The Universal Dance Association (UDA) was founded in 1980 by Jeff Webb and Kris Shepherd with the purpose of providing clinics and camps to college and high school dancers to enhance their training. This subsequently led to an increased formation of dance teams throughout college and high school campuses to create a sense of school spirit, similar to cheerleading.
Specifically, this past season (2024), UDA college nationals gained extreme popularity because of social media. The most admired dances included the big three: the University of Minnesota's jazz dance to Aerosmith’s “Dream On”, Ohio State University’s emotional routine to “My Way” by Frank Sinatra, and Louisiana State University’s hip-hop tribute to Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal.” These are all D1A schools, which correspond with the previous subdivisions of College Football because the teams competing are spirit teams for football. There are three different divisions at UDA which include, D1A, D1, and Open categories. Don’t be fooled by these division name differences, all teams work equally hard in preparation for their nationals. Throughout the divisions, there is a game day competition and a separate performance competition for jazz, pom, and hip hop. Dance teams can enter into up to two performance divisions, plus gameday, if they want to compete.
Returning to the “Big Three” dances, two of them won their divisions: Ohio State for D1A jazz routine and LSU for D1A hip hop. Although Minnesota’s jazz routine placed 2nd, they carried out the win in the D1A pom division for their 22nd national championship. They also continue to receive immense recognition from social media because of superstar Matthew Greco. Greco is the only male dancer on U of M’s dance team and is currently a junior. He wowed not only the judges, in addition to practically every viewer of the dance, because of his athleticism and artistry. He is a role model for young male dancers looking to pursue dance and engraved the fact that dance is for everyone.
Besides D1A teams, three dances came out on top in the D1 division. This includes an outstanding, athletic hip-hop performance from the University of Delaware, which locked in their third consecutive win in that category, Cal State Fullerton’s insanely technically jazz routine, and Hofstra University’s clean sweep of D1 pom. These teams aren’t new to their championship wins. The University of Delaware currently holds 8 titles for D1 hip hop, one of the most in the country. CSFU tops D1 jazz with 18 titles, and Hofstra leads the D1 pom categories with seven wins.
Leading into UDA Nationals 2025 in a month, more people are watching the competition than ever before, and more teams to watch perform their hearts out. All live streams of dances can be watched on Varsity TV with a paid membership, but all live results are free on @UDANews on X.
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