The MTV Video Music Awards is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards, the annual MTV Video Music Awards ceremony has often been called the Super Bowl for youth, an acknowledgment of the VMA ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20-somethings each year. By 2001, the VMA had become a coveted award.
Richard Colón, better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is an American b-boy who was featured in the earliest stories on hip hop dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew brought the form to London and Paris in 1983. Today he is also involved in community outreach, dance instruction, and dance theater productions. He has appearanced in fiction films and documentaries. Crazy Legs is current president of the Rock Steady Crew.
Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. The television show Soul Train and the 1980s films Breakin', Beat Street, and Wild Style showcased these crews and dance styles in their early stages; therefore, giving hip-hop dance mainstream exposure.
Breakdancing or breaking, also called b-boying or b-girling (women), is a style of street dance originated by African Americans with notable contributions from Puerto Ricans in the Bronx.
Kenneth James Gabbert, better known by his stage name Ken Swift, is a second generation b-boy, or breakdancer. He was a longtime member and key figure in the Rock Steady Crew, and its former Vice President. He is now President of the Breaklife and VII Gems Hip Hop movement in New York City. Ken Swift began b-boying in 1978, at the age of twelve, when he was inspired by dancers on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Widely known in the breakdancing world as "the Epitome of a B-Boy," he is widely considered by b-boys to be the individual who has had the greatest influence on breakdancing. Ken Swift is credited with the creation of many dance moves and terminology. His original footwork and "freeze style" became a foundational part of breaking, which were considered new concepts at the time.
The Red Bull BC One is an annual international breakdancing (B-Boy) competition, established in 2004. The competition is organised by the beverage company Red Bull. Its first event was held in Biel, Switzerland in 2004.
Niatia Jessica Kirkland, better known by her stage name Lil Mama, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and dancer. She experienced top 10 Billboard placements at 17 with her debut album VYP (2008), which debuted at number 25 on the Billboard 200. The album spawned her four major singles including her staple song and dance anthem "Lip Gloss", earning her two Teen Choice Awards and Monster Single of the Year nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards. Kirkland gained further attention in pop music after a collaboration with Avril Lavigne for the remix of her hit single "Girlfriend".
Northwest hip hop is hip hop or rap music that originates from the Pacific Northwest of North America, encompassing major cities such as Portland (Oregon), Seattle (Washington), and other towns. Northwest hip hop music mixes elements from various genres of music to form a sound different from its southern neighbor, West Coast hip hop. For many years the scene existed mainly as an underground genre, but recently Northwest hip-hop has seen more and more mainstream acceptance, with artists such as Macklemore gaining nationwide attention.
America's Best Dance Crew, often abbreviated as ABDC, is an American competitive dance reality television series featuring both national and international dance crews. The show was produced by singer, record producer, and former American Idol judge Randy Jackson. The series premiered on February 7, 2008, on MTV. It was originally developed for NBC as World Moves.
Kaba Modern is a dance group originating in Irvine, California. It is a spin-off of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) 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, a few Kaba Modern members helped choreograph the "dance battle" scene in The Debut in 1997 while three members were shown onscreen during the Making Of featurette of the DVD.
Carter "Fever One" McGlasson is a breakdancer and DJ originally from Seattle, Washington who relocated to New York City in 1997, and eventually joined the world-famous Rock Steady Crew. He is most well known for his 'gunzblazin' style which he developed while studying with his mentors Icey Ice and Lil' Lep of the New York City Breakers.
Quest Crew is an American hip-hop dance crew from Los Angeles, California who were declared winners of the third season of America's Best Dance Crew. They made their first few appearances individually on shows like So You Think You Can Dance and at events such as Kollaboration 8 and World of Dance. They helped with the choreography for well-known duo LMFAO and have previously toured with them as well. On August 29, 2015, Quest Crew was declared all-star champions of Season 8 of America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC) receiving $100,000 and the ABDC trophy again. This is the crew's second time being declared champion of MTV's hit show.
SoReal Cru is a hip-hop dance crew from Houston, Texas who gained fame as the runner-up on the second season of America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC). Before ABDC, they won first place at the World of Dance competition in Pomona in 2008. After the second season of America's Best Dance Crew was over, they returned to MTV for a two-part ABDC special, Battle of the VMA's. In the spin-off, popular crews from seasons one and two competed for an opportunity to win $25,000 for charity and to present the 2008 VMA for Best Dancing in a Video. Alumni crews BreakSk8, Fanny Pak, Kaba Modern, Status Quo, and SoReal Cru participated in the event. SoReal Cru danced to Forever by Chris Brown and made the cut in the preliminary rounds while BreakSk8 and Status Quo were eliminated. After the public voted, SoReal Cru lost to Fanny Pak and Kaba Modern for having the fewest votes. After a dance off at the VMA Preshow, the public voted again, and it was announced during the VMA's that Fanny Pak won.
The fourth season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on August 9, 2009. All three regular judges, host Mario Lopez, and backstage correspondent Layla Kayleigh returned. This was the last season to feature Shane Sparks as a judge. In the live finale, which aired on September 27, 2009, We Are Heroes was declared the winner.
Fanny Pak is a ten-member contemporary, hip-hop and jazz-trained dance crew from Los Angeles, California that gained popularity after appearing on the second season of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC). Often while performing, the crew wears bright clothes and bold patterns reminiscent of the 1980s as well as fanny packs, which is where their crew name originated. In addition, all of the members were born in the 1980s. The crew returned to ABDC on the seventh season, placing fifth in the competition.
We Are Heroes is an all female popping dance crew best known for being the first all-female crew to win America's Best Dance Crew with their title in Season 4. The winning prize amount was $100,000 in cash as well as ABDC's Golden B-Boy Trophy. Their styles of dance is popping, locking, tutting, and waacking, and also Nichelle and Ali are trained in gymnastics and can do flips.
The history of hip-hop dances encompasses the people and events since the late 1960s that have contributed to the development of early hip-hop dance styles, such as uprock, breaking, locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping. African Americans created uprock and breaking in New York City. African Americans in California created locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping—collectively referred to as the funk styles. All of these dance styles are different stylistically. They share common ground in their street origins and in their improvisational nature of hip hop.
I.aM.mE is an American hip-hop dance crew from Houston, Texas. The group rose to prominence after being crowned champions in the sixth season of America's Best Dance Crew. The three founding members, Phillip Chbeeb, Di Moon Zhang and Brandon Harrell, formed I.aM.mE after Marvelous Motion Crew disbanded. Three additional members, Chachi Gonzales, Emilio Dosal, and Džajna "jaja" Vaňková, joined later after an audition.
Art of Movement (AOM) is a Seattle-based b-boy crew founded in 2002 by brothers Junior and Tony Orduna. The crew received attention due to member Jay Park's popularity as a singer and rapper. Cha Cha Malone is a producer and composer, and works closely with Jay Park, and Dial Tone won R-16 Korea in 2012 with Massive Monkees, another Seattle-based b-boy crew. The crew has appeared on numerous nationally-broadcast TV shows in South Korea, performed worldwide, and appeared in many music videos, exposing the b-boy culture to a wide variety of people.
Matthew Vinh Nguyen, better known as Dumbo, is a Vietnamese-American dancer, choreographer and DJ. He is a member of the Asian-American dance crew Poreotics, as well as the DJ duo ARIUS.
