KINGSTON, Jamaica — Sixteen talented dancers battled each other on Saturday in a bid to be named Jamaica’s National Red Bull Dance Your Style champion. But, when the dust settled from the fierce head-to-head competition, Shakeem ‘Skitta Star’ Thomas walked away with the title.

According to a release on Sunday, the returning competitor who participated in the 2022 National Final, won the competition and is set to represent Jamaica on the global stage at the 2023 Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final in Frankfurt, Germany on November 4

The final, held at the Half -Way -Tree Transport Centre, was hosted by Latonya Style and featured music by DJ Stainy and Brandon from Game Changaz.

Competing to music of all different genres – from Hip Hop, to Jazz, to R&B to Dancehall – dancers wowed the audience with their talent, versatility, style and personality through multiple battle rounds, with the end goal of securing the most audience votes. In its unique format, the audience indicated their preference for each dancer by holding up either a red or blue LED armband, signalling which dancer they thought won each round.

In the final round, it came down to Dancehall Wazzi (DH Wazzi) and Skitta Star, with the latter emerging victorious after what was described as “an awesome display of technique, versatility, and energy.”

Skitta Star, looking forward to the World final expressed, “With this win, mi feel like a King. Fire inna mi eyes! Especially because I entered last year and was eliminated. For this year, I put in a lot of practice, research, and effort to perfect my moves and give it my all. And to get the opportunity to represent Jamaica internationally is a great honour, it truly means a lot to me.”

“For the November World Final in Germany, I will definitely ensure that I practice, research and study how they battle, track my moves, combine them and guh with full force and faith. I’ve been dancing for over 13 years now, so you know there is so much passion,” he continued. “I remember watching the Red Bull Dance competition on my TV and ever since then, I have looked forward to this very moment, dis mean the world to mi! Red Bull is doing a great job, taking dancers like me to the next level. And for the dancers out there, never give up, always stick to your passion, believe in yourself and have faith and guh through.”

Street dancers from around the world still have the opportunity to wow their local audiences and be a part of the Red Bull Dance Your Style 2023 World Final; with many countries still having their national finals going on.