The Swanky Gals

It could be something to do with the bump'n'grind of music videos from the likes of Britney, Janet or Justin. Or it could be because kids these days don't have the time or inclination to do the 45 minutes of preliminary stretches that ballet requires. The fact is that hip-hop dancing - a more choreographed version of street and club dancing without the freestyle elements of break dancing - has moved from music videos and concerts to fitness centres and dance studios across the globe.

Hong Kong is no exception. Evolving from the early 1980s days of body-popping and Beat It-era Michael Jackson, its choreography of gyrating hip movements and bootie shaking - not to mention the odd crotch-grab - is now an officially recognised discipline. And in a city obsessed with all things urban, the finals of the Adidas Streetball Challenge 2004 proved to be a parade for the local lords of the bling to strut their stuff.

The eventual winners of that hip-hop dance competition in Mongkok a couple of weekends ago were a quintet calling themselves The Swanky Gals, who faced off against three other local groups, including the all-male United Force Crew.

Having 'busted their moves' to the likes of Missy Elliott and The Black Eyed Peas, Tam Wing-han, Kwok Chi-yan, Lau Yuen-yee, Grace Chan Yuk-yee and Lai Mei-bo impressed the judges enough to win the top prize of $8,000 in Adidas coupons - which should keep them in tracksuits for the foreseeable future.

The Tsim Sha Tsui-based group have been together since 2001, having met at Austin Road's Ones to Watch Dance Company. Chan, at 20, is the youngest. 'I've been dancing for five years,' she says. 'Whereas the others were maybe doing it a couple of years before me. We all started out doing different styles. For me, it was jazz-funk dancing, where you have to learn more detailed moves.

'We all found hip-hop dancing to be more fun. It allows you more freedom. There's a little bit less technique involved. A bit more creativity is needed. The beats are heavier and the flow is funkier.'

Quick footwork, 'drops' onto the floor, 'locking' the body into different poses - to be good at this sort of thing takes dedication, and the group practises three times a week for three hours at a time. That's after regular dance class at the studio.