By Laurine Cotte – Contributor

The Dream Street Dance Battle, organized by the Bishop’s Arts Festival and hosted by Herbert Herbz, invited students and dancers to battle against each other for a grand prize of $200.  The event took place on April 1 and attracted impressive dancers from Bishop’s, Sherbrooke, Montreal, Ottawa, and Boston.

The battle pitted dancers against each other and was divided into two categories: hip-hop and popping. The battle took place under the supervision of judges Word and Hyougz, both talented dancers from the community, excelling within their respective categories. 

As a hip-hop dancer myself, I decided to get out of my comfort zone and represent the BU Dance Club and the competitive team in this battle. It had been five years since my last battle, so even if I was scared to compete against such amazing dancers, it felt good to be back. Surprisingly, I made it to the quarterfinals! 

While each dancer was performing with their unique styles and tricks, quite a big crowd started gathering to encourage them, especially when we got close to the finals. Soon after, the hip-hop themed night at the Gait began, which was a blast. It is safe to say that both dancers and spectators really enjoyed the show. 

  A dance battle involves two dancers competing against each other in one-on-one battles. They each have short one-minute rounds to perform and show their stuff on the dance floor before the judge decides the winner of the battle by pointing at the best dancer. The champion moves on to the next round, and competition continues until two dancers remain. A final culminating round decides the overall winner of the event. You might have seen hip-hop battles before, but popping is a different style based on the technique of quickly contracting and relaxing muscles to cause a “pop” in the body. This style is less well known than hip-hop, but the technique is really impressive, and trust me, during this battle, we were served! 

Thanks to the excellent organization of the BU Arts Festival, this event was a great success! I encourage you to check out the two winners of the Dream Street Dance Battle on Instagram: @c_rowpop2.0 (popping winner) and @21swish (hip-hop winner).