Student dance team DyNaMic burst onto the Hoff Theater’s stage Friday night, gyrating and break dancing to the Black Eyed Peas’ “Ring-a-ling” before dropping to the ground in sync as the sound effect of gunshots rang through the hall.

“Wow, I pulled a hamstring just watching that,” said Community Roots’ Jason Nichols, a graduate student who organized the Maryland’s Next Best Dance Crew competition.

The event pitted the co-ed hip-hop troupe, DyNaMic, against Dhoom, a female South Asian fusion team, in an effort to raise money and awareness for the Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program at the university. Although the two student groups who competed Friday seemed to be polar opposites, performers and audience members came together at the event and raised hundreds of dollars for the cause.

The proceeds went to SARPP’s victim assistance fund, which helps students or acquaintances of students who have been affected by stalking, relationship violence or sexual assault. The fund can be used to help a victim change the locks on his or her doors,or spend the night in a hotel.

Community Roots Public Relations co-Chairman Jazz Lewis, a junior government and politics major, said half of ticket sales benefited SARPP and a tenth was awarded to the winning dance team. The remainder will go toward future Community Roots programs. While an exact count of ticket sales has not been released, he said more than 100 people attended the event.

Before the performances, Nichols encouraged playful trash talking, asking a Dhoom  captain, “Is DyNaMic better than you?”

“Well, I have a question for them,” answered senior Nikki Anand, a physiology and neurobiology major. “Can you do Bollywood?”

Although the audience ate up both groups’ two self-choreographed sets, judges were torn when deciding the winner. Dhoom ultimately won the tiebreaker after drawing the loudest cheers from the audience.

Dhoom performed barefoot, and their routine, which included touches of classical Indian dance, was set to both American pop and Bollywood tracks. The group provided a sharp contrast to DyNaMic, which stomped and spun through a hip-hop heavy presentation in black sweatpants and shiny sneakers.

Many in attendance were friends or family of Dhoom dancers, who team captains said don’t usually get to see the troupe in action.

“We advertised a lot, but we also don’t get the opportunity to perform on campus often since most of the competitions we do are at other universities up and down the East Coast,” Anand said. “I think since Stamp [Student Union] was so accessible, that was another reason a lot of our supporters came out.”

Community Roots organizers said two of the five scheduled dance teams dropped out before the event, one announcing the decision to forego the competition five minutes before the scheduled 7 p.m. start time. Although the start was pushed back almost an hour, a third group, Sykes Game, was ultimately unable to put on a full performance because car troubles left half of their team stranded in Washington.

A surprise appearance from the school mascot helped launch the late start.

“Who wants to challenge Testudo to a dance-off?” asked Community Roots Public Relations co-Chairwoman Shruti Rastogi, a senior journalism major and Diamondback columnist.

DyNaMic team member “HK” stepped up to the challenge, one-upping Testudo’s efforts to top the break dancer’s moves.

Community Roots chose SARPP as the main beneficiary last year after the group discussed the issue of sexual assault on the campus during its weekly meetings. Members believe it is an issue that is particularly important to the university community. One in four women is sexually assaulted in college, and sexual assault is the second-leading crime in the Washington area.

“When we were discussing these issues, some female members that we were really close with started breaking out in tears talking about the things that happened on this campus,” Lewis said.

Lewis added that he considered the event a success and hoped for it to continue.

“I think it went pretty well,” he said. “Next year we’ll definitely do the event again, and it will be bigger and better.”

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