UVU gets served
Photo by Alex Rivera
The highly anticipated UVU’s Best Dance Crew competition took place Nov. 13, Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the PE court. The four crews—Offbeat, Swagger Rangers, Low Profile and Intrakids—did well to please the crowds and beyond great dancing, $1 from each ticket sale was also donated to UVU’s Mobility Mission.
Before the show began, an electrifying and cool atmosphere was set from perfect lighting and a nice backdrop. Silhouette’s of people dancing to house music hyped the show and created excitement. UVU’s Ballroom Dance Company also added to the excitement by performing a dance piece.
The event’s flow and tone for the entire event was nicely done by charismatic and funny emcees. The emcees taught attendees an “Alright!” “Ok!” type of speech that caused laughter and created an entertaining and funny interactive speech throughout the night. After some more entertainment from the emcees, the introductions of the four crews began and things got real.
The crews walked out in front of the audience with style and the personality of the crews can be seen. Each crew created their flags and a quick bio of the crew was given. The introductions of the crew matched America’s Best Dance Crew flag idea and further legitimized UVU’s own best dance crew competition.
Last year’s best dance crew winner, Low Profile (LP), started off the competition. The dynamic movements combined with a touch of “Pitch Perfect” created a choreography delivering various styles and character.
LP was doing well hitting the steps and moves, but slight technical issues with the music forced LP to do their choreography once more. The crowd enjoyed seeing another great performance and continued to cheer LP on.
The second crew, Offbeat, performed next, beginning their performance with some comedic improvisation. Such as having a janitor grooving out in the beginning of the performance and adding video game sounds within the music.
Offbeat added the strengths and uniqueness of every individual dancer and mentioned how the crew wanted to bring every type of dance they can bring. An epic raving performance by one of the dancers ended Offbeat’s performance nicely.
The UVU Dance Team performed following Offbeat’s performance. The team danced to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’s “Can’t Hold Us” bringing in more energy for the crowds. This also helped pump up everyone for the next two crews.
The Swagger Rangers were third to perform. They immediately demonstrated the crew’s musicality with synchronized movements. The judges were impressed with the crew’s musicality and good facial expressions within the performance.
The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the performance and to that point, Swagger Rangers received the loudest applause and a standing ovation from most of the audience.
The last crew to perform was Intrakids. The crew ‘s “flow was good” as one judge put it and the matching outfits displayed the crew with precise unity.
Before the announcement of the winners for UVU’s Best Dance Crew, the judges offered UVU a showcase of their own dancing. Various styles from house to hip hop to popping wowed the crowd.
After the showcase, the four crews were brought back out. There was only a first and second-prize winners. LP took second place and Swagger Rangers took first, becoming UVU’s best dance crew.
There was much cheering and people congratulating all the crews. Amidst the many people and emotions, Alex Fuchs, Swagger Rangers crewmember commented with joy one simple sentence on how he felt winning the competition, “I feel so good.”
The crews Offbeat, Swagger Rangers, LP and Intrakids did well to please the crowds with inspiring movements.
Charlie Kaing is a junior, UVU communication student with an emphasis in public relations. He has PR experience and honed his writing skills through internships with domestic and international companies. He traveled to Nicaragua with Help International in the summer of 2012 where he participated in humanitarian work and was involved with many community-empowering projects. He served a two-year LDS mission in Busan, South Korea. Charlie likes hip-hop dancing, has mastered patting his head and rubbing his belly at the same time and enjoys the pursuits of diverse ingenuity.