Dance
Find out about the Juste Debout street-dance contest with Bruce Ykanji
Juste Debout is the premier competition for street-dance styles on top. We sat down with the event's creator Bruce Ykanji to find out more.
What is it?
Juste Debout is an international hip hop dance meeting and contest in Paris, France. This year it's taking place on March 4th. I always fight to keep the word 'meeting' inside, because for me it's really important for people to meet and share with each other: the dance culture, the music culture, the steps, and the phone numbers and emails to stay in touch.
Juste Debout is a peaceful event, full of dance. It concerns the standing dance styles such as hip-hop, popping, locking, house and experimental. It's a meeting of everyone dancing those styles. Before, we had a lot of battles for b-boys but not for standing dancers, so we created this event especially for them. Juste Debout means 'just upright'. Basically, it's a two versus two battle encompassing hip-hop, house, locking and popping. Experimental is a solo category.
Hoan and Jaygee from Korea win the popping category in Juste Debout 2017
© Little Shao / Red Bull Content Pool
Juste Debout is much more than a battle – it's a network, and this is really important. We need to meet each other to learn more and to practice more. Juste Debout is a big festival for dancers, but the battle is only the pretext for the meet. The most important part is the reunion, the meeting, the parties, the workshops at the Juste Debout School, and the conferences. It's a full week of culture.
Juste Debout is also a truly global gathering. We bring the best dancers from every corner of the world to the final in Paris. This is what Juste Debout is.
How big is Juste Debout?
There are 200 active dancers at the final in Paris, and 4,500 to 5,000 taking part in the tour around the world. 25,000 fans around the world watch the our, and at the Paris final there are 16,000 spectators.
Bruce Ykanji and the Red Bull BC One All Stars
© Little Shao/Red Bull Content Pool
Why did you create Juste Debout?
In Paris we had so many events for breaking back in the day. I started to think that we had to create something for us. A meeting for the poppers, the lockers, hip-hop and house dancers. I decided to create Juste Debout, which is a french name, with a european logo – the Vitruvian Man doing a wave. I really wanted to have a strong european identity for this event.
Why should we go?
We put a lot of energy and work into this event. It's full of peace and joy. The people involved have so much fun, and I think they need it. They need the music, the fun, the dance, and they need to stay in contact after the event. It's just a phenomenon that I can't explain. It has grown every year and now it's growing massively online with the live stream on Red Bull TV. It's getting better every year.
Hiro and Miyu from Japan were the winners of the House category in 2017
© Little Shao / Red Bull Content Pool
The Juste Debout world final takes place on Sunday, March 4th. If you can't make it to Paris, watch the live stream on Red Bull TV.
