OREM, Utah — On April 27 and 28, the Utah Valley University (UVU) Dance team competed in the Universal Dance Association (UDA) College Dance Team National Championship at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. This competition was a chance for UVU to show that despite unexpected setbacks due to COVID-19, they are still champions — and they did not disappoint.

UVU returned to the national dance floor to defend their two national championship titles and came home with a third-straight Division I Jazz National Championship and as back-to-back Division I Pom National Champions.

This means that since competing in their first UDA National Championship three years ago, the UVU Dance team has won every year in every division they entered. They now have nine national titles and one world title. But while the recognition is well-deserved, the dance team celebrates so much more than first-place trophies.

“The highlight of this competition is that we were actually there!” said Jamie Crowther, UVU Dance team coach. “It’s incredible that after a yearlong worldwide pandemic, we were even able to go and compete.”

“We had been working and working leading up to that moment, not even knowing if we would be able to travel and be there when the time came to compete,” said Cierra Peters, a four-year member of the UVU team. “So, it was surreal to hear the announcement that we had accomplished our goal and defended our national titles!”

Not only did they defend their national titles, but UVU Dance impressed the judges with their execution of synchronization, cleanliness, showmanship, and choreography, earning scores of 95.98 in jazz and a 93.62 in pom. The high marks were proof of the team’s dedication during a difficult year.

As with all collegiate groups, UVU Dance was impacted by COVID-19. They weren’t allowed to perform at any fall sports. Temperature and symptom checks were required before every practice. Each dancer had to be tested weekly for COVID-19 during the spring athletic season.

“Sometimes practicing not knowing if any sports or competition would be happening this school year was really challenging,” said Kaela Lunt, UVU Spirit Squad manager. “In addition, we had to be quarantined once due to COVID exposure on the team, which set us back a couple weeks in preparation.”

But despite the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, the UVU Dance team continued to dance. They held socially distanced practices and performed their annual dance concert to a limited audience. And with every masked instruction and every COVID-19 test, they knew it was one step closer to their chance to defend their national titles.

 “When we heard the final rankings announced, we felt incredible, excited, and relieved,” said Crowther. “All of the unknowns and hard work were worth it.”

For more information on the team, please visit the UVU Spirit Squad website.