Friday, February 29, 2008

Where Did the Filipino Go? Here!






In a recent post regarding the lack of Filipino representation on the Kaba Modern team on the MTV show "America's Best Dance Crew," we had a nice, civil, yet critical debate (in blog comments, in person, IM, or through email) about the cultural ramifications involved in representing "Kaba" without reference to Filipinoness. (Thanks Da!)

We asked: where did the Filipino go? Well we found them! On the the BRAVO Channel's "Step It Up & Dance" show (premieres April)! Two contestants, Michelle and Miguel, are alums of UCI and came out of the Kaba/Kaba Modern scene. You can check out their bios in the links above. It's true, as we see from these tv shows, that Kaba Modern is a major resource for young people to train for the dance industry. You think Michelle or Miguel are gonna bust out balancin candles?

We look forward to seeing these pin@y alums on TV in April!

Keep on! Can't stop the shinin'!

(Note: this case is different from the Kaba Modern one because these dancers are not projecting the Kaba name, just in case we get in a tussle about these dancers connection with Kaba, their Filipinoness, etc.)

(Note 2: on second thought, can anyone verify if Miguel identifies as Filipino? Michelle is a "Filipino firecracker" in her bio. Miguel may have a Filipino name, but we know that people with all kinds of ethnic identifications roll with Kaba Modern).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

He's actually of mexican descent. So to answer your question, Migz is not a filipino.