yoko.cool / NSU Modern at Vibe XV (6:28)
NSU Modern is one of UCLA’s premiere competitive hip-hop dance crews. This video is from Vibe XV, the 2010 edition of a massive collegiate dance competition held in Southern California. Although I think this performance is so fun to watch (the music is so good, plus there is Leather Jacket Guy who pretty much leaves his heart and soul on the stage), they unfortunately didn’t place in the top 3 — in comparison to other crews, their overall movement lacks crispness, they’re not quite in sync, and this a personal opinion, but I find their slightly-differing outfits to be a little distracting.
HOWEVER I chose this video because NSU Modern’s blocking is extraordinary. If you watch the parts of the performance where they are transitioning spots and hit pause, you’ll see that they are creating perfect lines and rows. Toward the end (starting around 5:38 and especially around 5:59 and 6:07), when every member comes out for the finale, watching them move is like watching an optical illusion.
Fun fact: when I was a student at UCLA, I auditioned to be in NSU Modern. I didn’t make the cut either, womp womp!
Also, in case you were curious, these were dance crews that won first, second, and third at Vibe XV: Choreo Cookies (5:56), a great example of excellent synchronization; Common Ground (6:08), whose performance could have placed from the narrative alone; Team Millennia (6:04), a slightly less hip hop-y, though still great, performance.