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There may not be a more famous dance team than the LSU Tiger Girls, which lost to UNLV in Hip Hop for a second year in a row at the UDA National Championship. The controversial victory sparked a debate about whether the competition should be split by gender moving forward. Gender apparently plays a role in the degree of difficulty for each routine. Before we go any further here — hand up— I am basically learning about collegiate dance in real time, and I would imagine that I am not the only one. Please forgive my lack of knowledge when it comes to all of the technical jargon. We’re all in this together. UNLV won the national title in Hip Hop. Congratulations to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The Rebel Girls & Co. won the Hip Hop national championship and that cannot be taken away from them. All of the hard work and long hours led them to their seventh victory all-time in the category and their second win in a row. They went back-to-back! The University Dance Association’s Collegiate National Championships took place in Orlando, Florida over the weekend. There are some other regional and national collegiate dance competitions that are considered important but “the UDAs” is the big one. This is the one that really matters. Teams competed in three divisions based on the size of their university and its NCAA status. ‘OPEN’ is for schools like Endicott, Northwest Community College, Orange Coast College and West Chester University. It is open to any school that enrolls. ‘D1’ is for schools like Cal State Fullerton, College of Charleston and Hofstra. It is the mid-major level, if you will. ‘D1A’ is for schools like UCF, San Diego State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Tennessee and Michigan. It is the big one. Each division competes in four dance categories: Jazz, Pom, Game Day and Hip Hop. The list of 2026 champions are as follow: Divison IA Jazz — Ohio State Division IA Pom — Minnesota Division IA Hip Hop — UNLV Division IA Game Day — UNLV Division I Pom — Cal State Fullerton Division I Hip Hop — Weber State Division I Jazz — Grand Canyon Division I Game Day — Southeastern Louisiana Open Hip Hop — Northwest Community College Open Pom — Minnesota State, Mankato Open Jazz — Minnesota State, Mankato Open Game Day — Endicott We are only going to focus on Division IA Hip Hop. It came down to UNLV, Cincinnati and LSU. The LSU Tiger Girls dance team always goes viral. Regardless of how things actually shake out on the podium in terms of results, the Tigers still manage to grab the headlines. Their routine always goes viral on the internet. You might remember their performance to ‘Smooth Criminal’ from 2024. View this post on Instagram A post shared by SAMMY MCFADDEN – Dancer + Choreographer (@sammy__mcfadden) This year was not the exception. LSU is the most talked about Hip Hop routine… even though UNLV won. The Tiger Girls delivered a near-perfect dance to a mashup of Kendrick Lamar’s biggest hits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifABIj3KAIk As is the case every year, they broke the internet. They crushed it! And yet, it was the Rebels who took home the crown with this performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDGGQmVN8pA Some collegiate dance fans thought LSU was robbed. Others think UNLV deserved the win because its routine was more difficult and better executed, even though the music selection was not as good. The judges sided with the latter over the former. Herein lies the debate. Result completely to the side, there is a clear discrepancy in terms of demographic makeup. The Tiger Girls feature a cast of only females. The Rebel Girls & Co. also featured a group of 10 males— the “Co.” That is not against the rules! It is a co-ed competition at the DCA National Championship. This was not a transgender or gender identity situation. Nothing like that. It is how it is and the men should be allowed to dance in college if they want to dance in college! However, it is my understanding that UNLV beat LSU in Hip Hop in large part…

Samedi, le RC Lens reprend la route de France. Loin de ses bases pour la troisième fois de l’année 2026, les Sang et Or joueront à Marseille pour le compte de la 19e journée. Surtout, les Lensois s’y rendent avec huit points d’avance sur leur adversaire. Le Racing Club de Lens s’est imposé face à Auxerre lors de la 18e journée de Ligue 1. Pour cela, son salut est une nouvelle fois passé par son attaquant Wesley Saïd, auteur du but de la victoire. Désormais, le Racing se tourne vers son prochain match : l’Olympique de Marseille. À l’Orange Vélodrome, les joueurs de Pierre Sage vont se déplacer avec le costume de leader, mais surtout avec huit points d’avance sur l’OM. « C’est confortable comptablement. Après, on sait très bien que c’est une grosse équipe. Ça va être une belle ambiance. Ça va être un choc », commente Wesley Saïd. Un match comme un autre Pour autant, le numéro 22 du RCL reste serein à l’approche de cette affiche. « On va se préparer tranquillement. Je pense qu’ils ont plus la pression que nous à ce niveau-là. Mais nous, on va le jouer à fond comme on joue tous les matchs, comme on a joué le match d’aujourd’hui. Donc, il n’y a pas de différence », ajoute l’attaquant. Propos recueillis par Eloïse De Mester au stade Bollaert-Delelis de Lens.The post Wesley Saïd à propos du déplacement à Marseille : «On va le jouer à fond comme on joue tous les matchs» appeared first on Lensois.com.