There may not be a more famous dance team than the LSU Tiger Girls, which lost to UNLV in Hip Hop for a second year in a row at the UDA National Championship. The controversial victory sparked a debate about whether the competition should be split by gender moving forward.
Gender apparently plays a role in the degree of difficulty for each routine.
Before we go any further here — hand up— I am basically learning about collegiate dance in real time, and I would imagine that I am not the only one. Please forgive my lack of knowledge when it comes to all of the technical jargon. We’re all in this together.
UNLV won the national title in Hip Hop.
Congratulations to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The Rebel Girls & Co. won the Hip Hop national championship and that cannot be taken away from them. All of the hard work and long hours led them to their seventh victory all-time in the category and their second win in a row. They went back-to-back!
The University Dance Association’s Collegiate National Championships took place in Orlando, Florida over the weekend. There are some other regional and national collegiate dance competitions that are considered important but “the UDAs” is the big one. This is the one that really matters.
Teams competed in three divisions based on the size of their university and its NCAA status.
- ‘OPEN’ is for schools like Endicott, Northwest Community College, Orange Coast College and West Chester University. It is open to any school that enrolls.
- ‘D1’ is for schools like Cal State Fullerton, College of Charleston and Hofstra. It is the mid-major level, if you will.
- ‘D1A’ is for schools like UCF, San Diego State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Tennessee and Michigan. It is the big one.
Each division competes in four dance categories: Jazz, Pom, Game Day and Hip Hop. The list of 2026 champions are as follow:
- Divison IA Jazz — Ohio State
- Division IA Pom — Minnesota
- Division IA Hip Hop — UNLV
- Division IA Game Day — UNLV
- Division I Pom — Cal State Fullerton
- Division I Hip Hop — Weber State
- Division I Jazz — Grand Canyon
- Division I Game Day — Southeastern Louisiana
- Open Hip Hop — Northwest Community College
- Open Pom — Minnesota State, Mankato
- Open Jazz — Minnesota State, Mankato
- Open Game Day — Endicott
We are only going to focus on Division IA Hip Hop. It came down to UNLV, Cincinnati and LSU.
The LSU Tiger Girls dance team always goes viral.
Regardless of how things actually shake out on the podium in terms of results, the Tigers still manage to grab the headlines. Their routine always goes viral on the internet.
You might remember their performance to ‘Smooth Criminal’ from 2024.
This year was not the exception. LSU is the most talked about Hip Hop routine… even though UNLV won.
The Tiger Girls delivered a near-perfect dance to a mashup of Kendrick Lamar’s biggest hits.
As is the case every year, they broke the internet. They crushed it!
And yet, it was the Rebels who took home the crown with this performance:
Some collegiate dance fans thought LSU was robbed. Others think UNLV deserved the win because its routine was more difficult and better executed, even though the music selection was not as good.
The judges sided with the latter over the former.
Herein lies the debate. Result completely to the side, there is a clear discrepancy in terms of demographic makeup. The Tiger Girls feature a cast of only females. The Rebel Girls & Co. also featured a group of 10 males— the “Co.”
That is not against the rules! It is a co-ed competition at the DCA National Championship. This was not a transgender or gender identity situation. Nothing like that.
It is how it is and the men should be allowed to dance in college if they want to dance in college!
However, it is my understanding that UNLV beat LSU in Hip Hop in large part because its routine was more difficult in terms of technicalities. Part of that increased difficulty stems from the male dancers who are physically able to perform bigger and more athletic stunts based on their stature.
Maybe that isn’t true but it is what I took away from the ongoing internet debate about this discrepancy. How is it fair that the Tiger Girls were not able to win because they did not have any men on the team? Should the competition be split by gender? Should men be allowed to compete against/with women?