It’s January 19th and it’s finally Finals Day. You’re in Florida performing for thousands of people worldwide for a national dance title. As the adrenaline rush is kicking in, you’re rehearsing your routine, trying not to forget a move before you perform one last time for a chance to win the title you’ve dreamed of.
This was a reality for some college dance teams in the D1A, D1, and Open divisions that traveled to Florida for the UDA College Nationals and competed for the title in one of 3 main dance genres: jazz, pom, and hip-hop.
In last year’s 2024 competition, 3 teams went viral on social media after their winning and/or runner-up routines spread: Ohio State University for their winning jazz routine, University of Minnesota for their runner-up jazz & winning Pom routine, and Louisiana State University for their winning hip hop Routine. Other teams such as the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and the University of Central Florida have also gone viral for their routines.
Dance fanatics on TikTok– including myself–have been obsessing over the viral winning performances and are working on imitating the choreography ourselves. After watching almost all of their performances, I can safely say that the rankings are deserved, especially for Utah Valley University’s hip-hop performance.
As a hip-hop dancer myself, I know that dancers are meant to have a lot of control, expression, technique, and wow moments, and UVU (Utah Valley University) fits into what they’re meant to have thanks to their choreographer, Andrew Elam.
Though Pom isn’t my genre, the University of Minnesota’s Pom routine was JAW DROPPING, because of choreographer Amanda Gaines. Their control, turns, and synchronization were all part of a flawless routine that I don’t think could be improved in any way possible.
Now, with Jazz, Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota were practically neck and neck with each other for getting my vote, but it has to go to Ohio State University with Ricky Ubeda behind the choreography. It could’ve been UoM, but if the ending wasn’t changed on finals day, they could’ve been in my top 3 performances.
Now, this all leads to the question: what do high-stakes dance competitions mean for Moanalua High School dance students–especially for our seniors?
The answer is that these collegiate competitions help inspire us to dream and to push ourselves forward. They let us know that taking opportunities (like performing with the college dance teams) are out there and that anything is possible. Every large-scale dancer, every professional, ever expert and every award-winning somebody was once a high school student.
If one of our dancers here put in the work and followed through with their dream of dancing on a larger stage one day for a title, they would be able to represent not only Moanalua High School, but also proudly represent Hawai’i.
Passionate high school dancers: audition for your college’s dance team. You never know—one of us could be a future UDA National titleholder!
To learn more about UDA Nationals or watch their videos, visit https://www.varsity.com/uda/school/competitions/college-nationals/.