Q5 W*acking Weekend: W*acking battle & jam

Shahin Damka | Jury member

Shahin Damka (Netherlands) is a professional dancer, teacher, performer, organiser and community builder who has specialised in waacking and voguing since 2010. Shahin has battled since 2011 and has competed and won in waacking and allstyle battles in the Netherlands, Europe, the US and Asia; battles such as Waackfest Los Angeles, SDK Holland, Funkin Stylez, World of Dance Holland, Supernova Taiwan, Pay The Cost to be The Boss and Hip Hop International.
Shahin has been teaching both nationally and internationally since 2012 and has judged battles and competitions in the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Ukraine, Taiwan, Canada, India, Mexico and other countries in Europe, Asia and North America. Besides battling, teaching and judging, Shahin has performed at MilkShake Festival, Eurovision - Netherlands, Redbull Netherlands and in theatre both inside and outside the Netherlands with The Shady Siblings.

Lorena Valenzuela | Jury member

Born and raised in Mexico, Lorena moved to the US in 2012 to pursue a professional dance career. She is part of the first generation of Whackers in Mexico and Latin America and has been an ambassador of this style for about 15 years now. She has judged at renowned international competitions such as ‘Hot Mess’ in Canada, ‘Waack the world’, ‘Polish Waacking Festival’ and ‘Waackdown’ in Europe, ‘Smack and Whack’ in Russia and ‘Whack to Life’ in Indonesia. She was also part of the jury for important ‘All Styles’ battles such as ‘Freestyle Session’, ‘Fusion Concept Festival’, ‘Vancouver Street dance festival’, ‘Summer week 47’ and others.
She has taught abroad and shared the culture of Punking/Whacking in countries such as: USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, London, Greece, UK, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Russia, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, Perú, El Salvador and others.

Tamara Robledo Oud | Jury member

Tamara Robledo Oud (born 1993, Barcelona) is a Rotterdam, Dutch/Spanish professional dancer and artist. She is best known for her House dance, Waacking and improvisation. Waacking came into Tamara's life in 2011, when she was almost 20. From 2012 to 2019, she was a member of the crew X-Gen, which boosted her growth in House Dance immensely. In 2014, she graduated from Urban Dance Education (now Creative College) in Utrecht. In 2018, she joined Amenti.

Tamara is internationally recognised in the battle scene. She danced on stages such as Summer Dance Forever, Flavourama, Ladies of Hiphop, The Notorious IBE, Streetstar, was a finalist at Red Bull Dance Your Style and won titles such as UK Champs World Champion House, Istanbul Streetdance Carnival, International Dance League, Get Your Waack On and more. She has performed worldwide at festivals such as Amsterdam Dance Event, Lowlands, Ladies of Hip Hop (NYC), B Supreme (UK), Faro Urbano (Spain), Loopfest (Portugal), Malmö Dance Week (Sweden) and many more.

Katerina | Host

Katerina is a dedicated and passionate figure in the world of dance, best known for her unique style and dedication to fostering community within the waacking scene. Driven by a desire to create a supportive and welcoming space for dancers, Katerina founded The Waackdown, a dance platform where participants can connect, express themselves freely and find a sense of belonging.

To further support the dance community, Katerina also created the Waacking Calendar, which started as an informative source for event dates, but has since grown into a comprehensive platform. The calendar not only promotes events and organisers, but helps dancers coordinate their trips, meet new friends and plan around each other to increase the attendance and inclusivity of each event. These days, the calendar even helps organisers plan to maximise participation.

Sarada Sarita | Host

Sarada Sarita (b. 1987) is a Dutch-Chilean dancer and choreographer. The scion of a dancer's family, she practised a spectrum of dance styles from an early age, from classical ballet and tap to jazz and hip-hop. Sarita studied at dance school with Lucia Marthas and at the Peridance Centre of Art & Alignment (New York) with Anne-Marie Duchêne. She is a pioneer in the Dutch dance scene: she was one of the first to bring voguing and waacking to the Netherlands. In her career, Sarita has worked with ISH and Het Nationale Ballet, among others, and won the BNG Bank Dance Prize in 2019 together with Christian Yav and Sedrig Verwoert. Since 2021, she has been house maker at Korzo.