United by friendly competition, students said their love for dancing motivated them to form groups and join BYU–Hawaii’s Best Dance Crew competition. A variety of dancing styles such as Irish step, Bollywood, hip hop and Latin American dancing were showcased by five different groups on May 24 in the McKay Gymnasium.
According to Seasider Sports employee Laina Leota, a senior from New Zealand studying exercise and sport science, the team was happy with the turnout of the activity as more than 400 people attended the event. The last time Seasider Sports and Activities organized a dancing competition was five years ago, Leota said.
Seasider Sports and Activities gave attendees the chance to vote from the judges’ top two dance crews on Instagram through a poll on their story. After a few minutes, they announced “As Panteras” as the champions. The group, “As Panteras,” was composed of five students, representing a combination of hip hop, Brazilian, Caribbean and African style of dancing.
One of the members of the winning crew was Jackie Morris, a sophomore from Virginia studying social work. She said her group got together because they all danced for Afro World club during Culture Night.
Morris asked her friend Toni if she wanted to dance for the competition and she agreed. The two then set out to look for other members to join their group “As Panteras,” which is Portuguese for “The Panthers.”
Afro World Club Vice President Toni Shipp, a sophomore from California studying communications, added, “We drew from those [various] cultures because that was kind of how we met each other, through the Afro World club, which combined all those cultures.
“We also felt like we wanted to stand out and what better way to do that than learn from what brought us together.”
Despite the challenge of trying to gather everyone together for practices, the “As Panteras” crew shared they enjoyed being able to dance with each other.
When they learned they were receiving a private tour in Kualoa Ranch as the prize for the night’s competition, they hugged other teams and congratulated one another for their hard work.
Emmalee Smith, a senior from Virginia studying biology, said her dance crew, “Born to be Bollywood,” practiced only for two weeks. However, Smith said she felt good after their performance and it was a fun experience despite the stress from preparations.
Leota added Seasider Sports will try to do a dance competition in the future and hopes more people would join next time.
“We just want more people to be confident and [not] be afraid to come out and compete because it's such a fun atmosphere. We want it to become bigger and bigger,” explained Leota.
Due to only five groups joining the competition, students commented Seasider Sports and Activities should have publicized the event more on campus.
Tiffany Christensen, a sophomore from Utah studying biochemistry, said, “Make sure that people know you don’t have to be a skilled and amazing dancer to participate. If you like to dance, just come and dance.”
Writer: Esther Insigne