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The Atchafalaya Room of the Student Union was full of beats and break dancers Friday as the University organization Hip-Hop Coalition held a break dancing competition.
 
Hip-Hop Coalition invited dance crews from all over the South to join the fun for a two-on-two pure break dancing competition.
 
The competition had a bigger response than the group expected, drawing crews from Texas, Georgia and Florida.
 
“We definitely had an extremely positive response from this event,” said TahJah Krauss, digital arts senior and president of Hip-Hop Coalition. “We have done a lot of events like this before, but seeing all these different crews from different places is great.”
 
Each crew paid $10 to enter the competition. The money went into a collection for the winner.
 
Raging Phoenix, a crew from Louisiana, won after two intense   battles, followed by a tiebreaker round against Zombies In Motion, a crew from Houston.
 
Raging Phoenix walked away with $150.
 
“We have more than 40 members in Hip-Hop Coalition,” Krauss said. “It’s awesome that everyone showed up to support one another.”
 
This kind of Hip-Hop Coalition event happens every few months, Krauss said.
 
“This event was more focused on break dancing,” Krauss said. “But our other events welcome dancers from all genres.”
 
Hip-Hop Coalition has been at the University for more than six years, Krauss said.
 
“We were all a big group of friends that loved to dance,” Krauss said. “Finally, some of us at LSU decided to form Hip-Hop Coalition.”
 
The group officially meets every Friday, but members take time to practice at a gym in front of the Union or at places downtown, Krauss said.
 
“We meet to practice our dances as a group as well as a lot of             free-style,” she said.
 
The break dancing community is a close-knit family of dancers who all know one another, Krauss said.
 
“I love that we created an event to bring our family all together,” Krauss said.
 
 
 
 
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Contact Kayla DuBos at [email protected]