Darren Espanto, Shaina Magdayao, Pops Fernandez to be judges for G-Force’s ‘The Competition 2026’

The event will be held on Friday, October 30, at The Proscenium Theater in Rockwell Center, Makati.

They will be joined by Rowell Santiago, Mika Carandang, Jeff Albea, and Dan Mejia, completing a panel of seven judges.

Now in its fourth year, The Competition is taking a new direction, according to G-Force artistic director Georcelle Dapat-Sy, better known as Teacher Georcelle.

“This is our year four already. And this time, we are training our students for a different pathway,” she told PUSH ABS-CBN in an interview.

That pathway is leadership. Teacher Georcelle said this focus makes sense for G-Force because not everyone who enrolls in their classes wants to become a dancer.

“Well, we have a lot of students who have been in G-Force Dance Center for many years. They have ingrained in their bodies the discipline of G-Force, the culture of G-Force. Why not give them a different pathway for leadership? And we are big on that — on how they can lead a group, how they become, especially with the generation now. Where do they go? If they’re not performers, saan sila pupunta? Right? ’Cause most of the students of G-Force, iba-iba ‘yung reason nila why they are in classes. Some of them just want to sweat. Some of them, they just want to have that belonging,” she said.

She added that some parents enroll their kids to keep them away from screens.

“Some of them, sinesend sa amin ng parents para wala sa social media or mga digital games, online gaming. So, it’s not just physical, but it’s also mental toughness. And also, you know, social skills. ‘Yan ang tinuturo ng G-Force Dance Center,” she said.

What makes the event stand out, she said, is the wide age range of its contestants.

“And this competition is very unique. Kasi, saan ka makakakita na ang nagko-compete, five years old and up to 70 years old?” she said.

“Yes. It’s a different feel because it’s very unique. This is not the usual dance competition. And this is not just about technique,” she added.

G-Force started in 2005. It went on to become one of the best-known dance groups in the country, a regular sight on TV variety shows and the team behind the moves in many big-name concerts. The group calls itself the home of “celebrity choreographers,” and its teachers have trained stars like Kathryn Bernardo.

Teacher Georcelle began dancing professionally at 14 on The Sharon Cuneta Show. She was later one of the “Dance Masters” on ABS-CBN’s Dance Kids, and in 2025 she was named MEGA’s Pinoy Pride Awardee for Dance.

G-Force also runs the G-Force Project, a yearly dance workshop that began in 2008. The Competition came out of that workshop in 2023. For the first edition, teams of students mentored by G-Force teachers faced off at the Samsung Performing Arts Theater, and the winning team received ₱150,000. Teacher Georcelle’s son, G-Force dance coach BJ Dapat-Sy, won The Competition back-to-back in 2024 and 2025.