The Huntington Bank Rotunda at Mall of America will trade its usual foot traffic for backspins and freezes Saturday, as breakers, poppers and krumpers face off in Cypher Rotunda, a free street dance battle running from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Competitors are vying for cash prizes in front of live DJs and judges, with the main event kicking off at 3 p.m. on the mall's first floor in Bloomington.
The battle is hosted by Cypher Side Dance School and organized as one of Minnesota's biggest dance battles, according to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. The publication describes Cypher Side as a local dance institution that has transformed the Twin Cities' retail hub into an international arena for hip-hop and street dance culture, drawing competitors from across the world alongside world-renowned judges.
A Founder Who Danced at the Super Bowl
The competition is led by Lue Thao, founder and director of Cypher Side Dance School, whose own path to the rotunda stage began far from Minnesota. Thao was born into a Hmong refugee family in Thailand before being raised on the East Side of Saint Paul, where he graduated from Harding High School, according to Saint Paul Public Schools.
His resume since then has included dancing in Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl LII halftime show in 2018 at U.S. Bank Stadium, performing with the First Avenue Breakers for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx since 2015, and serving as the first Hmong street dance instructor at Macalester College, per the Coalition of Asian American Leaders. That same organization notes Thao has also won more than 20 regional dance competitions over the course of his career.
Rebuilding After a Studio Fire
Cypher Side's road to hosting a marquee mall event wasn't without setbacks. In February 2022, the dance school suffered a devastating electrical fire at its studio, forcing it to relocate and rebuild its physical headquarters in North Saint Paul, as reported by Collabs.io. The school was originally established in 2017 with guidance from Saint Paul's Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center and has since grown to serve over 300 youth and adult students across breaking, hip-hop and K-pop disciplines, per the same outlet.
Beyond street dance battles, the studio has expanded its footprint at the mall in other ways. Cypher Side organized the Hmong Arts Celebration at Mall of America, which the school says was the first Hmong arts event held at the retail complex — a notable milestone given that Minnesota is home to one of the largest Hmong diaspora communities in North America.
Breaking and Allstyle Brackets, Strict Sign-Up Rules
This year's Cypher Rotunda features two primary competitive brackets, Breaking and Allstyle, with free open practice sessions offered to participants at the studio ahead of Saturday's competition, according to event details posted on World Cypher. Allstyle battles pit dancers from a range of urban genres against one another to live DJ sets.
Organizers have instituted strict registration rules for Saturday's event: competitors must sign up online in advance, with zero day-of sign-ups allowed, and non-competitors are prohibited from entering the cypher circle and stage area. A cypher is the traditional hip-hop circle where dancers take turns competing in the center, a format at the heart of Saturday's brackets.
A Bigger Stage for a Growing Sport
Cypher Rotunda has grown into a genuine spectacle inside one of the region's busiest buildings. Mall of America draws roughly 42 million annual visitors across four floors, making its central rotunda a marquee venue for large-scale spectator events, according to background compiled by contributors to the Mall of America Fandom wiki. Last year's edition drew an estimated 80,000 visitors through the rotunda and featured international competitors from Canada and Colombia, according to figures published by the event's Givebutter fundraising page.
The surge of interest in local street dance and breaking has also tracked a broader national trend. Interest expanded following breaking's official debut at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, after Twin Cities studios had already partnered with Breaking for Gold USA to host Midwest regional Olympic qualifiers in 2022 and 2023, as reported by MPR News. Local studio owners told the station they hoped the Olympic recognition would generate long-term career opportunities for dancers in the scene.
Admission to Saturday's Cypher Rotunda is free, and organizers expect the rotunda floor to once again fill with dancers, DJs and spectators from 11 a.m. until the event wraps at 7 p.m.
