Fil-Ams shine in hip-hop dance crew vying for America's best

MANILA, Philippines-MTV’s newest competitive dance series, Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew, is left with only two finalists from the original 12, and one of them has Filipino members. JabbaWockeeZ, a California-based six-man hip hop group, has consistently impressed Dance Crew judges, N’ Sync member, JC Chasez, rapper Lil’ Mama, and top hip-hop choreographer Shane Sparks for their synchronized and killer-dance routines. Now they only need viewers’ votes to win the first ever Dance Crew crown. The oft-masked “Jabba," includes Vietnamese Jeff Nguyen, X-box fanatic Ben Chung, music producer, Kevin Brewer, Phil Tayag, graphic designer Chris Gatdula, and the only confirmed Pinoy in the group so far, Rynan Shawn Paguio. “I just got married in Nov. 24, 2007. I am a sexy guy when you close your eyes! I'm Filipino. I need to pay my bills. I love hip hop," Paguio wrote in the group’s website. GMANews.TV tried by e-mail to confirm the Filipino ethnicities of both Tayag and Gatdula but out efforts has so far been unsuccessful. Tayag, 23, is from Sacramento, California while Gatdula, 26, is from Las Vegas, Nevada. “I dance, I hustle to pay bills," Tayag said in the group’s site. US-based Filipino fan Erwin Bermejo emailed to GMANews.TV that Jabba actually has three Filipino members. “I've seen a section here about Filipino Achievers in abroad. Don't you know that other than (American Idol finalist) Ramiele Malubay, we have three Filipinos in a Reality TV in the US? They are part of the dance crew: JabbaWockeeZ, and they are competing at America's Best Dance Crew," Bermejo tipped off. “They are also part of the movie Step Up 2. Reynan Shawn Paguio, member of the Jabbawockeez has lots of appearances in that movie. You would see him dancing in the last part," he shared. Patti Ancheta also wrote that JabbaWockeeZ are quite popular in the dance competition. "It's like the American Idol but it's all about the different dance groups here in the US. One of the most popular groups here is the Jabbawockeez. It is actually on the two finalists now, and two of the six members of the JabbaWockeeZ are Filipinos," she said. "Wish you could do something to let our fellow Filipinos see how great they are...thanks!" she suggested. American Idol judge Randy Jackson, a 23-year music industry veteran and Grammy Award winning producer, is America's Best Dance Crew's executive producer. Online community site BuddyTV.com profiled Paguio as a 26-year-old professional break-dancer from San Diego, California. The group, named after the poem of a nonsense verse written by famed Through the Looking-Glass author Lewis Caroll, galumphed through the finals, edging out all-Asian dance crew Kabba Modern in the tense semi-final round. In last week’s evolution of Hip-hop performance, Paguio did a staggering 30-second flawless headspin. “That’s my dude! When someone excites me, they excite me," said a pumped-up Lil’ Mama to Paguio. Sparks commended the group for raising the show's standards for the next 10 seasons. “If the crews watching this show do not come at that level, they need to stay home," Sparks remarked. Ben Chung, aka B-Tek, describes the dance crew as “nasty…each member brings a unique flavor to the table, without it our body would be incomplete." Here’s how America’s newest dance reality show is described in MTV website: “Week after week, each dance crew, consisting of five to seven members, will work their butts off to demonstrate their most innovative choreography and sick dance skills. The crews will be asked to recreate the moves seen in the hottest music videos, use their fancy footwork to reenact their favorite movie scenes and pay homage to the classic grooves (and moves) of the past. But it's going to be hard to keep the beat and stay on point with so many people competing for the title of America's Best Dance Crew, and there's sure to be showdowns, shouting matches and dramatic impromptu dance-offs!" Voting for America’s Next Dance Crew ends on March 27. Jabba is competing with Boston-based dance crew Status Quo. - GMANews.TV