07 June 2012

RMIT gets its groove on

Bust A Groove, RMIT Link Arts and Culture's inaugural university-wide dance competition, culminated in a rocking finale at the City campus during lunch hour.

As dance beats pumped through the cafeteria, the audience went wild to see competitors showcasing their gravity-defying moves.

While the competition was open to all dance styles, hip hop and breakdance predominated, which meant head spins, fast footwork and a good measure of street attitude.

Contestant Arthur Seremetis stood out with his command of popping, a dance style which involves "popping" muscles to the beat of the music.

Marnie Newton dazzled the audience when she mixed up hip hop and old-school, Madonna-style voguing.

After two heats involving 16 competitors, engineering student Shamseldin Sirag won first prize. The audience went wild as he showed his fluid command of various hip hop styles.

He is in his first year of an Advanced Diploma of Engineering Design and has been dancing for two and a half years.

Coming first in the group category was dance crew The Firm, who impressed the judges with their synched moves and coordinated look.

The Firm included talented solo winner Shamseldin Sirag, fellow engineering student Javid Mohammed and marketing student Clinton Tomeldan.

Bust A Groove wrapped up with a half-hour dance jam, in which audience members had the chance to get up and show their moves as a DJ spun a mix of old and new dance tracks.

The dance competition attracted a hundreds-strong crowd to the University cafeteria and is sure to become an annual event on RMIT's calendar, according to RMIT Link's Cassandra Scott.

All photos by RMIT Diploma of Photo Imaging student Marie Luckhurst.