IT’S never enough that you see them popping and hitting those cool seamless dance steps. Oftentimes, behind every move lies a certain feeling and story that has been dying to express and unfold for ages.

It may not seem like it but more than the big cash prizes, it’s passion that comes first; always will be. And this is what this competition is all about.

This rings true during the three-day event of Hataw Dabaw from May 11 to May 13, dubbed as the biggest dance competition in Mindanao, as throng of teens and young adults coming from different backgrounds had come to the city to join and be part of one of a kind experience to showcase their natural talent in dancing and perform in a huge crowd.

During the first day of the event, the Open Styles Battle, held in CAP Auditorium, 71 individuals gathered around the center stage showing off their skills and styles in the dancefloor which then resulted to a great and unstoppable show and undeniably set the bar higher for this event.

From 71 participants, this number had been cut down to four until there were only two lads who made it to the last round and hailed as winners respectively. Rey Cyb Villaber Omapas who travelled all the way from Cagayan de Oro City, hailed as this year’s first ever Open Styles Battle champion taking home a cash prize of P5,000 while Zachareigh Glen Spinks from Davao City placed first runner-up taking home P3,000.

On the second day which was the Street Dance Competition, or the main highlight of the event, twenty-six (26) diverse crews composed of an all-male group, all-female group and all-LGBTQ group from Bislig City, Davao City, Tagum City, General Santos City, Digos, Coronadal, Iligan and Surigao del Sur fought and dance their way through to become this year’s champion of Hataw Dabaw Street Dance Competition.

A medley of Classic OPM hits, songs about women empowerment, cheeky “BisDak” hits, Cardi B’s hit songs and to name a few were amongst the variety of songs being danced to by dance crews that showcased everyone’s versatility and swag on the dancefloor.

In the end, rainbow colors triumphed as an all-LGBTQ dance crew, #GIRLFRIENDS, emerged as this year’s Hataw Dabaw Street Dance Competition champion taking home a cash prize of P65,000. First runner-up, Crowns Dance Crew, also an all-LGBTQ group taking home a cash prize of P25,000 and second runner-up is the all-male group, Utmost Crew taking home a cash prize of P15,000.

The event successfully concluded through conducting a series of free dance workshops during their first ever Hataw Dabaw Workshop held at SM City Annex Building activity area from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Around 480 dancers from kids to young adults to even adults partook the workshops which were conducted by the judges themselves namely Mr. James Eric Wong, Mr. Jesse Gotangco and Mr. Eldin Christian Lao.

Hataw Dabaw is now on its second year and is in partnership with the City Government of Davao and Visit Davao Summer Festival.