Coaches look back on banner year for Filipino hip-hop dance groups
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines had its best finish at the prestigious annual World Hip Hop Dance Championship as five Filipino groups ended up with medals.
UPeepz won the Megacrew division for a third time, after back-to-back golds in 2016 and 2017, while its counterparts in the Adult division The Peepz won silver to better the group's bronze finish back in 2018.
By doing so, UPeepz tied with New Zealand's The Royal Family in winning the Megacrew division thrice, with the latter having done so consecutively when the category started from 2011 to 2013.
A-Kidz, the younger members of another Pinoy champion group A-Team, were champions of the Varsity division and bronze medalists in the fairly new Junior Varsity Megacrew division.
The Adult defending champions HQ finished with the bronze to cap off the medalists, besting the Philippines' 2018 tally when four dance crews landed on podium spots.
In an interview with Philstar.com, coaches from the teams who competed at this year's World Hip Hop Dance Championship looked back on the recent success of Filipino hip-hop dance groups.
Chips Beltran, who led both UPeepz and The Peepz to medals, said UPeepz winning gold for a third time "feels surreal."
"It feels like we've proven time and time again that we are the best in the game," Beltran said.
"More so that Filipino dance talent is on top of the industry, and we are really proud to champion that and raise the flag on the front lines," he added.
Beltran acknowledged that it was challenging to field the group's core choreographers competing in two divisions, having to anticipate the scheduling and coordination needed.
The most challenging issue was having both UPeepz and The Peepz in the finals with full routines, performing less than hour between them.
"We had to plan every step to the dot, to the minute. Nevertheless, I told the boys that Megacrew was indeed the priority and they knew that was the goal from the very beginning," Beltran shared.
The coach did call The Peepz "a breath of fresh air" every time the Megacrew preparations was getting too stressful, and that "little side-quest" nearly got them the gold, "That would be awesome to imagine — two golds?! Silver finish is wild though."
HQ head coach Jacob Jaurigue called the opportunity to represent the Philippines again as both a blessing and a privilege, a daunting experience for defending champions.
"Going back this year we really wanted to cement our legacy in the world stage, and also prove that we can consistently go up against big teams all over the world," he told Philstar.com.
Jaurigue admitted being a defending champion is a tough ask given the pressure but they "always feel empowered with each other's presence and the brotherhood that we've built even before we started this dance team."
It was an even bigger year for Jaurigue as HQ fielded the Philippines' first competitors in the Minicrew division, going all the way to the finals, and coached K Queens in the Varsity division.
The experience was a rollercoaster of emotions and humbling for Jaurigue, taking things to a wholly different level for him personally, crediting his teammates and HQ's co-director Zion Wuxinyi for taking on a lot of the responsibilities.
For UPeepz, on the other hand, the group powered through the loss of Heart Uy, a key young member of their team, whose untimely passing last year rippled through the local dance community.
"The fam had the toughest of all years because of Heart... this is what she would've wanted," Beltran told Philstar.com, jokingly calling on Netflix to adapt UPeepz's journey to make a movie out of the whole experience.
Beltran vowed that UPeepz would carry Heart with them always in everything they do.
"Her excellence, her youth, her IQ, her wit, her joy, her passion, her precision, her values. Everything, we'll carry in our minds and hearts for the rest of our lives."
Both coaches praised Filipinos' continued excellence in dance. The latest World Hip Hop Dance Championship brings the Philippines' total medal count to 27, just five short of fourth-placed United States and 17 clear of Thailand.
"Growth is exponentially crazy... [The] next generation is looking good. [The] future [is] looking bright with the leadership of these teams," Beltran said, comments backed by Jaurigue given "the ceiling getting pushed higher" by extremely talented Filipinos.
Jaurigue attributed their success to the level of competition here in the Philippines where everyone "keeps pushing each other to be better."
"It's truly a blessing to be a competitor and an audience in the dance scene here in the Philippines," Jaurigue ended. — Videos from the YouTube channel of Hip Hop International
