The Change The Game Project in Calgary, Alberta, Canada consists of a weeklong gathering of dancers old and new to take classes with the pioneers of the street dance world. The focus is both on the dance as well as the culture — informing students to further the unification of hip-hop.

There are a lot of jams that take place all throughout the world, and I know we’ve been trying to cover them lately as they come — it’s just the battles are simply too good for us to not write about them. And once again, we’re too hyped on the uniqueness of this jam! For a different reason entirely, everyone pay close attention. This is a freestyle competition. The cash prize? $12,000 PER category. What?! That’s right. You read that correctly. I read it correctly. For real though, this jam raises up to $60,000 a year to host battles for popping, hip-hop, house and breaking. The man behind the event? None other than the world renowned legend himself — Bobby Mileage. 

The battle just concluded. And this time around, we’d like to spotlight King Charles of the Chicago Footworkingz. If you’re unfamiliar with his name, King Charles is known for his “Chicago Footwork” — a high energy style in which the feet move to house and juke music, reaching tempos of 160bpm. 

For Change The Game, he took 3rd place in hip-hop and 1st in house, taking home a grand total of $13,000. Placing in two categories takes a whole lot of work, dedication and energy — especially if you’re doing a style like Chicago Footwork. We’d just like to repeat the fact that in order to make it to the Semi-Finals and Finals, it means a dancer has to make it past Prelims, past Top 16, past Top 8 — before even touching the final throws of a competition. Essentially, you’re looking at eight rounds of high energy movement minimum, no ties included (except, yo, there’s almost always ties and double ties.) Big congrats to King Charles, and may he continue to travel, inspiring and educating dancers worldwide.