Dance Champions

It’s official! We have a world dance champion in our midst!

Year 12 student, Aston Mtada beat hundreds of dancers from across the world to be crowned World Champion in the Under 18 Solo World Street Dance Championships 2020.

Year 5 student, Frank Tate came 3rd in the Under 10 Solo Category, beating scores of other contestants.

Thousands of dancers from across the globe competed for the World Street Dance Champion titles in front of the world's best Street Dance and Hip Hop dance celebrity judges.

This year, due to the Pandemic, the four-day event went online!

I really want to say thank you to my Dance and Performing Arts teachers. I mean I never saw myself as being good, but through their encouragement and always being there to help, motivate and teach me, I know now what I can achieve!
Aston Mtada
Year 12 Student - Winner of Under 18 Solo World Street Dance Championship 2020

Meanwhile, nine-year-old Frank, who experienced his first major competition, says his love for dance made him more confident when he performed for judges.

Both Aston and Frank, UDO Academy Scholarship Dancers, have now placed WSO and the UAE on the world dance map!

Originally, the Academy’s Adrenaline Youth Dance Company Team qualified to return to the UDO World Championships 2020 to try and better their 7th & 9th place earned in 2016 and 2018 respectively.

Now the team will hopefully honour this qualification in August 2021 and will train hard this year with the Academy’s dance partners, UDO Academy Dubai.

We may not have travelled to Blackpool, but we sure did show the world the talent we have, not only just at WSO, but also the UAE.

The UDO Academy Dubai has really enhanced not just these students, but all of our students dance training over the last 7 years in addition to their Performing Arts Curriculum at WSO.
Emma Tate
Dance Programme Manager and UDO Academy Coordinator