By April-Joy McCann
[email protected]
MHS students Sophomore Aleya Abeshima, Junior Christian Pinera and Freshman Alexis Valentine danced their way to victory from Aug. 1 to 5. They competed against 2,500 dancers, 250 groups and people from over 40 different countries at the World Hip Hop Dance Championships held by Hip Hop International in Las Vegas, Nev.
“When you come to (nationals) you figure it’s the ‘best of the best’ of the states and you don’t realize how small that is, and you go to internationals and it’s literally like the Olympics of dance … (It’s) very overwhelming,” expressed Pinera.
The competition, which consisted of nationals and international championships consecutively, was made up of different divisions. Abeshima and Valentine participated in the Varsity Division, while Pinera danced in the MegaCrew Division; both crews were from Hypersquad Dance Company. In order to move on to internationals, each crew had to place in the top three of their division at nationals, held from July 29 to 31, also in Las Vegas, Nev.
Abeshima and Valentine’s group climbed their way to the top by taking gold in their division, securing their place at the international competition. “Right when they announced it I was crying so much because it was a really humble experience … we never won something like that and to come in for the first time and take gold in (nationals) was crazy, so we were so thankful,” shared Abeshima. Pinera’s group placed third, ensuring them a spot at internationals as well.
Though a similar competition, internationals proved to be more divergent from that of the students’ experiences at nationals. “It was a lot (more) different. We were up against people from different countries and we would try to talk to them but they spoke different languages,” explained Valentine.
Not only was there a language barrier, but both crews were rookies at this competition. This, however, didn’t stop them from achieving their goal. “Because this was our first year and we didn’t know what to expect, we kind of just figured (to) have fun and not hold back anything; we didn’t want to walk off the stage and regret anything,” said Pinera.
In the end, Abeshima and Valentine placed in the top eight of their category at internationals while Pinera’s crew took fifth place in theirs. “We’re actually going back next year to defend our title as champions and we’re thinking of going to America’s Best Dance Crew for the next season,” said Valentine.
Both crews plan on getting ahead early by training now so they will be ready to battle for gold once more by the time the national competition comes around in the summer of 2013.
