Leon "Kida" Burns (born April 8, 2002), better known by his stage name Kida The Great, is an American

hip-hop dance Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in ...

r, choreographer and actor. He gained recognition through his

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

dance videos of popular hip-hop songs such as "Don't Sleep" by Dorian and "Cut It" by

O.T. Genasis Odis Oliver Flores (born June 18, 1987), better known by his stage name O.T. Genasis, is an American rapper, actor and singer. Early life Odis Oliver Flores was born on June 18, 1987, in Atlanta to Garifunas from Belize. He is a Garifuna Amer ...

. In 2016, Burns was crowned "America's Favorite Dancer" in the thirteenth season of '' So You Think You Can Dance: Next Generation''.

Personal life

Burns was born on April 8, 2002, in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. He is the son of Tanisha Hunter and Leon Burns, Sr. He is the sixth child of his mother's seven children. Burns' first teacher was his oldest brother, Shaheem Sanchez Burns, who started mentoring him when he was 4. He was also inspired by the dance films ''

Breakin' ''Breakin (also known as ''Breakdance'' in the United Kingdom and ''Break Street '84'' in other regions) is a 1984 American breakdancing-themed musical film directed by Joel Silberg and written by Charles Parker and Allen DeBevoise based on a ...

'' and the '' Step Up'' series, which he watched with his father. In 2014, Burns' father died from complications of

H1N1 In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the Spanish flu, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxovirus ...

Career

At age 11, Burns began training at Chapkis Dance Studio in

Suisun City, California Suisun City ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 29,518 at the 2020 census. The city takes its name from the adjacent Suisun Bay, which in turn is named for the S ...

under ''So You Think You Can Dance'' Season 1 contestant Greg Chapkis. In 2010, Burns posted a video online showing him dancing with the crew "The Art of Teknique"; it was reposted by rappers

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

and

Tyrese Tyrese Darnell Gibson (born December 30, 1978) is an American actor and singer. He released his self-titled debut album in 1998, which featured the single " Sweet Lady", peaking at number twelve on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His second ...

. The video landed Burns and his crew on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

''. In 2015, Burns performed solo on ''

The Queen Latifah Show ''The Queen Latifah Show'' was the title of two American television talk shows hosted by Queen Latifah. The original ''The Queen Latifah Show'' ran from September 13, 1999, to August 31, 2001. The revamped ''The Queen Latifah Show'' debuted Septem ...

'' and ''

The Rachel Ray Show ''The Rachael Ray Show'' is an American television talk show hosted by Rachael Ray that debuted in syndication in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2006 and also airs in other countries. It is taped at Chelsea Television Studios in New ...

'', which caught the attention of ''So You Think You Can Dance''

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

. In 2016, Burns claimed the grand prize of $250,000 when he was voted America's Favorite Dancer on the thirteenth season of '' So You Think You Can Dance: Next Generation''. He also appeared in

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

's music video for

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

with fellow hip hop dancers

Ayo & Teo Ayleo Bowles and Mateo Bowles, better known as Ayo & Teo, are a duo of dancers and musicians from Ann Arbor, Michigan. They have appeared in music videos for Usher's "No Limit" and Chris Brown's "Party". Their hit single "Rolex" peaked at number 2 ...

. He performed with singer

Usher Usher may refer to: Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place: * Usher (occupation) ** Church usher ** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony ** Fiel ...

at the 2016 BET Awards. In 2012, Burns appeared in the movie ''

Battlefield America ''Battlefield America'' is an American Dance film, dance-Drama film, drama film by Cinedigm. It was directed by Chris Stokes (record producer), Chris Stokes from ''You Got Served''. The film stars Gary Anthony Sturgis, Tristen M. Carter, Marques H ...

'' as ''Thomas Brown''. In 2020, Kida participated in

World of Dance (TV series) ''World of Dance'' was an American reality competition television series executive produced by Jennifer Lopez. The first two seasons were hosted by Jenna Dewan. The third season saw a change in hosts, as Scott Evans hosted season three and four ...

Season 4, alongside Bailey Sok of S-Rank and Kinjaz. Burns choreographed and appeared in the music video for

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

's song "Come Around Me". He also made a cameo appearance in

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's movie

Zombies 2 ''Zombies 2'' is an American musical and dance Disney Channel Original Movie that premiered on Disney Channel on February 14, 2020. A sequel to the 2018 Disney Channel Original Movie ''Zombies'', the film stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly, and ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Kida 2002 births Living people African-American dancers African-American male actors African-American male dancers American hip hop dancers American male actors American male dancers People from Sacramento, California So You Think You Can Dance (American TV series) 21st-century African-American people