Editor’s Note: Here’s our special guest-written piece by MEWS! More of their content can be found here!

It was a quiet Saturday of Week 7 in the Monash campus until you approached the badminton court where you’re met with blaring music and the smell of buttery popcorn. Open the door and you would find people flexing their bodies, dripping with sweat while they danced to the music. Inside the court, the Monash Street Dance Society was hosting their dance competition, also known as the Monash Street Dance Society Novice Jam: Volume 2.

Dancers openly practiced their dances as they waited for the competition to begin. There were two types of dance battles, one was a showcase, which was the group competition, while the other was the 1v1 dance-off.

Besides the dances, there were also a photo booth and a booth opened by one of the sponsors of the event, ‘Illsome Apparel’.

After bringing back the competition from last year, it was met with a strong reception as dancers from both within Monash and outside Monash compete with each other.

The 1v1 dance-off began first with auditions for the top 16, where they were given 45 seconds to show off their skills before the judges selected the top 16 out of the 76 contestants who participated.

Between the battles for top 16, there was an interlude for the group dances, which wowed the audience by displaying insane coordination and the dance skills of all of the dance crews attending.

At the end of the event, after a tough decision between two dancers, the judges picked Arvin Manuel (number 70) as the winner of the dance competition.

Written by Wilson Cheah

Edited by Ming Ooi

Photos by Khosyi Musyaffa and Ryan Wee