Red Bull Gives You Wings—And The Dancers Took Flight

Red and blue lit up Crosstown as they hosted the annual Red Bull Dance Your Style event where 16 contestants went head-to-head with each other; battling it out for their spot in the Red Bull Dance Your Style National Final in Atlanta.

In this competition there are no judges, because the crowd gets to decide who moves on to the next round… with a click of a button, we get to pick: the dancer on the red team or the dancer on the blue team.

Red Bull dance stag set up in crosstown concourse surrounded by spectators
Carmen Monèt

As the beat dropped and the dancers recognized the song they were battling to, there was an instantaneous shift in their movements from entertaining to battling.

With no-heads up on the music they’d be performing to, they had to create on-site choreography. 

For the first time, a lot of us got to witness a multitude of dancing styles, techniques, and movements at one time. 

Contestant Birdy sat down with me before she hit the stage, and share how dancing is intertwined in her life

“When a song comes on I’m just feeling it. When I hear a certain beat, I can just feel a groove come out of me, it's natural. I use dance as my therapy, so if I’m feeling mad I’m going to turn on an angry song like with a trap beat or something and I'm going to imitate this artist. Like I can’t do anything, but I can dance. It’s a release, a transfer of energy.”
 

two dancers prepare to compete at Red Bull dance competition
Carmen Monèt
man dances on red team dot
Carmen Monèt

We got to experience the energy she packed in her moves. While she didn’t take home the win, Birdy did leave her mark on the Red Bull Dance Your Style stage. 

She wasn’t the only one to leave her mark, alongside the other 15 contestants, were special guests: UofM Pom Squad, dancer, KIDA THE GREAT, and hip-hop artist Big Homie G.

See, Memphis is infamously known for “jookin,” but performers from all over the region popped out in dances that gave jookin, a run for its money.

crowd fills crosstown concourse to watch dance competition
Carmen Monèt
performance by Kida The Great
Carmen Monèt
Performance from Kida The Great

Some competitors had a unique flow that felt like walking poetry, while others pulled from their hip-hop inspirations, and each stomp felt like electricity. 

In the end stood two competitors: Dra’em from Memphis and King Luffy from Atlanta. 

However it was no surprise that the now two-time winner and native Memphian, Dra’em, brought home the win and is on his way to the final in Atlanta. 

The next time Red Bull gives you wings.. fly your way to the Red Bull Dance Your Style competition. 

performance by Big Homie G
Carmen Monèt
Performance by Big Homie G
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About the Author

Hi, Hii. I’m Carmen Monèt and I am a free-lance journalist from Memphis, TN. I’ve always had a love for storytelling and actually I used to say that I was providing a voice for the “voiceless;” but as I’ve grown as a writer I’m learning that we’ve always had a voice, we just didn’t have the platform to express ourselves.

So I listen a lot, but I also get to connect with people so much. My daughter Cabella is the best part of my entire life, and she has pushed me to actually follow my dreams of becoming a real writer. I hope that people are able to really feel the passion and vulnerability that I infuse in my writing, and be teleported into the story.

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