Becky Rich is a volunteer Dance Leader, Spokesperson and Ambassador for DanceSyndrome. As well as performing in both our contemporary dance and street dance performance teams, Becky works hard to promote our charity by giving inspiring speeches at conferences and special events and working to raise our profile through networking. In particular, she has recently been responsible for recruiting a number of Star Supporters who have given testimonials about the value of our work. Here, in a blog for Volunteers Week 2019, she talks about why DanceSyndrome is her chosen charity.
I am a proud volunteer with DanceSyndrome, a charity that helps people to have a better life through dancing.
I discovered DanceSyndrome in 2014 when I was at college and I was looking for ideas of what to do next. I completed the Dance By Example leadership training and I’m now a qualified Dance Leader. I did such a good job of being a leader, I have recently been appointed Ambassador and Spokesperson. Since I joined DanceSyndrome I have won local and national awards and was included on the national Learning Disability and Autism Leaders List 2018!
I love volunteering with DanceSyndrome because it means I get lots of opportunities that I wouldn’t get otherwise. There is not another charity like this, it is unique! That is why it is important to me to give my time to help them and to get involved in fundraising activities.
DanceSyndrome is more than just dancing, we are a family. I have made lots of really important friends and we all support each other to achieve great things. This has helped me in my life outside DanceSyndrome too.
The DanceSyndrome motto is “ability not disability” and my job as a volunteer is to share this message. I have spoken at big events at City Hall, London, Kew Gardens, the Small Awards in London, Loughborough University, Manchester, Wigan, Lancaster University etc. I love to travel and talk about my work with DanceSyndrome and to tell people that everyone can achieve great things and that disability shouldn’t be a barrier. I want other people with disabilities to know that they can follow their dreams too and have a career of their choice. DanceSyndrome gives me amazing opportunities to go out and help other people, which is really important to me.
I have also performed dance pieces at all the above venues, as well as two successful years at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We held big fundraising campaigns to get the whole team up to Edinburgh because we knew how much we could achieve if we got there. We were successful and the audiences there loved what DanceSyndrome stands for. We got an incredible response. People at this year’s festival took our work very seriously and we were celebrated as professional performers. People focused on our talents and abilities, not our disabilities. It feels great to know that we are changing people’s minds about what disability means.
I love to meet new people and talk to them about the work we do and this is my role now as Ambassador and Spokesperson. DanceSyndrome makes me and lots of other people really happy and that is a wonderful thing. I don’t think I would have had so many incredible opportunities without DanceSyndrome and I’m inspired to keep achieving more and more.
If you are inspired by Becky’s story and would like to find out more about how you can get involved with DanceSyndrome, please visit the Support Us page. If you would like to know more about Becky’s inspirational speaking role, please visit the Special Events & Conferences page.
