Five groups danced like 200 people were watching on Thursday night at Longwood’s first ever Best Dance Crew competition. Jarman was packed with audience members who were ready to watch participants twerk and nae nae their way to victory.
The crews performed for a good cause; breast cancer awareness was the theme of the night. Money was raised and awareness was spread. The audience was asked to stand if they had a family member, a distant relative or a friend affected by the disease. By the end of the speech the majority of the audience had silently stood, showing the truly sweeping effect of this illness.
Despite the somber reason for the event, the audience was in for a treat. Groups from all walks of Longwood life came out to perform. From club volleyball to professional dancers, the performers ran the gamut. The groups were judged on four categories: creativity, choreography, song selection and the wow factor.
Club volleyball performed to a screaming crowd as they showcased both their dancing and gymnastic abilities. With a mix of tongue-in-cheek humor and actual skill it was no surprise that the group of enthusiastic young men won second place in the fierce competition.
It wasn’t just the performers who got in on the action. With multiple door prizes and even a volunteer dance competition, audience participation was a must. All the door prizes were donations from around the community. Carly Keeshen, the director of philanthropy for Zeta Tau Alpha, explained the process.
“The RA staff went around to local business and facilities and asked for any and all donations to be raffled off as prizes. We knew to bring people to our event we had to have lots of prizes, which in return would lead us towards more donations and a bigger audience to spread awareness,” said Keeshen.
While all the groups came to the competition with their game faces on, Intech claimed the top prize which included, among other things, brand new tablets. It’s no wonder that the group won; Intech is a professional dance group that has sponsorship from Red Bull. The talented trio had a unique performance that caused a standing ovation.
Jasmine Williams, Intech’s captain, said that the group only found out about the competition 48 hours beforehand. However some quick thinking and a mix of choreography as well as freestyle dancing was a winning combination for the group.
Williams expressed the importance that groups just go up there and have as much fun as possible. “Show up, you don’t need to have a whole week of preparedness, just do what ya gotta do.” The other two members of the group, freshmen Justice Griffin and Devin Scott, talked about how they didn’t need formal dance training in order to become part of the successful group.
“I usually just dance for fun,” said Scott. “When I was back in high school everybody knew I was the guy that if you came up to me I’d probably be dancing.” For Griffin dancing came as a natural transition from her other musical talents.
“I’m just musically sound,” said Griffin. “I play the violin and I sing so dancing is just adding to that. I’ve never been to dance class but freestyling chorography is the best.”
Intech’s fearless leader has dancing in her blood. Her father helped to start the Breakdancing movement and his talent definitely did not skip a generation. “It’s just music genes passed down from dad to me, so yeah I’ve been dancing since I was four years old,” said Williams.
The next stop for Intech is the World of Dance Competition this December in Las Vegas. Williams and the rest of her crew are looking for 16 new members to take with them for the chance of a lifetime time performance.
Longwood’s Best Dance Crew was a success, and hopefully a brand new University tradition that will continue on for years to come. “From talking to the teams that performed and the students that came to the show,” said Keeshen, “and hearing how much fun everyone had I think there is a big possibility that this event could become an annual event to raise money for Breast Cancer Education and awareness.”
