Some people get really excited about the Superbowl, others love the World Cup. For me, and thousands of other dancers across the country, the Universal Dance Association (UDA) College Nationals are our thing. Every year, nearly 400 collegiate level dance teams participate in a three day competition to win national titles in pom, jazz and hip hop. They go through  preliminary, semifinal and final rounds with eliminations before the winners are announced. Personally, I love this time of year because I get to watch so many people do what they love and I get to see new choreography and styles. 

This year had some of the coolest concepts and choreographies take the stage even if it was not my favorite year of UDA. The technical background behind each dance is one of my favorite things about this time of year. 

One of my favorites from the weekend was a bit surprising to me, as it was a style I do not typically go for. I absolutely loved San Diego State University’s jazz performance. They chose the song “Conga” by Miami Sound Machine and wore bright green costumes. The dance was exciting, technical and fun to watch. It had a lot of ballroom inspired elements as well as classic dance team moves. It was a very playful piece with so much personality shining through from the dancers. It was clear in the way they moved that each dancer was truly enjoying themselves, and I loved it. When dancers are having fun onstage, the whole performance is elevated and that is what was so captivating about this dance.

Weber State University made their UDA debut this year, and it was fantastic. Everything about this dance was stunning, from the costumes to the song (“When You Say My Name” by Mario Spinetti). It was breathtaking. The technical difficulty of this choreography alone shocked me. It was full of challenging transitions, advanced turn sections, fluid floorwork and tricks. I was pleasantly surprised by the dancers ability to perform such gorgeous movements with such clean timing and formation changes. Overall, this is a dance that I will be watching over and over again. I am very pleased they have finally become a UDA school and I cannot wait to see what else they have in store for us.

Another dance I truly enjoyed this year was Ohio State University’s jazz piece. If you ask any dancer who has watched UDA who their favorite team is, chances are they will say Ohio (or Minnesota but we’ll get into that later). I am no exception. This dance was beautiful to watch. Their timing and fluidity is truly fantastic, and the choreography suited them so well. I loved the formations and how seamlessly the dancers moved around each other. Ohio had a huge burden on their shoulders this year being the returning two-time jazz title winner. They really stepped up to the plate and earned their third consecutive title. I definitely think they deserved it after all those beautiful turns.

Texas Tech also came in this year with an extremely impressive piece. Their pom had my jaw on the floor the whole time I was watching. Some highlights are: a full-team standing back tuck, multiple difficult jumps in secession, a turn combo into a leg hold turn balance, a clean turn section with acro in the middle and complex partner work. This piece was honestly one of the best of the whole weekend, go argue with the wall. While I am surprised they got second, when I realized who had won, I was not that surprised anymore.

There are so many things I could say about the University of Minnesota’s pom. I absolutely loved this piece. The turn section with the drops, all of the solo sections, the entertainment value, the overall difficulty, the transitions, I could go on. There is a reason this is Minnesota’s fourth straight pom title. However, this was not my favorite dance from Minnesota this weekend. As much as I love when Minnesota does pom, their jazz will always have a place in my heart. The music choice first of all. There is so much history for Minnesota and the jazz category at UDA so “Maybe This Time” by Liza Minnelli was an understandable pick. This dance was a little more enjoyable to watch during the prelims because the male dancer, Matthew Greco, was wearing the matching headpiece. I thought the idea that all the dancers were the same was an interesting point to emphasize, and I wish they had kept it through all the performances. The turns and group transition into floorwork genuinely made me gasp. If you could not tell, I am a little Minnesota biased. 

All in all, this year was one of my favorites. There are tons of other schools I could have written about (Penn State, Alabama, Washington State, etc.), but I did not have enough time. I hope that all the dancers are proud of the time, effort and dedication they put into such a great show.