the internet.

In 2014 Tim joined Flare and performed for The University of Melbourne's Night Market as his first showcase in flare. Rekindling his passion in performances, Tim gained the inspiration to join as many different dance pieces across various styles in the production Breaking Barriers. It allowed him to experiment with genres such as lyrical and contemporary which contrasted with his usual breaking style.

Reflecting upon his experiences, Tim found that he had formed good relationships with other gifted Flare members. He wishes to continue learning and developing his confidence, execution and expression in his style of dance and in his performances. This year, Tim plans to maintain his versatility and to utilise as many opportunities as possible to improve for future productions within the flare community.​

Born with two left feet and a bad posture, Lois began her dancing journey when she was placed in a ballet class by her mother to correct her failing posture. She had always liked watching other people dance and memorised routines from the viewing area outside the rooms so being in a class wasn't a hard transition. It was only when concert time came around that she finally understood the difference with being inside the room and outside the room. By participating, Lois made friends and felt motivated by her fellow dancers to continue every week. So when university rolled around she knew she had to find a dance club to join as her passion for the art was so great.

Flare has since become a big part of Lois' life, with weekly classes followed by dinners with other dancers to relieve the stress of studies and sometimes even the spontaneous midnight practice sessions - she knew she had to be a part of the committee in 2016. Lois believes that with her extra involvement she will contribute to the clubs growth and hopes she can increase the awareness of the club in Melbourne.

As a shy kid, Wen was hesitant to participate in any type of performing arts. At the age of 10, her mother’s insistent cajoling landed her in her very first jazz class. Instantly, she was hooked and has never looked back since.

After migrating to Melbourne a year later, Wen began trying hip hop and choreography classes at her local dance studio and preferred these genres instead.

After taking a break during VCE, Wen had hoped to find a dance club in university to end her hiatus. Friends introduced her to Flare Dance Ensemble and since joining in 2014, she has continued pursuing her passion for dance and performed in various gig and production pieces. This year, she plans to branch out to various other dance genres offered by Flare such as contemporary and jazz.​

Tiffany is a second-year student currently locked in an ongoing struggle with her serious lack of coordination on a quest to become a dancer. A complete beginner at the time of her registration, she continues to learn and grow by the day with support from Flare’s wonderful community. As of 2016, she has developed an interest in Popping and Locking, but hopes to expand into different styles of dance in the near future.

Understanding of the unease one may feel as a beginner, Tiffany hopes to support others in cultivating a passion for dance and strives to help them shed whatever fears they may harbour for it. Talkative and perhaps a little too excitable, she endeavours to encourage new and inexperienced dancers to jump into the dance scene as she did one year ago.

Above all, she is happy to develop her skills alongside the Flare family, as there is much she can learn from everyone.​

Jono joined Flare in 2015 after being inspired by the Breaking Barriers production the previous year. Prior to this Jono had little to no experience in dancing however he always had a passion for the art. The extent of this was self-taught dancing in high school. Throughout 2015 this spark turned into a flare, Jono developed an ardour to dance and this lead to an increasing involvement in dancing as well as contribution to Flare events. In hopes of giving back to the Flare organisation Jono joined the committee.

In 2016 he hopes to continue to improve in all genres of dancing especially Breaking and Choreography. As part of the committee Jono aims to encourage others to step out of their comfort zone and break the barriers that constrain the dancer within.

“Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor”
- H. Jackson Brown Jr.​

Indani’s passion for dance began and flourished following an opportunity to dance in her elementary school show. Thrilled from being able to express herself on the stage, she continued to nurture her passion through participating in extra curricular dance activities and clubs outside of school. Unfortunately, at the age of 17 Indani was forced to stop dancing and had missed it ever since.

In the midst of struggling to adapt to the Melbourne lifestyle, Indani was persuaded to join a KPOP flash-mob Flare organised back in September 2014. Hoping to return back to the dance life after a year of not being able to do so, she was mainly interested in choreography and KPOP classes Flare offered. However, as time goes by she realized that Flare have given her so much opportunities to try out different style of dances and she pushed herself to continuously broaden her field of dancing.

​From the moment Indani decided to be an active member of Flare, she discovered a place where she knows that she could learn, improve, and grow into a better dancer and a better person. She found a home away from home, and she plans on continuing to make new memories and friends along the way.

Renee started dancing when she was 12 after joining her school dance club which was mainly focused on Modern and Jazz styles. After 5 years however other commitments started taking up her time and she ended up taking a break from dance. She did dabble on and off for the next 5 years, doing small performances here and there but it wasn’t until she joined Flare (properly) in 2015 that her passion was rekindled.

In early 2015, she plucked up the courage to go for Flare’s open week by herself because she wanted to start dancing again. However she ended up being casted for a gig piece which led to the start of her most memorable year in Melbourne.

Since joining Flare, she has had the chance to be exposed to more genres such as Choreography and Contemporary. Not only was Flare able to help her grow as a dancer but it also gave her a new family (Flaremily) she could share her passion and interests with. She hopes she’ll be able to keep growing alongside the other dancers and to get more people to share in the love of dance.

Natalie’s dancing journey started off at the age of 5 in a small, ballet-focused dance school. After many years of being told off for not straightening her legs or pointing her toes enough she decided to open her eyes to the world outside ballet, leading her to fall in love with choreographed street dance at her own dance concert. She continued to explore different styles including modern and jazz at school, and learned kpop dances at home off YouTube. Hoping to continue dancing at university and to discover more dance styles, Natalie joined Flare and MU Break in 2015. She was positively surprised at the welcoming and tight-knit environment Flare brought and all the diversity they had to offer. Taking advantage of this opportunity, she started to learn breakdancing and put her ballet knowledge to use and try out contemporary, all while falling deeper into her passion of choreographed street dance.

​Having the opportunity to perform in many gigs and to create everlasting friendships was added motivation to dance, and soon enough, Flare became an even bigger part of her life than she ever imagined. Natalie hopes to show everyone how enjoyable dancing can be and to contribute to the Flare committee with a bright and positive attitude.​

Vincent started dancing at the age of 17. He is confident with dance genres such as hip-hop and K-Pop. After 1 year of training at Wendon Dance School, Vincent was unable to participate in dance classes due to busy schedules in his final year of high school. Vincent never thought he would be able to get back into dancing until Flare came along and became a part of his university life. He finally rediscovered his love and passion for dance once again. Ever since then, he has been part of the flare family for 5 consecutive years.

​In his mind, dance is not just a hobby but a form of art. And dancing without being able to perform on stage is different. He believes that performing in front of an audience not only showcases the choreography, but also helps to develop other techniques such as expression, formation and teamwork. This is what Flare has been offering for many years and it has been motivating Vincent to continue being a loyal member. In 2016, he hopes that he will be able to contribute and give back to Flare by being a committee member and sharing his dance experience with the Flare community.​