Hip hop shakedown returns with a vengeance
The return of the Shakedown hiphop competition on Saturday served as a reminder to New Zealand’s hip-hop dance fraternity that Nelson remains an emerging beast.
This year 450 dancers competed in seven categories before a capacity crowd at the Nelson College Hall, with 370 competitors coming from out of town.
Hometown involvement was strong with three Nelson crews - Born and Raised Academy, Mad Beat and Synergy - and several individual and small crews.
The emergence of Nelson as a hip-hop powerhouse was reflected in the evening’s results.
Local wins came from Nareise Bezett in the mini-solo category, the senior small crew team ‘Ashley and Morgan’ and a combined Nelson and Christchurch effort by the junior small crew Mia and Mya. Nelson crew Iconic came second.
While Christchurch and Wellington crews took out a majority of the teams categories, local entries Synergy and Spilt Milk managed to claim second placings in the varsity and junior crew sections, respectively.
Organiser Gemma Laing started the competition eight years ago as a way to help up and coming Nelson and South Island crews to become more competitive at a national level.
Since then, the rise of local teams and the overall reputation of Shakedown has brought top teams from all around the country to Nelson.
The growth of the event had also served to forge closer ties between Christchurch, Blenheim and Nelson studios, which Laing said had given kids the chance for further support and encouragement.
‘‘It’s always something that we want to keep in Nelson because we are proud that we have grown this event from about 60 to 80 dancers to now where we’ve got 500 attending.’’
‘‘The feedback we’ve had has been great – a lot of people have said ‘we didn’t even know about this’, so hopefully we can keep spreading the word.’’
The girls of Synergy also attracted attention off-stage for their stance on hydration, choosing to go sugar-drink free for the competition.
Preparing to represent NZ at the Hip Hop Unite championships in The Netherlands in a few weeks time, the crew has found its wateronly rule useful as they train for up to fours a day ahead of their international performance.
‘‘They really want to do well over there and want to be the best prepared and they feel like by fuelling their bodies well with the right food and hydrating properly that’s going to give them the best chance of doing well,’’ Laing said.