As JXYB prepares to represent the Philippines at the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Championship, here’s a rundown of how they came out on top of the National Finals in case you missed out
Last September 2, the Red Bull Dance Your Style National Finals concluded at 5th Ave. Bonifacio High Street. There, the eight finalists from the Cebu and Manila qualifiers—JXYB, Taw, Baby Titan, JPY, Nemesis, Darktruth, Keycee, and Luigi—faced off against eight more wildcard entries—Heidra, Scepter, Q, O-Shady, Pavlos, BLVCKZIK, J-HOP, and Mickey—in a collision of genres, cultures, and personal flair. JXYB ultimately triumphed over the competition, and is heading for Germany to face off against other dancers at the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Championship.
In case you missed out on the electrifying event, here’s a rundown of what happened before the dancer’s big win.
Red Bull Dance Your Style is a unique 1v1 showdown where the crowd decides the winner. Here’s how it goes: the 16 finalists and wildcards would be randomly chosen to represent either the red corner or blue corner. They would battle it out for two rounds, then the lights would dim and the fans would cast their votes by shining the corresponding light from their provided wristbands. From there, the winner would be decided. But sometimes, the crowd would demand a tiebreaker round—and those times were the most exciting.
Of the eight dancers who survived the first half of the competition, six had been wildcards. Namely, Mickey who won over Luigi, O-Shady over Taw, Q over Baby Titan, Pavlos over Darktruth, J-Hop over Keycee, and BLVCKZIK over JPY. Of the finalists, only JXYB and Nemesis pushed through to the next round of face-offs after defeating Heidra and Scepter, respectively.
With the competition cut down to eight, there was a palpable energy in the air. After an impressive group dance performance, the competition started back up again with an exhilarating face-off between crowd favorites Mickey and J-Hop. Ultimately, Mickey won, but only after a third tiebreaker round due to the fans’ split votes. Pavlos and Q’s dance battle also took three rounds, with Pavlos coming out on top in the end. Meanwhile, JXYB’s win over O-Shady and BLVCKZIK’s win over Nemesis were more decisive.
With that, Mickey, JXYB, Pavlos, and BLVCKZIK took up the spots in the final four. It was during the semi-finals when the new champion faced off against Mickey, who was the first-ever Red Bull Dance Your Style Philippines Champion. This penultimate battle against the titleholder was a difficult one for JXYB, telling Red Bull Philippines, “Mickey has so much crowd control. He knows how to please an audience, and that’s something I look up at him for. Something I also want to develop for my future performances.”
Though the crowd loved Mickey, JXYB did so well that they roared in a way they hadn’t earlier. And though they chanted “Isa pa,” the votes cast were clearly in JXYB’s favor, thus moving him up to the finals to face off against BLVCKZIK.
There was room for more than just dancing in this competition. Remarkably, a surprise marriage proposal took place, too. At the end of the third group dance performance, Ilyvm Gabriel proposed to Cebu City finalist Keycee Velez, who promptly said yes.
Photos: KEYCEE VELEZ (via Instagram)
With high spirits, the finale performance between krumpers Louries Dhztine “JXYB” Bernardino and Juan “BLVCKZIK” Carlo De Leon was well-received, drawing the most cheers the whole night. This battle took three whole rounds, and at some point, shirts were taken off and JXYB ran off stage and danced amongst the crowd.
With this memorable performance, JXYB secured his win. Now, he’s set to represent the country on the global stage. The highly-anticipated Red Bull Dance Your Style World Finals will take place in Frankfurt, Germany in November 2023. And, according to Red Bull dance consultant Lema Diaz, the brand has partnered with the best of the Philippine dance community to train JXYB in preparation for the World Finals.
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JXYB tells Red Bull Philippines, “For the finals in Germany, I’ll look to the many inspiring people from the Philippine dance community. We are so advanced here in dancing that even as I have won Red Bull Dance Your Style, I know that I may still lose in other, maybe even smaller, battles locally. That’s how good our dancers are. That’s how advanced the Philippine dance community is when it comes to freestyle battling, but that’s a big advantage for me—I come from a good community of dancers and I’ll be taking that experience to Germany. I plan to maintain my style and enjoy my dance more, but I’ll for sure train everyday and begin inserting new techniques I can use.”
Photos: RED BULL PHILIPPINES
