Lucy Burgess is a Dance Leader from Poulton-le-Fylde. She joined DanceSyndrome in 2014 at the age of 21. Lucy heard about DanceSyndrome through Preston College and came along to try a workshop. She loved the sessions and progressed on to complete our in-house accredited Leadership Training course. Lucy is also part of DanceSyndrome’s ‘DS Collective Performance Company’ and she especially enjoys performance work.
As part of DanceSyndrome’s Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation project, the charity has commitment to be proactive about Environmental Responsibility. In October 2024, a focus group was conducted with Dance Leaders to find out their understanding of environmental issues and climate change. During this focus group Lucy demonstrated a real passion for environmental responsibility and came up with some great ideas, including creating DanceSyndrome branded reusable water bottles to reduce plastic use. These were created and gifted to Dance Leaders in November 2024.
Following the focus group, the DanceSyndrome team identified Lucy as a great choice for a new Dance Leader Environment Champion role. In this role, Lucy takes on extra tasks in relation to environmental responsibility and she listens to the views of other Dance Leaders and feeds them back to the DanceSyndrome Environmental Responsibility Working Group.
Lucy has joined monthly ‘Environmental Working Group’ meetings to help plan for DanceSyndrome’s first ever ‘Environment Week’ which will take place in July 2025. Lucy has been given role description explaining to her what the role entails, and she has undertaken her own research into science, technology and the environment, as well as looking at some of the politics around science and government.
Lucy has also created posters to put up in Plungington Community Centre that explain what happens to waste that is created in the centre. She is keen to share all her learning about the environment with fellow Dance Leader colleagues and fulfilling the Environment Champion wonderfully.
Lucy’s commitment to the environment extends outside of DanceSyndrome into a voluntary role that she carries out for another organisation. Lucy has a part-time role working in the Red Cross charity shop in Poulton-le-Fylde. Lucy loves to talk about the fact that charity shops are a great way of “reducing, reusing and recycling” a wide range of household items, including clothing, toys, books and more.
The DanceSyndrome team are all very proud of Lucy and what she is achieving! She is a determined lady who always looks for opportunities to grow and make progress and she is demonstrating this through her new Environment Champion role.
The DanceSyndrome team thinks Lucy is doing an excellent job of challenging the way that society sees people with learning disabilities!
Follow our social media channels to find out more about our upcoming Environment Week and how you can get involved! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, Linked In and YouTube
