the sunshine team presents
the throwdown
a Fusion BATTLE Weekend
july 17-19
oakland california
Daytime workshops
& community building activities
Evening showcases
& comps
Nighttime socials
& creative shines
Show up.
Throw down.
Leave it all on the floor.
fusion competitions??
Yes! We believe in the power of showing up and showing off with community to bring us together. We’ve got many different styles of comps, serious and silly, to encourage everyone to get a taste of the spotlight, show off their best moves, and be celebrated for their art.
They each have different judging criteria, but they all center around these five principals:
Fusion
Is it actually fusion? Dancers must display technique from two or more styles. Dancers may be disqualified for dancing a single identifiable style.
Connection & Listening
How strong the communication between the individual dancers is, and how well they work as a team. Looking for: two-way communication, play, chemistry, making your partner shine.
Musicality
How strong the relationship between the music and the dancers’ movement is. Looking for movement that is informed and inspired by the music on both a rhythmic and aesthetic/thematic level.
Quality of Movement
How technically strong the dancers are, both individually and in partnership. Looking for: Intentionality, refinement, precision, clarity, skill, poise.
Performance & Showmanship
How powerful and clear the performer-audience connection is. Looking for: Play, story, emotional connection, audience reaction.
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Our title competition is back!
Classic J&J-style dance competition. Dancers are judged as individuals in the prelims and as couples in the finals.
for non-professional dancers
spotlights for finals
feedback with judges the following day
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Alright hot shots 🔥, this one is for you.
J&J-style self-judged dance competition. Dancers will be rotated 5 times and asked to rank their dances in order of preference.
experienced or professional dancers
prelims are self-judged
finals are audience-judged
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A rigorous obstacle course of music genres to see who can handle the widest array of dance styles! You may encounter latin, pop, dubstep, jazz, polka, etc.
Enter as a couple (switching is welcome!), judges will tap in teams to move to the next round until there are two couples left, then battle style finals.
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We’ve invited some of the most talented people to duke it out before your very eyes! This invitational strictly is a true fusion of dance disciplines.
Couples enter together and have the opportunity to practice ahead of time. Music will be tricky. 😈
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A DJ competition where the audience judges how undanceable each track is. Judges will do their best to dance, and when they simply cannot, they will die dramatically on the floor. The song who “kills” the most people wins.
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There will be live mixed DJ battles ongoing throughout the weekend. Vote for your favorite DJ to get them to play an extra set!
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Keep an ear out: there will be comps throughout the weekend that begin sometime after midnight. You enter by showing up at the right time – and win by being the last dancer standing (tap-out eliminations).
We heard you’re not a fan of competitions, but hear us out: neither are we. We see how competitions can get stale and turn a dance into mastering a series of moves, impressing judges and stifling innovation. What we love is the competitive spirit… we love the energy, the challenge, and the excitement for learning that competitions bring to a community. That’s why we are putting on The Throwdown.
At the center of our competitions is authenticity, community, and creativity. We’re building a fusion freestyle competition. Igniting a special spark that breeds life and creativity. Giving our community the chance to show off how they define fusion.
Hey fusion, we heard you don’t like comps!
Hey fusion, we heard you don’t like comps!
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One thing we can all agree on: we show up on the fusion floor as ourselves. Authenticity is the core of our dance, and we are making it the core of our competitions.
We’ve seen how competitions in other dance forms can box in creativity with aesthetic standards. We’re building our competitions to excite — to celebrate the way you move, connect, and create. Inspired by hip hop freestyle battles, where style, creativity, musicality, and confidence matter just as much as technique.
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The heart of our competitions is fueled by community energy. From the roar of the audience to friendly competition motivation, this event can’t happen without you! We see community not just as part of the comps but the life source. Allowing the competitions to become a special moment to bring us all together. We want the community voices to impact our dancers, and that’s why we’ve made our veteran comp “audience judged”, giving a voice to the people — there's no better voice than the moment.
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Fusion has unique core values, and we want the flames for each of those values to burn hot. We’re looking beyond the dancers with the most polish, we want to uplift the standards that make the fusion the community what it is… It will be the dancers who show us something new, it’ll be about the creativity and the connection. Fusion is about charting the unknown, and we’re looking for dancers who are willing to shine the light on new possibilities. If you have something unique, special or unusual you want to bring to the community, bring it here!
For the Sunshine competitions, every dancer will walk away with direct feedback from our judges, something they can carry into their dancing, their learning, and their growths.
Fusion has unique/many unique communities, and we want each of those flames to burn hot. Polished dancing isnt the only way to win.
