- By Jenna Edwards
Two young east Auckland hip-hop dancers have faced off in a freestyle dance battle with one dancing all the way to first place.
Riān Gounder and Peyton Haugh, who attend Pakuranga College, took part in the dance battle as part of the Blueprint dance competition, which they entered through their school.
Riān’s fancy footwork took him to a first-place finish, with Peyton finishing in the top four after a tough semi-final battle against Riān.
Whilst Peyton is new to the dance form, Riān competes in battles weekly.
Both were introduced to the format through their involvement in choreographed hip-hop, which they continue to compete in alongside dance battles.
“For me, it’s all about dance battles,” says Riān. “That’s my strength.
“I love being in the moment. You can prepare some short sequences, but at the end of the day you don’t know what music is going to play.
“You can’t truly prepare like you can with a choreographed routine.”
Dancers have up to 30 seconds to listen to the music, find the beat, and start dancing.
Peyton says she likes the freedom that dance battles offer.
“I like that you can dance all styles in a dance battle, you don’t have to be locked into a particular hip-hop style. You can go with what you like or what suits the music.
“It’s really encouraging to see that I can compete well using my existing skills, even though I’m still new to it.”
For Riān, his dance battle dreams are to go all the way to Fusion Concept in France, the pinnacle competition of the dance battle community.
“I was really proud to win the competition at Blueprint. I hope it helps me build towards even bigger competitions.”
