By Peter Gonzaga
Las Vegas, NV – Originally thought of as a surprise top three crew in the semi-finals of the adult division of the 2012 Hip Hop International World Hip Hop Dance Championships, Philippines‘ The Crew took home the gold for the island nation as Neutral Zone of Mexico took silver and Academy of Villains took the bronze medal to round out the top three in the finals held at the Orleans Arena this past Sunday, August 5, 2012.
It was a long road for the gold medal winner as they did not expect to win gold. After their addition of the “mid-air moonwalk,” during the semi-finals, the judges and audience were swayed to consider The Crew for gold medal status. Strong finishers Neutral Zone and Academy of Villains were crowd favorites from the very beginning.
In the varsity division, Japan’s Sol-T-Shine took home the gold while Sorority of New Zealand took silver and Japan’s J.B. Star Varsity received the bronze medal.
For the junior division, Bubblegum of New Zealand won the gold giving them a back to back win from the year before. Taking the silver was Flip of Canada and the bronze went to Onizawa Ikka of Japan.
