World Hip Hop Dance Championship Qualifiers!
Last week, coach and teacher Miss V, along with current Year 11 student Emily Aubin and former student Maya Satake (2024), travelled to Auckland with their dance crew Allies from the RASA School of Dance to compete in the 2025 New Zealand Hip Hop International Dance Championship.
This is the largest and most prestigious hip hop dance competition in the country—and marked the very first time RASA had entered a crew. Crews from across Aotearoa competed for the chance to qualify for the World Hip Hop Dance Championship—often referred to as "The Olympics of Hip Hop Dance"—to be held in Phoenix, Arizona.
Allies competed in the Varsity division (ages 13–17), facing off against 17 other teams. To qualify for the world championships, they needed to place in the top 5—no easy task! After the preliminary round, Allies were thrilled to make it through to the finals, placing 6th and becoming the only South Island crew to make it through.
With an outstanding performance in the finals, Allies jumped up the leaderboard to finish 4th in New Zealand, earning themselves a spot at the World Championships. Even more impressively, they were the only non-Auckland crew to place in the top 5. Their result is a true testament to years of hard work, commitment, and passion.
Now, the dream continues as Allies prepares to represent Dunedin, the South Island, and New Zealand in Phoenix, Arizona, in July 2025!
Photography by Melissa Purnell and Brian Satake
Gallery
