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2025 Red Bull Dance Your Style Winner Jaïra Joy on Hip Hop and Girl Power

At Red Bull Dance Your Style, the crowd decides everything. This year it had one thing to say: Jaïra Joy. At the 2025 World Final, 18-year-old Jaïra Joy became the second woman in history to take home the title of Dance Your Style Champion. Even better, her win followed an all-female tie-breaker round between Joy and 2023 champion Waackxxxy.

Held in Los Angeles, California, on October 11, the competition housed over 10 thousand audience members cheering on the 16 competitors (eight pre-final winners and eight invited wildcards). Like many of her fellow dancers, the Netherlands-born Joy traveled across the world to compete.

Dance Spirit caught up with the 2025 champion to learn more about her story and her experience winning Dance Your Style.

Could you describe your dance trajectory?

I started dancing when I was 8 years old. At the time, I was taking tennis classes through a sports club when I saw a poster that there were dance classes taught by Jennifer Romen. After taking a few weeks of classes, she asked me to join her dance group for competitions. Eventually, she would start the We Are Oxygen company and academy, which is where I grew up and learned many different dance styles. Currently, I am training in the Oxygen Academy full-time study program.

Jaïra Joy at the 2025 Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final. Photo by Little Shao, courtesy Red Bull Content Pool.

Outside the Netherlands, where have you felt most at home in the dance world?

The Netherlands has a completely different vibe than in the U.S. I think Los Angeles was really nice because the community is very open and free to share their thoughts. In L.A., people were coming right up to me asking about the Red Bull Dance Your Style competition process, my dancing, or even my outfits.

Hip hop has so many styles, from locking and popping to breaking and krumping. Which one feels the most “you”?

In the Red Bull competition, I showed a lot of different hip hop influences but definitely featured locking the most. I do think locking is my main style, and I really like to use it on different types of music like Afro, house, or hip hop.

Photo by Little Shao, courtesy Red Bull Content Pool.

What preparation went into attending Dance Your Style?

The past few months were really intense for me. I spent most of the time training with Oxygen, and when we have a goal, we really go for it. My coach Jennifer and I did a recap of all prior years of the Red Bull competition, just watching everything and really thinking, How we are gonna tackle this?

What is your favorite part of attending street dance battles?

My favorite part of attending competitions is the opportunity to share your own style and hard work with everyone—letting everyone know who I am, and then receiving all the kind messages afterward. I think that’s something really beautiful that comes from dancing.

Photo by John Shih, courtesy Red Bull Content Pool.

How did it feel to win?

Winning was really amazing, especially after the round with Waackxxxy. We had to do another round because it was a tie. That was a lot, because you feel like you’re done, and then you have to do it all over again. I was a little nervous because Waackxxxy had already won [in 2023], she knows exactly what to do, and she’s an incredible dancer. Her technique and waacking is insane. I knew it was going to be a hard battle, but I loved that it was a girl-power one. Winning after that just feels unreal.

And lastly, what is your go-to hype song or musical artist for competitions?

Definitely Michael Jackson! When I was young, he was my biggest inspiration. His music is what got me into dancing. Honestly, I was really hoping for a Michael Jackson song during the Red Bull competition.

The post 2025 Red Bull Dance Your Style Winner Jaïra Joy on Hip Hop and Girl Power appeared first on Dance Spirit.

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Tapas Das: Tapas Das, a young entrepreneur of our times started TWIST N TURNS in 2005. A person who is kind, generous, creative and down to earth wanted to start his own one of a kind dance academy. According to him, Dance is a language of movements that involves space, time and the human body. He was born and grew up in Kolkata, the cultural hub of India. Being appreciated in the field of dance all his life, he is extremely talented. He has been dancing since the age of four. Once he finished his high school, he learned jazz/modern and contemporary dance. His horizons were broadened even more when he started dancing Bollywood with Beat Busters for 4 years, which then was the most upcoming dance crew in Kolkata. After that exposure, he studied how to be a dance teacher, which later started helping him impart his knowledge about dance. Thus, in 2005, with the help of family and friends, he started TWIST N TURNS. Starting with a mere number of 40 students, today TWIST N TURNS currently has over 500 students. Over the time Tapas has taught and performed all over the country. He has performed in cities such as Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Jhansi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Udaipur etc. He has been an active participant in the Salsa India Congress in the cities of Bangalore and Bombay, and he has also visited various International Salsa Congresses in Europe, namely in Berlin ,Singapore, Hong Kong,Dubai. He is been also trained recently at Broadway Dance Center (New York), Alvin Alley (New York) and Steps on Broadway (New York). He is not only a dancer or teacher. He is a successful choreographer and has coordinated various shows without difficulty in our country. His leadership skills are exceptional, thus he is where he stands today. His aim in life would be to become a dance educator. He wants to share his tremendous knowledge in the right way to the right people. He is also, simultaneously running other brands like Zumba Kolkata, Bollywood Studio ArtistWala.com and India International Dance Institute.