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How Jaïra Joy conquered Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final 2025
The Dutch dancer takes Red Bull behind the scenes on her prep process, and her mental pep talk to get through that tiebreaking round: “This is the moment to really give all that you’ve got.”
When hosts Sway and Charm La’Donna counted down the final seconds of the 2025 Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final, Jaïra Joy thought she was done. As the national champion from the Netherlands, she had danced through two days of pre-finals to make it to the Intuit Dome, and then prevailed through a bracket of 16 to get to the three-round final battle against none other than a former world champion, Waackxxxy.
“I also felt her energy, and we were both like, ‘Ok, it’s over now,’” she recalls. “Your mind is also done.”
But they weren’t. The 10,000-plus crowd was evenly split and Sway and Charm called a tie, requiring Joy, as the dancer in the red corner, to make an immediate pivot. “You have to really switch your mindset to go another round,” she says. “This is the moment to give all that you’ve got.”
Fortunately, Joy's process as a freestyle dancer is 50% percent preparation, 50% feeling in the moment. She and her coach, Jennifer Romen, had spent months meticulously developing novel combos and preparing for every conceivable needle drop with a diverse dance repertoire, including locking, hip hop, Afro and house.
At the same time, knowing precisely when to deploy a devastating move in a freestyle battle requires a dancer’s intuition, which Joy, who first started taking dance classes at age eight, fortunately has in spades. Only a decade later, the 18-year-old has a major world title under her belt, and she took the time to speak with Red Bull about her journey getting there.
Jaïra Joy prevailed over the legendary Waackxxxy
© Little Shao / Red Bull Content Pool
We need to start with that final battle. What was your mindset going in, knowing that you had just one dancer in between you and victory?
Between the semifinal and the final wasn’t that much time, not even 10 minutes. After the semifinal I straight went into physio. They were shaking off my legs and making them more flexible, and my coach and I were talking about the moves I still had left to show. Then the crew was already coming, like, “You have to be ready to go onstage.” It was so fast. I was really just thinking about doing what I needed to do and also enjoying at the same time, because it was the last moment of dancing in this whole event.
How did you find the gas in the tank to do a tie-breaking fourth round?
You just don’t expect to have a tie in the final. In the semifinal or the rounds before, it’s possible, but the final doesn’t feel like a place where a tie is gonna be. After the third round, I was like, “It’s finished.” I also felt Waackxxxy’s energy, we were both like, “Ok, it’s over now.” Your mind is also done. Seeing the lights being 50-50 was just intense. You really have to switch your mindset to go another round and be like, “Ok, what do I still have that I didn’t do yet, what trick do I still have,” and then it’s just a matter of thinking quick and doing it. I really felt the energy from the crowd: “Another round, let’s go, let’s go! You got this!” I was just going through this list in my head of all the moves I still hadn’t done yet. This is the moment to really give all that you’ve got: “One more round, 60 seconds. I’m really tired, but I can do it.” So just the positive and good energy and also a little bit of the fire to still win, that’s what was going through my mind at the moment.
How did you feel about competing in an all-female final?
In this scene, it’s a lot of men who are dominating. It’s really hard sometimes to battle against a man, because they are powerful. They just have an aura, especially in the hip hop scene. You always see men passing through the pre-selection, and just one or two women. So it was special to have this girl final and show that we girls also can do it. It was really nice to see women also getting the support and the love. That was a beautiful moment. I spoke about it with Waacckxxxy, that it was so special that it was us two girls standing, that we made it all the way there and against all these other talented dancers.
Do you have a favorite battle from the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final?
I really like the battle with The Crown because he’s an amazing dancer. I think we are a little bit similar because he also does the tricks, playing with the crowd, the hype moments, the musicality. And I really like the music in that battle [“Nokia” by Drake and “SexyBack” by Justin Timberlake], two songs that I really like to dance to, because they are funky-ish and I do locking. It was just a good match with what I was feeling that day. He’s one of the biggest Red Bull dancers right now, so I really had to step up, and it was a great challenge.
My favorite battle of yours – maybe of the whole competition – was your first round against Jean-Michel Cruel, to “16 Shots.” I loved it because it felt like you were telling a story that perfectly matched the music. How did you put that together in the moment?
It was a coincidence because right before the battle, Jennifer was telling me to do the gun move, and then I heard the song and was like, “This is perfect.” I already knew the song from classes and I use the gun move sometimes in my dancing. So I was thinking, “I know there’s this sound coming up, and it’s perfect for the move.” I like to be inspired by the music and listen to the lyrics or the sounds.
How do you prepare for battles?
We try to train on every genre of music – Afro, hip hop, house, literally everything, even crazy songs like piano songs, it was all on the Spotify list. It’s analyzing the music but also making new moves for this competition, for example the [mimics a windmill] in the tie round, that was already prepped. Because I was there since the beginning, it was quite impossible to make all these things up all on the spot. So we prepped some moves, some combinations, and listened to a lot of different music and tried a lot of different things out. It was just us two in the studio training a lot, and it’s also being in the moment, listening to the music, and feeling from deep down what I need to do. It’s a 50/50 combination of feeling in the moment and prep. We try to do different styles, techniques and moves. I think in the whole competition I did locking, hip hop, Afro, house, folk, waacking, popping, just a mix of everything. My main style for this competition was locking.
What did it mean to win in Los Angeles, the birthplace of so many of these dance styles?
It felt like a full circle moment to be in L.A., where a lot of dance came from. And also the people are so different than in the Netherlands. It feels so open, and more like a community. I’d never been there before. It was really big and amazing. L.A.’s a big dream for every dancer.
How has your family reacted?
My parents were in L.A. during the final, and my sisters and my cousins have this group chat where everyone was sending pictures as they were watching the livestream. They were screaming and crying and so happy. My family is always so excited for the dancing stuff that I do.
How did you get into dance?
I started dancing when I was 8 years old, but before, I was already dancing to Michael Jackson video clips. One day I was at this sports club where I did tennis, and I saw this flyer of Jennifer who was going to teach classes there. My father was like, "You have to do this,” because I was always dancing. I joined the classes and that’s how it all started. From then on I was going to the Oxygen Academy where we learned a lot of different styles, and that’s basically where I grew up.
Jaïra Joy was 9 or 10 when she did her first dance battle
© Little Shao / Red Bull Content Pool
When did it become something really serious for you?
In the beginning I was so young, but I already knew it was more than fun for me. It was really my passion. It was always a dream to become a dancer. About two and a half years ago, we started the Oxygen Study Program, and it’s an intensive program like school, where we have all these different dance classes but also classes about health, lifestyle, your body, social media, everything that has to do with dance. That was the moment that really changed the vibe from fun to really serious, and really going for it with dancing.
How did you get into battling, and what do you like about it?
Since I was really young, we’d already trained a lot of freestyle. At first it was more solo competitions where you just dance for a judge, and then we tried battles, and I liked it more because you have this little bit of a fight with your enemy on the floor. I was 9 or 10 when I did my first battle, and I really loved the more cozy vibe in the room. I was really battling a lot, I think one every week or two, so it was really intense but you learn a lot from it. It’s just another part of dancing that I fell in love with.
What does Oxygen, the dance company you’re a part of, do?
We used to do a lot of competitions but now it’s more once in a while. We are more focused on performances, show – we had a theater tour in the Netherlands – but also concept videos, social media, TikTok, everything. And battling of course, crew battles and 1 vs 1. We also have an Academy, where I teach locking. We do kind of everything – commercial, freestyle, teaching.
What or who are your dance inspirations?
Michael Jackson is on a different level for me compared to all the other artists. His dancing, singing, music, even his outfits – I just love everything about it. For me, of course Jennifer is a big inspiration. She’s kind of like my second mom. I look up to dancers in Japan because they have this power and discipline and are just on a different level, how they work and go into the studio, even the little kids – they are always on point with their technique and their power.
It felt like your Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final outfit was MJ-inspired.
It was a little bit Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson-inspired. In Oxygen we do a lot of MJ-inspired things. For me in freestyle it’s also a little bit in the way I move. I use a lot of his influences, for example the gliding, the moonwalk stuff, also the little details with the hands.
Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final, Los Angeles
© Little Shao
When you moonwalked in your first battle against Viktor, a lot of us felt like we were watching MJ come back to life, a little bit.
That’s always a big compliment for me. There was also a girl who told me that I was like Michael Jackson reincarnated. The outfit really makes the character. We think it’s really important to have an outfit that matches your vibe. And also on this big stage, it really helps if you have a special outfit.
What kind of responses have you gotten about your Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final accomplishment?
The messages that I love the most are people telling me that I inspired them to go back to dance classes again or to be dancing. I saw a lot of DMs from people saying that they stopped dancing but because of the Red Bull competition, they were inspired to dance again. That’s a big compliment. Also the compliments about the hard work and my whole journey towards the Red Bull event, I really like that people see how hard I’ve worked for this and that it’s not something that I just “did.” It was really a couple of months, a lot of training. It’s always nice when someone is like, wow, I saw the hard work, and you guys really deserve it. It’s weird that so many people know me now, because I live in a small city in the Netherlands, where it’s really peaceful and quiet, and now so many people from the world know who I am. I've had reactions from Japan, U.S.A., Africa, everywhere, so that’s a big change, but it’s really nice.
What’s next for you? What do you hope to be in your future?
To travel the world with Oxygen and show everyone what we’ve got. And that we can do freestyle but also choreography. This Red Bull thing is a good step to show it because now people are recognizing us more. I think we are more popular because of choreography, and freestyle is something that people don’t really expect from us. Now we are showing that we can do everything.
Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final 2026, will return to Europe at Zurich's Hallenstadion on October 24. See you there!
