UNLV dance team wins top honors at national competition
Members of UNLV’s Rebel Girls & Company dance team are once again national champions.
Competing over the weekend at the Universal Dance Association’s College National Championships in Orlando, Florida, UNLV’s co-ed dance team took home first place in two of the three categories in which it competed: game day and hip-hop.
Having previously won in 2023, 2019, 2018, 2016 and 2013, this year’s win marks the sixth time the team took home the top honors in the Division 1A hip-hop category, according to the team website.
“This team, they just had what it takes to be national champs,” said Marca DeCastroverde, the team’s head coach. “They worked really, really hard.”
Additionally, in the game day category, the team previously claimed the top spot in 2023, 2020, 2019 and 2018.
DeCastroverde, who has been at UNLV since 1998 and danced as a Rebel Girl herself, said she was feeling on top of the world after her team’s success.
“The goal is not to win, it’s to beat yourself from the year before,” she said.
But this year, DeCastroverde said she knew the team had something special.
“As a collective, as a group, they were just so connected,” DeCastroverde said. “It’s just a different type of energy when you have a championship team.”
When DeCastroverde first started coaching, the team wasn’t competitive. She said she questioned why this was the case and sought to change it. The key to its success, she said, is the team’s attention to detail.
“We compete against a lot of schools with really big athletic departments,” DeCastroverde said. This means that UNLV has to work harder to recruit and raise funds. “That’s what makes it so special,” she said.
DeCastroverde previously moved to make the team co-ed. This decision prompted criticism from competitors who questioned whether programs like UNLV’s relied on male dancers to perform tricks that elevated their choreography.
But the decision to go co-ed was one that DeCastroverde previously told the Las Vegas Review-Journal was a dream years in the making.
“I wanted there to be an experience and opportunities for young males to not only get their education but to be a part of a dance program,” DeCastroverde said in 2023.
This year’s team was the hardest audition the school has ever had, DeCastroverde said. She said she saw the team’s talent and potential from the get-go.
Contact Estelle Atkinson at eatkinson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @estelleatkinson.bsky.social on Bluesky and @estellelilym on X.