Gisborne hip-hop duo triumph at national street dance competition

Hip-hop duo 98 Cents Paul Hawaikirangi and Kylah Ashwell won the Iti Duo Open division at the Battlegrounds Aotearoa street dance competition in Hamilton.

A new piece of choreography by Gisborne hip-hop duo 98 Cents to Michael and Janet Jackson’s song Scream helped them win the Iti Duo Open division at national street dance competition World Supremacy Battlegrounds Aotearoa 2025.

The annual competition held in Hamilton featured dance crews from around the North Island going head-to-head to qualify for a place in international competition World Supremacy Battlegrounds Dubai in July.

The Gisborne duo, comprising Paul Hawaikirangi and Kylah Ashwell, also excelled in the Solo Open division with Hawaikirangi winning and Ashwell placing second.

This was the first time 98 Cents have competed as a duo in the competition, which has been running for 20 years.

Hawaikirangi competed at Battlegrounds Aotearoa in 2017, placing third in the Solo Open and going on to represent New Zealand at the international event that year.

“Unfortunately, this year they are only taking the larger groups to the world competition, so even though we won both the categories we entered, we do not get to go to worlds for this one,” Ashwell said.

“This comp was one of the smaller ones we’ve attended, with dancers from the North Island only. It was a relaxed vibe compared to other comps, which we enjoyed.”

The dancers have a busy year ahead, including the Braemar dancing competition on King’s Birthday Weekend at which they will compete with their crew Club 98.

In June they head to Lower Hutt for the Hip Hop Unite nationals at which they were third last year and first in 2023.

It was also the competition which took them to the world finals in Portugal in 2023.

“We try to create new routines and try new styles at each competition we go to,” Ashwell said.

People interested in learning hip-hop in Gisborne should keep an eye out for their dance workshops.

“We have also decided to offer pop-up dance workshops,” Ashwell said.

“Our last one in February was so much fun and we had a good turnout of people wanting to learn hip-hop and street-style dancing.

“We hope to run more in the future.”