A professional break-dance contest, entitled Battle of the Year (BOTY), will be held for the first time in Hanoi on July 1.

The contest, hosted by the Young World Trade and Telecommunications Joint Stock Company, will select the best dance team to represent Vietnam at the Asian BOTY break-dance contest to be held in Singapore in August.

After the contest, the company and the Hanoi-based Goethe Institute will sign a contract with the BOTY’s head office, to organize the event in Hanoi annually.

Break-dance has been popular in Vietnam since 1998, however, it has not been recognised as a mainstream art form in the country.

Nonetheless, the dance-style has been performed regularly at cultural exchanges between Vietnam and other countries over the past five years. Countries such as the US, France, Germany, the UK, Thailand, Singapore, China and the Netherlands have all sent their dance teams to compete in Vietnam.

Many break-dance groups have been established and are winning over young audiences, such as Big Toe and Halley, as well as rappers like Windy and Minh Kien.