Kaba Modern is a dance group originating in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

. It is a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

(UCI) Filipino cultural club, Kababayan, which means "countrymen" in

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Tagal ...

. Created by Arnel Calvario in 1992, Kaba Modern began as dancers that performed the hip-hop portion or the "Modern Suite" of Kababayan's annual Pilipino Cultural Night (PCN) at UCI. Since then, Kaba Modern has entered multinational competitions and gained recognition in the media. For instance, a few Kaba Modern members helped choreograph the "dance battle" scene in '' The Debut'' in 1997 while three members were shown onscreen during the Making Of featurette of the DVD. The Kaba Modern family is divided into three sub-teams: Kaba Kids (formerly known as Kreative Movement) is for members 18 and under, Kaba Modern is the UCI competitive team for college-level students, and Kaba Modern Legacy is an exhibition team for Kaba Modern alumni and special guests. The Kaba Modern Legacy Roster includes all 6 members that appeared on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's ''

America's Best Dance Crew ''America's Best Dance Crew'', often abbreviated as ''ABDC'', is an American competitive dance reality television series featuring both national and international dance crews. The show was produced by singer, record producer, and former ''Ameri ...

'' (Mike Song, Jia Huang, Cindy Minowa, Tony Tran, Yuri Tag, and Lawrence Kao) and several other Kaba Modern members who no longer dance for the UCI team.

Kaba Modern events

Events held by the group include: *Debut Performance: A performance dedicated to debuting the new team for the upcoming year, especially the incoming class. *Ken-Ya Dance: An annual hip-hop dance charity showcase hosted by Kenya Dream at UCI whose proceeds help improve children's education in Kenya, Africa. *UCI's PACN: A traditional performance done at UCI's annual PACN. *Summer Choreo Days: A series of workshops hosted by the current team featuring choreography from each member of the team. *Summer Jams: A series of battles consisting of 3v3 bboy/bgirl battles and 1v1 all-style battles. *Welcome Week: A series of performances done at UCI to welcome the incoming freshman in conjunction with the other UCI affiliated teams. *Dance-A-Thon: A competition held for dancers outside Kaba Modern to compete for a chance to perform with the team.

Competition history

The group has competed and placed in regional, national and international dance competitions including: *VIBE *Body Rock *Fusion, a dance competition hosted by the Multi-Asian Student Association at

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

*Hip Hop International *''

'' *Prelude *The Muiaz Jiggle * Urban Street Jam *Prelude Norcal

Notable performances

VIBE

Vibe, in its 16th year, hosted by Lambda Theta Delta Fraternity at

, is one of the most respected dance competitions in the dance community. Groups such as Team Millennia, and PAC Modern, compete in this competition. At VIBE XIII in 2008, Team Millennia placed first while Kaba Modern placed second. Kaba Modern's performance at VIBE X is one of the most watched performances yet. The video was uploaded to the internet and quickly became popular. Featured in Vibe 17 was Kaba Modern's movie-themed set, which had previously won first place at the 2011 Prelude Norcal Competition. The first piece of the set began with Marko Cristal's spinoff of the popular indie film,

500 Days of Summer ''(500) Days of Summer'' is a 2009 American romantic comedy film directed by Marc Webb, written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and produced by Mark Waters. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as Tom and Summer re ...

. Following this was a collaborative piece by Jon Aldanese, Alex Hung, and Amy Chang that used both locking and

waacking Waacking (also ''whacking'') is a street dance style with origins stemming from punking, a dance created in the gay clubs of Los Angeles during the 1970s disco era. The style is typically done to 1970s disco and 1980s post-disco music and is mainl ...

to represent the humor found in

Zoolander ''Zoolander'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by and starring Ben Stiller. The film contains elements from a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Stiller for the '' VH1 Fashion Awards'' televisi ...

. Next, coordinators Darren Wong and Dana Roy combined contemporary and breaking choreography as they took on the roles of Jack and Rose from

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

. After a quick transition, Alex Cristal and other members danced a Buck number. Styles changed once again when Deyo Forteza's Scream piece showcased the dancer's isolation abilities. Closing off the set was a collaborative effort of many of the team's featured choreographers to create the "credits of the film."

Body Rock

Body Rock brings together some of the most notable teams throughout the world. The set for this competition did not feature any specific theme, but focused on "just dancing." The Kaba Modern set featured a variety of styles (isolations, locking, femme, ghetto, and contemporary

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

FUSION Hip Hop Dance Competition

FUSION is arranged by the members of the Multi-Asian Student Association (MASA) at

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

. FUSION believes that dance is an uplifting and life-changing form of expression that ought to be shared. This created the vision of FUSION to provide new dancers with the opportunity to be inspired by, grow, and join the growing dance community; to welcome dancers as a family and give them a place to perform; and to provide the audience with a memorable show. FUSION also seeks to educate its viewers, the day of and after, about Asian-American presence in the hip hop community. Kaba Modern placed 3rd in the latest competition, FUSION XVI held on April 17, 2016.

Hip Hop International

Hip Hop International is a worldwide dance competition in which teams from all over the world compete. Teams must first place in their home country's preliminary and finals before making it to the world preliminaries and ultimately the world final. Kaba Modern became frequent finalist from years 2005 to 2009. In the World Hip Hop Dance Championships 2007 and 2008, they made it to the world finals after beating out their competition in the USA finals. They placed second to Trinidad and Tobago's Eclectik in 2007 and third in 2008 to the Philippine All Stars and Eclectik due to a deduction of points from not having attire intact.

''America's Best Dance Crew''

A 6-person segment of their team auditioned for, and succeeded in, the right to compete as one of 12 dance crews in the first season of Randy Jackson's interactive reality show, America's Best Dance Crew broadcast on

in early 2008. Although the group made it to the top 3, they were eliminated in week 7; the two remaining crews, JabbaWockeeZ and Status Quo, advanced to the finale.

Live Auditions Special

*Aired on January 26, 2008. The crew danced to a District 78 Master Mix of

Fieldy's Dreams Fieldy's Dreams is a rap project by Korn bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, active from 2000 to 2003. His first album, the gangsta rap album '' Rock'n Roll Gangster'', was released on January 22, 2002. Most of the lyrics and music were by Field ...

' "Baby Hugh Hef" combined with an MTV production, "Knock 'em Dead". A powerful comment came from Shane Sparks stating that "''It was like y'all took elements from every group, made y'all own crew, and did it better than everyone else!''". JC appreciated the precision they showed and that "''you don't have to do a back flip to show how athletic you are''". Lil' Mama commented on their isolations, which set themselves apart from the other groups.

Week 1

*Aired on February 7, 2008. To kick the show off, each crew performed to songs of their own choosing. Kaba Modern chose to perform to the beat of "Grown Apart" by Lisa Shaw with lyrics by MTV and "

Technologic "Technologic" is a song by French duo Daft Punk from their third studio album, '' Human After All'' (2005). It was released as the second single on 14 June 2005. The music video for "Technologic" was directed by Daft Punk. Composition In the son ...

" by

Daft Punk Daft Punk were a French electronic music duo formed in 1993 in Paris by Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. They achieved popularity in the late 1990s as part of the French house movement, combining house music, funk, disco, tech ...

. They were one of the crews to be saved by the judges, who again took note of their isolations. JC also commented on how well the girls did the

b-boy A b-boy is a person devoted to breaking or break dancing. B Boy may also refer to: Music * "B-Boy", a song by Tech N9ne featuring Big Scoob, Bumpy Knuckles, Kutt Calhoun, and Skatterman from the album '' K.O.D.'', 2009 * "B Boy" (song) by Meek ...

section of their routine. Shane gave a special mention of Mike Song, saying "''You are crazy! Crazy!''"

Week 2

*Aired on February 14, 2008. Each crew was given a music video with a different dance component to emulate while keeping their own style as a crew. Kaba Modern were given the music video for " Wall to Wall" by

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

. The judges gave the group high marks .

Week 3

*Aired on February 21, 2008. Each crew performed to a popular dance, also known as a "dance craze", and were required to add their own style to it as a crew. Since the dances were very simple, there were certain challenges each team had to meet while performing. Kaba Modern were assigned

Lil Mama Niatia Jessica Kirkland (born October 4, 1989), better known by her stage name Lil Mama, is an American rapper. She experienced top 10 ''Billboard'' placements at 17 with her debut album '' VYP (Voice of the Young People)'' (2008), which debuted ...

's own G-Slide from her hit single " G-Slide (Tour Bus)". The challenge was to include a lift into the routine. To meet the challenge, each guy teamed up with a girl and flipped her backwards. Though the judges felt the lift challenge was met, they expressed that the team's execution was lacking, with Shane, in particular, expecting to see more lifts than one.

Week 4

*Aired on February 28, 2008. Each crew had to create a story through dance in the movie challenge. Every crew had to dance on the same set, which was set up as a street in an urban neighborhood. They were assigned characters and asked to create a story for those characters. Kaba Modern's guys were made to be nerds, while the girls were to portray popular girls. The crew danced to

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

Sensual Seduction "Sensual Seduction", also known as "Sexual Eruption", is a song by American rapper Snoop Dogg. It was released on November 20, 2007 as the first single of his ninth studio album ''Ego Trippin, with the record label Geffen Records. The song was ...

and 'I Would' by A. Witherspoon produced by District 78. The crew acted as if the nerds had created these beautiful, virtual girls, dancing with them until the point where they're about to kiss, until the programs ends before they get the chance. J.C concluded that the girls' hip thrust was hot and mentioned how impressive the crew's attention to detail was, singling out an intricate hand isolation by Tony Tran. Lil Mama also said they got into character. Shane Sparks commented last week how the girls smashed the guys, and mentioned this week how the guys smashed the girls from Kaba Modern this week.

Week 5

*Aired on March 6, 2008. In honor of the 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson's "

Thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

" album, each crew was assigned a Michael Jackson song from the album "Thriller" and was given a DVD compilation of some of the Michael Jackson's dancing. They then had to perform to the song and demonstrate how much they knew about Michael Jackson's moves in their performance. Kaba Modern randomly selected

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

. The crew changed the theme from undead zombies to a futuristic setting. They incorporated much on their hands, and included Tutting into the routine, which judge Shane Sparks "waited to see." Sparks stated they are the future of dance. Judge Lil Mama stated that she liked how they did not copy the video exactly like most crews were doing. She appreciated the fact that they "made it their

aba Modern's ABA may refer to: Aviation * AB Aerotransport, former Scandinavian airline * IATA airport code for Abakan International Airport in Republic of Khakassia, Russia Businesses and organizations Broadcasting * Alabama Broadcasters Association, Uni ...

own." Lil Mama stated it was a video a "3-year old would want to watch for the first time." Judge JC Chasez praised their footwork and intricate movement. He liked it "Kaba's Way."

Week 6

*Aired on March 13, 2008. Kaba Modern was voted in the bottom 2 in week 6. They went into the elimination round against Break Sk8. Ultimately, Kaba Modern was saved by the judges. Each crew was given a song and dance from a Broadway musical and were required to make it hip-hop while retaining the essence of Broadway. Broadway-style dancers performed for the crews and taught them the dances. Each group also had to reinterpret the classic Broadway moves into the hip-hop routine. Kaba Modern were given a remix of "

You're the One That I Want "You're the One That I Want" is a song performed by American actor and singer John Travolta and Anglo-Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton-John for the 1978 film version of the musical '' Grease''. It was written and produced by John ...

" from the musical Grease. The Broadway move challenge was the Knee Slide. Yuri Tag was singled out for making a mistake during the performance. Mike Song stated that at 10 pm, the night before the show, the song was changed, forcing the crew to change parts of their choreography.

Week 7

*Aired on March 20, 2008. This week Status Quo received the most votes over JabbaWockeeZ and Kaba Modern. The last challenge was for the crews to illustrate the evolution of hip-hop using the same music. The final three crews had to perform to these songs using classic hip-hop moves such as

Popping Popping is a street dance adapted out of the earlier Boogaloo (funk dance), boogaloo cultural movement in Oakland, California. As boogaloo spread, it would be referred to as "robottin'" in Richmond, California; strutting movements in San Francis ...

, Locking and

Breakdancing Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying (when performed by men) or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans and Nuyorican, Puerto Ricans in The Bronx borough of New York City. Breakdancing consist ...

. The crews were also to dance to

Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...

. The saved crew was JabaWockeeZ. JC Chasez said that seeing JabaWockeeZ and Kaba Modern go against each other was the biggest and greatest competition on the show yet, maybe even surpassing what Status Quo and JabbaWockeeZ might do in the finals. In the end, Kaba Modern was sent home. Before the crew left the studio at the end of the show, the crowd cheered for the crew, wanting them to dance again. Kaba Modern was also able to create a track and dance routine, like

JabbaWockeeZ The Jabbawockeez is an American hip-hop dance crew that rose to prominence as the winner of the first season of '' America's Best Dance Crew'' in 2008. The group was established in 2003 in San Diego, California, by dancers Kevin "KB" Brewe ...

and Status Quo's Encore Do or Die round. The crew dressed in a new attire, and performed to the track but the routine, "America's Best Dance Crew: The Video Game", was never taped. Only the live audience was able to see the performance.

Week 8 Season Finale

*The live season finale aired live on March 27, 2008. All crews returned to perform, each representing their region of the United States. Kaba Modern joined Fysh N Chicks and

to represent the West Coast and performed to

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. Stevens is a founding member of the rap group The Click (band), The Click and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 27 stud ...

's ''

Tell Me When to Go "Tell Me When to Go" is the first single from E-40's BME/Warner Bros. debut, '' My Ghetto Report Card''. Keak da Sneak is also featured on the track. It was produced by Lil Jon, and one of the first singles to kick off the hyphy movement on a n ...

''.

was crowned America's Best Dance Crew.

Encore

Following the episode of Kaba Modern's elimination,

Shane Sparks Melvin Shane Sparks (born June 25, 1969) is an American hip hop choreographer best known for his work as a choreographer on ''So You Think You Can Dance'' and judge on ''America's Best Dance Crew''. Early life Sparks was born on June 25, 196 ...

had an interview at

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is ...

on the CW. With him was Kaba Modern, who performed a routine (this routine would have been the encore if they were not eliminated). It contained parts of their Gunshots routine as well as their G-Slide and Sensual Seduction routines. A different version of the encore was performed at the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards with clips of their Gunshots,

and

Thriller (song) "Thriller" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on November 11, 1983 in the United Kingdom and on January 23, 1984, in the United States, as the seventh and final single from his sixth studio album '' ...

routines. A third extended version, which they performed at the Northwestern University KASA show, included the full Gunshots routine, a slightly extended clip of the G-Slide routine, the Technologic routine and the Thriller routine. The fourth and most recent version performed was at the NYC Mansion party on May 25 where Kaba Modern performed the full, yet somewhat modified, version of the Gunshot routine, including the shows Knock 'em Dead routine, the G-Slide, the full routine of

, the

Funkytown "Funkytown" is a song by American disco-funk group Lipps Inc., written and produced by Steven Greenberg and released by Casablanca Records in March 1980 as the second single from the group's debut studio album, '' Mouth to Mouth'' (1979). T ...

part of the Hip Hop Evolution routine, a longer version of Thriller, and a longer version of

. To this day, Kaba Modern has not used Wall to Wall and

You're the one that I want "You're the One That I Want" is a song performed by American actor and singer John Travolta and Anglo-Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton-John for the 1978 film version of the musical '' Grease''. It was written and produced by John ...

routines in their Encore and has used the 4th version of the routine in their appearances since the NYC Mansion Party. *Note: Kaba Modern's routine has been the only one with multiple versions as the first part of the song is easily editable.

2008 MTV Video Music Awards

The 6 MTV Kaba Modern members made their triumphant return to the

stage alongside Season 1 winners

for an MTV VMA special which saw them compete against fellow Season 1 crews BreakSk8 and Status Quo, as well as SoReal Cru and Fanny Pak from Season 2 for a chance to perform and present at the 2008 MTV VMAs. This special challenge was to create a routine to a VMA nominated song and also have elements of the video with it, much like Season 1's Video Star Challenge. Kaba Modern performed to Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake's

4 Minutes "4 Minutes" is a song by American singer Madonna from her eleventh studio album ''Hard Candy'' (2008), featuring vocals by fellow American singer Justin Timberlake and American producer Timbaland. It was released as the lead single from the al ...

and received high praise from Lil' Mama, who stated that Kaba Modern "tore up the stage." Kaba Modern, as well as Fanny Pak (Fanny Pack), made it to the top two and performed on the VMA Pre-Show to present the award for "Best Dancing in a Video." They danced to

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of Contemporary R&B#2000s, 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, includi ...

's Closer. All six members dressed up as Ne-Yo did in the video and received praise from various members of the audience, including

Lupe Fiasco Wasalu Muhammad Jaco (born February 16, 1982), better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco ( ), is an American rapper, record producer and Music education, music educator. Born and raised in Chicago, he gained mainstream recognition for his gue ...

. They lost to

Fanny Pak Fanny Pak is a ten-member contemporary, hip-hop and jazz-trained dance crew from Los Angeles, California that gained popularity after appearing on the second season of MTV's ''America's Best Dance Crew'' (ABDC). Often while performing, the crew ...

ABDC Season 3

Mike Song of the six members to compete on ABDC came back for Week 7 of

America's Best Dance Crew (season 3) The third season of '' America's Best Dance Crew'' premiered on January 15, 2009. The season was once again hosted by Mario Lopez and featured Layla Kayleigh as the backstage correspondent. Lil Mama, JC Chasez, and Shane Sparks returned as the ...

to demonstrate tutting. During a web exclusive he also said that he is roommates with a member of

Quest Crew Quest Crew is an American hip-hop dance crew from Los Angeles, California who were declared winners of the third season of '' America's Best Dance Crew''. They made their first few appearances individually on shows like ''So You Think You Can ...

and that he was rooting for them. In a later interview with Quest it was revealed that Mike's roommate was Victor Kim.

Kaba Modern 6 Present Day

The 6 members, those who performed in ABDC are still in contact, however they are no longer considered a full group. As of 2013, their current status: * Mike Song: Currently focuses on dance as one of the founding members of Kinjaz ( ABDC season 8: Road to the VMAs), however is not part of Kaba Modern. * Yuri Tag: Currently works in design with dance as a leisure time activity. * Tony Tran: Currently a part of the Jabbawockeez. He is also one of the members of the Kinjaz with fellow Kaba Modern alum Mike Song and is no longer a part of Kaba Modern. However still claims to support the team. * Jia Huang: Currently Focuses on dance, however main priority is not Kaba Modern. * Lawrence Kao: Currently Focuses on Film (comedy). Also an occasional member of Kinjaz. * Cindy Minowa: Currently focuses on dance for Kaba Modern and Clear Talent Group

References

{{authority control American breakdancing groups American hip-hop dance groups Dance companies in the United States America's Best Dance Crew contestants Dance in California