The Universal Dance Association (UDA) holds a nationals competition every year at ESPN Sports Wide World Sports Complex in Orlando FL. The competition viewers and opinions have grown larger over the years. With viewers from home now able to watch on Varsity TV, more and more opinions reach the dance world.
Colleges such as Ohio State University, University of Minnesota, and Louisiana State University are some of the top programs in the country. All dancers look forward to seeing what they, and other college dance teams will come up with to top their routines from the year before.
This year new colleges joined the UDA stage for the first time like Arizona State University and Weber State University who previously competed at National Dance Alliance (NDA). These teams, while never competing here before, showed they were just as good as top teams in the country.
The Tiger Girls from LSU, being one of the best hiphop teams at UDA, did their hiphop in reference to Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show. With moves from their national championship routine “Like A Boy” in 2022 they made a statement. Coming in second place to The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, LSU has fallen short of first place two years in a row.
The competition in jazz and pom has grown between Ohio State and Minnesota. In past years Minnesota has always won in pom, but in recent years Ohio State and Texas Teach have been growing their programs and coming close to their scores. In jazz it has been the same except the past two years Ohio State has won. This year LSU beat Minnesota coming in second place for the first time ever.
With new teams becoming just as good at Minnesota and Ohio State, many have different opinions. Tiktokers post their opinions on rankings throughout the weekend the dancers compete. Updating people with scores and even livestreaming from the venue so everyone can watch.
“I feel like there are teams like LSU that deserve to get higher,” junior Kendal Pham said. “There were also teams that I feel like only placed high like Minnesota just because of their name and their title.”
Even people with no dance background become involved in UDA nationals. From trying the turn combinations to learning pieces of the team’s dances and posting the videos on Tiktok, the dance world has an influence and is continuing to grow and become more popular.
Final Rankings:
Pom:
1st Minnesota
2nd Texas Tech
3rd Ohio State
Jazz:
1st Ohio State
2nd LSU
3rd Minnesota
HipHop:
1st UNLV
2nd LSU
3rd Cincinnati
