Dance crew makes finals at Hip Hop Unite World Championships

Rustic Crew from left: Leeza Vincent (teacher) Olivia Bell, Kate Gallien, Jana Nagel, Marinel Van der Schyff, Tiraha Schaumkell, Shakira Brightwell, Tahlia Leong, Tyrel Gwynn. Photo / Supplied

A crew of young dancers from the Imperious Dance Company secured themselves a place in the junior finals at an international dance competition in the Netherlands recently.

The Te Awamutu-based dance company's crew Rustic was the only representatives of New Zealand in the junior category (13-18 year olds) finals at the Hip Hop Unite World Championships in Leiden where they competed against nine other junior crews and went on to secure seventh place.

The competition took place from October 17-19 and over 1800 dancers from up to 20 countries battled it out on stage over the three days.

Imperious Dance Company manager Tulona Vincent, mother of dance teacher and owner of the company Leeza Vincent, says that some extra practices upon arriving in the Netherlands paid off.

"We went there to compete and show that side of the world what New Zealand can do, so we hired a studio for practices for three days leading up to the competition to make sure the kids were ready after a few days of no training because of the travelling there. It was all worth it," Tulona said.

For the first time the dance company also had a cadet crew (under 13s), Spoken, competing.

Spoken crew narrowly missed out on becoming finalists in the cadet category by one place and finished 11th overall in their division.

Hamilton-based crew X-Hale of Street Dance Sessions, made up of some former Imperious Dance Company members, also competed and finished 15th in the junior division.

Tulona thanked the local community for their ongoing support with special thanks to Waipa Plumbing and Gas for sponsoring the crews' travelling uniforms and to the parents, friends and families who made the journey to the Netherlands to support the crews.