By Sophie Sandberg
Students were taking a stand for diversity with the power of dance at De Montfort University’s 24-hour vigil last night.
For the first time, De Montfort University was holding a 24-hour vigil as a part of their #LoveInternational campaign to show support for refugees and other minorities around the world.
The Forward Motion was created by DMU graduate and dance practitioner Darcy Kitchener, 21, who wants to inspire people to be more tolerant and understanding towards each other through dance.
Miss Kitchener has always had the ambition to start her own company to protest and campaign for equality and when she received an e-mail from Dominic Shellard, Vice-Chancellor of De Montfort University, she started to organise the movement.
She said: “After watching the women’s’ marches and the protest at JFK I wanted to take a stand and those events are what inspired me when I choreographed the routine for #LoveInternational.”
After posting an appeal on Facebook, a couple of weeks ago, she reached 100 people who were interested in the movement and with only one day of practice 16 dancers came to show their support for the campaign.
Miss Kitchener said she hoped people who saw their performance were able to see that they are against the hatred and prejudice against refugees and that they should be accepted in this society.
One of the dancers, Jordan Parker, 20, a third-year dance student at DMU, said: “I joined the movement because I’ve always been someone to voice my opinion heavily on social media.
“I decided it was time to put my thoughts into action to get people’s attention. This was only the beginning for the Forward Motion.”
