An audience of over 2000 attended the HHINZ championships, held last night at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau – A fitting event to be held on May 29th which is the worldwide ‘International Dance Day’.
The finals night marked the end of four days of preliminary rounds that saw over 2000 young dancers from all over NZ take the stage for a chance to represent NZ at the world hip hop championships to be held in Phoenix, Arizona in August this year.
Once again this year the Palace Dance Studio fielded teams in all divisions and took the Junior division title for the 5th year straight. They were also placed second in the Varsity, Adult and Mega crew divisions, however the night belonged to Auckland’s IDentity Dance Company, home of the back to back gold medallists ‘The Bradas’.
IDCO fielded four teams in the competition, 2 in the varsity section – Masque and Swagganauts who placed 1st and 3rd respectively. However it was their megacrews that stole the night with the adult IDCO Megacrew winning the division with a standout score of 8.95, and also the trophy for the ‘Most Outstanding’ performance. What was even more special for this relatively young company is that their varsity Mega Crew Yung ID took third place.
Iconic dance crew, Prestige won the Adult section this year – proving that they are still well in the game, and the Battles division was won by Ken Vaenga and ZED both of who are leaders in our dance community.
The competition is all about “Uniting the world of hip hop through dance.” Says Hip Hop International.
Representing NZ at world this year will be:
JUNIOR DIVISION
1st Bubblegum – The Palace Dance Studio (AKLD)
2nd Kaleidoskope- Notorious Dance Company (AKLD)
3rd Rebellious – Red Studio (AKLD)
VARSITY DIVISION
1st Masque – IDCO (AKLD)
2nd Sorority – The Palace Dance Studio (AKLD)
3rd Swagganauts-IDCO (AKLD)
ADULT CREW
1st Prestige – (AKLD)
2nd Kingsmen – (AKLD)
3rd Akenza – (AKLD)
MEGACREW DIVISION
1st IDCO Adults – (IDCO AKLD)
2nd RFV – The Palace Dance Studio (AKLD)
3rd YUNG ID – IDCO AKLD
All these events are alcohol and smokefree. This year the event partnered with Smokefree with the “Keeping up with the crew”campaign providing free community hip hop workshops all around the country with New Zealand’s top choreographers.
Thank you to Smokefree, Te Kaha, Last Level Clothing, Mai FM, Russell Athletic, DANZ and Custom Teez.
Full Story: http://auckland.scoop.co.nz/2017/05/full-house-for-nz-hip-hop-championships/