Earlier this month, the Universal Dance Association (UDA) hosted its annual national championship in Orlando, Florida. According to its website, the organization has held this competition for more than 35 years and describes it as “the most prestigious collegiate national championship in the country.”
Within the dance world, that reputation carries weight. For many college dancers, UDA Nationals are not just another competition; they are the defining moment of a collegiate career.
For many athletes on college dance teams, their time on stage ends when they graduate. While some dancers may pursue opportunities with professional sports teams, those positions are limited and highly competitive.
Others reach a point where, after years of training, their bodies simply cannot maintain the same level of intensity. College dance demands constant repetition and physical resilience, and the wear accumulates over time.
Because of this, UDA Nationals often feel final in a way few other competitions do. It has even been called the “Super Bowl” of dance. The event spans a single weekend, and teams perform one routine they have refined for months.
There is no extended season and no opportunity to revise after the competition. For many dancers, this is the last time they will perform at this level in front of judges who understand the technical and artistic stakes. The pressure is intense, but so is the meaning of the competition for these dancers.
This year, however, UDA Nationals seemed to exist beyond the walls of the competition venue. During the weekend of January 16, TikTok and Instagram were flooded with videos from Orlando.
Full routines circulated alongside travel vlogs, rehearsal footage, and “get ready with me” videos showing makeup, hair, and pre-performance rituals. Dancers documented everything from early mornings to post-performance relief. Viewers who had never watched collegiate dance before were suddenly exposed to both the artistry and athleticism involved.
Some performances reached especially wide audiences. Videos of The Ohio State University’s jazz routine, for example, accumulated over a million views across platforms. But even smaller programs benefited too.
Clips from teams across the country appeared on For You pages, shared not only by dancers but by spectators who were captivated by the routines. What was once a niche collegiate event became a widely visible cultural phenomenon.
This visibility matters because collegiate dance occupies an unusual position within university athletics. Under the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), dance is not formally recognized as a sport.
As a result, dancers at many Division I schools are not guaranteed access to the same resources provided to NCAA athletes. These can include scholarships, athletic dining halls, personal trainers, or dedicated practice facilities. Instead, dance teams often operate in a space somewhere between athletics and extracurricular activity.
That discrepancy resonates deeply with me as a collegiate cheerleader. Cheer and dance teams regularly appear at Division I athletic events, represent their universities publicly, and are expected to maintain demanding schedules.
My team performs at basketball and soccer games, attends community and volunteer events, and supports university athletics in highly visible ways. We are expected to be consistent and physically prepared. Yet structurally, we are treated more like an informal organization than an athletic team.
This imbalance can be frustrating. Expectations are high, but institutional support does not always match them. Many teams, like mine, rehearse late at night because facilities are unavailable earlier. Some athletes balance rigorous practice schedules with academic responsibilities without access to the resources that help other student-athletes manage similar demands.
The University of Minnesota’s dance team illustrates this tension clearly. The program is often described as one of the most successful in the country, with a long history of national titles in jazz and pom. Despite this legacy, dancers have spoken publicly about not having consistent access to athletic dining, trainers, or facilities that are permanently designated for their use. Their success exists alongside limitations that would be surprising if applied to many other Division I programs.
Social media does not change institutional structures overnight, but it does alter who gets to witness these realities. When routines and practices are widely shared, the labor behind collegiate dance becomes more difficult to ignore.
Viewers see not only the final performance, but the time and discipline required to make it happen. They see dancers as athletes, artists, and representatives of their universities all at once.
This year’s surge of online attention suggests that collegiate dance is being seen more clearly than before. It has grown from being more than halftime entertainment to a demanding and meaningful athletic pursuit.
Whether that visibility leads to formal changes, remains to be seen. But at the very least, it has expanded the conversation. For the dancers who step onto the mat knowing this may be their final performance, that recognition matters.
UDA Nationals have always been significant within the dance community. Now, more people are watching and listening. I can only hope the NCAA is as well.