World Hip Hop Championships 2012: The Philippines pride

I have never been so proud as a dancer. For once, we all thought dancing is just one hobby we can't live without. But hey, who knows it will raise our flag in the International scene?


It all began when the Philippine All Stars brought home Gold Medals twice at the World Hip Hop Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA in 2006 and 2008. They, for sure, represented our country really hard. Plus, they inspired many other dance crews to step up their game and, maybe in the future, represent our country in the same competition.

Year after year, they represented the Philippines along with the other crews. Though the teams weren't able to win medals, they took home the best experiences competing in the international stage. And that, they used them as weapons to prepare for the following year. 


2012 came and a lot of crews decided to take the chance of winning Gold for the country. Not only one but NINE crews headed to Las Vegas to rip the World Hip Hop stage. They were:


Varsity Division:
Fresh Flow
Legit Status
A-Team
Adult Division:
The Crew
Philippine All Stars
Tha Project
Megacrew Division:
UP Street Dance Club
La Salle Dance Company-Street
Legit Status


The series of competitions started on August 1 and will close on August 5 (USA time). Hundreds of crews and thousands of dancers from all over the world will vie for the gold, silver and bronze medals in 4 divisions: junior, varsity, adult and megacrew. And our 9 teams, they're not going nowhere. 


With a lot of prayers and support back here, the Philippine teams already wow-ed the international audience during the preliminaries. Let's start off with the Varsity division.
Out of all the crews, 20 will advance to the semi-finals. On the 10th place is LEGIT STATUS and on the 5th is A-TEAM. Cool, huh? 

The MegaCrew division brought the house down as well. 15 crews were named to represent it hard in the FINALS. Yup there was no semi finals round in this division. How did our crews performed? 4th place for the LA SALLE DANCE COMPANY STREET and an overwhelming 2nd place for the UP STREET DANCE CLUB!  It can never be more amazing than that. Imagine being in the top 5 out of all the crews in the competition.



The Adult Division, the most anticipated of all divisions, made the crowd go wild in the prelims. And the Philippines is never left behind. Out of 65 crews, 31 will advance to the semi-finals. Placing 26th is THA PROJECT, 8th is PHILIPPINE ALL STARS and 5th is THE CREW. You think they're done? Not yet.


Right after the preliminaries, the finals of MegaCrew Division and semi finals of Varsity and Adult Divisions took place. And here are the results:


For the Varsity Division Semi-Finals:


8. Lil's Dance - Russia Score: 6.91 
7. Bandits - USA Score: 7.09
6. Freshest Nutz - Singapore Score: 7.28
5. A-Team - Philippines Score: 7.40
4. J.B. Star - Japan Score: 7.42
3. Sorority - New Zealand Score: 7.70
2. Zero - Japan Score: 7.91
1. Sol-T-Shine - Japan Score: 8.22


Adult Division Semi-finals: 


1. The Crew - Philippines Score: 7.52
2. Neutral Zone - Mexico Score: 7.37
3. AOV - USA Score: 7:35
4. Elektrolytes - USA Score: 7.33
5. Rockwell Family - Canada Score: 7.28
6. Brooklyn - South Africa Score: 7.26
7. So United - France Score: 7.25
8. SNV - India Score: 7.20


Megacrew FINALS:


Gold - Royal Family of New Zealand
Silver - GRV of the United States
Bronze - UP Streetdance Club - Philippines
6th place - La Salle Dance Company Street - Philippines


ISN'T THAT AMAZING? WE GOT A MEDAL ALREADY! AND YES, WE AIN'T DONE YET BECAUSE THE CREW AND A-TEAM WILL DEFINITELY KILL THE STAGE ON THE FINAL ROUND.


AWESOME. Really awesome. And what makes it really overwhelming for me is knowing that there are 2 members of the UP Street Dance Club (1 of the 2 is also part of The Crew) who are my 'brothers' in the UPLB Street Jazz Dance Company. It was like yesterday when we were dancing with those 2 and now, they're there, reppin' it hard for our country. To my brothers Erik Javier and Louie Canaria, you made us and are making us really, really proud. CONGRATULATIONS!


But hey, the battle's not over yet. On August 6, 10 AM (PHL Time) the final round of Varsity  and Adult Division are happening! We can watch and cheer for them via Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/prvhhi


Let's keep supporting and praying for them! This has been, so far, the biggest year for the Philippines in the world of dancing. 


For updated in the World Hip Hop Championships, you can follow them on Twitter: twitter.com/OfficialHHI and also on Facebook: facebook.com/HipHopInternational2


Also you can check out the Facebook pages of the participating crews for news and updates.


We're keeping our fingers crossed for A-Team and The Crew. Let's all together watch and support and pray for them. Ayt?