The first Inter-College Hip-Hop Dance Competition started and ended with a bang with over 200-strong supporters cheering for their teams, and the impeccable performances by the participants, professional judges and guest performer. Organised by the HELP Matriculation Centre, the event took place at Euphoria by Ministry of Sound in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Called Mad2Max, the event attracted participants from six universities and colleges around the Klang Valley, forming seven crews. While some opted for hip-hop songs of the 1990s, others paid tribute to Michael Jackson by including his music in their routine.

The event started off with the first four crews – Max Identity of TAR College; Wui Yang and Fi of Sunway University College; Dreamix of Taylor’s University College; and Dynamix of Multimedia University and SEGI University College – presenting their seven-minute routines.

Max Identity presented diversified moves with a high level of music mixing. The team, consisting of three boys and three girls, also injected video game elements in their dance moves.

Max Identity's routine earned them the second prize

Meanwhile, Wui Yang and Fi played out the trials and tribulations of a relationship. Turning the volume up was Dreamix, a six-member team with well-coordinated dance moves and a creative mix of the latest hip-hop music.

Before the first break, team Dynamix – which was made of five Multimedia University students and one from SEGI University College – took to the floor with their perfectly synchronised moves and immaculate timing. They got the crowd cheering for more with their Michael Jackson-inspired routines, as well as some Bollywood moves. Dynamix’s routine also had elements of cheerleading and break dancing.

After all the hype from the first session, the organiser toned things down with a beat-box performance by Kimberly S’ng of Sunway University College. Her eight-minute performance got the crowd wild. The judges that day were JJ (Bboy JJ) of the CID Crew and an instructor at Dance Option Studion; Jack Tan of D8Second Crew and owner of D8Second Dance Studio; and Joel Tan, founder and chief instructor of the Urban Groove Dance Network. Later in the day, Jack and Joel even wowed the crowd with cool solo performances.

The second half of the competition continued with Sindebloc and The Puppets from Taylor’s University College, and G Six which was made up of HELP University College and Taylor’s University College students. Sindebloc chose a clever way to begin their routine, and also presented some high risk moves.

One of the judges Joel Tan wowing the audience with his performance

When it was The Puppets’ turn, there were a lot of Latin dance elements cleverly incorporated into the hip-hop routine. The crew had a multi-genre theme incorporated in their music.

The last crew to take the stage was the only all-girl assemble, G Six. The girls definitely took advantage of the all-female composition by including some sassy and seductive moves into their routine. However, the judges chose Max Identity and Dynamix to battle it out in a 15-second crew-by-crew dance-off (for a total time frame of 15 minutes)!

Both teams displayed a high level of competitiveness by cheekily playing off each other’s moves. The crowd went crazy once again with the various displays of break-dancing, “krumping”, and synchronised dancing.

In the end, it was Dynamix – made up of Justin Leo, Marilyn Leo, Lim Say Meng, Jardian Teo, Ngan Meng Chiang and Antonell Chew – who walked away with the RM1,000 cash prize as winners of the Mad2Max Hip-Hop Dance Competition.