From 16 to 1. When the lights went down low and the full capacity crowd at Frankfurt's Festhalle had their say South Korea's Waackxxxy was hailed as the winner of the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final, the first woman in the competition's history to take the title.
ADVERTISEMENTHistory was made in Frankfurt on Saturday night when Waackxxxy was crowned the Red Bull Dance Your Style 2023 World Champion and the first woman to ever take the title.
The talented waacking artist from South Korea dominated the dance floor to move the capacity crowd with her high energy dance style and mesmerizing movements to beat Gio from the Netherlands in an electrifying final battle.
This head-to-head contest was the culmination of a year of national events involving more than 4,000 competitors from over 150 countries who have matched their dance moves to unheard tracks in competitions decided by the audience.
The ultimate dance off saw 16 of the world’s best dancers have just a few seconds to make up their minds and muscular moves to interpret unpredictable hits from a galaxy of funk, pop, rock, hip hop, disco and more.
The line-up was made up of eight elite dancers who all qualified from the pre-finals and eight invited wildcards.
With no panel of judges, no planned choreography, and no pre-chosen music, the competitors need to keep their wits while showing off their skills and stamina.
After several rounds of high steppin' drama Waackxxxy ultimately impressed the audience to take the Red Bull Dance Your Style 2023 World Champion title.
"I can’t believe this,” Waackxxxy said. “The semi-final battle was the most difficult because The Crown (from the USA) is a famous and well-respected dancer. I thought maybe I would lose because he is an amazing dancer, but when I saw I won, I thought to myself ‘is this real?’ I couldn’t believe it. Thank you everyone for the support,” she said.
The inaugural Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final took place in Paris, France in 2019 where Dutch dancer Shinshan was crowned the first ever winner. D’Soraki from Japan ruled the post-pandemic dance floor and captivated the audience at the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The next edition of Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final will take place in Mumbai, India on 9 November 2024.
Watch highlights from this year's final in the player above.
