Two UF dance troupes will share the spotlight on the small screen tonight competing on a BET dance show.
Four men from the all-male Apocalypse Dance Troupe and four women from the all-female Urban Essence dance group joined forces two weeks ago and competed March 28 in BET's "Spring Bling" dance competition "Revamped" in West Palm Beach, Fla. The show airs tonight at 8:30.
The groups decided to work together to form "Ultimate Alliance," said Barry Naylor, former president of Apocalypse Dance Troupe.
"We wanted to go down there and just try to let it be known that there's a dance troupe at UF that can actually dance," Naylor said.
Tarnessa Gaines, captain of Urban Essence, said the group practiced four to five hours every day for two weeks in preparation for the competition.
Ultimate Alliance was one of 20 groups invited to audition and was chosen by MTV's "Making the Band" choreographer Laurie Ann Gibson to be one of the two groups competing on the show the next day, Gaines said.
A challenge lay ahead for the dancers - Gibson assigned them a new song, Flo Rida's "Low," to which they had to create a new routine to perform at the competition. Steven Duncan, president of Apocalypse Dance Troupe, said working together was a challenge of suppressing competitive spirits, but the demand for co-ed dance troupes and drive to win fueled the groups toward working hard.
Duncan said Ultimate Alliance was to represent UF and to show that students can also be a part of a serious dance group.
"It's about time something like this happened," he said. "It'll be nice to get some recognition."
Though both groups are getting ready for another competition and possibly competing on MTV's "America's Best Dance Crew," both Gaines and Duncan said their respective groups are excited to watch the show.
"It's BET," Gaines said. "It doesn't get any bigger than that."
