Saturday, 5th October saw the inaugural edition of the Ghana DanceSport League, with Team Hubes Dance Crew winning the number 1 spot, over United Kings Academy, 4Bent Dance Crew, Asa Academy, Flames Dance Company, and BAS Academy. This came off at the Street Dance Fiesta of the 10th Ghana Dance Festival at the Alliance Francaise.
The DanceSport League had presentation style format, where dance crews were required to perform to their own routines for all rounds. The 1st stage saw all six dance crews perform their routines, and the top four, based on creativity, team work, execution, and showmanship, moved on to the 2nd stage. The top four balloted to determine who they were going against in their respective fixtures. Team Hubes went against 4bent Dance Crew, beating them to qualify to the finals, while United Dance Academy went against Asa Dance Crew, beating them to qualify for the finals. To determine the 3rd place, a fixture between 4bent Dance Crew and Asa Dance Academy was held, where 4bent clinched the 3rd place with a no-show from Asa Academy. The final showdown saw Team Hubes and United Kings Academy in a fixture, where Team Hubes emerged the winner of the league, to the delight of judges and the cheering audience.
Team Hubes, representing Korle Gonno in Accra, won 4,000cedis for 1st place. United Kings Academy, hailing from Abesim in Sunyani, won 2000cedis for 2nd place. 4Bent Dance Crew representing Dansoman in Accra, won 1000cedis for 3rd place. All top three clubs were given medals for participation.
The judges for the DanceSport League were Adjetey Sowah, the 1986 World Dance champion, Dr. Terry Bright Ofosu, dance lecturer at the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana and the 1989 National Dance Champion, and Yvonne “Laladzy” Okyere, the CEO of the all-ladies dance crew, Flawless Dance Studio. The MC for the event was Mickie Flex, an iconic dancer with long standing dance experience.
According to Robert Klah, founder of the Ghana DanceSport League, “Dance is a sport. When dance made its way to the Olympics, this truth was further amplified. On the back of dance being a sport, DanceSport Ghana has been founded to promote dance as a sport, and we are happy to inaugurate the Ghana DanceSport League (Professional). Finally, dance athletes can look forward to an annual league to participate in while developing their career. Our next line of action is the inauguration of the Ghana DanceSport School League, which will cater to the amateur dance community. We already have affiliations with international dancesport organizations and we are looking forward to creating avenues for our dance athletes to participate in such events. To this end, we are looking forward to having DanceSport conversations making its way to regular sport programs, because we are here to stay.”
The inaugural edition of the Ghana DanceSport League was part of main activities of the Street Dance Fiesta of the 10th Ghana Dance Festival. It was preceded by a dance workshop featuring DWP Academy and its sensational members including Lisa Quama, Endurance Grand, Demzy Baye, King Nature and Richael. Following the workshop, guests were treated to performances from the best talents in the street dance, including the Millitantz Dance Family, Arenees Dance Crew, Flawless Dance Studio, 4bent Dance Crew, Black Illusion Dance Crew, Krump Ghana, House Ghana, The Originals, DMYB, Let’s Dance Africa, I Am Azonto, DWP Academy, 360 Dancers, Team Rasta Flex, One Ghana Dance Family and many more. To spice up the performances, Nila Dance Academy performed an Indian routine to “Makoma” by King Paluta, to the delight of the audience.
The Street Dance Fiesta of the 10th Ghana Dance Festival was brought to you in collaboration with DanceSport Ghana, in collaboration with the Dancers & DanceSport Association of Ghana (DDASPAG), and powered by Dancetera.
