1st Place WOD Boston 2024 - Royal Thieves

Team Intro 

WOD Boston finalists Royal Thieves, established in 2016, coming from New York City, the team has gone through many challenges together. Hailing from Maryland, Jersey, and the tri-state area, the team focuses on their slogan ‘DDA (don't dance alone) as a way to bring the team closer together and create a family within the team, “we’re family and we’re never alone on stage and dance as one.”

Royal Thieves has been competing since 2007! One of their main goals for the future is to open their own studio in order to bring in more members to their royal family, “Our goals for the future to open a studio and Bring more members in and keep growing our family.”  The team has clearly showcased their talents well enough for this is the second year in a row that the team placed first at WOD Boston. 

Royal Thieves has been competing with World of Dance since 2017. Over the last few years the team always had a blast at the competitions but there most favorite memory is WOD Boston 2023, when they won first place with their piece, Caught Up. They initially didn't think they were going to even make the competition due to some bus issues as they were getting ready to leave the city, the team recalls, “We didn’t think we were going to make the competition due to our charter bus not showing up and having to find a last minute bus to take us.”

Performance Elements 

Royal Thieves delivered a killer performance, winning them first place at WOD Boston this year. When we asked the team about their inspiration for the piece they shared that the song had been chosen by the team’s owner, Deshawn da Prince. He had just come off of a tour with Missy Elliot and wanted to do a piece dedicated to her and her work, “he was so inspired by the icon herself and her hard work and dedication to her craft that he wanted to do a dedication to her.” The team was inspired by Missy Elliott’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance, and wanted to incorporate it into their costumes. 

When looking back at their performance from the day, a stand out moment to them was a moment toward the end of their performance where the whole team was able to come together at the end and as a family be able to show their passion for performance. “...The ending where we can all come together as one family and show the passion and love we have as one. We were most proud that we were able to have Deshawn put together the dance in a month and half,"  Royal Thieves reflects on their time at WOD Boston and their love for dance and music carries through each performance.

Competition Prep

When warming up before rehearsal, Royal Thieves can always be found listening to Survivor by Destiny’s Child to get in that focused mindset, claiming it’s their “boot camp go to warm up song.” After talking to the team about their preparation for this years performance in Boston, they say it was different then in previous years and wanted to focus on the creative aspect of their performance, “This performance was different because we wanted to get more creative and use props which we’ve never done before.” 

It seemed to be a challenge for the team given that it was a new perspective that was being implemented into their creative framework. Nevertheless, Thieves came and conquered the day and they we'll most definitely be returning for the following season, not sure if they will make it to WOD Summit but we hope to see the team shine once more this season. 

The team tells us to “Always expect something new and challenging from Deshawn da Prince and Royal Thieves.” WOD is ready for yall!