The Community EditionUNDERDOG STEPS UP PERFORMANCE TEAMS, COMPETES IN CALGARY
The Underdog Dance Corp. is Waterloo Region’s first beginner-focused adult dance studio. They introduced a more intensive training regimen for their performance team earlier this year, including strength and flexibility training in a second studio in Uptown Waterloo.
“It’s just the consistency and the hard work to train the body to do it, and you literally practice showing up for yourself fully,” Emily Peat, the director of the Underdog studio, said.
The studio sent its competitive teams to the Calgary International Salsa Congress from Mar. 26 to Mar. 30, 2026, which featured salsa and bachata dancers from around the world, as well as local professionals and troupes from all over North America. Quinn Vandenheuvel and Emily Dodsworth placed second in the amateur heated bachata division. Peat and Jorge Pablos placed first in the professional bachata heated division. Peat and Phil Roy placed second in the professional salsa showcase division. Bani Singh placed third in the professional-amateur (pro-am) open showcase division with Phil Roy.
There are 13 students in three teams, who competed. The Bachata Partner amateur team, the Bachata Ladies Styling pro-am team and the Salsa Shines pro-am team. All teams were trained to compete in amateur categories.
“It all kind of comes down to that in the end. If we teach good fundamentals to people right, then we’ll succeed with our students. And they’ll succeed, whether it’s in our class or out on the dance floor,” Phil Roy, the Experience Manager at Underdog and an instructor, said.
The team’s six-hour training regimen has included strength training, flexibility training and acro training alongside running through their dance routines. The conditioning, cross-training and technique work help make sure the dancers are prepared for competition.
“They’re low stakes, relatively—if you win a dance competition, whatever. But you practice discipline. You practice being there for yourself. You practice, ‘how can I react in moments of high stress?’,” Peat said.
Many of the dancers also competed in “heats”, which require them to improvise for one and a half minutes to a random song within their registered category and style.
“Because everyone’s relying on everybody else, to make sure that everybody comes away from the competition with a good experience. So, it does take that the group effort to achieve a shared goal,” Victoria Giampaolo, an Underdog student and team captain, said.
In the week leading up to the Calgary International Salsa Congress, the students are performing in front of their peers periodically in the studio.
The Calgary congress is one of many competitions that the Underdog Dance Corp. are planning to participate in this year—other cities include Montreal and Toronto.
“[Competition] really brings the social aspect of dance to the front in a way that a showcase team doesn’t as much. So I really like that. It makes me push myself,” Giampaolo said.
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