By DYAN CASTILLEJO GARCIA

Meet the Allstars.

Without having to go into great detail about each member of this group, obviously, they all have dancing backgrounds. They all formerly belonged to dance groups and they hung out in the same social circles.

Aside from having dancing as a common denominator they realized they had one more common characteristic that made them form the Allstars. They all wanted to take their dancing to a different level. They wanted to be world class.

The Allstars were put together just a month before a national hip-hop competition, which if they won, would take them to Los Angeles, California, to represent the Philippines in the world hip-hop championships.

Fast forward. They made it to LA and made it all the way to the finals of the championships.

I know actions speak louder than words. So let’s cut the words for now and check out the Allstars in action, doing what they do best: hip-hop.

Lets admit it. There is a part in all of us that wants to give way to "something" so "out of character," something that it gives us that feeling of
... "letting our guards down," a license to be someone we're totally not, even for just a while.

Something to give us a better perspective about how different and interesting other people's lives are. Or maybe.something just to realize how different "your" life is from other lives. For me, learning and dancing hip-hop for a day was that "something."

Marc Nelson on the other hand is around hip-hop a lot: the music, the DJs, the dancers.

But that does not make him get up on the dance floor and do this. I was so impressed with Marc's willingness to learn “the moves “that it made me want to learn more difficult ones.

All right, all right. My competitive juices got to me again when I heard we were going to have a "showdown."

First of course, the girls had to explain to me what exactly a “showdown" meant in the hip-hop world. To put it simply, it means, “show me what you can do and I'll show you what I can do.”

Being the month for women, we decided the girls would stick together and Marc would be taught by the guys.

Hip-hop has some kind of hipnotic effect. Maybe it’s the music, maybe it’s the rhythm or maybe it was just me experiencing that feeling of being…How should I say this? Being “really cool” that kept me so hyper.

I must say during this whole time we were being taught b this internationally acclaimed hip-hop group, we realized why they won at the hip-hop championships. these guys and gals don't just "dance" Hip-hop. They "live and breathe" Hip-hop.

Like all beings, hip-hop began as an infant. Its chosen toys were graffiti, break dancing, turntables and rhymes.

It was fresh, raw and in many ways a cultural challenge to anything mainstream during its formative years in the 1970s and 1980s. Funny, I am a product of the 70s and 80s .I don't however seem to recall attending hip-hop functions.

Another thing that impressed me about the Allstars aside from their incredible ability to twist, turn, invert and suspend their bodies, was their desire to help and give back to society.

They want to be able to help kids that are stuck in a bad wrap. Kids that have fallen prey to the streets and the bad stuff that comes with being homeless or less fortunate.

Their goal as a group is to take these kids and help them take a turn for the better by teaching them Hip-hop.

Hip-hop. They say can help them focus on something else, helps them learn discipline, help them lift their self-esteem by feeling: "I am good at something.”

“I too like the Allstars can maybe represent the Philippines someday and bring honor like they have." Now, that’s probably the “coolest" part about this group.

Marc said since chivalry is not dead, the men will let the ladies go first.

Take note, I have never done hip-hop before, never been exposed to hip-hop before.

I loved starting out with a slide, then came the footwork, then came the poses and facial expressions, then came my interaction with my home-girls, and finally my move of the day... my face on the ground and my feet up in the air.

My home girls were proud of me. I personally was not sure how "cool" or maybe silly I looked. But I think the point of it all was i really did not care. It was more about being less inhibited having fun and challenging myself to get a little edgier than I have ever been.

Marc's turn to show me what he can do I have never seen marc so into dancing in all my years of working with him.

I told you hip-hop had some kind of hypnotic effect. Just look at Marc go.

Is this the same Marc? The Marc who has always been very conscious about dancing because he always says he has “two left feet." I could be imagining all this? But there is not one conscious bone in his body right now. Well done partner.

In the 21st century hip-hop has grown to become a multibillion dollar, trend-setting, culturally powerful adult.

As compared to the "infant" it was in the 70s and 80s, it has not only invaded mainstream. It has dominated it.

Anything that can improve people's lives, anything that can push people to challenge themselves. Anything that can encourage closeness and unity, anything that can bring pride to country. In this case we're talking about, Hip-hop. We're all for it.

All the best Allstars!