Urban Stylez Festival Bielefeld

Bielefeld's Hip-Hop Festival

The Urban Stylez Festival has been a fixture in the German Hip-Hop dance scene's calendar since 2017. Organized by DansArt Tanznetworks — one of Ostwestfalen's most renowned dance schools — the festival serves as a meeting point for workshop learning, battle competitions, and performance platforms. In 2026, the event will run over two consecutive weekends: May 22nd to 24th and May 29th to 31st.

Four Styles in Focus

The focus is on four styles within the Urban Dance scene: Hip-Hop in its various schools (Old School, New School, Foundation), Chicago Footwork as a high-energy style from US dance battles, House Dance with roots in Chicago's club culture, and Contemporary as a modern extension. International choreographers will lead workshops, while local and regional dancers will compete against each other in battles.

DansArt as Organizer

For decades, DansArt Tanznetworks has been a central hub for Urban Dance in Ostwestfalen-Lippe. The studios at Am Bach 11 in Bielefeld-Mitte house several dance halls, allowing for parallel workshops during the festival. The concentration of the event in one studio is a hallmark: a compact festival with no breaks between distant locations.

Workshops, Battles, Performances

The three pillars of the program are workshops (during the day), battles (late afternoon and evening), and performances (evening showcases). Workshop registrations are handled in advance via email at [email protected], while battle slots are sometimes allocated on-site. Followers can keep up with the festival on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

Bielefeld as a Hip-Hop City

Bielefeld boasts a surprisingly rich Hip-Hop tradition — from the pioneers of the 1990s to current national competition crews. With over 330,000 inhabitants, this East Westphalian city is the natural center of the OWL Hip-Hop scene. The Urban Stylez Festival is its most important recurring event.