Senior digital and communications manager at Orange Link, Portia Mvubu, told Arts&Culture that this year, the street dance competition will host its inaugural global inclusion competition for Botswana tomorrow at the Joy City Park in Gaborone. She explained that this year’s competition promises to be bigger and better. Mvubu explained that the winner of the competition has an opportunity to compete against other international dancers in Mumbai, India, in November at the global international Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final. “Bofang diteki (fasten your sneakers) as Red Bull Dance Your Style is back in Botswana hosting the first national finals. The national leg of this global dance competition will host radio personality, Lebowa Moroen, social media sensation William Last and South Africa’s Red Bull Dance Your Style 2023 winner, Verb. Participants have been identified through dance qualifier activations, which took place earlier in the month where the first audition took place on September 14, 2024 and the second one on Wednesday this week both at the Mass Media complex,” she said.
Furthermore, she stated that Red Bull Dance Your Style was a dance competition that brings people together to celebrate dance, music and performance. She added that it was a mixed, all-style one-on-one battle where dancers from any street style could participate. She pointed out that the competition focused on recreating the social party atmosphere that all street dance styles were derived from. Mvubu said the competition is unique as it involves unpredictable music and crowd-voting. She added that the DJ plays a crucial role as he/she curates the playlist with different genres of music to test the versatility of the dancers while adapting to the beat of their respective dance styles. She added that the audience acts as the judging panel and determines the winner of a battle round by using voting cards. “I am so excited to see Red Bull Dance Your Style back in Botswana, we unearthed a lot of talent last year and I’m sure we’ll find even more this time around. I want to encourage all street dance lovers to get their tickets, come bear witness to the talent of our people and be the judge of who will be crowned to represent Botswana in Mumbai later this year,” says Moroen, who will be the event MC.
The final event will follow a series of dance showcases across Botswana in September, which will be hosted by renowned dancers, alongside Verb, Red Bull Dance Your Style winner in South Africa 2023. According to Verb, it was no news to the world that Botswana is a beautiful country with amazing talent, which was evident in last year’s dance showcases when they were preparing for Botswana’s global debut. “We are excited to be back experiencing the people of Botswana through street dance in the City of Gaborone. Dance is more than just moving to the beat of music. "It plays a significant role in the expression of culture, identity, music and techniques. "I look forward to witness this year’s talent and again indulging in the unique flavour of Botswana street dance,” Verb concluded.
