JabbaWockeez Wins America’s Best Dance Crew
by Guest Contributor Jenn Fang, originally published on Reappropriate
JabbaWockeez — a predominantly Asian American dance crew — won the title of America’s Best Dance Crew.
Here’s their routine from last week, “Evolution”.
[Ed Note: Jenn's original video was no longer available, so I went with this one - LDP]
I still preferred Kaba Modern’s style to Jabba’s, but I can’t deny Jabba’s skill. And there was something politically-conscious about Jabba’s use of masks, which seemed to lament the stereotype of the Asian American geek and demand the audience judge them on their dancing skills, and not on racist prejudgement based on their Asiatic features. This was underscored by Jabba’s final dance, when they started by discarding the masks to demonstrate that they were no longer necessary.
I’m thinking that Jabba’s victory definitely helps challenge the stereotype of Asian Americans as geeks, nerds and science-oriented. Jabba’s Asian American members were artists, who expressed themselves phenomenally through dance. Congratulations!
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
J.A. wrote:
I love this site, & this is the very first time I am commenting. So here it goes, very interesting point of view about their masks. I saw their masks as more of an intimidation tactic than anything else. And I don’t know if its because of where I grew up (Southern California around many Asian/Asian Americans), but as my brother & I (both of us are black) were watching this show we were both had similar views of their win. Kind of along the lines of “well of course they won, they’re Asian” Of course everyone has heard of the “geeky Asian” stereotype, but we also knew of the “really good hip-hop dancing Asian” stereotype. We thought it was common knowledge that many Asians/Asian Americans were good dancers!
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 12:06 pm ¶
Jay wrote:
I think it’s specific to where you grew up. Doesn’t SoCal have a lot of hiphop dancers period?
When was the last time you saw an Asian American troupe in an MTV dance video, for example?
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 12:44 pm ¶
Arturo wrote:
As was the case in J.A’s community, Chula Vista had its’ own Asian stereotypes: Filipinos were considered second only to Blacks in basketball skills, and Samoans were viewed in the same light on the football field.
Mexicans? Well, we were good at soccer, y’know.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 12:45 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
J.A. I’ve been thinking exactly the same thing lately. I wonder if there’s a new stereotype being created before our eyes – that Asian-Americans are awesome at b-boying / b-girling?
Between Sara, Dominic, and Hok on “So You Think You Can Dance” and Kaba Modern and JabbaWockeez on this show – it seems like Asians are kicking ass in a genre still thought of as an black art form.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 12:50 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Jay, there’s a crew of Asian guys in that new Missy video, and that video she did a couple years ago had that awesome little Asian girl dancing too. (Both song titles escape me now.)
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 12:54 pm ¶
DivergentDana wrote:
“I think it’s specific to where you grew up. Doesn’t SoCal have a lot of hiphop dancers period?”
I don’t think it’s just in CA, Jay. My nephew’s a dance enthusiast in TX — hell, he won’t let anyone talk to him during this show — and he knows the stereotype. How does everyone feel about the episode where they requested that the guys from Kaba Modern play nerds?
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 1:14 pm ¶
J.A. wrote:
Yeah SoCal does have tons of hip-hop dancers. But in the case where a particular art form (in this case, hip-hop) starts & is dominated by a particular ethnic/racial group, its a bit interesting to see said activity appropriated by another/different group of people. Usually one would expect to see a bunch of black kids with a few “others” sprinkled in. But where I grew up, there were whole crews made up of just Asian kids-no black kids any where around. I have been told that this is the case in many places outside the U.S. where Asians are not the minority. I guess it speaks to not only hip-hops influence on American culture but worldwide.
But like I said earlier, to me this was normal. I’m sure its not normal to someone who doesn’t live around hip-hop and/or Asian communities.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 1:15 pm ¶
heyhey wrote:
I agree w/ the other posters about not being surprised that asians won this show, but that’s probably a function of being a Bay Area/NorCal baby. Ever since I was a kid I remember Asians (pinoys, specifically) “throwing down the cardboard and having fresh breaking skills” — and now you can guess how old I am. Shoot, these boys’ FATHERS probably could bust a mean centipede (again, WOW I’m ancient…) and I totally dig that they acknowledged that b-boy history in their routine.
And if you dig deeper, there’s a def. great asian representation in all the elements of hiphop, especially scratching (Invizible Skratch Picklz in the 90s).
Also, check out Jeff Chang’s great “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop”, a tome that successfully contextualizes hiphop and its followers (of all races) for what it, at it’s best, can be: a movement for social change.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 1:31 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Hmm…
J.A. I don’t even know if I would say appopriated. Hip-hop, from where I sit, began as a black thing but was quickly pulled into the multi-cultural mishmash of America and abroad. So while a lot of the founders were black, a lot of the practicioners cross racial lines.
One of the most famous breakdancers is Crazy Legs, and a lot of the praciticioners I know are Asian and Latin@. Same with graffiti, and DJing, and even emceeing.
So I see hip-hop culture as a historically black art form that has expanded to the global youth scene.
And along those lines…can I just say I can’t wait to check out Planet B-Boy?
http://www.planetbboy.com/
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 1:35 pm ¶
Vee wrote:
JabbaWockeez is tight.
End of the Story.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 2:14 pm ¶
J.A. wrote:
Latoya, I totally get your point of view, and that was kind of what I was getting at towards the end of my second post. And I definitely appreciate all the non-black practitioners of hip-hop, but by and large, it (hip-hop) is still seen as a “black thing”.
Did anyone happen to watch last night’s episode of that Housewives show on Bravo? One of the moms wanted her kid to be more “well rounded” so she hired a guy to teach her son break dancing. One of the most hilarious things I have seen in my life. Not only did the kid suck, but so did his teacher.
And yes Vee, Jabbawockeez are tight indeed.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 2:45 pm ¶
s/c wrote:
Wow, i never thought about the pol message of Jabba, your analzaying seems really thourough. hetto
@Carmen: i’m pretty sure the “little” asain girl you were referring to is “MIN” under JYP Prod [http://www.myspace.com/minjype] & she’s trying to debut in the US market.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 3:04 pm ¶
Haji wrote:
The JabbaWockeez are awesome. I’m not sure if we are reading too much into the masks. There are a lot of ethnicities who appropriate elements of hip-hop culture into their own form of artistic expression. M.I.A. anyone? Its a beautiful thing.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 3:36 pm ¶
Keke wrote:
I think the Jabbawockeez use of masks was interesting as well. But I definitely liked how it got you to focus solely on their skills. Although other groups were probably a bit better technically, I enjoyed how they infused creativity into all of their performances. And I agree with Vee. They are definitely tight!
I feel ancient saying this, but I can remember when hip-hop was young. So it makes me feel proud as a hip-hop lover that it is being practiced all over the country and all over the world. This speaks to the idea that any culture no matter how historically oppressed and disenfranchised can create something beautiful and magical that defies all stereotype and can bring together people from all walks of life.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 3:50 pm ¶
sylvie wrote:
Did anyone hear judge Lil’ Mama call them “the future of America?” I thought it was a nice, subtle comment on the significance of their accomplishments as a predominantly Asian American group without reducing their success to something race-based.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 4:43 pm ¶
Ann Brock wrote:
It was a great show. The winner was good but I believe 2nd place winner was better over all.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 5:23 pm ¶
Stacy wrote:
Someone made a comment on how the boys from kaba modern were asked to play “geeks” and I don’t think that was the case. I think that the groups did all of their own choreography.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 5:36 pm ¶
DivergentDana wrote:
The teams do design their own choreography, but they’re given “tasks” by the show to accomplish and given themes to design around — in one episode, the theme was broadway plays, in another episode, the theme was the history of hip-hop dance, etc. On one of the episodes, the guys in Kaba Modern were indeed requested to play nerds and the girls were given the role of “popular girls.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frkF80NBxEk&feature=related
I looked them up on Youtube after watching later episodes of the show… *hangs head* because I thought the guys involved were hot like fiyah.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 6:41 pm ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
JabbaWockeez? *swoon*
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 7:48 pm ¶
Tk wrote:
Hey Carmen,
The crew in Missy Elliott’s video is from Japan. They’re called U-MIN. They have some insane stuff on youtube. Check it out!
Posted 03 Apr 2008 at 8:57 am ¶
Joan Flores wrote:
What do you guys think about this?
I don’t necessarily agree with it, but it’s interesting…
http://www.nathanielturner.com/werealcoolkenyon.htm
Posted 03 Apr 2008 at 1:40 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Joan –
It is an interesting piece, that’s for sure, but I have to respectfully disagree.
I can’t speak to what happened at this panel, but I have a lot of thoughts about cultural ownership and cultural appropriation.
Shit.
I have so many thoughts I can’t figure out where to go with this. I’ll ponder and come back.
Posted 03 Apr 2008 at 1:55 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Thanks for posting that, Joan. It was a really good piece – I actually agree with a lot of it. Look forward to your thoughts, Latoya.
Posted 03 Apr 2008 at 2:04 pm ¶
Linda wrote:
Joan I have read that piece before and I agree with it! I always find it interesting that people will take an art form that has its roots in one culture, and when it becomes main-stream it becomes everyones culture. The problem I have with that is give credit where credit is due! Tell the history of that culture (art form) and when you’re done, don’t go home and spread racial bigotry about the same people who created the art form that you love so much. For example, Capoeira is very popular. There are many white Brazilians, and whites in North America that practice it (the irony). And yet I find that the history of it is slowly eroding away. It’s not just a Brazilian form of martial arts! It’s a form of self defense that African Slaves from Central Africa, brought with them on the slave ships, and used to defend themselves from their white masters; but hid it in the form of a dance! Let’s tell the whole history and not parts of it! The irony is that even today in Brazil, people of African descent are extremely discriminated against, but people without African descent love the Samba, the music, the food, the gods and goddess of mama Africa, but hate her children, discriminate against them, lie on them, defile their history, and everything else under the sun!
Posted 04 Apr 2008 at 8:23 am ¶
MHB wrote:
Carmen is spot on in #4. I’m def. curious to see what happens when the advertising industry starts making campaigns featuring Asian BBoys.
Posted 04 Apr 2008 at 8:35 pm ¶
RobynT wrote:
I loved this show and was very proud to see Asian Americans excelling too! And in a very non-stereotypical way… well… at least with the guys getting away from those emasculated images. One of the most memorable moments for me was when the Filipino guy from Jabbawockeez spun on his head like forever and then threw his mask down and sort of like… I don’t know how to explain it but it was definitely not the sort of Asian American representation you see often.
The b-boy Asian might be a new stereotype. I sort of thought of it as like the Asians who want to be Black stereotype. You know, like adopting the clothing style, language practices, etc. I don’t mean this in a bad way but I think some folks see it as like… funny or wahtever. I think Linda puts it very well!
The geek thing: yeah, that bothered me a bit, but it was so great I will look past it. Also, you know, it was a role and maybe part of what was so great about it was that everyone knows these guys are not geeks… maybe I’m just being optimistic.
Anyway, I was also sort of bothered by how the judges addressed the crews at times. I mean it was always about how Status Quo was from the streets and the Asian Am crews were so hardworking. I don’t know…
Posted 06 Apr 2008 at 5:19 pm ¶