The first thing I noticed at Supremacy Lounge in Nakulabye on Saturday evening was not the music. It was a movement. Dancers occupied nearly every available space; corridors, corners, parking areas and staircases had become makeshift rehearsal rooms. Some stretched quietly. Others repeated footwork endlessly. A few simply stared into the distance, mentally rehearsing routines they had probably practiced for weeks. The Tusker Lite Neon Raves Kampala edition had brought confidence and chaos. Ten crews, trimmed from earlier auditions held at the same venue, would battle across multiple rounds before judges Dance Mamweta and DVD Afroking. The winners would progress to the national stage. The opening rounds carried a certain caution. There were fewer dramatic flips and more measured performances. “It’s a hard round, you are literally improvising in the moment,” admitted one member of Soweto Kids. Member from the winning crew, The WayThen the tempo changed. As African and Caribbean rounds emerged, restraint disappeared. Amapiano rhythms collided with kwaito footwork. Popping met street dance. Shirtless performers covered in oil threw themselves into routines with abandon, while sections of the audience screamed approval at particularly daring sequences. Soweto Kids, one of the competition’s largest crews, comprises children, teenagers and adults, and their routines occasionally bordered on reckless, but rarely lacked commitment. Mostif Girls, the competition’s only all-female crew, entered carrying considerable expectation after impressing during auditions. Their performances remained energetic but struggled to evolve beyond familiar territory, particularly when competitors around them increasingly experimented with style changes and transitions. Army Dancers arrived wearing Jabbawockeez-inspired masks and demonstrated some of the evening’s cleaner choreography. Their routines were organised, disciplined and visually effective. Yet neatness alone was not enough. VBD understood this. They entered dressed like characters from a horror film with zombies and cages. Electronic dance sequences transitioned into Michael Jackson-esque moments, before returning to elaborate group choreography. “Everyone dances, so we asked ourselves how people would remember us after tonight,” one crew member later explained. The audience certainly remembered. American Height’s routines balanced swagg with technical consistency, moving between dancehall, house and freestyle sequences, all the time incorporating props. “Kampala crowds are difficult because they have seen everything before,” one member observed. Perhaps that explains why the eventual winners surprised the audience. The Way did not arrive with outrageous costumes. They did not build theatrical narratives. They simply danced. Their routines were polished, efficient and clean. Judge DVD summarised the evening best when he said some groups focused heavily on storytelling and forgot the dance itself. The Way did not, and by the end of the night, that distinction mattered. They were crowned Kampala champions ahead of VBD and American Height. Since moving through Hoima, Masaka, Mbarara, Arua and Gulu, the Neon Raves have become a mirror of youth culture. atiluknathan@gmail.comThe post At Neon Raves, dance was the competition and the language appeared first on The Observer Media Ltd.