The Bradas have left NBC's World of Dance competition witha bang after performing their own haka during their dance routine in The Cut stage of the competition. Photo / The Bradas / NBC World of Dance
The Bradas have left NBC's World of Dance competition witha bang after performing their own haka during their dance routine in The Cut stage of the competition. Photo / The Bradas / NBC World of Dance
When The Bradas left the shores of Aotearoa, they landed in America in the hope of not only winning a million-dollar prize but making New Zealand hip hop an international powerhouse.
The Kiwi sensations came close to winning the World of Dance competition, finishing fourth in the Upper Team division.
They may not have taken lifted the top prize, but their performances captivated America and left global music star Jennifer Lopez speechless and in awe.
During the competition, the judges described The Bradas as "some of the best athletes in the world" while Lopez stated "LeBron James couldn't do what you do".
But what was it that set our Kiwi wonder group apart from the rest?
The Bradas member Riley Bourne told the Herald their ability to educate the world about their Māori culture through dance is what left the judges and the public of the US amazed.
"All of our routines have New Zealand and Māori culture influence in it," Bourne said.
"We were the only team in the competition that was representing our country and so we knew that we had to showcase our culture. Every time we perform overseas we always try and bring a taste of New Zealand to the world."
Armed with traditional Māori performance dress and tattoos, The Bradas wrote their own haka and choreography, blending it into their dance routine in what was to be their final appearance on the show.
The powerful cultural performance left a tingle down the judges' spines.
The Bradas have left NBC's World of Dance competition witha bang after performing their own haka during their dance routine in The Cut stage of the competition. Photo / The Bradas / NBC World of Dance
"All the teams and American fans of the show absolutely loved it. They'd never seen anything like it.
"The judges themselves were blown away with how we incorporate our culture while staying within the lines of hip hop, which is quite hard to do," Bourne explained.
"There were other teams from around the world who weren't able to incorporate their culture into what they were doing, so everyone was shocked to see we were able to do that. Especially in the last round, we performed our own haka. Everyone was blown away.
"Behind the scenes, we had a lot to do with Derek Hough. His feedback was keep doing what we're doing.
"A lot of the other teams had feedback about fixing up their cleanliness and their movement and becoming in sync, but they couldn't say that to us as we already had that. They kept encouraging us to add our culture into our performances and step it up a notch each round."
But the show wasn't all plain sailing for the crew of six.
While the Kiwi group are no strangers to the big stage having previously won back-to-back World Hip Hop Championships, they struggled to initially adapt to the demands of television.
Bourne explained television performances throw up new elements which need to be incorporated into routines if you are going to stand a chance of progressing.
"One of the hardest things was performing for television. We weren't really use to it. We're used to performing for live audiences and crowds at competitions and events. Whereas for television you have to do it a few times and when they say cut you have to stop what you're doing.
"It's all based around the audience at home rather than the live audience. That was hard for us to get our head around. The camera is always changing up the angles so you need to know where it's coming from and that extra element involves a lot of practice and changes to the routine. That was a big challenge and changed our perspective.
"But the pressure of performing for judges like NeYo, J. Lo and Derek Hough was humbling.
"To have people of such influence at our performances and judging us creates a new level we've never reached before, but we were up for the challenge."
The Bradas were applauded for their ability to incoprorate their Maori culture into their dance routines. Photo / The Bradas / NBC World of Dance
The fan favourites have since returned home and aren't planning on resting anytime soon.
The Bradas told the Herald they are working on touring the country during the summer and efforts to hit the overseas market are in the pipeline.
Bourne and his crew are hopeful their success on the world stage can help aid their attempts to unite the New Zealand hip-hop dancing industry after highlighting divisions in the community.
The Bradas one day hope to create an event which will be the pinnacle of New Zealand hip hop to attract the best Kiwi talent.
Bourne said New Zealand has some of the best dance crews in the world, but the division in the industry and New Zealand's location has meant talent gets brushed aside.
"Our cultural influences make Kiwis so good at dance. Because we have such a competitive mindset we're always trying to be the best we can be and to push ourselves to the next level.
"The Māori and Polynesian aspect, the haka, its so powerful and New Zealanders take that turn it into performance.
"We're working on a few events to bring the New Zealand dance community together. We feel its segregated at the moment.
"There are lots of separate events being run but we want to bring it all together onto one stage and one event to celebrate New Zealand's talent. Because we're such a small country our talent gets missed by the world. We want to build everyone up and share our skills with the masses.
"The fact we were able to represent our country to the masses and bring our Māori and New Zealand flare to such a new audience was pretty epic. I don't want anyone else to miss out."
