INDEPENDENT NEWS

Wellington Hip Hop takes top prizes at national competitions

Published: Mon 21 May 2018 09:56 AM
Locking in world competition qualifying spots at NZ’s premier national hip hop event in Auckland, Wellington based dance studio The Company NZ (TCNZ) will send two crews to the World Hip Hop Dance Championship (WHHDC) in Phoenix, Arizona, in August 2018.
With Wellington Championship titles under their belt, TCNZ The Capital and Recruits (mega and junior crews) came in at top three in the national HHI competition in Auckland in April, securing highly coveted placings for a run at the world championship in Arizona, August 2018.
The HHI national qualifying event is NZ’s supreme competitive hip hop competition, fielding crews from the nation’s most experienced and acclaimed dance studios (including The Palace and ID CO). Staged at Vodafone Events Centre, Manukau, from 16 – 20 April, and with over 100 teams competing across 4 categories, The Capital and Recruits beat NZ’s toughest competition in three brutal and tightly contested knock out rounds. TCNZ Artistic Director and former world champion hip hop dancer, Ben Uili, says ‘The amount of hard work and commitment that went into winning at the National Competition is what every Artistic Director hopes to see, and has really paid off. Competing at Worlds is a rare chance for any hip hop dancer – and in NZ, rarer because the standard is so high. I’m really proud of them.’
The World Championship competition in Arizona plays host to 45 countries and more than 5000 competitors. Ten-times NZ representatives, TCNZ are well versed in the fierce energy that international crews bring to the ‘Olympics’ of world competition. ‘It’s another level up. Tough and exacting, we’re like all crews going there; we plan to bring home medals,’ says Executive Director, Liston Peilua. ‘This is our seventh world championship and we’re fortunate to have been the only Wellington organisation to qualify for the World Champs. We’ve had useful feedback from the win in Auckland, and plan to utilise it to carefully inform our preparations.’
World Hip Hop Dance Championship 2018 will be staged in Phoenix, Arizona from 5 – 11 August.

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