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LUJ Student Anna Osagie Wins Dance Competition
For as long as she can remember, Anna Osagie has been a dancer. "My mom is my coach. She started her dance team 1994. I was born in 2004. And I just wanted to be her company. So I started dancing when I was 2."
In late April, Anna, a recipient of an LUJ Culture and Sports Scholarship, competed in The Dance Worlds in Orlando, Florida, near Walt Disney World.
Dance Worlds is an annual global dance competition, and in 2026 there were 386 teams across all divisions from 18 countries. Anna competed in three different divisions: Hip-Hop, Lyrical, and Open Variety, the latter being a blend of three different dance styles: Hip-Hop, Jazz, and Pom.
Routines are typically around two minutes, which puts loads of pressure on the dancers to make sure each movement is tight and precise. For Anna, it's just before stepping onto the stage that is the most difficult...the waiting, the anxiety...but once she steps on stage, Anna uses her years of experience to dial in and perform to the best of her abilities: "My mom has competed as a coach in [Dance Worlds] since 2008, so I know how it works and how energizing it is, and how much the performance can affect people. So I want to be that person for the audience. When I get on the stage, I think about how I can enjoy this performance and how I can have a positive effect on people."
Anna also had a positive effect on the judges. Her nine-member team won the Open Variety competition, scoring a 93 out of 100. In the hip-hop division, Anna, performing alongside 11 other dancers, won the bronze medal--an excellent result in a competitive field of 22 teams. In the lyrical division, Anna and her six other fellow dancers placed 5th.
Plans are in place to attend next year's Dance Worlds. For Anna, it's another chance to do what she loves on a large stage, as she balances her dance career with her studies at LUJ, where she majors in Hospitality Management.
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