JAPANESE bags Red Bull Dance Your Style after defeating a Nigerian in SA.
The D Soraki outclassed 15 of the world’s best dancers to win the planet’s most prestigious all-styles solo street dance title.
After a year of National Finals across the globe and a week of pre-finals that whittled the field from 60 down to 16, the world witnessed an elevated energy movement at Montecasino in Johannesburg, South Africa.
When the epic dance showcase was done the Japanese dancer remained on the floor alone having beaten King DaVinci from Nigeria in the final battle.
“I’m still in shock, it hasn’t sunk in yet that I have won. I think I still need to process everything that has happened but it was a phenomenal experience for me and I can’t wait to get back to my country and tell everyone about the unity of street dance culture that came through this amazing competition,” said 2022 Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final champion, The D Soraki from Japan.
Red Bull Dance Your Style is a global all-styles street dance event series with a unique battle format. From hip hop to house, to locking to popping – dancers need to ‘wow’ the crowd and ultimately win their vote.
Aside from impressing the crowd on the night, the dancers from around the world who made it to South Africa to compete in the World Final had each come a long way through multiple competition phases before making it to this phenomenal global dance stage.
“Being a finalist in the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final means a lot to me, it means Africa is alive, deep and raw. It gave me a chance to show the world that we are a creative people. I feel like the world is not ready, this is the tip of the iceberg of what Africa has to offer.
I just wanted to put Africa, Nigeria and Akungba on the map. I wanted to show the world how versatile we are,” says the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Finalist, King DaVinci from Nigeria.
The 2021 and 2022 National Winners went through two pre-finals in the week leading up to the World Final. The eight who advanced from the pre-finals into the main event were up against eight wildcards from around the world, with the World Final top 16 possessing a range of dance styles that highlighted the versatility of the street dance movement.
The eclectic South African crowd came out in numbers to experience this spectacular showcase of street dance and rigorously voted for their favourite dancers throughout the one-on-one battles.
This voting process became harder in each round as dancers held nothing back.
After four hours of intense competition, the final battle between The D Soraki and King DaVinci had the crowd chanting for the Japanese wildcard, The D Soraki to victory.
As the second country to host the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final, ‘Mzansi’ pulled out all the stops.
This spectacular showcase of dance was hosted by South African media personality Candice Modiselle and international dancer and DJ Kapela Marna, while Courtnaé Paul ensured that the stage had the most challenging variety of the best global music hits.
The night was topped off with performances by multi award winning rapper Nasty C, local dancers highlighted the best of Mzansi’s dance culture, the American dance crew The Kinjaz also brought their formidable flavour to stage.
In case you missed the globally live-streamed event on TikTok and SABC you can catch all the showstopping moves.
Red Bull Dance Your Style is in partnership with SABC Sport.
Don’t forget to also watch the Red Bull Dance Your Style series airing every Saturday at 2 pm on SABC 1.
Image RedBull (Japanese The D Soraki showing off his agility and prowess at the competition that he won in SA last year).
