Fusion comes to London

What kind of city do we live in? The London social calendar is full of awfully pretentious events charging ludicrous amounts of dosh for a very ordinary experience whilst managing to be incredibly vile and unwelcoming about it at the same time. Events where the lighting has that weird, trendy glow that occasionally reveals the semen-ink words ‘reclusive wanker’ on the trousers of the dismally self-important clientele. Events where the barman claims to make the best Bellini cocktail in the world outside of Venice, with all the pomp and disillusionment Nick Griffin that uses to claim he’s the best guy to deal with immigration. Events that are cynical, tacky, dunderheaded, and decadent.

Equally, at the other end of the lifestyle spectrum, you can blub your eyes out watching – for the price of a TV licence – a Frenchman make it through to the next round of Britain’s Got Talent. Which is really, really tragic. I could pontificate on what is the biggest contradiction in terms since Britney Spears released her Greatest Hits album, but frankly life’s too short. It’s basically a show that pays no more attention to real aptitude than the Pakistani intelligence services do to detail.

So that’s the problem, the Bin Laden gulf in al-Qaeda, if you will. London needs an affordable variety show that is fun and laid-back. A show that buoys everybody’s mood, that embraces the love of friends, and the eternal, undying passion for brilliantly honest entertainment. Enter stage left, Fusion. A music, fashion, and dance show that originates from York University, where it attracts an audience of over 4000 people every year and high-profile sponsors such as KPMG and Hugo Boss. Fusion is to now be launched in London for the first time, offering the advantages of a big city and the collaborative involvement of students from Imperial College, Queen Mary University, Kings College, and UCL.

Fusion is a totally authentic way of hosting a variety performance. It’s a creative amalgamation of artistic skills ranging from choreography, to music compilation, to graphics and web design. It is a show entirely organised and performed by students. A show that typically takes a year to organise, involving a cast of at least 100 students and a committee of 16-18 students. A show that has managed to become renowned for being an outstanding event with a high professional standard and whose primary aim is to raise as much money as possible for charity.

It’s an old French cliché that youth is wasted on the young – this show goes to prove otherwise. For the passionate and driven individuals who want to make a difference and contribute to this unique event, this is their chance to join the committee. For those involved, being a committee member of an such an event in its first year would be hard work but would also prove a great way of making new friends, having fun, trying something new and gaining confidence. Reclusive geniuses coming out of their shells perhaps, reclusive wankers definitely not.

For those watching, the show offers a perfectly decent night out and the chance to say on a Monday morning, in answer to the question “What did you do on your Saturday night?” something other than “I stayed in and watched ITV” or “I went to a bar that was trying a contemporary, nouveau-rustique terrorist bunker-come-brothel theme, but it only just about managed to muster the finesse of a cluster bomb.”