Ex-Pakuranga College student Tate Miller and current year 13 pupil Liam Jennings have danced their way to success, each winning silver medals at the annual World Hip Hop Dance Championship in Arizona.
More than 3000 of the world’s best dancers from more than 55 countries came together for the high-profile competition, staged from July 30 to August 6.
Miller and Jennings both competed for the Identity Dance Company crew Yung ID in the Junior Varsity Megacrew division, where they won silver.
The group already had a taste of success locally, winning their category at Hip Hop International (HHI) New Zealand, the competition to qualify for the worlds.
Miller also competed in the Varisty division for the Swaggernauts crew where he picked up another silver medal.
This was Miller’s second trip to the prestigious competition and has now won a total of four silver medals after his two last year.
“Everyone’s got to be on point. When you watch the video of your performance, you can see even the slightest mis-timed movement,” says Miller.
In the Megacrew division, teams can have up to 40 people dancing on stage.
The competition also houses four other divisions; Juniors (ages 8-12), Varsity (High School age), Adult (18+) and mini crews (three people, any age).
As for Jennings, it was his first trip to the worlds and described the podium finish as “the best feeling in the world”.
The crew danced in a hockey arena with around 9000 spectators on the final day to win their medal.
“It was as crazy as you’d expect to be honest, nothing’s not going on there. There was just so many people,” Jennings says.
Jennings says it was always the end goal to win a medal and was the cherry on top of countless hours of practice for the event.
