A UST dance group took home the gold medal in the NCR Qualifiers of the National Dance Championship (NDC) Season 12 at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall last Jan. 28.
Prime, formerly known as the UST Hype, garnered 266.5 points to rule the college co-ed hip hop category and advance to the nationals.
The University of Asia and the Pacific Squadra Dance Varsity finished second with 244.5 points while the Quezon City Polytechnic University Diversity Dance Crew secured bronze with 213 points.
“Sobrang excited and motivated kami nung nalaman namin na qualified kami for nationals since ito yung first interschool competition namin as Prime. Hopefully, mas marami sanang Thomasians ang mag-support at manood sa NDC finals,” team captain Meeko Evangelista said in an online interview.
In the last UAAP season, Prime landed third in the street dance competition, securing its first podium finish since the tournament started in 2011.
Prime is composed mostly of members from Flux and Project Pax, the champions and the second placers in last year’s “Hype,” the university-wide streetdance competition.
“Pero may mga members na rin kami from Watah, Juvenile, Arki Dance Troupe, Casa Footworks and Archetypes. Outside UST, some of us are involved in professional dance teams such as UPeepz, A-Team, Alliance, and Legit Status,” Evangelista said.
Together with the National Cheerleading Championship, NDC is an annual competition that features some of the best dance crews from all over the country.
Prime is set to compete in the nationals on March 10 at the Mall of Asia Arena.