There’s a pumping beat. A 12-year-old steps into the spotlight, her wrists and her arms making sharp, playful and confident movements.
Gaga Khu Yue-ching has already danced her way onto international stages.
In 2023, she won the Children Street Battle at the Dance World Cup World Finals in Portugal, competing against dancers from around 50 countries. A year later, she became the locking champion in the BDS World Youth Street Dance Competition – and the first Hongkonger to be selected for the China National Youth Street Dance Team.
She also performed for the second time at this year’s Cathay International Chinese New Year Night Parade.
It all started when she passed a dance studio on a walk in Tai Po when she was three.
“I saw people dancing, so I wanted to try it out. [My father] brought me to dance lessons,” she said.
That class changed everything.
“I heard the music, and I was like, ‘Wow, you can use dancing to express yourself in different ways,’” Gaga said.
From that day forward, dancing would be more than just a hobby – it would become a part of her.
Inspired by her father
Gucci Khu Chi-wing watched his daughter, Gaga, closely, trying to mimic her moves despite his very different style.
Dancing is a family activity. Gucci Khu started street dancing around 16, with friends in Tsim Sha Tsui. At the time, he mainly breakdanced.
But he could no longer focus on it once he started working. Still, when he hears music around the house, Khu always finds himself returning to dance.
“Sometimes I will play songs that [Gaga] doesn’t like to listen to … to see how I can improve her dancing technique,” Khu said, adding that an open mind is the most important thing for a dancer to have.
“I usually talk to her about the vibe of a song or the texture of the music, how it’s expressed … because every song has a different feeling.”
Khu said he was astonished by his daughter’s “strong sense of music”.
“There were some unexpected moves that I was surprised by,” he added. “She was very into the music when she was performing. It was very inspiring for me.”
Gaga began with jazz-funk and “girl style” dancing but quickly tried other genres and forms, including breaking, funk, hip hop and Afro dance. She started locking seven years ago after her father encouraged her to try a class.
“When I first joined, I was nervous because the environment was new. Jazz-funk was mostly performances; locking had battles. But [luckily] everyone was friendly,” Gaga said.
“Locking is really funky … [with] power moves on the ground, unique clothing and different types of music that really attracted me.”
Training and competing
Last year, Gaga won the under-18 “all style” battle at the Notorious IBE 2025 – one of the world’s longest-standing hip hop dance events – and became the competition’s youngest champion.
Her journey to winning this battle was unexpected.
By chance, the Khu family had been travelling around Europe for the summer when Gaga’s father saw an Instagram post about the competition taking place in Amsterdam that week. It was a few hours away, but the family decided to give it a shot.
As a Hong Kong representative, Gaga held her own against dancers from all over the world in several rounds, from the preliminaries to the finals, over three days.
“It felt surreal,” she said with a grin. “I would have never guessed that I could have won. I’ve always seen world dancers win international battles like this … Winning these types of competitions, it felt so real to me.”
Despite her shining success, Gaga can still feel nervous before competitions. To shake unease, she tries to “listen to the music, stay focused and just [do her] best”.
Dancing also helps her unwind when school weighs on her. She trains about four days a week after school, fitting in homework between classes and dance practice. Playing music, dancing and grooving helps her relax, she said.
A familial support system
Gaga’s mother, Barbie Liu Sau-yan, said she wanted to give Gaga the freedom to pursue her interests as she saw the importance of recognising your child’s talent and encouraging their passions.
“Try not to ban children [from things],” said Liu, who did ballet as a child. “Let them develop … I think the most important thing for parents is to support [their children].”
Gaga’s father said his daughter was also learning life lessons from dancing. For example, he had seen dancers around him quit after losing a few dance battles, despite this being a routine fact for most dancers.
“Losing is the beginning of improvement,” he said. “We’ve been telling [Gaga] that losing is not important. Just become stronger.”
He said he hoped Gaga would continue to enjoy dancing and have fun.
“I used to be very passionate about dancing,” Khu said. “Now I sometimes dance with her, but I also enjoy watching her – the level of enjoyment is even higher than when I dance [alone].”
He said he admired her dedication: “I’m always proud of her. Every time she practises, she uses all her strength. There’s a lot of energy in it.”
For her part, Gaga said she wanted other dancers her age to “just do what they want to do, what they love”.
“Just keep pushing together because you’re the future,” she said.
