On Sunday, September 20, the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles was filled with both jubilant cheers and incredulous gasps. It was the inaugural season championship of the International Dance League—and the Los Angeles–based team GRV had just pulled a stunning upset, beating Vancouver’s previously undefeated Brotherhood crew. By .43 of a point. On a 100-point scale.
The International Dance League is “sportifying” dance—round-robin format, jersey numbers, tunnel walkouts and all. With one season under its belt, the league’s trajectory looks promising. Since its official opener in May, the IDL has secured a media rights deal with ESPN and garnered more than 2 billion views on social media. If you’ve heard *NSYNC’s “I Want You Back” more often recently, you may have Brotherhood’s viral choreography to thank. (And as a Filipino American, I have to mention Brotherhood’s set to “Bebot” by the Black Eyed Peas, which got more than 6 million views on Instagram in 24 hours.) Almost every stop on the season tour sold out; the Los Angeles finals sold out in 15 minutes.
Brotherhood secured the number-one seed early on, winning the fan vote and beating every other team during the regular season. With impressive technique and personality, and an uncanny ability to top their previous performances, they won the hearts of a global audience. But most teams in the league showed an upward trajectory.
GRV’s round-two championship set in Los Angeles demonstrated raw hunger, showing fans the team could not only meet the League’s standard of excellence but exceed it. Seoul’s 1MILLION showed dramatic improvement between each event, and Auckland’s Royal Family was right behind. Though Southeast Asia team Jam Republic’s arc was less consistent, it held its own against number-two seed Royal Family during the championship, snagging a spot in its second round. Oslo’s Quick Style was often at the bottom of the leaderboard, but at a recent press conference, team captain Nasir Sirikhan reported a rise in attendees at their home studio, especially female-identifying dancers—a testament to the power of representation as the IDL’s only all-women team.
As each team has leveled up, so has its fans’ investment. The Los Angeles crowd was a rainbow of team jerseys: red (Brotherhood), green (GRV), yellow and black (Royal Family), blue (Quick Style), orange (Jam Republic), and gray (1MILLION). For each team’s walkout, fans sprinted to line the path, hoping for a high-five from the dancers—just the kind of giddiness inspired by major sports stars.
The IDL is, however, suffering some growing pains. Fans were disappointed that many of the League’s pre-professional community-division competitions, which preceded the professional-division competitions throughout the season, were not livestreamed on IDL’s main YouTube channel. And in the wake of GRV’s win against Brotherhood, online commenters criticized the IDL’s scoring format—mostly questioning how a team could sweep throughout the entire season and still lose the championship.
In response, the IDL reiterated its commitment to continue to listen to fan and team feedback, and noted that the division of the prize pool was based on season, not championship, standings. Brotherhood, as the regular season champion for 2026, received a $200,000 payout, while the overall second-place finisher GRV received $180,000. The IDL has also taken some measures to address skepticism about its cultural and capital investment in the Black and brown communities that gave rise to the dance styles of the league. In addition to creating a Cultural and Historical Advisory Board, the IDL has put money towards the type of community-rooted competitions that predate it, investing in street-dance battles such as Step Ya Game Up and Soullusions. Cultural and Historical Advisory Board members Buddha Stretch and Latasha Barnes—accomplished dancers and educators—provided commentary on the championship livestream.
One season in, the promises of IDL’s sportification of dance are starting to bear fruit. Now that the teams know more about how to play the game, their narrative arcs are bound to get even more interesting. GRV’s buzzer-beater-esque win over Brotherhood at the championship proved what IDL commissioner Connor Lim has been saying all season: Anything can happen.