KABA Modern

KABA Modern is a dance group originating from Irvine, California. Kaba Modern is a spin-off of the University of California, Irvine Filipino cultural club, Kababayan, which means "countrymen" in Tagalog. 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, few Kaba Modern members helped choreograph the "dance battle" scene in The Debut in 1997 while 3 members were shown onscreen during the Making of Featurette of the DVD.

The Kaba Modern family is divided into three sub-teams. Kreative Movement (formerly known as Kaba Kids) are for members 18 and under. Kaba Modern is the UCI competitive team for college-level students. Kaba Modern Legacy is an exhibition team for Kaba Modern alumni and special guests. The KM Legacy Roster includes all 6 members that appeared on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew (Mike Song, Jia Huang, Cindy Minowa, Tony Tran, Yuri Tag, and Lawrence Kao) and several other Kaba Modern legends who no longer dance for the UCI team.


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 three Filipino Kaba Modern members who were originally going had to leave the show due to being the Kaba Modern 2008 coordinators and/or school commitments. 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
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The crews danced to a Master Mix made by District 78. 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!"

Week 1

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

Week 2

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

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

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

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

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.

Week 7
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.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.

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

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 Thriller (song)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 ft. Justin Timberlake's 4 Minutes 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'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 ultimately lost to Fanny Pak.

ABDC Season 3
Mike Song of the six members to compete on ABDC came back for Week 8 of America's Best Dance Crew (season 3) to demonstrate tutting. During a web exclusive he also said that he is roommates with a member of Quest Crew and that he was rooting for them. In a later interview with Quest it was revealed that Mike's roommate was Victor Kim.