Podgórski Square Turns Into a Dance Floor as Aleks Wins Red Bull Dance Your Style Poland 2026

On August 22, Kraków hosted its first national Red Bull Dance Your Style final at Podgórski Square, where Aleks triumphed in street dance battles judged entirely by the audience to secure a spot in the Zurich world final.

Street dance without category divisions

Kraków hosted the national final of Red Bull Dance Your Style for the first time on Saturday, August 22, turning Podgórski Square into an arena for 16 top street dancers from across Poland. Instead of a traditional jury, the audience decided the winners in final clashes where Aleks emerged victorious to represent Poland at the world final in Zurich. For one evening, Podgórski Square transformed into a large outdoor dance stage featuring improvisation rather than pre-arranged choreographies. Dancers did not know the tracks they would perform to, relying on creativity, musicality, technique, and immediate reactions to changing rhythms to advance through the rounds.

This marked the first-ever Kraków final of Red Bull Dance Your Style, drawing a large crowd that served as the actual judge of every battle. Red Bull Dance Your Style is a global format held in dozens of cities worldwide, ranging from Tampa and São Paulo to London, Lisbon, Pasig, and Auckland, with Poland participating for five years. The strength of the competition lies in bringing artists of different styles together on one stage, allowing hip-hop, popping, waacking, krump, litefeet, and jazz fusion to compete without separate categories or point-based judging.

Musical surprises serve as a hallmark of the competition, with DJs playing contemporary rap, club hits, rock classics, and older hits. Dancers must quickly adapt to the music and build choreography live in front of the audience.

Sixteen dancers and only one spot in the world final

Sixteen competitors performed in the Kraków final, with half earning their spots through prior qualifications. In May in Zielona Góra, hip-hop dancers Aleks and Olkes, waacking specialist Maja, and popping representative Pepe secured victories. June qualifications in Warsaw added Moniolos, who combines fusion jazz and contemporary dance, litefeet representative Maj, hip-hop dancer Janek, and waacking specialist Maja Wawaakers.

Wildcard invites completed the lineup with Kaczorex, Agata, Milla, Kriss Boogie, Alex, Luky, Kajtek, and Sawin. In Kraków, they competed not only for the national title but primarily for the right to represent Poland at the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final.

Overtime, emotions, and the final battle between Aleks and Maja

From the opening duels, it was clear the audience faced a tough task, with some battles requiring extra rounds due to closely matched performances. One such clash took place between Olkes and Pepe, where both earned enough acclaim from the crowd to necessitate an additional round to decide who stayed in the tournament. Following further stages, hip-hop dancer Aleks and waacking specialist Maja advanced to the decisive duel, where the assembled viewers at Podgórski Square voted Aleks as the winner of Red Bull Dance Your Style Poland 2026.

Right after the final, Aleks expressed surprise and gratitude, noting the beautiful venue and the unusually large crowd that came to support the participants. The victory capped a consistent journey that started with a triumph at the qualifiers in Zielona Góra and continued through the main national competition in Kraków.

From Kraków to Zurich

The Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final will take place on October 24, 2026, in Zurich, where Aleks will compete as Poland’s representative against top dancers selected from events worldwide. The Kraków final demonstrated how street dance increasingly moves out of clubs and training rooms directly into urban spaces, combining historic architecture, contemporary music, and improvised battles.

The first national final held in Kraków concluded as a success for both Aleks and the city, proving Podgórski Square’s capability as an outdoor arena for major dance events. The Red Bull Dance Your Style Poland Final took place on August 22, 2026, at Podgórski Square in Kraków, with Aleks winning, Maja taking second place, and partnership support provided by the City of Kraków, Garnier, OMODA JAECOO, Varta, and Street Origins.