Saturday, April 25, 2009

JabbaWockeeZ perform at Billboard Latin Music Awards

Reggaetton star Daddy Yankee performed "Pose" with America's Best Dance Crew Season 1 winners Jabbawockeez at the Billboard Latin Music Awards on April 23.

Merchandise - Kaba Modern, Supreme Soul


  • Kaba Modern has a nifty anime crew shirt available from Rhythmrockerz.
  • There's a new source for Supreme Soul merchandise, including the Know your Rank Shirt. KnowYourMerch has a broad selection of styles, sizes, and colors.

Friday, April 24, 2009

New Quest Video -- Trapped in the elevator!

Quest's road manager was documenting their visit to San Diego State University on April 22. So, when they got trapped in the elevator for an hour, it became Youtube fodder. And no, this is not a publicity stunt or a tribute to R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet. They look genuinely uncomfortable but kept their cool enough to joke about cannibalism, Twitter, Ashton Kutcher, bodily functions, and other elevator conversation. For more coverage of the SDSU trip, visit the blog on QuestCrew.com

Matt Cady & D-trix to teach dance camp! Apply for scholarship now!

Dominic Sandoval (D-Trix) from Quest and Matt Cady from Fanny Pak will be among the teachers at Off the Ground Dance Camp in August 2009. Deadline for applying for scholarships is May 2. Click here for more details or watch this video:

Beat Freaks -- workshop, performance, B-Girl the Movie sneak preview party

Before Beat Freaks comes to the East Coast, they've got a lot going on:
  • Today (April 24) they teach a workshop in San Diego at Studio FX
  • April 25, they perform in Long Beach at V20. 21+
  • April 28:Watch a sneak preview of B-Girl the Movie ( the movie Lady Jules stars in) and meet the Beat Freaks and party with them. The location is a secret. There are a certain amount of tickets allotted to Beat Freaks fans! Limited Seats Available. If interested, RSVP at rsvp@bgirlmovie.com

Thursday, April 23, 2009

What questions would YOU ask Team Millennia, Quest, and Beat Freaks?

In the next 10 days, Team Millennia, Quest, and Beat Freaks will all visit the East Coast. We're planning to interview each of them. The crews have all been interviewed extensively, but we know there are still many unanswered fan questions. What would you like to know about the crews? Leave a comment and we'll include some of them in our interviews. Make it creative because we don't want to bore them!

SoReal Cru's 'Lost Tape' -- What it's like to compete on ABDC

SoReal Cru TV just posted a video of their last week on America's Best Dance Crew Season 2, preparing for the VMA challenge. I love how it shows a very different angle from what the audience sees, including the backstage areas and contrasting SoReal Cru's practice to the MTV footage.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Kaba Modern Day Pt. 2: South Africa performances

Kaba Modern travelled to South Africa to perform as a closing act in 'Dance to Las Vegas' competition. D2LV is South Africa's competition to see who will represent the country in this year's Hip Hop International. Allison Vincencio (aka Allibons) is a member of Kaba Modern and posted several videos of their South Africa experience. Here's their performance on finals of the competition (Mike Song and Arnel Calvario were performing elsewhere, so there are only 5 Kaba Modern members in this set):

Click here to watch another performance and the crew's appearance on a South African kid TV show. And thanks for the tip, Michael Tran!

Kaba Modern Day Pt. 1: Asian or Pacific Islanders?

Many analyses of America's Best Dance Crew and other hip hop dance competitions talk about the proficiency of Asian crews. This characterization may be unnecessarily sweeping and insensitive. Witness this question to Kaba Modern members -- do the Filipino dancers feel they are Asians or Pacific Islanders? Click for the video responses (taped by BooboosFan1) from Yuri Tag and Kuya Carlin and from Lawrence Kao, Cindy Minowa, and Tony Tran.

Does it matter? I personally don't care where they're from, as long as they keep dancing. But, I don't mind being enlightened about this, particularly if it's a sore point for some Filipinos.

Male on Sunday on April 26 - featuring Boxcuttuhz Jaffar Smith

Male on Sunday -- the Heavy Hitters Edition will be held this Sunday April 26 in Torrance, CA. Jaffar Smith from Boxcuttuhz and Kyle Hanagami from Lost Kids are two of the all-star teachers. Click here to register.

The Male on Sunday workshops feature some of the best male hip hop choreographers in America teaching at different locations in California. Click to see some video from precious workshops with Tony Tran from Kaba Modern and Brian Puspos and Andrew Baterina of SoReal Cru.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

JC Chasez: America's Best Dance Crew Season 4 is confirmed!

MTV has a video interview with JC Chasez confirming that there will be a Season 4 for America's Best Dance Crew. He gives no other details. Thanks for the tip, Vix M!

On-line concert with Lil Mama, Fanny Pak, Supreme Soul, Ringmasters: April 30

MyHDTVClub.com will present a live pay-per-view concert on April 30 starring Lil Mama and featuring Fanny Pak, Supreme Soul, and Ringmasters. It's scheduled for 10pm ET/7pm PT. Sign up ahead of time to make sure you have the right software. Price: $3.99.

World of Dance Highlight: Marvelous Motion (including props from Quest!)

Marvelous Motion competed at the Pomona World of Dance show and placed third. Here's the video from MarvelousMotionTV, complete with an endorsement from Quest.

Monday, April 20, 2009

Does Youtube hurt or help the dance crews?

On the MTV discussion boards for America's Best Dance Crew, a few posters think that ticket sales for the dance crews' shows are hurt by all the Youtube videos. Some of their reasoning: people get tired of seeing the same performances, and since they can see it for free, they won't pay.

I disagree with this. To me, it's like the difference of listening to the radio vs. going to a concert. Yes I'm familiar with the material (and do sometimes get tired of songs), but am usually electrified by the live experience. I may not pay to see a totally unknown band or dance crew; I'm happier to pay to see one of my favorites.

What do you think? Should we lay off the Youtube, or does it actually help the crews?

Boxcuttuhz performance at Ken-ya Dance

On April 18, several America's Best Dance Crew performers appeared at Ken-ya Dance in San Jose -- Super Cr3w, Fanny Pak, Supreme Soul, Ringmasters, and Boxcuttuhz. I have mixed feelings about posting the videos since people were not supposed to bring cameras to the event. But I MISS seeing Boxcuttuhz performing, and -- unlike some of the others who have had many more performances post-ABDC -- there are very few recent videos of them dancing . So, here's Boxcuttuhz. If many of you object to having this up, I'll delete the post.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Interview with Beat Freak's Lock 'n Key

Keeley (Lock'nKey) from Beat Freaks talked to Civil Clothing about how she got started with street dancing, what she thinks about the other Beat Freaks, her experience on America's Best Dance Crew, and advice for other female dancers. Read the full article here.