Wright State University Dance Team practicing. February 19 | Photo by Soham Parikh | The Wright State Guardian
The Wright State University (WSU) dance team traveled to the UDA Nationals in Orlando, Florida to compete in Division 1 Hip-Hop finals. The team ranked 13 out of the 14 nationally ranked teams after a successful season of appearances.
Competition
The team scored 93.6167 points, narrowly beating out Northern Kentucky University (NKU) by 1.06 of a point. They competed on Jan. 15 to the theme of “Florida.” Their tracklist consisted of Florida-based and themed songs, such as “Miami” by Will Smith, “Conga!” by Miami Sound Machine and “I Like It Like That” by Cardi B.
“This was the whole team’s first year being at UDA and I am super proud of how hard we worked to dance at this competition,” dance team member Alayna Barrera said.
The UDA Nationals were the highlight of the school year performances, according to graduating senior and team President Danielle Saul.
“I have danced my whole life and going out there and then competing like we did on the floor, it was the best that we’ve ever done that routine as a team. Then being able to watch it come to an end was amazing for me,” Saul said.
COVID-19
The NDA Nationals had been postponed for the 2020 and 2021 dance seasons due to COVID-19.
“We worked so hard for it last year too and weren’t able to get there. So we committed all of our energy towards those practices, then getting there. It is just a really good feeling to finally be able to say you made it,” Treasurer Camryn Harrel said.
Up next
The dance team has a handful of performances left in the 2021-22 school year.
At the NCAA WSU Men’s basketball game against NKU on Feb. 13, the dance team will perform during the Halftime show.
