Naomi was no stranger to dance when she joined Flare in 2013. She began dancing at the age of 6 and had done ballet, jazz, tap, acrobatics and funk as well as completed many CSTD exams.

Since becoming a ‘Flarian’, Naomi has explored many new dance styles such as latin, breaking and contemporary. She found that the ‘old Flarians’ were very welcoming and made many new friends. She especially loves that everyone comes from such a diverse range of dance backgrounds and that Flare is like one huge family.

Naomi is very excited to be part of the committee again this year and hopes to encourage people of all ages and skill levels to join our amazing family and take advantage of the many opportunities to grow and perform in Flare.

Throughout his youth, Simon showed a keen interest in dance. He watched many dance videos and shows on Youtube, but never took the opportunity to attend a class. Everything changed when he decided to participate in a “flash-mob” style dance performance for the university’s orientation week. Although Simon felt lost and out of his depth, the ‘Flarians’ made sure he transitioned comfortably into this new world of dance. Soon enough, Simon was attending regular classes, becoming a part of the family and experiencing many unique and exciting things, perhaps the most memorable of which was dancing blind and topless in front of a full crowd.

Having only started dancing in 2013, Simon hopes beginners will likewise take the first step and try a class, and also encourages dancers to step out of their comfort zone and try different genres of dance. Currently, Simon is most passionate about choreographed street dance and draws inspiration from choreographers such as Shaun Evaristo, Brian Puspos and S**t Kingz.

From a very young age, Melody was immersed in the world of the arts. Unable to commit to both music and dance, she decided to focus solely on music believing that it was her calling. Through music, she was able to express her deepest emotions, thoughts and desires.

Through music, she was able to express her deepest emotions, thoughts and desires. Without any formal training, she felt inexperienced and lack the courage to express herself through dance the way it was interpreted in music. Over the years, her passion for dance remained stagnant and she decided to reunite herself with dance. After joining Flare Dance Ensemble, her interest was reignited and she became increasingly fond of the art. Flare provided a new platform that allowed her to express herself in a whole new way. It became an outlet where she could learn, grow and improve as a dancer. She hopes that through her growth and time in flare, she might encourage others to step out of their own boundaries and motivate other beginners who are afraid to try to just go for it.

Jessica joined Flare Dance Ensemble in 2013 hoping to continue dancing while in University. With a background in ballet and having done a few kpop covers, Flare helped her explore many other styles of dance including lyrical, breaking and contemporary.

In 2014 she had the opportunity to co-choreograph a kpop piece for the annual production which not only helped her to improve her leadership skills but also brought together like minded dancers who she enjoyed working with every rehearsal.

In 2015 Jessica hopes to revolutionise Flare’s timetabling system with her inexplicable love of planning everything in a colour-coordinated calendar. Unfortunately, her organisational skills don't seem to extend to maintaining the cleanliness of her room.

Aside from dance, Jessica is a Japan-o-phile, travel addict and an aspiring Veterinarian.

Despite his interest in dance since a young age, Will’s experience in dance is meagre at best, having dabbled in the art in high school with little success. Originally hesitant to join another club amongst the dozen he had already paid for, Will suddenly found himself plunged into a world full of passion and dedication at his first Flare class of the year.

Since then, Will has been inspired 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. As a committee member, Will hopes to welcome new members in the same way he was, showing them the wonders of dance and the passion that all Flare’s members have for the art.

Prior to joining Flare in 2013, Jiwon had very little dance experience.She liked to learn K-Pop dances with her friends during high school and also took a few classes in amateur hip hop but that was the extent.

When She joined Flare, she started off performing a K-Pop piece in the University of Melbourne's Nightmarket and began to learn some break dancing for the 2013 Production (Express). In 2014 Jiwon decided to go all out and try more genres such as Latin on top of continuing K-Pop and break dancing. Her favourite is choreographed street dance for sure but the others are all close contenders!

Since joining, Jiwon has made a lot of close friends within Flare and within other dance clubs around Melbourne. She hopes to continue to widen her dance experience and keep dancing for a very long time.

Nancy first developed her love for dancing as she joined her school’s Ballet as an extracurricular activity. As she grew, she was introduced to multiple genres such as hip-hop and modern. Since then she began choreographing a few of the class’ performances such as the school’s Chinese Festival and the School’s Got Talent. Unfortunately since she graduated High School she hasn’t been able to continue this passion of hers.

In 2014, when she first came to Melbourne, she was immediately captivated by the performances Flare they did during O’Week. And she never regretted that she signed up immediately after.

Flare is a place for me to let loose, and just have fun. And I hope more people will enjoy and love Flare as much as I do.

​Rachael was first exposed to the world of dance at the age of six, when she attended ballet classes. However, this experience was short-lived, as she would not dance again until she joined Flare in 2014. Rachael never viewed herself as a dancer, as her memory of dance grew distant as she grew older. Rather, she would often find herself watching dancers on YouTube in awe and admiration, wondering how exciting it would be if somehow she too were able to dance like that...

It was a moment of chance that saw Rachael stumble across Flare Dance Ensemble upon entering Melbourne University. She tried the classes and was immediately reminded of just how fun it was to dance, and in just a few weeks, she was performing on stage at the University's Night Market.

Rachael's dancing has since centered around street styles, in which she feels most at home, though she has also challenged herself with other styles, such as contemporary, jazz and breakdancing. Her experience with Flare has been irreplaceable to Rachael, dancing with Flare not only teaches her to express herself through movement, but also continues to create invaluable friendships and memories.

Steph’s greatest motivation to start dance came from a session of Just Dance on the Xbox Kinect after miraculously scoring well. She discovered her first dance class as a freshman at Melbourne University Dancesport club (MUDC) where she learnt basic hip-hop and kpop choreography. Dancing gave her great joy and she had finally found her passion.

Through joining Flare in 2014, performing at gigs and trying out various dance styles, Steph was able to build up greater confidence in dancing. The production Breaking Barriers also gave her a chance to spark closer friendships and to create memories with the Flare community.

With Flare as a springboard, Steph aims to continue gaining new and unfamiliar experiences which would improve her style and performance. Putting her photoshop skills and childlike energy to use, she hopes to contribute back to the very people who have inspired her.

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.​

Initially hesitant to start dance, Karlo impulsively came into his first class an uncoordinated mess. Unable to concede defeat and determined to better his wiggling abilities, he persisted and eventually joined MUDC in 2012 (Melbourne University Dancesport Club) and Flare Dance Ensemble in 2013. Karlo has decided to take his dancing more seriously in the coming year and is looking forward to a productive year of wiggles.

As Flare's incoming IT Officer, Karlo hopes his happy-fun-time-coding skills can help automate Flare's boring administrative tasks and making overall running of the club a lot more efficient. He is also ready to help his fellow committee members to ensure that the club runs as smoothly as possible.

With regards to potential Flarians, Karlo wishes to infect new members with his love for Flare and hopes to trap them into being part of the "flaremily".

Having danced for little over a year, Aaron's passion for dance has grown immensely since coming over 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 homesickness as Flarians welcomed him with open arms at the start of 2014.

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 awesome start to his dance journey. Being an street-style dancer, Aaron strives to reach the point where he would be able to inspire others and share his passion for dance with everyone

With no concept of dance, Alice tripped her way into what has since become one of her strongest passions. Alice was told to join Flare in 2011 being told that she “will not regret it”. Time and time again she’s watched them perform on stage, but never really mustered up the courage to take a stab at it until 2013, (That was when she realised she was born with two left feet and had no sense of rhythm).

Two productions and a handful of gigs later, Alice cannot stop talking about being part of the Flare-mily and how great it is to be able to share such a passion with likeminded and inspiring people. Within Flare, Alice has been able to dabble in a bit of each style, such as, Kpop, Contemporary and Ballet just to name a few.

This year, Alice hopes to be able to give back to Flare not just by dancing, but by also being a part of the committee, and hoping to share the sheer joy of dance with each and every person she encounters. If only one person smiles while watching, then it was all worth it.

A young and eager learner, Jordan, found himself captivated by the art of dance rather recently. Hesitant to join Flare at first, friends of his helped push him into the world of dance and has since found a new love for it with the help of the community and people around him.

Despite his lack of experience in this art form, he has developed a passion for it and hopes to improve his skill sets to become a better dancer. Jordan dedicated his first year learning dance through Flare and hopes to make the community welcoming to newcomers as it was for him by being on the committee.

Enriched by the many different styles of dance, he has taken an interest to learn more about contemporary and better himself within this style. He hopes to make many more new friends this year and help grow the Flare family with its close friendship between all of its dancers.

In 2008 Allen stumbled upon dancing, being taught party tricks from his older brother during high school. After witnessing HRC Crew on a Taiwanese Gust TV Show, his interest grew and lead him to pursue his interest in breaking. His interest continued to grow by taking classes from Urban Force in 2009.

Unfortunately, his career in dance came to halt in 2011 from lack of motivation. His hiatus ended though once he met the Funkadelics in 2010 where he was introduced to many talented dancers that inspired and motivated him to start breaking again. After evolving and learning from these talented new dancers, they formed a crew in 2013 called Critical Hitz. In 2014, after being introduced by a friend (Tim Law), Allen joined Flare Dance Ensemble. Discovering Flare allowed him to develop many great relationships with charismatic and optimistic dancers. Flare Dance Ensemble gave Allen the chance to explore new genres, allowing him to further develop his own style and expression of dance. Allen's main style of dance is primarily breaking. It is the genre that he feels most comfortable with but is always keen to seek out others with different backgrounds for inspirations.

Through Flare he has been able to try other areas such as latin and contemporary amongst many other genres that Flare offers. To potential Flarians, Allen encourages everyone to join Flare so that they may share their own experience with dance.

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 magical people *O*. 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. With rehearsals every week, and friendly people every rehearsal, dance was not only fun but also stress relief. Boyuan hopes to encourage everyone to try a class with Flare, whether it is to follow your passion or to try something new!

Growing up, Jonathan devoted much of his time to the study of music. However, while music on its own was rewarding, he wondered whether the combination of movement and music found in dance would allow him to express himself in a different way. His first taste of dance occurred in 2009 when he joined his high school's breakdancing club, and for the next 4 years he developed his skills as a Bboy.

In 2014, after a spontaneous decision to attend the Flare x MUBreak Dance Camp, Jonathan was captivated by the professionalism and the diversity of styles that Flare had to offer. Inspired to try new styles and to expand his dance vocabulary, he joined Flare the following week.

Since then, Jonathan has found himself especially drawn to the dynamics of contemporary dance, in which he discovered a new form of expression entirely different from that of breakdancing. The countless hours spent with the "Flaremily" have not only contributed to his growth as a dancer, but have also provided him with new friendships and lasting memories. This year, he hopes to continue to broaden his horizons at Flare and to encourage other current and future members to do the same.