Hip hop crews from across the country will dance off in the finals of the New Zealand National Championships in Auckland today, vying for prized spots at the World Championships in Phoenix, Arizona in August, where more than three thousand of the world’s best dancers will come together.
The championships got underway at Life Central in Mt Eden on Thursday and will reach their showing-stopping crescendo on Saturday afternoon, starting with World Battles New Zealand at 1pm - which includes 2V2 (two-versus-two) all styles dance battles, with the winners to represent New Zealand at the World Battles during the Phoenix championships - and culminating in the World Qualifying Championship Finals at 5pm.
Promoting this week’s championships, Hip Hop International New Zealand said, “The HHI Hip Hop World Championships is the ultimate competition experience that every competitive dancer should experience at least once in their dance journey!”
Judges announced today’s finalists after the completion of preliminary rounds on Friday, with crews moving forward to the finals from the Junior, Varsity, Adult, Mini Crew and Mega Crew divisions.
Aotearoa dance crews bagged three silver and two bronze medals at last year’s World Championships, with crews from Auckland’s Identity Dance Company grabbing all but one of Aotearoa’s medals, and Tauranga’s Space Studios’ crew Outcasts taking home bronze.
With 200 teams representing 38 countries at the 2023 event in Phoenix, Aotearoa again showed its strength with finalists in five of the six divisions.
