RED BULL DANCE YOUR STYLE NEWSROOM

● 2026 SEASON · USA NATIONAL FINAL COMPLETE
Next: Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final · Zurich, Switzerland · October 24, 2026
Last updated: September 20, 2026 · 1:00 PM ET

Know the Format

Dance Your Style is a one-on-one all-styles freestyle battle. Dancers do not know the songs in advance, and the crowd — not a judging panel — votes after each battle. There is no prepared choreography to fall back on. The format rewards four things at once: musical adaptability, individuality, performance presence, and the ability to make a specialized dance language legible to a general audience in under a minute.

What Happens After the Crowd Goes Home  —  Open

A championship is a night. A career is a decade. DMM is tracking what each competitor in this field actually does over the next twelve months — teaching, touring, choreography credits, company building, community work — because a battle result is the beginning of a story, not the end of one.

Can Specialized Forms Win an All-Styles Room  —  Evidence Building

Tampa put Flexn, vogue, waving, krump, popping, jooking and Bharatanatyam-derived movement in the same bracket. The question is not whether a dancer should abandon a foundation to compete. It is whether a deeply specialized vocabulary can be made readable to a crowd that has never seen it — and what the dancers who manage it are doing differently.

The Battle and Commercial Worlds Are Merging  —  Active

This field is not a clean split between underground battlers and industry dancers. Competitors here hold credits connected to Beyoncé, Janet Jackson, Usher, Kendrick Lamar and Cirque du Soleil while also holding regional battle titles. DMM is following what that dual citizenship does to how a dancer builds a living.

Who Gets Seen, and What That Changes  —  Open

A Bharatanatyam dancer from Chennai by way of Chicago. A Ballroom Mother from Philadelphia. A Flexn artist from Brooklyn. A teenager two years removed from Taiwan. Visibility on a stage this size does something measurable to a form and to the young people who practice it. DMM is documenting what.

A note on the lineup. Pre-event sources published a 16-dancer field. Red Bull’s official post-event recap confirms that Tyler D. Creator competed in Tampa and reached the final eight, though he does not appear on those pre-event lists. The sources reviewed do not identify who he replaced. DMM profiles the announced field and Tyler, and does not claim any dancer took the floor unless the record shows it.

2026 USA Champion

JREAMZ

Arizona  ·  Krump / hip-hop influenced freestyle

Josette Sanaphav entered Tampa as one of the youngest dancers in the field and left as the national champion at 18. She has trained at The Jukebox Dance Studio in Mesa since she was nine or ten, and told KJZZ she had studied krump for seven years. Her strength is combining explosive krump energy with theatrical detail — facial expression, level changes, glides, spins — and reacting fast to mainstream music outside a single battle genre. She now represents the United States in Zurich.

Read the full JREAMZ profile →

Runner-Up

Kidd The Monster

Pompano Beach, Florida roots  ·  Gliding / jooking / popping

Also credited as Amaleke Kidd Bradley, he is a Florida-born dancer and screen performer whose work crosses underground movement culture and commercial entertainment, including the series Blindspotting. Red Bull described his final-round movement through hypnotic gliding, jooking and popping — a combination that hands him both groove and illusion-based tools when the record is unexpected. He gave Florida street-dance vocabulary its clearest national showcase of the season.

Full profile in production

Final Four

Lily Frias

Mexico-born, Los Angeles-based  ·  Popping / waacking / freestyle

Liliana “Lily” Frias is a Mexican dancer based in Los Angeles who specializes in popping and waacking. She was the first Mexican dancer to reach the Top 20 on So You Think You Can Dance and competed on America’s Best Dance Crew with the first Mexican group to appear on the show. In 2016 she co-founded Femme Fatale with Marie Poppins and Dassy Lee — a trio from France, Mexico and Korea whose Carnival Choreographer’s Ball set drew some 40 million views and brought work with Red Bull, Marc Jacobs and Cirque du Soleil. Precise musicality carried her to the final four.

Read the full Lily Frias profile →

Final Four

Jesse Sykes

Layton, Utah  ·  Waving / multidisciplinary street dance

His relationship with street dance began after encountering a cypher, and his published biography describes roughly 18 years of teaching, battling, panel work and international community exchange. Waving became the specialty, and he has spent part of his career building platforms for the global waving community. He reached Tampa through the Midwest pathway, where he met Briana “Passion” Grey in the Kansas City final. His edge is articulation rather than spectacle — making sound visible through the body.

Full profile in production

Final Eight

Marlee Hightower

Orlando, Florida  ·  Hip-hop / choreography / freestyle  ·  Motiv Crew

One of the deepest commercial and educational résumés in the field. She began dance at three, performed as a child with Studio One Young Beast Society on America’s Got Talent, and became a World of Dance tour headliner and teacher while still very young. Credits include Samsung, Mattel, TJ Maxx, Motorola and Puma, a cameo in Pharrell Williams’ “Happy,” and select performances on Janet Jackson’s Unbreakable Tour. She founded Motiv Crew and is co-owner and artistic director of Motiv Dance Studio.

Full profile in production

Final Eight

Surge

Houston  ·  Freestyle / acrobatic movement  ·  Celeste Mirra

The battle name of Celeste Mirra, whose 2026 qualifying run drew attention for dynamic, acrobatic freestyle. Coverage of the Salt Lake City qualifier described helicopter-like spins, splits and cinematic evasive movement set against crowd-friendly music. Her competitive identity is built on range of motion, athletic risk and visual clarity — qualities that register immediately with an audience voting in real time.

Full profile in production

Final Eight

Harini

Chicago  ·  Bharatanatyam / Indian classical fusion / freestyle

Harini Nilakantan has roots in Chennai and nearly two decades of Bharatanatyam training, which she does not treat as separate from battle culture. She uses classical vocabulary, rhythmic intelligence, gesture and character as raw material for spontaneous musical interpretation. Recent coverage reports more than 30 million social-media views connected to her Red Bull performances, and she has spoken about widening expectations of what Desi dance forms can do inside freestyle spaces.

Full profile in production

Final Eight · Verified Competitor

Tyler D. Creator

St. Petersburg, Florida  ·  Breaking / popping / choreography

A Florida movement artist whose path began in church and expanded through breaking, popping, ballet, modern dance and commercial choreography. Red Bull’s Florida feature frames him as a St. Petersburg representative who developed across street and concert forms before moving deeper into choreography and professional entertainment. His résumé includes work connected with Kendrick Lamar, Giveon, The Jacksons and Kirk Franklin. He faced JREAMZ in the final eight.

Full profile in production

Fantaye

Los Angeles  ·  Hip-hop freestyle / choreography / educator

Ruthie Fantaye is a Los Angeles native with Ethiopian roots and more than a decade in California’s choreography and street-dance communities. She has directed and choreographed for V MO Dance and LFG Crew, won Freestyle Session’s 2v2 Open Styles Battle, reached the final at VersaStyle’s 20th Anniversary Hip Hop Battle, and appeared as a finalist on World of Street Woman Fighter. She founded All Black Collective to create space for Black dance artists moving between freestyle and choreography.

Full profile in production

Noahlot

Spanish Harlem, New York  ·  Hip-hop / Latin / popping / locking / house / krump / hustle

Noah “Noahlot” Catala is a dancer, choreographer and actor whose biography traces his dance life to age two and credits his mother, Violeta Galagarza, founder of KR3Ts, as a foundational teacher. The nickname reflects an unusually broad stylistic range. He was touring by five, appeared in an Apple iPod commercial at seven, and later worked on tour with bachata star Romeo Santos. New York social-dance lineage plus multiple street styles makes him unusually adaptable when the music swings.

Full profile in production

Caho

Japan / Los Angeles  ·  Commercial hip-hop / freestyle

Caho Kitaori, also known as CAHOGOLD, is a dancer and model who established a Los Angeles base after working in Japan. Her music-video credits include Usher and Ella Mai’s “Don’t Waste My Time,” Jason Derulo’s “Acapulco,” Tiësto and Ava Max’s “The Motto (Part II),” Saweetie featuring H.E.R.’s “Closer” and Victoria Monét’s “Alright.” Coverage also identifies her as having worked with Janet Jackson and joined Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter-era dance team. She is the modern crossover dancer: camera-ready and choreographically precise, but willing to enter rooms where individuality outranks replication.

Full profile in production

Janiya Jaggers

Chicago / Las Vegas  ·  Krump / popping / waving / tutting / house

Raised between Chicago and Las Vegas, she built a vocabulary from multiple street styles rather than a single discipline. Her Peridance faculty biography lists krump, popping, waving, tutting and house, and frames her teaching around freestyle exploration and the body’s ability to create in real time — an approach closely aligned with what Dance Your Style demands. As an educator she is transmitting process and perspective, not just movement.

Full profile in production

Midwest Regional Champion

Passion

Briana “Passion” Grey  ·  Midwest qualifier champion

She reached Tampa through one of the season’s clearest competitive achievements: winning the 2026 Midwest Regional Qualifier in Kansas City, defeating Jesse Sykes in the regional final with both advancing. Fewer long-form biographical sources exist for her than for several commercial veterans in this field — and DMM would rather name that gap than pad it. Regional qualifiers require surviving multiple audience-voted rounds against varied backgrounds. She arrived as a proven battle competitor, not an invited name.

Full profile in production

Northeast Qualifier Champion

Una

Taiwan / New York City  ·  Freestyle

Una Lin entered the 2026 season as an 18-year-old who had moved with her family from Taiwan to New York City roughly two years earlier. In her first Red Bull season she came through prelims and won the Northeast Qualifier in Philadelphia. Coverage of that victory emphasized her ability to connect directly to unfamiliar music and to the audience rather than over-plan — which is the entire test in a format where prepared choreography is useless.

Full profile in production

Rylee Prodigy

Phoenix / Philadelphia  ·  Vogue / Ballroom / all-styles  ·  Educator

Rylee Locker earned a BFA in Dance Education from Arizona State University in 2019 and became internationally recognized through the Ballroom scene. She is Philadelphia Mother of the Iconic House of Prodigy and founding Mother of the Kiki House of Paragon. Honors include Woman of the Year 2023–24 in the Overall Ballroom Scene and Mother of the Year 2023 in Philadelphia Ballroom. She carries vogue’s lines, performance and audience relationship into rooms beyond Ballroom, and speaks about authenticity and making underground styles visible.

Full profile in production

KiiLo

Dominica roots / Houston base  ·  Freestyle / multi-style

A Houston-based dancer whose competitive identity centers on energy, freedom and direct crowd connection. In 2025 he won the Red Bull Dance Your Style East Qualifier in Boston, defeating ILLana-Popz in the final. Interviews from that run show a dancer who treats hydration, stretching, conditioning and actively reading the room as part of battle strategy rather than preparation for it. He describes his movement as a fusion of cultures and styles.

Full profile in production

King Havoc

Brooklyn, New York  ·  Flexn  ·  Commercial / concert / battle artist

Huwer Anthony Marche Jr. is a Brooklyn Flexn artist described in published profiles as a young OG of the form, active in community cyphers and events built to connect underground dance cultures. His commercial career includes touring as a featured artist with Beyoncé and Jay-Z and a featured soloist appearance in Beyoncé’s Homecoming concert film. He appears on pre-event Tampa lists; because Red Bull’s post-event recap names Tyler D. Creator in the final eight and the replacement is not publicly identified, DMM does not claim King Havoc took the floor on September 19.

Full profile in production

What We Can — and Cannot — Say

Tyler D. Creator’s participation and final-eight placement are verified. The announced 16 are verified as announced. What is not established by the public record is which announced competitor did not take the floor. DMM will not invent a bracket to make the story cleaner. If Red Bull or a competitor clarifies the change, this entry gets updated and the correction stays visible.

Why This Matters to Dance Mogul Magazine

DMM has documented dance culture since 2010 on one principle: the story is the person, not the placement. A bracket tells you who won a night. It does not tell you who kept teaching, who built a studio, who went home and started a program for kids who had nowhere to go. Those are the stories that help someone become a better version of themselves — and they are the reason this newsroom exists.

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