The Red Bull Dance Your Style 2023 World Final took place at Festhalle in Frankfurt, Germany on Saturday, 4 November. In the lead up to the anticipated event, I sat down with two famed dancers: Sean Lew from the United States, and Verb Hengu, a krump dancer from South Africa.

Sean: I did the first pre-final (on Wednesday). 

Jill: How has it been for you?

S: Man, it’s just crazy, this whole experience is new. I think the gift of this whole journey is everything feels sort of new especially with the crowd overseas in comparison with the crowd in the U.S. It’s so different and it’s just so interesting because I forget that this is a crowd-based competition, so you have to play towards the crowds wants like what they like.

It’s based off the country, based off the energy, based off the culture, so it’s really cool and such a gifted experience. And this is my first time competing in Red Bull. 

J: Have you had any viral dances?

S: I’d say the one I just posted recently, I collaborated with this Japanese videographer and we did like three different speeds. It’s also just freestyle too but there’s a sense of creativity that people have been craving, especially in our mass presentation of dance and just content, so it was just really cool for people to resonate that and I honestly didn’t expect it. I don’t really expect my stuff to ever resonate with people automatically, I just put it out because I love it and then hope that everyone else does.  

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J: What would you say is your one motivation for dance?

S: I would definitely say – as vague as it may sound – people. To be very honest, self motivation is very hard nowadays, to be like I love it because I love it. That’s how I started and that’s how I always will continue. But I think motivating myself to expand and grow and evolve has been for the people, whether that’s dancing with people who I dance with, or learning from new people, or people I’ve just met and then just people I’ve watched in the battles – watching that, and people I’ve been around. And when I say people I just mean good people – not necessarily dancers. Where you can tell that they know them well, they have hearts and passion, so it’s really been a lot of fun. 

J: You’ve got 1M followers on Instagram, which social media platform would you say is your biggest?

S: I’d definitely say Instagram which is very ironic because I started using it very early when I was younger, which kind of worked in my favour because my parents made me earn my social media. Like I couldn’t have Facebook until I got straight A’s, or I had to have perfect attendance before I got something, having enough followers on Facebook to prove that I deserve Twitter, so, really it was less about how do I get followers and more about how do I obtain the meaning of why I have social media. I didn’t start it because followers give me a better life, I started it because sharing my work gives me a better life and that’s all I focus on. 

J: Did your parents go around with you doing dance? Would you say you do dance full time?

S: I would say I do dance full time but also at the same time, it’s tough, actually no, dance isn’t my full time. I’m currently on a show called The Cleaning Lady, as an actor, so I would say dance is always going to be in my veins, it’ll always be my homebase and the core of who I am. But in terms of it being my career or my job, I think my body starts to catch up. Dancing will always be involved in my life, always, but pursuing it and trying to make money off of it – I’ve always said that I don’t dance to make money, so if it comes to a point where it leads to that, I’ll step away from it. And that’s what I feel dancing full time is, because you don’t really get a choice at that point. You can choose to do it when you love to do it but you also choose to do it when you have to do it as well, so for me I’m blessed and lucky enough that God gave me a chance to choose between both avenues. I’m super blessed to be an actor on the show and I can do other things as well and they all involve dance as well.

J: Do you dance on the show The Cleaning Lady?

S: It’s funny because the writers try to get a little bit in the show – it’s definitely not as much as I actually dance but they try to sneak it in there.

J: So what would you say is the future for you as a dancer?

S: I don’t know, I think my whole life I never gave myself a plan as a dancer I just went with whatever allows me to continue growing, that’s why I’m here with Red Bull. Because I feel like I’ve hit a wall with choreography, I can take as many classes as I want back home but I know it’s not the thing that’s going to allow me to grow, it’s not the thing that’s going to get me scared enough to try a new thing, so that’s why I decided to step outside my comfort zone and really try to face my fears and battle. 

J: So you’d say it’s about facing your fears?

S: I think it’s always about facing your fears! There’s all pros (than cons) to dancing to the audience and not the judges (here), it motivates you to learn more about that culture and at the end of the day it’s really up to just you. You have to keep going and if you really want it, then you’ll come back. 

J: Do you think you’ll be coming back to Red Bull Dance in future?

S: Like I said it depends on where life and God wants to take me to, what his plan is.

J: Ah, a religious man.

S: It’s funny because my parents aren’t religious but I’ve actually grown a relationship with God through this journey, especially with facing my fear the first time in a long time. It’s been really calming and it makes me feel safe to let my life be guided by someone else and to trust the process.

I just really believe that everything happens for a reason and the reason really, to me, that I’ve found, is just God. If my life takes me home and he asks me back then I’ll see.

I can take as many classes as I want back home but I know it’s not the thing that’s going to allow me to grow, it’s not the thing that’s going to get me scared enough to try a new thing.

Sean Lew

J: And how did you feel with how the battles turned out on your day?

S: It’s been really crazy because I lost and I kind of saw it coming in a way, in which I gave everything I had. And I found my type of style didn’t necessarily fit this type of crowd, but I couldn’t do anything about it, and I wasn’t going to change what I do and who I am just to please a crowd, you know, and my friend had mentioned when you come into something with full preparation – the remaining is just destiny. And everything else is just destined to happen. But if you come in with everything you have, you really can’t change anything else. And I felt like I did – and I still have so much to learn and to grow from, and I just started this, so it’s been a gift to even just be here. We’re all winners which is the cool thing and it’s really just a matter of who has the best moment.

Prior to Mr Lew, I also had the pleasure of sitting down with Verb.

Jill: So you’re representing South Africa –

Verb: Yes!

J: I was born in South Africa and my family are from Zambia –

V: Ah, I’m from Durban – from the south province. 

J: With the recent wave, have you done any amapiano dance before?

V: No, not really. The dance for me is more like a party, amapiano is more like a party dance for me, so because that’s part of South African culture but the dance style itself, I haven’t really gotten into it. In the country I’m known more for krump.

J: Have you seen Bring It On to win it, the dance film with krump? That was my first introduction to the style.

V: Yeah, yeah. A lot of people say Rise. Yeah, there’s a documentary called Rise – that’s the one documentary that got everyone inspired to krump.

J: What got you into krump? How did you first start dancing?

V: I went to a school that didn’t have sports, there was no swimming or that type of thing. So there was a group of people that just got inspired by the movies. And we didn’t really know it was called krump, we were just moving our arms and stomping. And yeah, from there we just started doing competitions and people hosted big events in the city, we went to those events, competing in those events and battling a lot of people in those events almost every single month, so it was like we were living how you see street culture in the movies – so in Durban, it was like that for me. 

It was a great way to just do something, because if you’re in a school that doesn’t have sports and you don’t have great grades, you end up wanting to do crazy things. And I was so stressed with school, so dance sort of took my mind off of that, but just being too pressured in school. So I just started enjoying it [dance], it was fun.

J: So you started back in primary school?

V: Yeah primary school was always dance. I’ve always just moved since I was a child. But the style krump itself – I would say in high school. Over the years I just started learning from the creators, from people like in the U.S, and learning how it started and how to properly do it.

J: Yeah some people don’t fully understand the style and it can be portrayed as rough.

V: Yeah it does get portrayed as rough and raw, and that’s why I entered this kind of a competition to showcase that it’s also a dance style. Yes it’s true, part of it is supposed to be [rough] because you’re pouring your life on the dancefloor, but it’s also got technique, it’s a dance style that you have to have rhythm, you have to have timing, so this is a cool competition to make people go ‘oh, so krump can be put into these kind of platforms.’

There was a group of people that just got inspired by the movies. And we didn’t really know it was called krump, we were just moving our arms and stomping.

Verb Hengu

J: It’s exciting that you’re bringing that to its fore and it’s very expressive and eye catching when looking at freestyle. Would you say it stems from hip hop dance as well?

V: it’s influenced by the culture because it came from another style called clowning and clowning was very influenced by hip hop, so the way that we dress also is kind of very hip hop culture vibes. It is a little bit of an influence but it’s not as free and bouncy as hip hop – you can put that in a club. Krump is very hard to put into a club.

J: Yeah it takes up space for sure.

V: It’s too rowdy and crazy – in hip hop you can dance with someone else but in krump you can’t krump together and vibe.

J: Going back to the finals of the Red Bull Dance last year in Johannesburg, how did you feel at the time?

V: It’s a weird feeling man, because even [the host] was asking who saw themselves in the finals and I said I have [when playing Never Have I Ever with the top 16] because it’s a goal and  I’m a person who likes to put out goals, that’s what keeps me going. So last year, I’d say if an opportunity does come I’ll enter the game but I want to go to the stage like I cannot go back. Like if I made the world stage, I cannot be the one that does not go to the stage to fight. I wants to push – I believe this year I’ve brought a different movement, I’m more relaxed, I’m enjoying myself more. Last year was a lot of pressure, I was in my own country, so those kind of pressures were still there but now I don’t care, now it’s kind of like either way, I’ll have a good round and you’re going to enjoy it no matter if you vote red or blue, as long as I walk off that stage, I’ll be happy.

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J: That’s really inspiring and insightful and with the pressures of performing in your own country, it does depend on the audience.

V: I’d say it was harder in South Africa than here, like in South Africa, can you imagine everyone’s like ‘man you’ve got to do this, man you’re going to do well.’ There’s so many words, pressure and a little bit too much for me last year but yeah like I said this year I’m a little bit more relaxed, like I’m really enjoying myself and meeting some of the dancers from last year like I was too stressed that time and now I can properly ask them questions. I’m more excited and I’m not shivering.

J: Who would you say is your biggest inspiration in dance?

V: Well they’re a bit different, hey, like one of them I’d have to say is one of the best German krumpers, which is Wave. He’s like a big brother to me as well, so that’s one of the people that definitely inspires me. The creator of krump, Tight Eyez (Ceasare Willis) inspires me a lot as well. And there’s Majid from here, he’s an amazing amazing dancer, like the way he’s built his brand, for me is very inspiring. He’s just in his own lane and that’s what I love, I love dancers that are just in their own lane and doing their own thing and even if people talk about them, they’re still shining and telling their truth so I follow a lot of people like that.