Freestyler from Duljo-Fatima wins Cebu leg of Red Bull Dance Your Style Phl '25

The first thing that Mark Joseph Trazona, a.k.a. Playmaker, planned to do after being declared the Cebu qualifier champion at this year's Red Bull Dance Your Style Philippines was to eat a hearty dinner.

- By JANUAR JUNIOR AGUJA

Many in the audience, who voted through their red and blue cards in his favor, may be surprised that he was able to deliver his high-energy, crowd-pleasing, improvised dance moves on an empty stomach.

“My dance crew and I had this thing that we don’t eat before joining battle competitions like this so that we can unleash everything out of our system,” he explained to The FREEMAN. “It’s different if we give out a performance with a full stomach.”

The Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City resident, stressed that this approach doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s one of the traditions he and his dance crew, Underground Streets, have practiced for years.

Playmaker, 30, started at the age of 15 and became a battle dancer by the time he was 19. While his father isn’t a dancer himself, he cites him as his biggest fan. “He supports my passion more than anyone else. He’s my main supporter,” he said.

He and his crewmates usually practice and occasionally perform at his barangay’s basketball court. Back then, the response from the community wasn’t as supportive as it is now.

“It was hard to find a place to dance without making some neighbors angry. But now, the community is so supportive to the point that every sitio and barangay observed so they can absorb the passion of dancing — both dance crews and individual dancers,” he recalled.