The women’s dance team that represents Georgia Southern University in the National Dance Alliance (NDA), Southern Explosion, have made themselves known nationwide.

Members of the team are auditioned annually in front of Coach Bryan Realiza with demographics of people from all age groups, giving the opportunity for aspiring dancers to take classes in the hopes of becoming a collegiate dancer for Southern Explosion.

By recruiting groups of dancers at an early age, Southern Explosion creates a cast of an upbringing for new dancers, allowing the girls to bond with one another, become familiar with the coaches and understand the training and dancing style that is expected of the dancers of Southern Explosion.

For the 2014 season, the thirteen women of Southern Explosion competed in the Division-2 NDA College Nationals in Daytona, Fla., led by junior accounting major Ally Collier, who is the team captain.

Competing in the nationals, the ladies had to impress the judges with a combination of syncrasy, technique and flair.

The all-ladies dance team performed one of their best dances this season, with a final score of 82.98, earning the top spot in the All Girl Intermediate classification for the NDA Finals.

With a new championship victory, Southern Explosion closes off the year with momentum, a timely factor considering the jump to Division 1 that is to go in effect for the 2014-2015 season.

Collier, who will be the team captain again next year for her final year at Georgia Southern, looks forward to the transition to the new conference with high hopes of a championship repeat.

Collier said, “I expect this upcoming year to be our best yet. Our name is finally starting to get out there and we have several talented girls auditioning, so we can only go up from here.”