The Philippines won at the 2022 K-pop Cover Dance Festival held in Seoul, South Korea.
Filipino dance group Teenage was adjudged one of the three winners in the final round of the competition. The other two winners were Prism Kru from the US and The Squad Dance Crew from Thailand.
Teenage represented the Philippines in the festival, which returned to a face-to-face event this year after being held online in the last two years due to the pandemic.
The group was composed of Mark Steven Batuhan, Ian Racan, Raven Esguerra, Ronzo Balmadrid, Owen Ylaya, Alberto Daus Jr., Iron Sumulong, Jhay Santos, Era Solidor, Francis James Santos and Kenshin Navarro, according to a post by Link-up Productions.
“I never imagined coming here to perform, but I was really excited to do it. I'm looking forward to coming back again," said Balmadrid, the Seoul Shinmun reported.
He added, “K-pop is very creative. I like K-pop because it is open to everyone and respects diversity.”
A total of 87 contestants from different countries participated in the festival including the US, Philippines, South Korea, Poland, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey, Canada, and Thailand.
It was hosted by the Seoul Shinmun newspaper and sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Korean Cultural Center, the Korean Entertainment Producers Association, Federation of Korean Music Performers and Seoul Tourism Organization.
The contest was held on the third day of the 2022 Seoul Music Festival on Oct. 15.