Followers of faculty dance groups are eagerly anticipating the rematch in Division 1A between the College of Minnesota and Ohio State College at this yr’s UDA Nationals. Final yr, U of M took first in Division 1A Pom and OSU took second; and in Division 1A Jazz, OSU took first and U of M positioned second.
For sisters Ellie and Ava Wagner, this yr’s Nationals will cap off practically 20 years of competing each with and towards one another. Ellie, a senior at OSU, will take the mat for the final time along with her teammates and towards her sister, Ava, a sophomore at U of M.
The Wagner sisters started their coaching on the ages of three and a couple of, respectively, at Larkin Dance Studio in Maplewood, Minnesota. The nice-granddaughters of the studio’s founder, Ellie and Ava known as the dance studio their “first dwelling,” and spent hours there every week. Finally, they each started competing, principally collectively in teams or duets, and solely as soon as towards one another as soloists.
“She beat me, by solely half a degree,” Ava says.
“I actually don’t even keep in mind that,” Ellie admits.
They even competed as a duo on the third season of “World of Dance,” the place they positioned third.
However competitiveness by no means factored into their relationship, they are saying, and, in truth, dance introduced them nearer as sisters. “We did the whole lot collectively,” Ava says. “We might drive to highschool at 6 am collectively, drive to bounce proper after. We had been collectively 24/7.”
The primary to graduate highschool, Ellie didn’t see herself becoming a member of a school dance crew at first. “I used to be all the time like, ‘I’m gonna go to L.A.’ or ‘I’m gonna go to New York.’” However when the COVID pandemic interrupted Ellie’s junior yr of highschool, her mother inspired her to contemplate school whereas the leisure business was on pause. As soon as she utilized to OSU and met the dance crew, she knew it was the place for her. “The crew’s tradition was superior, and so they had been dancing at such an elite stage,” she says.
Regardless of watching her sister thrive at OSU, Ava was additionally late to determine on becoming a member of a dance crew. OSU began to recruit her early in her highschool profession (many high dance groups, together with U of M and OSU, have transitioned to recruiting dancers somewhat than internet hosting auditions). Like her sister, Ava additionally dreamed of shifting to Los Angeles to pursue her dance profession. “Unexpectedly in my senior yr, one thing switched and I used to be like, ‘I can’t depart dwelling. I don’t really feel able to go to L.A. to attempt to navigate all these things on my own.’” She was recruited by each U of M and OSU and finally selected U of M, which left her and Ellie on rival dance groups for the primary time of their lives.
“It was a tough time for me at first, her being so far-off,” says Ava, “however I knew that she cherished [OSU], and what made me really feel so good is that she had such nice teammates to lean on.”
The sisters additionally needed to regulate to the distinctive calls for of dance-team choreography, just like the extra-fast flip sequences and exact formations. “I all the time say it’s the toughest two minutes of my life,” Ellie says. “And there’s no technique to practice for it in addition to simply doing it, time and again.”
Ava, then again, attracts on her love of hip hop when dancing pom. “Clearly, you must study the motions and the proper method, however you must have that punch, that pop, and that struggle that hip hop has.”
Final yr, social media, significantly TikTok, amplified UDA Nationals and resulted in dancers everywhere in the nation commenting on the competitors, attempting the flip sequences, and re-creating the costumes. The perceived rivalry between OSU and U of M was particularly highlighted. Within the lead-up to this yr’s occasion, many dancers, together with Ellie and Ava, have been posting on TikTok. The sisters see the social media consideration and the varsity rivalry as being in good enjoyable. “The excitement is such a very good factor for all school dance groups,” Ava says. “We love how a lot recognition dance groups get on TikTok. We predict that dance groups ought to be getting this recognition and extra. Our principal aim [in making TikToks] is to make individuals excited and wish to watch UDA and help dance groups.”
The siblings’ largest supporters—their dad and mom—will likely be there within the stands to help each groups. “My dad was texting a month in the past, saying ‘We have to determine our outfits,’” says Ellie. “Our dad and mom have a unique one for every day of the competitors. And in the event that they must run throughout [the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex] to see us each, that’s what they’ll do.”
In Ellie and Ava’s eyes, the true winners are their dad and mom. “They mentioned final yr went completely for them,” Ava explains. “As a result of each universities received.”
