GUELPH, Ont. - The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) DancePak kicked off their 2022-23 competitive season this past weekend at Terpsichore's University Dance Challenge (UDC). The 23 dancers travelled to Guelph for three days of competition, competing against 28 other university and college dance teams from Ontario and Saskatchewan. The team completed eight solos, one duet and nine groups, the largest amount of entries in the team's history.

In the solo division, first-year dancer, Amanda Canseco, made a strong debut this weekend winning 1st place in the Open Solo Age 19 category. Amanda's score was also strong enough to earn her the place of 9th overall soloist, out of 282 competitors, and carries the top score out of TMU DancePak's routines for weekend one. Additionally, senior dancer Zina Begovic started the competition season placing 1st in the Contemporary Solo Age 21 category and was awarded a Judge's Choice award for excellence. Begovic's solo also earned her an 11th overall finish out of the 282 competitors. Last of our top scoring soloists is first-year dancer Shane Mahabir. Mahabir had a promising debut with the DancePak team this weekend earning 2nd place in the highly competitive Contemporary Solo Age 20 category and 25th overall out of the 282 competitors. 

DancePak's dynamic duo of Begovic and third-year dancer, Qiara St. Amand, self-choreographed and performed a contemporary duet, scoring 1st in the Contemporary Duo/Trio Age 20 category. The duo also earned 2nd place overall out of 69 duo/trio entries, and received a Judge's Choice award for excellence. 

This season, the team competed four different routines in the small group division (4-9 dancers), in styles Jazz, Contemporary, Lyrical and Tap. All of the small groups received Outstanding awards and the team's small jazz group placed 3rd in the Small Jazz Age 20 category. One of the biggest achievements, however, goes to St. Amand, for choreographing the small contemporary group, which competed this past Saturday. This group of eight females won a Judge's Choice award for excellence, 1st place in the highly competitive Contemporary Small Group Age 19 category (with 23 entries), and took a very impressive 6th place overall in the division of 136 small groups. 

The large groups (10-16 dancers) and lines (17+ dancers) took to the stage on the final day of the competition weekend, where the team competed another five routines in Contemporary, Open, Jazz and Hip Hop. The team received 3rd place in the Contemporary Large Group Age 19 category and was also awarded 7th place overall with the same routine. Later in the evening, the DancePak performed their Hip Hop dance called 2000's, which won 2nd place in the Hip Hop Line Age 19 category and resulted in the team's highest scoring group of the competition.

The weekend concluded late Sunday night with the announcement of the Top 10 teams. Each team's highest 10 scores were added together to determine the overall standings. After a few years of not placing in the top team category, TMU DancePak was very pleased to walk away as the 7th overall team of the weekend, out of 28 very talented schools competing at Terpsichore.

The DancePak will compete in Mississauga from March 17-19 at Be U: Varsity Challenge before ending their competition season in Niagara Falls from March 24-26. The Be U: Varsity Challenge can be live-streamed via the Be Dance Website (bedance.ca). Check out the DancePak Instagram story (@tmudancepak) throughout the weekend to know when to tune in to the live competition and support the TMU DancePak!