Kaba Modern on America’s Best Dance Crew

By Ernie | Tuesday, January 29, 2008 | 88 Comments

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One of the things I’ve always admired about SoCal schools were their hip-hop dance crews. The closest thing I ever came to one was dancing in the hip-hop suite during the UC Davis Filipino Cultural Night. There were fifty of us, and let’s be honest – if I was dancing in it, it really couldn’t have been that good. (As a side note, I heard that videos exist of me somewhere. If someone ever finds it, can you throw it away? Like, forever? kthxbi.)

So why do I bring this up? Because Kaba Modern, a dance crew out of UC Irvine, are one of the crews competing on MTV’s Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew. These guys are incredibly good, having also won the silver medal at the Hip Hop Internationals 2007:

It’s cool to see something that was once “just an AZN collegiate California” thing broadcast on national television. One thing I did notice, though: their group is a spin-off of Kababayan, the Filipino group at UCI, but their roster on the MTV show looks to have Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese people, but no Filipinos. I mean, what kind of Chinese person would try to join a Filipino club? (That’s sarcasm. The answer would be: me, twelve years ago.)

Update #2: A YouTube video of their performance during their series premiere. Dude, what’s up with the quick edits and bad camera angles? The producers and cameraman seem to notice Yuri a LOT. Lesson learned: human interest story + a pretty girl = HELLA MTV FACE TIME.

Update #3: Kaba’s performance of episode 2 is now online, doing a performance based on a Chris Brown video; it’s the first performance where they recieve a little bit of criticism, but it’s most likely a solid pass to the next round. The producers focus on Jia as choreographer, although that doesn’t stop the cameras from focusing on Yuri every five seconds. (I have no problems with this, mind you, nor does every other male who watches this show – but isn’t the focus supposed to be on the dance crew?)

Update #4: Unfortunately, Viacom is actively blocking any America’s Next Dance Crew videos on YouTube. You can try finding video clips of performances at MTV’s website, although MTV breaks up clips by the time between commercials rather than just the performances themselves. Here is their performance from this week:

Judging from the comments, it looks like it wasn’t a very strong performance. Could this be the end of Kaba on the show?

Final Update: Kaba Modern was eliminated this week. Was the race card played?

(via Angry Asian Man)

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Facebook Comments (Beta)

THE_BANANA_REPUBLIC

Nice isolations! Good timing.

Asians CAN dance.
Robert

I’m in love with Yuri Tang.
M

Kaba Modern is one of the BEST “California AZN Collegiate” hip hop crews around. They’re so notorious and they’ve accepted non-filipino’s into their crew…just like all the other Chinese and Japanese crews do at other schools. If you wanna dance with the best, then you join the best! ^_^

I’m so happy that they’re on the show. Too bad the other 4 “west coast crews” weren’t other notorious asian crews from so cal…that would’ve be awesome! but i guess the show had to have SOME diversity…!

GO KABA MODERN!!!
FuriousF

If you watch the MTV show promos for this show, you’ll see them focus on the white and black crews…but they never feature the asian crews. How…Lame! Guess asian people still need to push harder to break those barriers.
Ann

it so happens, that when kaba had auditioned for this show..orginally allision and simbol (filipinos) were suppose to be a part of this show, but the fact that they are the new coords for 2008 they were replaced. they couldnt leave their other 30 members in kaba hangin.
http://myspace $ony Yang

Yo KaBa ModErN Is sOMe TiGHt AZN BReAkerS! I hOPE TheY MAkE IT aLL thE WaY BABy! AZIAN PRIDE!!!!!!!!!!
Jeff

Azn are the best brake dancers in the world.. im not saying kaba mondern is, they r good but compared to Rivers crew, Drifters kaba is nothing. If you are at least a bit interest in B-Boy world, u’d know ‘Project Seoul’ , a korean b-boy crew dominated the championship and has been asked not to join any more U.K. B-Boy Championship to give others a chance. its funny how these ppl assume these stories ive been seeing , get ur fact straight Korean brakedancer dominates b-boy world, search up vids of Physicx or hong10 . they both dominates tons of leagues ( physicx in his prime was known to be the best braker.. he is a legendary brake dancer)
Katie

Wait so there’s no Filipinos in Kaba Modern?
http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com Ernie

Katie: Kaba Modern, the dance crew at UCI, started out as an offset of the Filipino student organization and is currently multi-ethnic. The Kaba Modern that you see on MTV’s show is a subset of the one at UCI and has no Filipinos [that I'm aware of].
http://myspace $ony Yang

who cares if theres any filipinos in kaba modern. they dont have my peeps in there but they are still representing for the azians. kaba modern isnt the best asian crew compared to others but i hope they win so the world could see how us asians do it. one day im gonna go to UCI too and become one of them( but better ) and i hope i meet YURI TANG!! =)
Audrey

ASIAN PRIDE
big time
http://myspace $ONY

Dang yo, kaba modern is hitin it hard, im votin for them like crazy, they better win to! asian people are the best breakerz. ASIAN PRIDE!!!
http://happyinvestor.wordpress.com bumscientist

What about JabbaWockeeZ? You can’t have a white face like that without being Asian.
shanw

JabbaWockeeZ is SICKEr.
swagsince86

its sooo adorable to see you asians get so excited for this show. im part asian but i dont even waste my energy going ASIAN PRIDE AND LETS GO KABA just b/c their asian. so what if they win this competition racism and the sterotypes that people have of miniorites is suppose to change?

your getting a lil too worked over this. and im not only talking about the comments posted earlier but also the comments on youtube. we all wanted to be treated like equals but we keep on taking away the fact that this is a good crew, not an asian crew. so why must people say oh they have to represent for the asians? im pretty sure people at home can determine that those guys are asian.

i find it funny how people wanna scream asian pride this and that but they are in a hip hop competition. HIP HOP –> AFRICAN AMERICAN CREATION. LMAO

and why focus on yuri? what asian parent doesnt want their children to be doing anything besides school? i mean damn who gives a crap about her sappy life story. the bitch is outta school, got a stable job and her degree. wtf they even do a story on her for? its not like shes a sophmore in college and doesnt know what she wants to major in lmaoooo

and yes Jia is the best female dancer on the team.
http://myspace $ony

i got to admit that no matter what, kaba modern or jabbawockeez is gonna win, i mean come on, most of those motherfuckers on jabbawockeez r asian too. so no matter which of those crew win, they (most of them) are reppin for the asianz and the west coast baby!
Chanel

What is the name of the song that they danced to in the Live Audition.
Anyways They both are the SHITS
Representing the Asians Yooh Know
Mary

They need more Mike Song on the camera! HA!
He’s so fine….
….
…
.
Should have transfer to UC Irvine when I had the chance! haha Just kidding.. maybe not. =(
http://myspace $ony

hey are all of them the same….what i mean is are they chinese,japanese,fillipino,or what, cause im confused???
CALIstunna

THE IRONY OUT OF ALL THIS ARE THE FILIPINO-AMERICANS WHO DON’T WANT TO BE LABELED AS “ASIANS” RATHER “PACIFIC ISLANDERS”. FOR ALL THE PEOPLE WHO SAYING ‘ASIAN PRIDE’ NOT TO MENTION THE ASIANS WHO ARE REPRESENTING A FILIPINO GROUP, THIS MUST REALLY PISS OFF THE FIL-AMS WHO DON’T LIKE TO BE KNOWN AS “ASIAN”.

ROFL! SO FUNNY!
ANONYMOUS

swagsince86:

LOL it’s so adorable that you are getting worked over people who are saying “Asian Pride” and you don’t care to say “Let’s Go Kaba”. Hip Hop was invented by African-Americans, but is it limited to just them? might as well segregate everyone now! lol. That is like telling all the Blacks who get Chinese tattoos that they shouldn’t do that! or telling people who become successful in anything that was not invented “by their people” that it’s pointless to cheer for them.

HAHAHA so basically the majority of the people the Olympics who cheer for their people should all leave because those sports weren’t created by “THEM”. HAHAHAHAHAH HAHAHA

swagsince86 is part Asian and part idiot.
http://www.xanga.com/berrto Brian

Holy cow this comment section has degenerated into a mess. My head is spinning. I can’t possibly be that much older than you people. If these are really young Asians, our future is bleak. I’m gonna go put my head in a blender.
Charlene

As much I am a fan of kaba modern.. I feel there is a sense of disappointment personally as a Filipino because there is not even at least just ONE filipino member. Kaba Modern was based on a filipino tradition and I feel like yes I am glad that we opened the doors to other cultures to participate in a great dance troupe… BUT why is it they couldn’t atleast have the decency to allow a filipino member to be apart or the show..If not the people who are watching might not know where their name came from. and I feel that is it important to let the people of America know how it all really started.. and it’s simple. it start with filipinos. so why can’t we get the recognition that we should be getting?
http://waukster.com tintoy

kaba modern is a sick grup so us JabbaWockeeZ and im glad that thir doing good at the show

and im proud both of this group dominate the show

kaba modern starts with filipino

JabbaWockeeZ members is compose of filipiono also

im sure 1 of them will win the show

filipino represent ^_^
http://www.myspace.com/supersonickev blk&pinoy

I’m pretty sure Kaba had to of had a dance off on who’s going to be on the show. I believe one of the members from Jabbawockeez is a former Kaba alumni. Raynen is Filipino and as well as other members. Orange County or “Irvine” to be more exact is predominately Korean. Both azn crews are reppin’ well and there is so much more talent in the azn community out here. MTV just needs to air a show of just the West Coast crews. Shot out to Kallusive, Stussy & Tribal for sponsoring the teams.
Sam

… so.. are you saying people who are Irish are not Europeans? lol
kalie

well wat i really think is that Kaba Modern and JABBAWOCKEEZ are actually gonna be the last ones standing. and like wat i really think about how theres no filipinos in the group, even tho i’m filipino i think its really cool that theres no filipino in the group. like its not about yur culture that can stop yuh from wanting to join a group its about how yuh really want to learn more about them and yur interest. like it gets to be more awesome that every single one of tem have different cultures!!
macattack

ok everyone this message board is kinda outta control! so just to clear any confusion up…..i am a CURRENT MEMBER OF KABA MODERN dancing for my second year on the team (im half flip and japanese btw)…originally allison and andrew who are both FILIPINOS auditioned and helped kaba get on the show. however, they are the new coordinators of the 2008 team so they had to graciously give up the opportunit at mtv in order to hold the rest of the team down based at UCI…our team is in fact CRAZY DIVERSE…we have pretty much every asian race, black, white and indian on the team…please realize that just because we began from our filipino culture club that we are not limited to just a certain type of people…as dancers OUR MAIN GOAL is to inspire through our passion and break the boundaries of narrow mindedness…we have been so successful throughout the years because of this very reason: we learn from eachother and are constantly growing and absorbing backgrounds from cultures in not only dance but life as well! its very simple, ethnicity and skin color aside, see ABDC for wut it ACTUALLY IS…a competition of talent, creativity, passion, and appeal…i guarantee taht no crew on the show is aiming to be african american’s best dance crew or asian american’s best dance crew…AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREW!!!! ok thanks and vote for KABA!!!! =D

-JAY
http://myspace $ony

i think that no matter what jabbawockeez and kaba modern is gonna end up being the last crews, good luck to both of them cause they are truly the best dancers on that show, and it doesnt matter which one of them wins cause they both have the talent to become americas best dance crew!
ANONYMOUS

blk&pinoy:

Orange County is not predominantly Korean.

Races in Orange County, California:

* White Non-Hispanic (51.3%)
* Hispanic (30.8%)
* Other race (14.8%)
* Vietnamese (4.8%)
* Two or more races (4.1%)
* Chinese (2.1%)
* Korean (2.0%)
* Filipino (1.7%)
* Black (1.7%)
* American Indian (1.3%)
* Japanese (1.1%)
* Other Asian (1.0%)
* Asian Indian (1.0%)

And what does being Korean have to do with anything? Only 2 of the members of Kabba are Korean.
J

Anonymous:
Although Orange County as a whole doesn’t seem to have many Asians.. UCI itself is a predominantly Asian school. Many students from outside the county attend UCI. (Myself being an example) So, those statistics are a bit faulty because they fail to account the students that live there during the school year.
Plus from what I’ve noticed on campus, there are a lot of Korean people. Then again, I live in the Bay Area and there were not many Koreans in my city.
macattack

the ethnicity of kaba’s members has nothing to do with anything your right!….but there are 6 members on the full team that are korean…
Legacy

reading some of your comments make me laugh, bahaha well first off some people here are basing facts off opinons.

Hip-Hop came from African American? right i guess you can say that but im sure other countries were dancing which did no call it hip hop but in our eyes is hip hop way long before Hip hop was around

Flips aren’t on the team? yea that is kinda sad since they did create it but they had to choose the 6 best that looks best and fit for the team and if you watch the hiphop world championships all 6 of these people are on it.

Flips are pacific islanders, i have many flips they still represent there “Azn” pride w/e you call it, some just have diff opinons of what they should be classified. And its like having a latiano say oh im Latino not hispanic same fucken thing.. haha anyways

I like all the crews that are in the top 3 but status quos choregraph can’t really compare 2 these 2 there specialty is their flips which it will get old

Isolations never get old because its looks like a damn special effect
Jabba is just sick period..

so best wishes to all the crews!
justsoyouknow

just so you know…

If you would have done your research well, if you looked up kaba modern’s main page these 6 groups who made it into MTV are not spin off from Kababayan. They are part of Kababayan the dance group itself is called Kaba Modern. Just because Koreans are the main faces that many of us see on national tv does not mean the filipinos (who started it all) doesn’t exist. It first started with just all filipinos, and they just broaden their qualifications of members just to have different culture and variety amongst the group.
ANONYMOUS

J.

Actually if you knew the point I was getting at, the stats show that even compared to other Asians…the Korean population is still less than the Vietnamese in the O.C. So to say the O.C. is predominantly Korean is incorrect. And you said it yourself, you’re from the bay area so you don’t know all of O.C. UCI has tons of Asians in general, not just Koreans which also can be said about a lot of UC schools.
CAListunna

Legacy,

Reading your responses to the comments make me laugh because you clearly have no clue what you’re talking about!

They had to choose the 6 best? how do you even know they were the 6 best? did you even do any research? NO you didn’t! If you had you would’ve known that 2 other members that were Filipino had to pull out of the show because they became the new coordinators for the actual UCI – Kaba Modern dance crew.

OWNED.
CAListunna

LEGACY,

Contrary to what you have been told or what you think, FILIPINOS ARE NOT PACIFIC ISLANDERS. I am Filipino myself, but not a Fil-Am. The majority of Filipinos who say “Filipinos are not Asian” are Filipino-Americans. If you read a dictionary or any information regarding the actual topic you would know that FILIPINOS are Asian and not Pacific Islander! dumbass! And just because the country is an island in the Pacific Ocean does not make us Pacific Islanders, check Japan and Taiwan…heck check other Asian countries that have islands in the Pacific Ocean like Indonesia. MANY Fil-AMS are embarrassed and educated to even associate themselves with actual Filipinos, so it’s not surprising they don’t want to be called Asian.

1) PACIFIC ISLANDER = A native or inhabitant of any of the Polynesian, Micronesian, or Melanesian islands of Oceania.

2) ASIAN = Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” and “Other Asian.”

ALSO, THE PHILIPPINES IS APART OF THE ASEAN (ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS). NOTHING THAT SAYS “PACIFIC ISLANDERS”. AGAIN THE WHOLE “FILIPINOS ARE PACIFIC ISLANDERS” BULLSHIT HAS ALWAYS BEEN CREATED BY FIL-AMS BECAUSE OF THEIR INSECURITIES AND IGNORANCE.

FILIPINOS ARE ASIAN. ENOUGH SAID.
CaliStunna

LEGACY,

Contrary to what you have been told or what you think, FILIPINOS ARE NOT PACIFIC ISLANDERS. I am Filipino myself, but not a Fil-Am. The majority of Filipinos who say “Filipinos are not Asian” are Filipino-Americans. If you read a dictionary or any information regarding the actual topic you would know that FILIPINOS are Asian and not Pacific Islander! Dumbass!

And please do not try to use the excuse of just because the country is an island in the Pacific Ocean does not make us Pacific Islanders, check Japan and Taiwan…heck check other Asian countries that have islands in the Pacific Ocean like Indonesia. MANY Fil-AMS are embarrassed and *uneducated* to want to even associate themselves with actual Filipinos, so it’s not surprising they don’t want to be called Asian. Not only that, notice how there is a large number of Fil-Ams who don’t speak a Filipino language or dialect.

PLEASE DON’T ALL USE THE EXCUSE OF FILIPINOS DON’T LOOK LIKE OTHER ASIANS IN THE U.S. HOWEVER, IF YOU THINK THIS YOU ARE JUST STEREOTYPING JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE WHO THINKS THE SAME. THERE ARE MANY ASIANS WHO DON’T LOOK LIKE THE TYPICAL “EAST ASIANS”, THE PHILIPPINES IS IN ASIA BUT IT IS CONSIDERED AS PART OF SOUTHEAST ASIA. AND IF YOU HAVE EVER BEEN TO SE ASIA, FILIPINOS CAN LOOK LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.

YOUTUBE THE VIDEO “LEARN ABOUT SE ASIA”. YOU MIGHT LEARN SOMETHING NEW. AND JUST IN CASE IT’S TOO DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO LOOK UP THE DEFINITIONS BETWEEN ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER, WELL I’LL HELP YOU OUT!

1) PACIFIC ISLANDER = A native or inhabitant of any of the Polynesian, Micronesian, or Melanesian islands of Oceania.

2) ASIAN = Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,” “Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” “Vietnamese,” and “Other Asian.”

ALSO, THE PHILIPPINES IS APART OF THE ASEAN (ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS). NOTHING THAT SAYS “PACIFIC ISLANDERS”. AGAIN THE WHOLE “FILIPINOS ARE PACIFIC ISLANDERS” BULLSHIT HAS ALWAYS BEEN CREATED BY FIL-AMS OR ANY OTHER GROUP WHO WANTS TO ENFORCE STEREOTYPES WHETHER BECAUSE OF THEIR INSECURITIES OR IGNORANCE.

FILIPINOS ARE ASIAN. ENOUGH SAID.
CaliStunna

But don’t get it twisted, not all Filipino-Americans are ashamed or embarrassed to be called Asian.

One example would be ASIANJOURNAL.com, “A leader in the FILIPINO-American Media industry. ”

If Filipinos were not Asian….Asianjournal.com should change their name to PacificIslandersjournal.com.

HOWEVER, there’s already tons of information to support the fact that FILIPINOS are ASIAN. It’s not that hard to understand.
yoCALI

yo calistunna! thanks for the college lecture on whatever bullshit ur talking bout! very informative, but has nothing to do with what this particular MESSAGE BOARD ON KABA MODERN DANCE ON ABDC!!! find a political blogspot for that…makes me laugh at how ur last 3 messages or so had absolutley nothing to do with the original purpose of this site!

-keepin it real

ONWNED! LOL
CaliStunna

KEEPING IT REAL.

TELL EVERYONE WHOSE COMPLAINING AND CRYING ABOUT THE FACT THAT THERE ARE NO FILIPINOS ON THE KABA MODERN CREW FOR MTV.

TELL PEOPLE WHO TALK ABOUT RACE/ETHNICITY WHEN EVEN THE KABA MODERN FOUNDERS HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THAT.

AND YOU THINK THAT WAS A COLLEGE LECTURE? YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVEN’T BEEN TO COLLEGE THEN.

YA YOU’RE DEFINITELY “KEEPIN IT REAL”….KEEPIN IT REAL STUPID.

YOU CAN’T EVEN SPELL “OWNED” CORRECTLY.

GOOD LUCK ON TRYING TO PASS THE 6TH GRADE, LET ALONE MAKING IT TO COLLEGE!

OWNED!
http://www.littleyellowdifferent.com Ernie

And on THAT well articulated note, I think it’s time to close the blog comments down on this thread. Anyone who would like to talk about Kaba Modern some more is more than welcome to on the Forums.
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