Mauritius: Emma dancing her way into history

The atrium of Tribeca Mall is packed. The DJ drops a track no one saw coming and a young woman steps into the circle. She has seconds to find the beat. Then she moves and the crowd leans in.

Her name is Emma. She is 23, a student at the University of Mauritius and on Saturday 26 September she became the first trans woman to dance in the national final of Red Bull Dance Your Style in Mauritius.

For years, Emma danced because it made her feel whole. "Dance makes me feel good," she says. "It's where I can be completely myself." That night, she was herself in front of hundreds of people. And they cheered.

Every track a surprise

Red Bull Dance Your Style has no choreography and no judges' panel. The DJ picks the music on the spot and after each one-on-one battle the crowd raises blue or red cards to choose who goes through. Win the room, or go home.

This year, the third Mauritian edition, more than 50 dancers entered the qualifiers at Bagatelle Mall and the University of Mauritius. Only 16 reached the final. Eight students battled in the campus selection, which sent two dancers through. Emma was one of them.

In the early rounds she wove together Afro dance, amapiano, dancehall and hip hop. For the final, she chose two styles that tell her own story: Indian dance, woven deep into Mauritian culture and Vogue, rooted in the community she belongs to.

The title went to DreadlyTwinz (Julien Gaspard), who heads to the World Final in Zurich on 24 October. But for Emma, simply standing in that circle was a victory years in the making. "I was so proud," she says.

A dance born of courage

Vogue was never just a dance. It was born in the ballroom scene of 1980s New York, created by Black and Latino LGBTQ people, many of them trans women, who had been shut out almost everywhere else. On the ballroom floor they built families, crowned their own queens and claimed space the world denied them. Madonna's 1990 hit "Vogue" later carried the style around the globe.

"Vogue is so important for trans people, here in Mauritius too," Emma says. "It gave us a way to express ourselves and to feel free in who we are."

So when Emma vogued in front of a Mauritian crowd, she wasn't only performing. She was carrying that history onto a national stage and asking everyone watching to see it.

Showing up for others

Emma's courage doesn't switch off when the music stops. For years she has worked with organisations fighting unfairness and inequality in Mauritius, balancing activism with her studies. She has spent much of her young life making room for people who are too often pushed to the edges.

On campus, she turned that commitment into something lasting. She founded the university's Queer Society and leads it today. It already counts 126 members: 126 students who now have a place where no one has to hide. 

The generation that cheered

This story isn't only about Emma. It is also about the crowd. In a contest where the audience is the only judge, young Mauritians looked at a trans woman and saw a dancer. They raised their cards for her moves, not her identity.

Emma sees that same openness every day at university. Her fellow students are curious rather than judgmental and many stand beside the queer community as proud allies. Not long ago, that would have been hard to imagine and he was so grateful to UOM dance club for the opportunity to participate at university.

The law has started to catch up. In October 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the colonial-era law that criminalised same-sex relations. Young people are now carrying that change out of the courtroom and into classrooms, clubs and dance floors.

What visibility makes possible

Ask Emma what she wants other trans people to hear and she answers without hesitation. "There are no barriers we can't handle. Anything is possible."

Dance gave Emma the strength to believe that. Now she uses it to lift others, because every time a trans person is seen, celebrated and cheered, someone watching learns that they can be seen too.

Mauritius has come a long way, but the work isn't finished. So cheer for dancers like Emma. Make your clubs, classrooms and workplaces places where everyone belongs. And if you're at the University of Mauritius, the Queer Society's door is open. The floor is big enough for all of us.

(Written by Anushka Virahsawmy, Director Gender Links Mauritius and Francophone Operations)