On Saturday, February 3rd 2018 the UCSD Dancesport team went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for the Mustang Ball dance competition. 27 team members competed that day in various dances ranging from waltz and swing to cha cha and samba. A majority of the competitors began dancing only a few months ago and were very excited to be at their first competition! Despite being beginners, many of the dancers won 1st-3rd place or placed as finalists in the dances they competed in.

In the Latin dances, Alika Memetova placed 1st in Rookie Follow Latin Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, and Jive. Siddharth Atre placed 1st in Rookie Lead Rumba and 2nd in Rookie Lead Cha Cha with Nicole Wells. Melina Reynoso and Aaron Barrera got 1st in Newcomer International Cha Cha and 3rd in Newcomer International Rumba. Samaya Elder placed 3rd in Bronze International Cha Cha with Siddarth. A’Mariah Lovelace and Alex Barcenas got 4th in Silver International Cha Cha. Victoria Capuchino placed 4th in Gold Paso Doble and 6th in Novice Cha Cha, Samba, and Rumba. Nicole Wells placed 7th in these Novice dances. For the American Rhythm dances, Alyssa Lee and Allan Prince placed 2nd in Bronze East Coast Swing and 3rd in Rumba and Cha Cha. For the American Smooth ballroom dances, Tiana Menezes placed 1st in Rookie Follow Tango while Sara Richey won 1st in Newcomer Waltz with Niranand Raum. For the nightclub dances, Siddarth Atre won 1st in Newcomer/Beginner Salsa with Victoria Alexis Capuchino and Sara Richey placed 3rd in Newcomer/Beginner Salsa with Ivan Kuo. At the Beginner/Newcomer level, Toran Moriyama-Gurish and Paige Wasniak placed 3rd in Nightclub 2-Step, 6th in Salsa, and 7th in West Coast Swing. For the International Standard dances, Nicole Wells placed 4th in Novice Viennese Waltz and 6th in Pre-Championship Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, and Quickstep.

The team won awards from the “closed syllabus” Newcomer level all the way up to the “open” Pre-Championship level and nearly everyone placed as a finalist in at least one of their dances. Mustang Ball was an incredibly successful competition and the whole team had a fun-filled day dancing!