The rise of street dance in Hong Kong, from battle circles to cultural capital

Among the 16 contestants at The Burrow in San Po Kong in April, the race for the crown came down to the sultry shoulder rolls and eccentric arm twirls of Chlorine, a whacker repping the red team, and the dips and twitches of Wing, the popper in blue.

The two teams’ flags fluttered over the rambunctious crowd of students and dancers, both aspiring and accomplished, as they raised their colour to cast their votes. By a narrow margin, 23-year-old Wing, or Chow Cheuk-wing, took home his first Red Bull championship. Sporting a basketball jersey over a checked shirt, a grey tie and dark jeans with oversized pockets, Chow was elated about this unexpected win, an impressive step up from his results last year, when he was voted off in the quarter-finals.

A year-two psychology student at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Chow learned popping five years ago, when his friend signed up for a class after watching the mainland Chinese reality-competition show Street Dance of China. He has since entered competitions in Hong Kong and Macau, hoping to kick-start a dance career – “teaching perhaps?” – but doubts that popping, or street dancing overall, would be accepted in the “critical, closed-minded cultural desert” that is Hong Kong.

Various forms of street dance have been growing, nevertheless, thanks in part to the infectious popularity of K-pop, local girl and boy bands such as Collar and Mirror, and sponsored events like Red Bull Dance Your Style platforming new talent.