The third edition of the Red Bull Dance Your Style in India has kickstarted with the finals all set to take place on July 1 at Nodwin Gaming Arena in New Delhi, where 16 selected participants from the regional finals will compete! With 90 events being held across 30 countries Red Bull Dance Your Style is a street dance event with a unique framework — where the voting cards lie in the hands of the audience, where the champions would compete in the world finals to be held in Germany on November 4. Dancers showcase any form from the street style dance and compete against each other in one-on-one battles. From 1,326 registered dancers, 16 from all four zones in India — North, East, West and South were chosen by a panel of international judges Dassy (from the US), Majid (from Germany) and Ibuki (from Japan). The East India Qualifier was held on June 17 at One8 Commune in Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Calcutta. The crowd flashed their blue and red cards as the emcee Harshvardhan Bhan aka Funkey cheered for the 16 selected participants — experts in their fortes starting from waacking, locking, popping and more; geared and pumped up to compete against each other in a battle.
The top 16 from the East Zone competed against each other to tracks played by DJ Vally in the Alley (Valentine Gomes) and the audience chose whether they’d go for red or blue (as per the cards on their hands). The competition was tough with the semi-finals between the top four qualifiers (who’ll be competing in the India finals at Delhi), Mekhola, Smooth Boog, Kakarot and JRM with Kakarot emerging as the winner! Kakarot specialises in freestyling — a popular style of the hip-hop culture and school of dance. The cherry on top was the guest performance by the Calcutta-based dance crew Crafts of Kommotion (more popularly known as CKN).
“I feel so happy. I’m totally motivatedto compete in the nationals to be held in Delhi. Performing today has rejuvenated me with some more energy and winning the battle has boosted my confidence. The last time I lost the regional finals so badly that this time there was no other way or option left for me. I focused on practising and winning this,” said the winner of the East Zone regional finals Tanmoy Karmokar.
