Kaba Modern

Infobox musical artist |
Name = KABA Modern

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Landscape = yes
Img_capt = KABA Modern at the Asian Excellence Awards at UCLA
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Irvine, California, USA
Genre = Hip-Hop
Years_active = 1992–Present
Label =
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.kabamodern.com www.kabamodern.com]
Current_members = Tony Tran
Mike Song
Yuri Tag
Lawrence Kao
Cindy Minowa
Jia Huang
Performed on America's Best Dance Crew, MTV. See Members for current UCI roster.
Past_members =

KABA Modern is a spin-off of the University of California, Irvine Filipino cultural club, Kababayan. Headed by Arnel Calvario,cite web |url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/dance-hip-hop-1991756-dancing-calvario |author=Katherine Nguyen |title=Street dancing makes its move |accessdate=2008-03-18 |date=2008-03-03 |work=Orange County Register |publisher=Orange County Register Communications] , they began as a dance group that perform the hip-hop dance portion for the club's annual PCN or Pilipino Cultural Night. Kababayan means countryman in tagalog. Few Kaba members helped choreograph the "dance battle" scene in The Debut during filming in 1997 as 3 members were shown onscreen during the Making of Featurette of the dvd.

Kaba Modern has a total of four teams. Kreative Movement (formerly known as Kaba Kids) are for members 18 and under. Kaba Modern is the UCI competition team for college students. Kaba Modern Legacy is the exhibition team for Alumni and special guests. The KM Legacy Roster includes the 6 members that appeared on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew (Mike Song, Jia Huang, Cindy Minowa, Tony Tran, Lawrence Kao, and Yuri Tag) and several other KM Legends who no longer dance for the UCI team. [KabaFAN http://www.youtube.com/KabaFAN]

Members

'**Denotes Kaba Modern Coordinator

Competition History

The group has competed and placed in regional, national and international dance competitions including:
*Vibe cite web |url=http://www.ltd-vibe.com/|title=Lambda Theta Delta Proudly Presents:VIBE XIII |accessdate=2008-03-24]
*Body Rock
*Fusion cite web |url=http://www.ucsdmasa.org/fusion/show.html|title=FUSION HIP HOP 2008|accessdate=2008-03-24] Fusion is a student run event hosted by UCSD's student organization MASA (Multi-Asian Student Association) and San Diego's hip hop dance team 220 (Second to None)

What began 9 years ago as a small competition has grown into the largest hip hop dance competition on the West Coast with over 2,500 viewers from all over America. FUSION's goal is to bring together different communities through hip hop dance and cultural exhibitions in hopes to continue to raise awareness about Asian-Americans in hip hop today.

*Hip Hop International cite web |url=http://www.hiphopinternational.com/|title=www.hiphopinternational.com|accessdate=2008-03-24]
*America's Best Dance Crewcite web |url=http://www.eonline.com/gossip/kristin/detail/index.jsp?uuid=fe6d2e03-e497-4c6b-be4d-f641adfe8be7 |author=Kristin Dos |title=America's Best Dance Crew: Why You Must Watch |accessdate=2008-03-18 |date=2008-03-13 |work=Watch With Kristin |publisher=E! Entertainment Television]
*Prelude
*Vanguard

Notable performances

Vibe X

Vibe, in its 13th year, and always hosted by Lambda Theta Delta Fraternity at Kaba Modern's home school, University of California-Irvine, is one of the most respected dance competitions in the dance community. Well respected 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 the video quickly became viral.

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, in HHI 2007 and 2008 made it to the world finals after beating out their competition in the USA finals. Unfortunately in both years, they came up short from first, placing 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 (ironically, if they did not lose those points, they would have placed 2nd as the point totals would have been, without the deduction: 8.29 KABA Modern and 8.28 Eclectik).

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 MTV in early 2008. In a twist of irony, none of the Kaba members on America's Best Dance Crew were Filipino, since two Filipino Kaba Modern members who were originally going had to leave the show due to being the Kaba Modern 2008 coordinators. 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 crews danced to a Master Mix made by DJ Rashida.A powerful comment came from Shane Sparks stating that "It was like you took elements from every group, put it into one routine, and did it better than everyone else!"

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 and "Technologic" by Daft Punk.They were one of the crews to be saved by the judges.

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. 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'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. Nevertheless, the dance became one of Kaba Modern's best and most popular performances of the show.

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's Sensual Seduction and 'I Would' by A. Witherspoon produced by District 78. The crew acted as if the nerds had created these beautiful, virtual girls.

J.C concluded that the girls' hip thrust was hot and that the detail of the "hand" move was outstanding. Lil Mama also said they got into character.

Week 5

Aired on March 6, 2008.

In honor of the 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" 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's Thriller.

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 [Kaba Modern's] 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 despite having high marks from the judges for their Thriller routine. 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" 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. cite web |url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/kaba-dance-jabbawockeez-2002915-crew-mtv |author=Katherine Nguyen|title=Kaba Modern eliminated in MTV 'Best Dance Crew' contest|accessdate=2008-03-26 |date=2008-03-20|work=Orange County Register|publisher=Orange County Register Communications]

Week 7

Aired on March 20, 2008.

Kaba Modern was voted in the bottom 2 for the second consecutive week after their Grease routine. They were up for elimination once again. The other crew in the elimination round was the JabbaWockeeZ. They were sent home by the judges at the end of the show.

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, Locking and Breakdancing. The crews were also to dance to Pop and The New Jack Swing.

The saved crew was Status Quo, though the decision was argued by the live crowd. The edited televised showing on Thursday night, changed the crowd's reaction into cheers, instead of many boos and chants of a recount.cite web |url=http://pedrowatcher.freedomblogging.com/2008/03/20/kaba-modern-on-americas-best-dance-crew/ |author=kat |title=Robbed: Kaba Modern on America’s Best Dance Crew |accessdate=2008-03-26 |date=2008-03-20 |work=Pedro and the Watcher |publisher=Orange County Register Communications] Both the JabbaWockeeZ and Kaba Modern performances garnered praise from the judges, with the crowd cheering to keep both crews, and eliminate Status Quo instead. JC Chasez said that seeing those two crews 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. Though many wanted these two crews in the finals, only one could stay, and the judges sent Kaba Modern 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 and Status Quo's Encore Do or Die round. The crew dressed in a new attire, and performed to the track but the routine was never taped. Only the live audience was able to see the performance.

After this episode aired, and many reports of editing surfaced, many began to question the show's credibility and the voting process. The internet flooded with forums talking about the voting process, judging, etc. MTV maintains that the show is based on voting.

On KTLA 5, judge Shane Sparks was interviewed about the show, giving high praise to Kaba Modern. The crew was in the studio, and performed the encore on the show. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/11930078@N03/2355907078/]

Week 8 Season Finale

The live season finale aired live on March 27, 2008.

All crews returned to perform, each representing their side of the United States. Kaba Modern joined Fysh N Chicks and JabbaWockeeZ, representing the West Coast performing to E40's 'Tell me When To Go'.

JabbaWockeeZ were crowned America's Best Dance Crew.

Kaba Modern - The Encore

Following the episode of Kaba Modern's elimination, Shane Sparks had an interview at KTLA on the CW. With him was KABA Modern, who performed a routine (this routine would have been the encore if they weren't elminated). 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, Technologic and Thrillerdn 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 25th 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 Technologic, the Funkytown part of the Hip Hop Evolution routine, a longer version of Thriller, and a longer version of Sensual Seduction. To this day, Kaba Modern has not used Wall to Wall and You're the one that I want 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 America's Best Dance Crew stage alongside Season 1 winners JabbaWockeeZ 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 f. Justin Timberlake's 4 Minutes and received high praise from Lil' Mama who stated that she missed them on this show and that they grew so much and just tore up the stage. She also praised Cindy for her windmill that she performed during the routine and made it known that it was a female who just did that windmill and for their tutting/isolation section on the conveyor belt. They made it to the top two and performed on the VMA Pre-Show for the right to present the award for "Best Dancing in a Video" along with Fanny Pak. They danced to Ne-Yo'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. They would ultimately lose out to Fanny Pak. [http://remotecontrol.mtv.com/2008/09/04/kaba-modern-and-fanny-pak-prepare-for-the-fight-of-their-lives/] [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1594216/20080905/swift__taylor.jhtml]

References