Ian Tico wins Red Bull Dance competition

Ian Tico has been crowned the champion of the 2021 Red Bull Dance Your Style Kenya National Championships.

With the win, the University of Nairobi’s University Urban Planning graduate has earned an opportunity to represent Kenya in the world finals in South Africa in December 2021.

The electric event that took place at Alliance Francaise featured 16 finalists who battled for the chance to be the Kenyan National Dance champion.

The competition was launched in October 2020 and featured over 100 dancers from all over the country.

“I am forever grateful for Red Bull who saw it fit for Kenya to be a part of this global championships, thank you to my fans and all who voted for me, I will do you proud,” said Tico.

Chiki Kuruka, a dance choreographer and judge in this competition said it was a great honor for the dance community in Kenya to be one among the 80 countries to take part in this global competition.

“I believe that the ultimate winner of the global competition will come from Kenya,” she added.

Dance Your Style competition relies on a crowd voting system instead of judges to pick out the most talented dancers. The finals took a battle format where head-to-head challenges lasted 45 seconds each.

The battles were tough and many rounds ended in ties with the final battle being held just minutes to 7pm and in a landslide vote from the audience, Tiko was picked as the champion.

Red Bull Dance Your Style competition is a battle concept that brings out the different personalities and characters of street dancers through challenges that include a spontaneous change in music during performances.

It comprises one on one (head to head) battle in any of the street dance styles including breaking, hip-hop, popping, locking and Bboy dancing and other street dance styles.

The event was organized by Red Bull in conjunction with Trace Eastern Africa.