Get Wise: The Hypers Kids Africa Dance Troupe of Uganda

From Kampala Street Kids to the World Stage on America’s Got Talent

What began with a former Ugandan football player trying to help a handful of children living on the streets of Kampala has grown into one of Uganda’s most recognizable youth dance and acrobatics groups. Hypers Kids Africa, based in Kampala, Uganda, combines high-energy dancing, acrobatics and athleticism with a story that goes far beyond entertainment.

The group was founded by Moses Butindo, a former football player whose career was interrupted by a serious leg injury. While recovering, Butindo became involved with children living on the streets and began helping them. Accounts of the group’s history generally place its beginnings in 2013, although some later reporting has described the organization as being formally established in 2014. The earliest group reportedly consisted of just three children.

Butindo began teaching the children the skills he knew, eventually turning their energy toward dancing and acrobatics. What started as a way to give disadvantaged children something constructive to do developed into a performance group. The children began performing in the streets of Kampala, using their dancing and athletic abilities to earn money while building a life away from the streets.

Over time, Hypers Kids Africa grew into more than simply a dance troupe. The children associated with the group have lived together and participated in dance, football and acrobatics, with the organization attempting to provide food, education, housing and other basic necessities. A 2023 account from Annie Wechter, who began supporting the group after meeting Butindo in 2019, described approximately 20 street children living together when she first encountered them. She subsequently began personally helping with rent, food and school fees.

What Made Hypers Kids Africa Famous?

The group’s signature is its combination of African dance, modern choreography, acrobatics, athletic tricks and seemingly endless energy. Their performances aren’t traditional dance routines where everybody politely moves from Point A to Point B. The kids jump, flip, tumble, balance and move in rapid formations, often incorporating athletic and acrobatic elements into the choreography.

Their performances began attracting an international audience through social media. The group became particularly popular outside Uganda, including in Brazil, where their dance videos attracted substantial attention. Their growing online audience eventually brought them to the attention of international celebrities.

One of the group’s biggest early international moments came in 2023, when American rapper 6ix9ine traveled to Uganda and filmed portions of the music video for his song “Wapae” with Hypers Kids Africa. The children received a prominent role in the video, giving the group another enormous boost in international exposure.

The group has also been associated with collaborations or encounters involving major international names, with Ugandan media reporting connections to artists and athletes including Chris Brown, Neymar, Ronaldinho, Léo Santana and Akon. In October 2024, Hypers Kids Africa performed alongside Akon in Los Angeles.

The America’s Got Talent Breakthrough

Then came the opportunity that introduced Hypers Kids Africa to millions of American television viewers.

The group traveled from Kampala to the United States to compete on Season 19 of NBC’s America’s Got Talent in 2024. Their audition aired during the fourth episode of the season. The performers walked onto the stage wearing costumes incorporating the black, yellow and red colors of the Ugandan flag before launching into a fast-paced routine packed with dance and acrobatics.

Their audition was performed to “Bills” by LunchMoney Lewis, and the routine immediately got the attention of judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara. All four judges voted to send the group through to the next round.

For Hypers Kids Africa, however, winning wasn’t simply about becoming television stars. During the competition, the group explained that the money could be used to purchase land in Uganda and build a permanent home and school for the children. Their story therefore became part talent competition and part international introduction to the circumstances from which the performers had emerged.

The group returned for the Live Quarterfinals, where it delivered another acrobatic dance performance, this time using C+C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat.” The routine again received strong reactions from the judges and audience. Three judges, including Cowell, Mandel and Klum, gave the group standing ovations. Hypers Kids Africa ultimately finished its America’s Got Talent run as a Quarterfinalist, reaching the Top 5 of its particular quarterfinal episode but failing to advance to the semifinals.

An Amazing Social Media Footprint

The Instagram number is particularly significant. Blizz Uganda’s 2026 ranking lists Hypers Kids Africa at approximately 11.2 million Instagram followers, making the group one of the most-followed Ugandan accounts on the platform.

On TikTok, Hafi’s September 17, 2026 data lists the account @hyperskidsafrica23, identified as “Hypers kids1,” at approximately 4.6 million followers. The account is also listed among Uganda’s most-followed TikTok accounts.

Their YouTube channel, @hyperskidsafrica, has approximately 3.45 million subscribers and more than 1.14 billion total views. HypeAuditor’s September 2026 figures show 3,454,679 subscribers, while Social Blade reports roughly 3.45 million subscribers and 1.142 billion views.

Facebook is another monster number. Social Blade currently lists the official Hypers Kids Africa Facebook page at about 7.1 million likes, with more than 100,000 people currently “talking about” the page.

It is hard to believe how many followers these kids have across major platforms. Using the currently reported figures for Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, Hypers Kids Africa has more than 26 million combined followers/subscribers/likes across those four platforms alone.

That figure should be described as an approximate combined social-media audience, rather than saying the group has 26 million individual followers, because the same person can follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. Humanity has not yet invented a button that tells us how many people are actually different humans.

Their YouTube presence is particularly impressive because the channel has accumulated more than 1.14 billion views since being created in June 2017.

The Growth Is Dramatic

The scale of the growth becomes clearer when looking at older coverage. In 2023, Pulse Uganda reported that the group’s Instagram page had more than 783,000 followers when rapper 6ix9ine contacted them about appearing in his “Wapae” music video. By 2026, Instagram tracking data was putting the account at approximately 11.2 million followers. That means the audience reported for the account has grown by more than 10 million since that 2023 report.

And YouTube has become an enormous part of the group’s reach. Current tracking shows roughly 3.45 million subscribers and more than 1.14 billion views, demonstrating that their popularity extends well beyond Uganda and well beyond the America’s Got Talent audience.

The Social-Media Formula

Much of Hypers Kids Africa’s content is built around exactly what made them successful on television: synchronized African dance, acrobatics, athletic tricks, football and highly energetic short-form videos. Their social accounts frequently feature choreographed performances set to popular music, along with football and other athletic content.

Their social-media success actually predates their appearance on America’s Got Talent. The group had already developed an international audience through viral dance videos, including performances to Brazilian and African music. Their online popularity helped lead to collaborations with international entertainers, including 6ix9ine, and eventually helped put them on the AGT stage.

From the Streets of Kampala to American Television

The significance of Hypers Kids Africa’s story is that the America’s Got Talent appearance didn’t actually create the group. By the time they arrived on the NBC stage, they had already spent years developing their unusual blend of dance and acrobatics and had built an international following online.

What AGT did was give that story an enormous American audience.

The image of a group that began with children from difficult circumstances in Kampala suddenly performing in front of Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara made Hypers Kids Africa one of the more memorable international acts of Season 19. Their journey also demonstrated something the entertainment industry occasionally rediscovers, usually after spending millions of dollars trying to manufacture it: sometimes an authentic story and a group of ridiculously talented kids are enough.

For Hypers Kids Africa, the goal remains bigger than a television appearance. The group has used dance and performance as a way to create opportunities for children who otherwise might have had very few. From three children in Kampala to international performances, music-video appearances and one of the world’s biggest televised talent competitions, Hypers Kids Africa has turned dancing into far more than entertainment.

Sources for Article

• New Vision Uganda: Hyper Kids Africa set for America’s Got Talent
• Sqoop Uganda: AGT judges left mesmerized by Hypers Kids Africa
• Sqoop Uganda: Hypers Kids Africa dance off to AGT quarterfinals
• Pulse Uganda: 6ix9ine connects Uganda’s Hypers Kids to Nicki Minaj
• GoFundMe: Support Hypers Kids Africa, organized by Annie Wechter
• My Modern Met: Ugandan Dance Troupe Gains International Praise