Royal flush at world hip hop championship

While attention has been focused on Olympic medals, two New Zealand dance crews struck gold at an international hip hop competition in Las Vegas.

Amidst all the Olympic hype, Hamilton (and Auckland)  dance crew The Royal Family have taken out an  international hip hop dance competition winning gold in Las Vegas with their “Polyswagg” style.

The gold was won in the mega-crew division and the Family had 27 of their dancers on stage.

The Royals in their award-winning performance in Las Vegas
The Royals in their award-winning performance in Las Vegas Photo: Supplied

A second gold medal was won by New Zealand hip-hop crew Bubblegum while Sorority , a third New Zealand crew, placed silver in the Varsity division and the Misfits made it to the semi-finals in the Adult Competition.

The winning New Zealanders were up against 187 teams from 42 countries.

The Palace dance studio Waikato Manager Kawe Jones talked about the pressure motivating the dancers to win and their relief as they arrived back with medals this week.

Greeted by their fans with banners, cheers and applause Jones said, “The dancers have put in so much hard work during the year.

“Everyone’s relieved to have medals around their necks to show thanks and appreciation to their friends and family for their support.”

With many 12-hour training sessions over the thirteen days in Las Vegas the teams’ hard work paid off.

Parris Goebel, Creative Director for The Royal Family has recently collaborated with Jennifer Lopez and Flo Rida on her new track “Goin’ In”.

Goebel choreographed the music video and performed together with her dance crew Request along side Lopez in the American Idol finale.

Goebel recently accepted a choreography position with Cirque du Soleil.

While the Royals have returned home to Hamilton and Auckland, Goebel has left Las Vegas to teach workshops in Europe starting with Paris and London.