Dance teams range from small audition-based squads to established national powers. Available university and team reports show differences in roster size, training commitments, competitive divisions, and championship history. The figures below identify the team, event, and year wherever those details are available.
Contents
- Team size and auditions
- Practice and routines
- Recent competition results
- Championship records
- Competition fields and placements
- Roster and leadership snapshots
Team size and auditions
Published roster and audition figures show how differently dance teams can be structured. UCLA reports that its Dance Team receives an average of 60 to 100 auditionees each year. After auditions, the UCLA Spirit Squad Join page says the team numbers 9 to 14 members. That creates a notably selective setting: the published audition pool is several times larger than the team’s stated size, although the source does not provide a single acceptance rate.
Cal Dance Team reports selecting 10 to 14 members for each season. Its published seasonal range is therefore similar to UCLA’s stated team size, but the two figures describe different points in the process: Cal’s number refers to selections, while UCLA’s number refers to members and is paired with an annual audition figure. These distinctions matter when comparing teams.
Other published rosters are larger. Quinnipiac University Club Dance reports an average roster size of 22. Lamar University’s 2025–2026 roster had 22 dancers. Concordia Nebraska’s 2025–26 dance roster lists 19 athletes. Orange Coast College’s team had 14 members when it defended its title at UDA Nationals. UTRGV’s roster page lists 13 total dance team members.
These figures describe particular teams or seasons rather than a universal college dance-team average. They also use different labels—members, athletes, selections, and roster size—so the measurements should not be treated as interchangeable.
Practice and routines
Quinnipiac University Club Dance reports practicing three times per week. The figure describes the team’s published club-dance schedule, not a general practice requirement for all dance teams.
UCLA reports that its Dance Team learns more than 50 routines each year. That workload is a measure of repertoire rather than roster size or practice frequency. It also provides context for why a team can have a relatively small published roster while maintaining a substantial performance schedule.
The available figures show three different ways to describe team activity:
| Measure | Team or event | Reported figure |
|---|---|---|
| Annual auditionees | UCLA Dance Team | 60–100 on average |
| Team members | UCLA Dance Team | 9–14 |
| Routines learned each year | UCLA Dance Team | More than 50 |
| Practice schedule | Quinnipiac Club Dance | 3 times per week |
| Average roster | Quinnipiac Club Dance | 22 |
The table is a comparison of reported measures, not a calculation of selection odds, routines per dancer, or practice hours. The available sources do not provide enough information for those calculations.
Recent competition results
Quinnipiac’s published results show repeated top-eight finishes in Division 1 events. In 2025, the team finished fifth in D1 gameday and eighth in D1 Pom. In 2024, it finished fourth in D1 Pom and seventh in D1 gameday. In 2023, Quinnipiac finished sixth in D1 Game Day and seventh in D1 Pom. In 2022, it finished sixth in D1 Game Day and 11th in D1 Jazz. These results are reported by the Quinnipiac University Club Dance page.
Lamar University reported a particularly strong 2026 nationals trip. Its three routines all placed in the top five: first in D1 Small Hip Hop, second in D1 Small Jazz, and fourth in D1 Small Pom. Lamar also reported winning its first Division 1 Small Hip Hop national championship in April 2026. The university said 2026 was only the team’s second year in Division 1 Hip Hop. The same Lamar report lists a 22-dancer roster for 2025–2026.
UVU’s 2025 UDA trip included first place in Division 1 Hip-Hop and fourth place in Division 1 Jazz. UVU reported competing against 16 teams in hip-hop and 30 teams in jazz at UDA Nationals 2025. Those field sizes show that the two categories had different competitive pools at that event.
Weber State’s dance team repeated as Division I Hip Hop champions in 2026, according to Weber State magazine. The report also describes the result as the team’s fifth hip hop national title and its third hip hop national title in the last five years. In jazz, Weber State won a Division I championship and a Grand National in 2026.
Other single-event results include Saginaw Valley State’s first place in Pom Performance at the Dance Team Union College Classic National Championship. At the same championship, Saginaw Valley State placed second in Team Performance and second in Spirit Showdown. St. John’s took first place in game day and second in hip-hop at the 2018 UCA and UDA College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship. Penn State Lionettes won their second consecutive Division I-A title in 2012 and outperformed eight schools in that championship’s finals.
Championship records
Several university pages describe long championship histories. Hofstra Dance Team is identified as a 13-time national champion, a two-time World Champion team, and a two-time Pan-American Champion team. Its listed national and international results include Division 1 Jazz and Division 1 Game Day national titles in 2025; a Division 1 Pom national title and Pan-American Games Pom gold in 2024; and a Division 1 Game Day national title plus ICU Worlds Pom gold in 2023.
Hofstra’s page also lists a Division 1 Pom national title in 2022, a virtual Division 1 Pom championship in 2021, and Division 1 Pom national titles in 2019 and 2018. The 2018 results include World University Pom gold. In 2017, Hofstra won Division 1 Pom, Worlds University Doubles Pom, and Pan-American Games Pom. The page lists another Division 1 Pom title, World University Pom gold, World University Doubles Pom gold, and ICU Worlds Pom gold in 2016.
Earlier Hofstra results include Division 1 Hip Hop national titles in 2013, 2012, and 2006. The 2013 page entry also lists World University Jazz Doubles gold. In 2012, Hofstra won World University Jazz and World University Doubles Jazz gold.
UVU Dance Team holds 15 National Championship titles, according to its team page. Its listed results include UDA Division 1 Hip Hop and NCA Division 1 Game Day titles in 2025; an NCA Division 1 Game Day title in 2024; NDA Division 1 Hip Hop and NCA/NDA Game Day titles in 2023; and NDA Division 1 Jazz plus NCA/NDA Game Day titles in 2022.
UVU’s page lists UDA Division 1 Pom and Division 1 Jazz titles in 2021 and again lists both categories in 2020. The team won ICU Jazz World Championship gold medals and a UDA Division 1 Jazz title in 2019. Its earlier results include DTU Division 1 Jazz and DTU Battle titles in 2018, DTU Division 1 Jazz, DTU Division 1 Hip Hop, and DTU Battle titles in 2017, and an NDA Division 1 Open title in 2014.
Towson University reported that its dance team had won 20 of the last 25 national championships and won its 21st national championship title in 2025. Chapman Newsroom reported that Chapman’s dance team won its seventh consecutive national championship in 2015. St. Cloud State TODAY reported that St. Cloud State’s dance team won its seventh national championship in 2025.
Competition fields and placements
The 2025 UCA & UDA College Cheerleading and Dance Team National Championship included more than 300 teams across 46 states, according to UVU news. This is the broadest participation figure in the supplied results and describes the championship across all included teams and states, not a single dance category.
Category-specific fields can be much smaller. UVU reported 16 teams in the 2025 UDA Nationals hip-hop competition and 30 teams in jazz. Lamar’s 2026 report describes three routines and their placements, with all three reaching the top five. Saginaw Valley State’s results cover three named categories at one Dance Team Union championship: Pom Performance, Team Performance, and Spirit Showdown.
The placement statistics also illustrate why event labels should remain attached to the number. A first-place finish in Pom Performance, a second-place finish in Team Performance, and a second-place finish in Spirit Showdown are separate results, not three versions of one overall ranking. Likewise, Lamar’s first, second, and fourth places came in Small Hip Hop, Small Jazz, and Small Pom respectively.
Roster and leadership snapshots
Roster pages provide additional detail about how teams organize responsibilities. UTRGV lists four captains and three social media coordinators alongside 13 total dance team members. The page therefore identifies both performance membership and named leadership or communications roles, but it does not state whether those roles are counted within the 13-member total.
Concordia Nebraska lists 19 athletes for 2025–26, while Lamar lists 22 dancers for 2025–2026. Quinnipiac reports an average roster size of 22, and Orange Coast College reported 14 members when defending its title at UDA Nationals. These are snapshots from different institutions, seasons, and competition contexts, so they are best read as examples of roster scale rather than a single benchmark.
Across the available records, dance-team statistics cover several distinct dimensions: UCLA’s 60–100 annual auditionees and more than 50 yearly routines; Quinnipiac’s three weekly practices and average roster of 22; championship fields ranging from 16 or 30 teams in named UVU categories to more than 300 teams across the 2025 UCA and UDA event; and long-term records such as Hofstra’s 13 national championships and UVU’s 15 National Championship titles. Keeping the year, division, category, and source label attached to each figure makes those comparisons meaningful.