KABA Modern is a street dance group established in 1992 by a group of "kababayans", headed by Arnel Calvario,[1] at the University of California, Irvine. Originally put together to perform as "The Modern Suite" at their Filipino Culture Night (PCN), the group has evolved from being a PCN suite to becoming one of the most well known hip hop groups in California. They helped choreograph the "dance battle" scene in The Debut.

Ask anyone who watched MTV’s new number-one hit, “Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew” and they will tell you that Kaba Modern deserved to be in the top two; perhaps even win the $100,000 grand prize along with a touring contract. With its pop-lock finesse and inventive clean moves, UC Irvine’s own KABA Modern made up of Mike Song, Jia Huang, Lawrence Kao, Cindy Minowa, Tony Tran and Yuri Tag quickly became a frontrunner in the show.

Until week seven of the show, it seemed like JabbaWockeeZ, in its white mime-like masks and Michael Jackson-esque gloves, was the group’s only competitor. So what happened?

According to member Mike Song, it was a steady progression downhill after its hip-hop performance of the Broadway hit, “You’re the One That I Want” from “Grease.”

“The Broadway episode was our most difficult dance, hands down,” Song said. “We received new music at 8 p.m. the night before the taping of our show. No exaggeration. We had complained all week to the guy in charge of music about how slow our music was but they wouldn’t change our music until the day of the performance (when the executives finally heard it). We didn’t even want to change the music anymore by the time they told us to, but they forced us to work with the music changes. We had to re-choreograph half of our routine the night before the show. We were performing on barely any sleep. That’s the kind of stuff I wish they would show on MTV.”

Coincidentally, that week, KABA Modern ended up in the bottom two and team member Yuri Tag was singled out by judge Lil’ Mama for missing a step. Despite their falter, KABA Modern escaped back to safety, sending BreakSk8 home. However, the next week, their fans were unable to save them and they went home placing third out of twelve teams. When their elimination was announced, the group huddled together while the audience chanted, “Let KABA dance!”

“I definitely wish we could have made it to the finals with JabbaWockeeZ, but as a group we’re okay with the results. We’re just glad we made it as far as we did,” Song said.

KABA Modern first heard about the show from Arnel Calvario, the group’s founder. He approached them with the opportunity and the group seized it.