Committee

The Imperial College Dance Club (ICDC) Committee consists of elected student volunteers who handle the administration and organisational duties required to run the dance club. The committee includes 16 positions, each with distinct responsibilities related to managing club finances, organizing events, coordinating practices and competitions, promoting the club, and more. This page outlines the primary administrative duties for each committee role, providing an overview of the committee structure and operations. With over 250 fee-paying members, ICDC is one of the largest student societies at Imperial, requiring substantial behind-the-scenes coordination by the committee to function effectively.

The committee is structured into several sections to distribute responsibilities and share the workload evenly among members. The President and Team Captains provide overall leadership and direction. The Vice Presidents oversee major functions like events, publicity, and competitions. The operations roles keep the club running through tasks like treasury, secretarial work, web management, beginner training and costuming.

All Committee Members

All committee members are responsible for fulfilling their rota duties, including charging for classes, cleaning the practice venue, guaranteeing a safe and positive training environment and being a good public face and first point of contact for people interested in the club.

Specific administrative duties include:

• Clearing and sweeping the practice venue floor at least 10 minutes in advance of the scheduled start time,
• Preparing the speaker, and playing the music during open practices,
• Ensuring that classes run smoothly and on time, notifying dancers if coaches experience unavoidable delays,
• Charging people for classes and tracking class attendance,
• Answering questions from enquiries, or directing them to other committee members who are better suited to answer,
• Helping fellow committee members in fulfilling their roles as necessary,
• Participating in the Freshers’ Fair in October.

President

The President is the person ultimately responsible for everything that happens in the club, defining the club’s general direction. The President ensures that the committee works efficiently as a whole: delegating tasks when necessary, resolving disputes if and when they arise and liaising with 3rd parties such as the College and the Union. The public face of the club, the President is ultimately responsible for all of the club’s actions, both financial and otherwise. They should be familiar with the club’s constitution, the Union’s policies and the safety and security regulations of the College.

Specific administrative duties include:

• Directing the committee to deliver the club’s activities.
• Liasing with the Union and the College to secure practice space
• Administering the club’s main email account (in partnership with the club secretary)
• Verifying and authorising financial activity on eActivities (in partnership with the club treasurer)
• Reviewing and signing club risk assessments and instructor contracts
• Ensuring that the club abides by
  • the club’s own constitution and internal rules,
  • the Imperial College Union constitution and policies,
  • College Security and Estates regulations,
  • relevant laws and security obligations.

Team Captains

The two Team Captains provide leadership and direction for their respective dance teams. They motivate team members to practise and improve, whilst fostering a positive team culture and resolving any conflicts. The Captains serve as the representative and point of contact for their team.

There are two Team Captain positions - one for the Ballroom & Latin Team and one for the Salsa & Bachata Team. They share a core set of administrative duties, which include:

• Ensuring practice space bookings are made each term
• Communicating with coaches regarding their availability
• Preparing and distributing the team timetable
• Sending regular updates and motivational emails to the team
• Liaising with other university dance clubs and dance associations

Salsa & Bachata Team Captain

Ballroom & Latin Team Captain

Additional duties specific to the B&L Team Captain:

• Organising the Main Team trials together with the two Vice-Captains
• Collecting and submitting student IDs and alien cases to the IVDA Standing Committee; obtaining releases from other Team Captains
• Representing Imperial in the Inter-Varsity Dance Association (IVDA) and attending the October AGM and the March EGM in Birmingham
• Having good knowledge of the IVDA constitution and rules

Social Secretary

The Social Secretary comes up with ideas and organises fun events for the team, such as socials in the JCR or elsewhere. They are responsible for the entire social calendar of the club, including, but not limited to: the B&L Team Dinner in March, the Summer Ball and the IDEA Dance Show.

Specific administrative duties include:

• Presenting ideas for at least two social activities per term (usually to coincide with major holidays and post-exam periods) to the other committee members, taking on feedback, organising them and coordinating with the publicity officer to maximise exposure,
• Searching for, visiting, negotiating and coordinating with external locations, such as restaurants and dance halls, in order to host events such as the Team Dinner, the Summer Ball and the Liger Cup.
• Ordering food and drinks for social events, proactively managing dietary restrictions and allergies and coordinating delivery logistics.

Publicity Vice-President

The Publicity Vice-President maintains a vibrant social media presence and works together with the Art Director to produce publicity such as flyers, posters, leaflets, social media posts and promotional videos of good quality to keep up the club’s professional appearance.

Specific administrative duties include:

• Regularly posting photos, videos and updates on Facebook and Instagram to stimulate public interest,
• Producing electronic and physical posters and flyers for events organised by the Social Secretary,
• Liaising with photographers, both external professionals and amateurs within the club, to ensure there is adequate material for publicity and marketing,
• Creating publicity materials in a timely manner to maximise exposure for each event,
• Delegating tasks, jobs and requests to the rest of the publicity and events team when necessary.

Art Director

The Art Director is responsible for the club’s branding and style to be cohesive, welcoming and yet professional.

Specific administrative duties include:

• Producing/directing a promotional video for the Freshers’ Fair,
• Producing artwork and posters for the club’s events,
• Designing the look of the website,
• Liaising with coaches, captains, the wardrobe mistress and external tailors to create a distinctive and signature look for the Team Match dresses.

Treasurer

The Treasurer is responsible for all money-related matters in the club. Most importantly, the treasurer is responsible for the financial stability of the club and the punctual payment of all expenses. The treasurer must also ensure that the financial account on eActivities is correct and well-organised.

Specific administrative duties include:

• Tracking revenue from classes and contacting non-paying individuals,
• Preparing fortnightly invoices for our dance coaches and ensuring the money reaches them in a timely manner,
• Establishing the budget at the beginning of the year,
• Preparing termly financial reports,
• Submitting the budget for the following year,
• Authorising requests on eActivities,
• Presenting the Treasurer’s report at the yearly AGM.

Vice Captains

The two Vice Captain positions share a core set of administrative duties, which include:

• Organizing the Main Team trials together with the Team Captain
• Supporting the Team Captain in any additional needs
• Helping resolve conflicts or issues within the committee

Treasurer Vice-Captain

The Treasurer Vice-Captain manages team finances and passes, including:

• Creating team pass products on eActivities
• Tracking purchased passes and following up with members
• Responding to team financial queries

Competitions Vice-Captain

The Competitions Vice-Captain handles all competition-related tasks, including:

• Managing competition entries, tracking payment and ensuring entries are made before the deadline,
• Paying competition organisers through eActivities for university competitions,
• Finding and negotiating the best deal for transport to the competition venue and paying the coach company through eActivities,
• Arranging the hotel for IVDC and its payment, including
  • Liaising with the hotel initially in October and informing them about approximate numbers and exact stay dates,
  • Paying the hotel in a timely manner through eActivities,
  • Allocating rooms according to people’s preferences,
  • Communicating with the hotel if our arrival or departure is delayed or any issues arise,
• Managing the online competition products on eActivities,
  • Deciding with the treasurer on the exact level of subsidy for the competition,
  • Creating the products and ensuring that everyone has paid,
• Filling in the competition report template no later than 1 week after the competition.

Secretary

The Secretary is one of the principal officers of the club. They are in charge of the rota, the weekly email, and are responsible for monitoring the club’s mailbox. Specific administrative duties include:

• Organising committee meetings, that is:
  • Setting a time and booking a room,
  • Preparing and circulating a meeting agenda,
  • Taking minutes during the meeting and publicising them for review.
• Preparing a weekly rota that accommodates each committee members’ preferences as best as possible, in such a way that all committee members take on a roughly equal time commitment.
• Sending out the weekly email with the club timetable, achievements and news

Wardrobe Officer

The Wardrobe Officer is responsible for keeping the club’s cupboard organised and catalogued. They are responsible for dressing the team for competitions and answering dancer’s queries about costumes, dresses and make-up.

Specific administrative duties include:

• Conducting dress and costume fittings,
• Allocating competition outfits to the team members,
• Maintaining the catalogue of dresses,
• Maintaining a full and up-to-date inventory of the club’s belongings,
• Submitting the club inventory at the end of the year to eActivities,
• Maintaining the cupboard in a tidy and organised state.

Webmaster

The Webmaster maintains the website, including the news section and the timetable.

Specific administrative duties include:

• Managing the club domain name and hosting,
• Maintaining a working website and up-to-date timetable,
• Publishing news articles and photographs to the website in a timely manner,
• Maintaining scripts used for inventory management, attendance tracking and automated invoicing,
• Ensuring the club’s compliance with GDPR and any other relevant data protection regulations.

Beginners Trainer

The Beginners Trainer is responsible for actively participating in and leading the Beginners Team practices and delivering the Beginners Team programme, ensuring that newcomers to the club recognise that is a safe, friendly, comfortable and fun yet driven environment within which they can develop their dancing ability.

Specific duties include:

• Leading Beginners Team practices, delivering, summarising and reinforcing technical points covered in their coached lessons,
• Delivering the Beginners Team programme and assisting beginners in learning their first routines,
• Instilling the mindset required to become a better dancer into the newly joined members,
• Motivating beginners at competitions and ensuring they are aware of competition procedures,
• Participating in Freshers’ Week taster sessions and maximising the number of returners,
• Organising Beginners Team social events and updating the Beginners Team Facebook group.