It’s that time of the year again the SuperBowl of dance. The event is hosted by UDA (Universal Dance Association), which was founded in 1980 to help promote the sport. They provide training for high school and college students with the best instructors and choreographers. They also provide summer camps and clinics for dancers on many college campuses. This year’s nationals happened from January 16 to the 18th being held at Walt Disney World Resort ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida with over 300 college teams all over the country competing in Hip Hop, Jazz, and Pom.
With the competition this year came a ton of controversy with judging from dancers and fans. The past year in 2025 the big 3 captivated us with their performance. They are the University of Minnesota (UMN), Ohio State University (OSU), and Louisiana State University (LSU). UMN took home first in their strong pom dance, OSU took first in Jazz dancing and LSU took home sixth to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. All the scores were close but these teams came to win this year and didn’t disappoint and some new teams worked their way up.
OSU and UMN have had a rivalry for years for first in both jazz and pom as both teams have such strong and talented dancers. For D1A Jazz OSU came in first place with a score of 96.78 with their rendition of the black swan from the ballet Swan Lake incorporating some ballet choreography from the ballet. Second, shocking the audience was LSU dancing to Britney Spears “Opps! I Did It Again” with a score of 95.56. LSU is known for their hip hop so coming in second over UMN is a big deal. In third was UMN with a score of 93.7. This year UMN took a risk with their jazz dance, choreographed by alum Ava Wagner who recently graduated in 2025. Dancing to a song from the Cabaret “Maybe This Time.” They chose this song as in past years judges have told the team that their choreography wasn’t “jazzy” enough so they took that into consideration this year choreographing a more “jazzy” routine and in the lyrics it says “maybe this I’ll win,” referring to maybe this time they will win in jazz but they came in third and made a statement.
In D1A Pom taking home first defending their national title for the fourth year in a row is UMN with a score of 97.36. Coming in second is Texas Tech University pleasing the audience with a team standing back tuck! They received a score 0f 97.1. Finally in third place OSU with a score of 96.4.
Finally for D1A Hip Hop winning back to back is the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a score of 97.38. Coming close in second is LSU with a score of 97.05 dancing to a mashup of Kendrick Lamar. Finally in third the University of Cincinnati with a score of 95.05.
“For Us, Only Us,” the Penn State Lionettes motto going into nationals this year. Due to the university’s budget reductions they cut off their funding. Funding a trip to nationals is expensive with hotels and air fare but the budget cut didn’t stop them. Senior Niki Romano advocated for her team to raise money for the team’s trip to nationals. She was able to raise up to 70,000 dollars. They were able to travel to Florida and compete because of the help of Romano and supporters. This year in D1A Jazz they came in 12th place with a score of 88.86 with their dance to “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” as they portrayed psychotic patients who can’t take their eyes off you dressed in straight jackets. For Pom they came in sixth place with a score 95.3. Their dance was inspired by the legendary white out football game they host every year.
