Jabbawockeez - Early Career

Early Career

Phil "Swagger Boy" Tayag, Kevin "KB" Brewer, and Joe "Punkee" Larot began performing as a trio called "Three Musky" in Sacramento, California while wearing white masks and gloves. The mask and glove motif was adopted as a tribute to the 1970's San Francisco strutting crew Medea Sirkas. Gary "Gee One" Kendall and Randy "DJ Wish One" Bernal were both members of the MindTricks dance crew who were active in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both the MindTricks dance crew and the Three Muskee were friends and associates with each other. Tayag, Brewer, and Larot all later moved to the San Diego area, and what began as an effort to start a Southern California chapter of the MindTricks crew later evolved into JabbaWockeeZ.

"We want you to experience Jabbawockeez as a group and not just follow or be fans of one individual person. There's no lead dancer in our crew. Our philosophy is that when you watch us perform, you have to watch us as a whole... When we put on, it's not about who we are or where we came from. We're all one."

Established in 2003 in San Diego, California, Jabbawockeez is the brainchild of the "Three Musky" who wanted to showcase freestyle dance. The name Jabbawockeez, coined by Joe Larot, was inspired by the fantastical monster from the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem Jabberwocky. The white masks and gloves from Phil, Kevin, and Joe's performances as Three Musky were adopted as the visual signature of the group. In San Diego, through Gary's connections, the Jabbawockeez added b-boys Rynan "Kid Rainen" Paguio and Chris "Cristyle" Gatdula to the group. The original seven member iteration of the Jabbawockeez began performing as a group in 2004. This lineup consisted of Gary, Randy, Phil, Kevin, Joe, Rynan, and Chris.

Jabbawockeez rounded out their numbers with additional members, bringing their total to eleven. Phoenix native Jeff "Phi" Nguyen had met Rynan Paguio at various Los Angeles area auditions and performances and earned a spot in the Jabbawockeez in 2004 by battling Kevin Brewer. The Jabbawockeez also brought Kaba Modern alumnus Ben "B-Tek" Chung and b-boys Eddie "Eddiestyles" Gutierrez and Saso "Saso Fresh" Jimenez into the fold. Stylistically, the Jabbawockeez style of dance features an eclectic mix of various urban styles, primarily popping & b-boying, along with a careful synchronicity to self created instrumentals which one member dubs "Beat-Kune-Do" (a play on the word "Jeet Kune Do", a martial arts style created by Bruce Lee). In 2007, the JabbaWockeeZ appeared on the second season of America's Got Talent. Performing with nine members, the group was eliminated in the Las Vegas callbacks episode. In 2008, they auditioned and were accepted onto the first season of America's Best Dance Crew.