Universal Dance Association (UDA) College Nationals is a great time for dancers everywhere. It is a 3-day event for college dance teams to come to Walt Disney World in Orlando and compete to see who has the best technique and tricks, and which team has ultimately the best dance. All the university dance teams are split up into divisions such as jazz IA, Hip Hop I, Open Pom and even spirit programs. Scores came in January 14 and there has been a lot of controversy between two teams in the same Jazz division.
Ohio State University came in very strong with its song, passion and costumes. They did a beautiful Jazz to “My Way” by Frank Sinatra. In the dance, they showed their sharp hits, lifts, turns and jumps, as well as the passion they showed in all of their movements and facial expressions. Competing against them was the University of Minnesota Spirit Squad. They performed flawlessly to “Dream On” by Queen. As the chorus started, the whole team did an insane turn sequence, quite literally impossible for some dancers to do.
As videos were posted on TikTok, people watching the live performances began comparing these two teams and determining who would win. In the end, Ohio University scored a 98.92 (almost a perfect score) and Minnesota scored a 98.42. Everyone started to argue how impossible Minnesota’s turns were and they perfected them, but Ohio actually brought Jazz and raw emotion to the stage, not just tricks. Dance nationals were more recognized this year than ever due to these two dances.
Every dancer is either team Minnesota or team Ohio based on their performances. Minnesota had more tricks that were very advanced, compared to Ohio whose choreography was more motions than tricks. In my personal opinion, I believe Ohio deserved to win. They gave an amazing and very energetic performance, but all Minnesota did was trick after trick. Some judges are very picky about whether the whole dance is just tricks because they want to see if you can actually dance through your movements and hit those precise moments.
This season brought many difficult tricks, higher energy, and a bigger passion for dance than I have seen before. All the teams did amazing and really stepped it up this year with their hard work and dedication. This year is going to be tough to beat. Good luck to all the high school dance teams going into their competition season.
