Jaquel Knight’s talent has opened doors for him to work with some of the industry’s top talent including Beyoncé, Chris Brown, and Brandy, but the Atlanta representative still remembers the first choreography he ever memorized.
“The first song I learned the choreo too was ‘Real Love’ by Mary J Blige when she performed it on Soul Train,” he revealed to VIBE at the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final. “Then it was every TLC performance. My favorite one was when they did the MTV VMA’s [1999]. That’s probably one of my favorite things I remember learning. Then I became a pop kid. All the Brittney Spears performances. All the Janet Jackson performances. I can go on and on.”
Enthusiastically, he continued to elaborate on his relationship to street dance as the competitors at the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final were tasked with delivering the best of their non-traditional, freestyle moves opposed to showcasing classically trained technique and learned routines.
“I’m from the hood,” he exclaimed. “If you can’t dance, if you can’t get out there and go, you can’t dance. Freestyle dance is the core of who we are as dancers and the core of who I am as a choreographer.”
Knight continued, “For me, it’s important for dancers to be able to freestyle. It’s also an art I want to say we’re losing but thankfully things like this Red Bull event, it’s keeping the freestyle alive…That’s where your personality, your attitude, your charisma comes from.”
Keeping in alignment with street style, 36-year-old listed the top songs for dancers to play for head-to-head competition. Artists he named include Missy Elliott, Fatman Scoop, Pharrell Williams and more.
Watch Jaquel Knight Set A VIBE with the best battle songs below.