This is New Orleans, where bounce music and twerking started. It’s where we celebrate the lives of those who have passed on by dancing in the streets and on rooftops. It’s a city with food so good, we do a little dance after taking a bite.

Expressing ourselves through dance is just part of the culture here, and now some of the city’s best dancers will battle it out to see who reigns supreme in the first Dancing Grounds Showdown dance competition on Oct. 13 at 8 p.m.

And it’s only right when one of the city’s most popular dance studios hosts its inaugural dance competition that it be judged by none other than the Queen Diva Big Freedia herself, along with Michelle Gibson.

Dancing Grounds, which hosts dance classes like African Dance & Drum, Black & Brown Bodies in Motion, BollyX cardio workout, Caribbean DanceHall, is inviting the community to vote for the semi-finalists who will move forward to the final round as a Wild Card pick and win a $1,000 fan favorite prize.

Here’s how to vote. You can only cast one vote per contestant per email address; duplicate votes won’t be counted.

Want to attend this epic New Orleans dance competition? You can get your tickets here. Through Monday, Oct. 1, tickets are $25. Until the day before the show, tickets are $35. And tickets bought at the door are $40. Tickets for youth under 16 are $10.