Dance crew now hip-hopping to Prague

Ken Bulagnir recalled the moment his dance crew won a national hip hop competition - and an invite to Prague.

“Shocked. Speechless. The words couldn’t come out of my mouth.”

He’s one of three Ashburton men who’ve joined Euphoria Dance Studio, which took back-to-back gold medals at recent competitions.

The studio recently took first place in the open crew division at Hip Hop Unite (HHU), run in Wellington.

“HHU is a really well-established competition,” fellow dancer Carl Cayanan said.

“A lot of groups have been there, won it, and been boosted to fame.”

By winning their category, the Euphoria megacrew are eligible to compete at the HHU World Championships in Prague this October.  

“With HHU, we felt [so] nervous,” Cayanan said.

“Having a home court advantage for ADCC (Australian Dance Crew Championships) was nice.”

ADCC, a separate competition, was hosted in Christchurch last weekend.

Euphoria came away with a few wins from that - two soloists, the studio’s megacrew, and their larger “monster” crew all qualified for the September finals in Sydney.

Prague and Sydney are a far cry from Ashburton for the three men, John Chris “JC” Deguzman said.

“We’d watched Matt Stefanina on YouTube,” he said; “We wanted to dance like him, so we started learning his sets.”

He joined young Ashburton dancers in a group called ‘New Gen’ to further his passion.

Bulagnir started dancing in year eight.

“I was watching JC and my other friends dance in a small garage, and I was dancing behind them.

“One of the leaders, ate Jennifer Caranay-Webb, asked if I wanted to join.”

Cayanan found his way to New Gen in year 10.

“I’d been dancing in the Philippines, but not hiphop, more like cultural dance,” he said.

“[Ken] and our other friend, Nina, invited me to dance…They got me into it and I was hooked.”

Bulagnir, Cayanan and Deguzman eventually moved to Christchurch and connected with the Filipino-owned Euphoria Dance Studio.

“We’re all from Ashburton, the three of us, and that’s where we started,” Cayanan said.

But as soon as we joined Euphoria, everything has just gone [uphill].”

They’ve won regional and national titles, opened for hiphop crew the Royal Family, and more over their time with the studio.

“The community is good here” Deguzman said.

“Everyone’s supportive, that’s why we keep dancing for Euphoria.”

“And we treat each other like family,” Bulagnir said, “not just colleagues.”

The megacrew, which Deguzman is not a part of this year, is focussed on fundraising for their Prague trip.

“If we do go, I’ll be happy to have the experience. Bonus is the win,” Bulagnir said.

Cayanan agreed that group adventures were the special part about travelling.

“When we go out, we always talk about what we’re gonna do, ‘what we're gonna eat?’, or ‘will we just cook adobo again?’.

“When we went to Wellington, I really enjoyed just going out, getting groceries, coming back and making food for the kids.”

They’re grateful to their current teachers, Jobelle Nuñez and Setu Mosegi, and for their biggest Ashburton supporter.

“Jennifer (Canaray-Webb) will always comment on posts about New Gen about how proud she is,” Cayanan said.

“And we’re always grateful for each other, because no matter where we are, we always support each other.”

by Anisha Satya