Ben “BTEK” Chung: Jabbawockeez & Kinjaz Dancer Speaks On His Dance Journey

um and unfortunately right before the audition for ABDC came around G got really sick and then uh he ended up passing away and that was that moment where we were like well at first we're like oh well we're not gonna do the show without G but then um you know raining was like that was kind of G's like Last Wish for the crew like guys we have to do this you know so we're like all right let's do it for G and so we went forward with the audition we made it and then we won that's where the the iconic like yeah pointing yep yeah yep move came from so that was uh yeah that was we had no idea that that was gonna be this whole life-changing thing no hey the CZ podcast is brought to you by us steezy Studio the number one dance app on the App Store and Google Play Store with over 1 million downloads we provide curated online dance classes taught by the world's best instructors why did we create steezy to help you reach your dance goals one step at a time whether that goal is to perform with the biggest and best musical artists in the world or just be the life of the party at your cousin's wedding I'm your host clay Boon's knocking let's get to it so Ben B Tech yes sir of the kinjaz kin just podcast host former Jabbawockeez kava modern cop modern Legacy America's Best Dance Crew America's Got Talent dance with what Omarion jinushan Yu sung Jun and probably a lot of other people I I know for sure a lot of people but uh hi Ben hi welcome to steezy podcast dude thanks for having me man I'm I'm used to the being the guy to do the intro I've never had an intro done for me so I I now feel what it feels like to be on the receiving end and uh yeah my pleasure to make you feel a little awkward and yeah I actually have a gift for you so what um I'm really curious about when you're uh acai Bowl Cravings um like where did this this come from uh you don't know how happy I am right now peanut butter with dates added oh my wait how do you know that for real though are we eating this like yeah you can eat this this is just for us to enjoy right now you can put it down on a table so you can scoot anything to the side uh yes I'm very um I feel very loved right now acai is like my love language when'd you get into them dude so funny story you you mentioned using Jun yeah so when I danced for him this is like two thousand three uh we went to Brazil for my first time ever I was introduced to acai in Brazil oh and fell in love ever since wow and then when I found out that there was like the acai craze like it's now here in L.A but I don't want to like spill stuff I already spelled it on myself it's okay hold on this is getting a little sketchy right now I don't want to get all over oh no let's see I gotta miss all kinds of fails here it's a great podcast this is great this is great we're just gonna have a little acai snack as we're chatting it up but um yeah so that's where it started and um big fan and I haven't had one in a really long time why do you like uh peanut butter and dates how did you know that don't worry about it um I love peanut butter ever since I was a kid and then I discovered dates somewhere along the way and then you know when I would go to these acai Bowl places and I saw them available I'm like yo let's toss them into this bowl and it worked I'm just gonna start picking stuff off please do yeah it's getting stuck so uh Ben you know you have this big history in dance and I think a lot of it you've definitely talked about a lot of your journey obviously you've been what dancing since high school time right so I was really curious about a few basic things so like I do know a little bit about the dance Journey but can you give a light light beginning to now you can touch some some main points you know some Crews you're a part of yeah um started in high school I was a closeted K-pop dancer uh my sister took me to my first concert ever I was in eighth grade and um the concert was for a group called Lula and I loved it like everything about it I'm like dude that looks like so much fun but then I was also like I was a shy kid and I didn't really I wasn't very like out with like yeah if I was into something I kind of just kept it a secret for whatever reason I just kind of was like all right yeah I gotta play cool right right you don't want to seem too excited so I started practicing K-pop choreography in my bedroom I would uh have my mom rent K-Pop videos from the Korean video store cute and then I just would watch them and then stand in front of my mirror and just try to learn the moves and that was something that I did by myself for a while until I found out that there was a kid at my at my church that did the same thing and so we're like hey you want to like teach each other and practice together and we're like yeah so we would go like on weekends I would go spend the weekend at his place and we would just learn off K-Pop videos and then teach each other uh the routines and then um we entered our first uh I guess it was a talent show and this was like in my junior year of high school and um we entered as a group a three-man group called unique uniq cute love that shout out Mike Chong and Gabriel oh those are my two uh original crewmates um but yeah we we entered that and then we we ended up winning third place and I'm like hey this is my first ever dance thing like and we kind of did okay yeah so that just kept going and then um and then I was introduced to the whole world of like culture shock because I remember at a kcn uh some people from the audience like after we were done they came up to us and they're like man you guys are dope and they're like hey have you like thought of like auditioning for culture shock what's that yeah yeah and then uh you know they were like telling me about auditions and at the time they were like sponsored by Nike that I do they're like sponsored by nagma dude I'm down at like free Nike stuff yeah so I just started to do a little bit more research and then I found out that um yeah so there there was another on-campus uh dance team at UCLA called ACA hip-hop and so I auditioned for ACA and I danced with them for about a year and then I found out about Cabo modern and then when I transferred to UCI I auditioned for Cabo got done with Kaaba and then like yeah it was just the whole dance Community was opened up to me um you were going to college originally at UCLA no the funny thing is I wasn't a student at UCLA but I just danced at UCLA so everybody thought I went there yeah you know I feel like there's a lot of people on ACA people always think they go there right right right uh oh before ACA was DVS so I was on DVS and then Kaaba then like funkinometry L.A sgbm were you studying film during that time I was studying film how did that go yeah you know so I thought that was what I wanted to pursue you know like uh the whole um TV film was just something that I was always into because I think as a kid um for one I I identify with being like a late bloomer in life and I just never I wasn't that kid who had like these huge dreams like oh I'm gonna be this Someday I'm like I just kind of went along with whatever I found and so um when it came to applying for colleges I'm like I don't know what to major in and I'm like well what am I even interested in I was like looking at the available Majors yeah it's like filming TV that sounds great I think that's what I'm gonna go for so I got into the film studies uh Department of UCI and um I had a little fun doing some like short film projects and then right after I graduated um I had a friend that worked at MTV and so I was like dude could I you like give you my resume and maybe I can get a job and he's like yeah like give it to me and I'll pass it along to yeah a production manager that I know uh I got this guy's email bugged them like for a month straight just like hey I just wonder if you got my resume and then uh I think he just wanted me to stop emailing him he's like yeah man just come on come out we'll meet and then so um yeah uh shout out Noah Berry he was the first guy that hired me over at MTV and then uh he had me clean out like a storage unit he's like as they do yeah he's like hey you know we if you can organize this thing and I was like cool I did it and then you know I was like yeah like I you know I got some shows some like it was like when all those dating reality shows were popping off and so uh those are my first jobs doing PA work at MTV um but yeah like dance was always the Curiosity for me in terms of like could I do this professionally because at the time there was um there weren't a lot of Asian dudes who were dancing professionally there was like a handful um and then I knew JD McElroy shout out JD yeah he was in uh he was in every video Yeah he was the Asian guy the Asian guy and um I remember one time I was just at I was at work at MTV I was on AIM and I probably shouldn't have been chatting but I was just chatting with JD and I was like hey bro like do you think I could you know dance professionally and he's like yeah you can and I'm like dude I have like this job right now that's you know kind of steady and then he's like well is that something that you could do later in life I'm like yeah I guess so he's like well dance is probably the thing that you would want to explore now while you're young I'm like oh you're young makes sense and so I quit my job how old were you I was uh 20 like 23 24. nice at the time so yeah I quit my job you know got an agent started you know again this is pre-social Media yeah yeah you had to audition for that agent yeah yeah well actually there there I did go to an agency audition and the first one I didn't I didn't uh I didn't get booked uh but I was referred later on uh because you know you can get referred I learned that from Ade when he was on the podcast I thought that there was you know you always have to audition for an agency and he said you can do the easy route too it's like whoa what do you mean the easy route he's like oh yeah you can get referred so yeah I got referred um shout out um fee from Jabbawockeez he's the one that uh uh at the time they were MSA so he walked me into the MSA office and um I met Lisa and then they signed me and then um but even then like there was no like because social media kind of serves as like your resume yeah um I still had to have a resume so I was like passing my resume along to the studios paper resume paper resume headshot um yeah so then uh I like was I would give uh my resume and stuff like that to Millennium Debbie Reynolds I got on the sub list over at Millennium sublist said Debbie Reynolds and I got a slot um Mondays at three o'clock is what I had at Debbie Reynolds every week every week wow um and then um shortly after that so this is like 2006 seven um and then I and then I got done with jabbawockies in 07. which was right before they were gonna do America's Got Talent yeah um again that was also season one of that show too so yeah always hopping in early yeah I guess that's just what you got to do was that like was it KB that was like like who is like thinking about that so it was actually G Gary Kendall shout out G rest in peace um he was I mean he was the eldest member in Jabbawockeez and um he was kind of always the guy to be like hey we should do this like and because no one else really um was thinking that Jabbawockeez was gonna be this like brand and yeah I mean there were I mean like rain in was dancing professionally fee was dancing in the industry Chris had just moved down to LA to start pursuing that so there were a handful of guys that were trying to pursue professionally but um like the rest of the dudes were just doing it like you know I think KB and Joe were in San Diego doing culture shock but they just you know they were doing culture shock and then they were like just working regular jobs so dance was kind of like um more so the fun thing um but then G was always like yo guys we got to push this Jabberwocky thing I remember him saying like dude we're gonna have our own Cirque du Soleil show Someday I'm just like that sounds great you know um but he's like we can only do it if if the world knows who we are we gotta get on TV and so um America's Got Talent was uh the first girl around we we got onto the show we didn't do very well just because you know we're a bunch of like young kind of dudes who weren't the most responsible didn't take everything so seriously we made it past the first round then we made it to the Vegas round yeah and then um when we were there like you're literally you know it there's a production term hurry up and wait right that like you you have to be everywhere like so quickly and then you sit around for hours yeah nothing kind of thing and so we didn't know like what was going on so we were like we had to sit in the the theater uh this is at Planet Hollywood we have to sit in the theater all day long from morning to night and we have to like watch all these acts and it was boring yeah that was a I did that for say Think You Can Dance yeah and I was like here since five in the morning us being just kind of like the knucklehead guys that we are we just didn't take it seriously so we would like go up to our hotel room yeah we'd grab our pillows and we'd come back and just sleep in this in the seats and you know the production doesn't really like that you know so I think we were just kind of the that group that were like okay these guys are a little hard to work with um and I don't know if it was because of that but we we got eliminated uh in the Vegas round and uh we lost to an act uh named boy Shakira and um yeah that was uh our greatest defeat um but um yeah no we we we learned from that so when ABDC came around we're like nah we're not about to do this again because we know what this whole reality TV stuff is like but um again G was like guys like we gotta do it you know and so um you know we we respect G um and unfortunately right before the audition for ABDC came around G got really sick and then uh he ended up passing away and that was that moment where we were like well at first we're like oh well we're not gonna do the show without G but then um you know raining was like that was kind of G's like Last Wish for the crew like guys we have to do this you know so we're like all right let's do it for G and so we went forward with the audition we made it and then so that was uh yeah that was we had no idea that that was gonna be this whole life-changing thing yeah um and it did and it did a lot for dance that yeah to this day the Ripple effects from I would say that show um still we're still feeling there's still something you know and um yeah that's kind of uh snapshot of that Journey yeah I mean I think it's kind of wild because when you consider the fact that like I remember watching that and I remember like all of the Jabba performances I remember Cobble modern I remember status quo that is quote I remember I remember all that stuff and like and what a blessing like here I am steezy's been built you know decade or so later and it's inspired by a lot of things that you your crew are doing ABDC has been doing you know and like I'm able to be the dancer I am today because so many people know about dance so many people are interested in in nuances of not just dance anymore but even our community the Asian kids yeah you know yeah yeah it's kind of yeah speaking of the the Asian kids thing like that was this huge thing that we had no idea we were even doing yeah you know when we took off our masks um oh these guys are Asian minus KB shout out KB yeah like yeah that was interesting to be received as like the the guys who are making like Asian's cool yeah because now it's true are like Asians are higher you're Asian you must be a good dancer I think that that sort of call it a positive stereotype that kind of came from that but you know that was the funny thing is we weren't that was never in any of our plans we're like you're gonna put Asians on the map no it just happened to be that way but you know it's cool that I mean it's that's why representation is so important absolutely like and and being able to get that opportunity to step into a space to show like hey dude we're just as talented and yeah any category as the next person yeah and so uh but yeah that was just an interesting thing to you know and then yeah to be embraced by the Asian Community for that was dope absolutely and now you're a part of the kinjaz right and what a journey that must be because kinjaz are also this this massive like widespread Media Group plus making noodles plus you know like just like just you know having Studios it's it's a very interesting brand that I think is quite different from the era that you started dance in so I think it's really interesting and I mean you're even doing dance nft stuff now too so I think it's I really I'm interested in a lot of your perspectives from a person who started in the early ages like a dancer started you started your journey pre-youtube Instagram tick tock so I was curious what was it like um learning dance from cave paintings basically yeah that was our YouTube yeah like like what um what the greatest advantages and disadvantages of starting your dance Journey pre-social Media or uh it was definitely harder um but it but you know when you don't have access to something like you compare it now because we do have access so it's like okay we have YouTube we have Instagram Tick Tock we have steezy you know like when I didn't have it you don't have it so you just do what you can do so going to class yes you get yourself to class because that's the only way that you're gonna learn from this person that you want to learn from um some Mr Wiggles tapes yeah I mean dude Wiggles tapes were gold yeah what I mean and if you can find one that's like the you just wore those tapes out yeah I mean and then um you know and then as we started to find that the internet like there's videos on the internet and that's when like you know Napster and LimeWire yeah and also it's just trying to find the videos and just like downloading and so it's just it was fun because it was it was at that time that things were Because the Internet was starting to become this tool that people would not only be able to use to find out information but like there's media on there so yeah it was uh Boogie Zone was kind of like the thing at the time those book Zone forums man yeah the Boogie Zone forums were lit man that's like where you get the information that's where you hear about like the drama within the scene there was beefs and stuff like that that were fought online the Golden Age yes those are so fun um but yeah man like you know like I said like having to create you know resumes to like head shots going to auditions trying to get like booked by it's very just gorilla yeah Grassroots um search very character building because yeah yeah you probably have to you probably have to meet more people as well something I'm just curious about you know that's an interesting observation because I would say 100 yes and I actually attribute um a lot of my sort of uh I don't want to call it success or whatever like I know that the the things and the the things that I've been able to experience and the people that I've been able to build with have come from me just putting myself out there like going to the things you know like meeting people and I think that there's something that I I kind of naturally had that I didn't even recognize until way later in life was that um I had this sort of ambitious side of myself that anytime something was interesting to me I would figure out a way for me to be in front of that and like and not in a way where it's like weird but just be present go to the event go say hi to people and hang out just be a cool person to hang out with and I think that's kind of um been my sort of superpower all these years was just kind of showing up and um you know obviously you got to put in the work you know you got to be good enough to be in the room so to speak yeah but um I think one thing that I've just learned for myself like I I know that I was never and I'm never the most talented guy in the room I'm not ever like recognized like well I'm the best at that but I will say that I am very sure of myself in terms of being a good people person and I think that itself if you're a good people person you can kind of do a lot of things the doors open yeah everyone wants to work around talented people Everyone really wants to work around people they like exactly you know I think I also learned from myself like I love building with with teams you know what I mean like you know they the saying you know you want to go fast go alone you want to go far go with people right like um and I I love being in Cruise you know I I learned that from like you know from my early K-Pop group day ways to you know being a part of larger teams like Kaaba and then like and then like my tight-knit like Squad of Brothers with like Jabberwockies and kinjas yeah um yeah so that's been that's been fun wow that's such a cool it's it's it's so interesting because of that ridiculous span of time that you've been doing sort of this singular skill which is dance But as time went on expanding how you dance or how you show dance to the world how you've learned dance what what a fun yeah fun fun Journey it's been a fun Journey absolutely so I have a question about another hobby of yours and I want to know its influence on Dance because you began your skateboarding journey in 1993. how are we finding distance this is great so I'm just really curious about how maybe like Community or skills from skateboarding have trickled into dance for your life yeah you know there there's so many parallels that I've drawn from like my uh love for skateboarding so I started skating when I was like 10. um and then I like got really into it in middle school and um yeah straight up like I wanted to be a professional skateboarder you know and but yeah because to me skateboarding when I started this is pre you know X Games this is pre-espn and it was not considered a sport it was like the punk activity absolutely you know you would go to Every parking lot no skateboarding like everywhere like is it you know so I don't know I think Me growing up too like I kind of was a little bit of a black sheep you know in in my family actually you have siblings I do I do have a younger brother and an older sister so I'm that uh class a middle child guy uh but you know I I was going at it and I got pretty good uh was sponsored by my local skate shop oh wow you're not sponsored but literally that just means they'll kick me like free t-shirts that feels good job those skateboards I mean you were yelling I was young I was like 12 13. and like yeah they give me free stickers and stuff like that and I'm like yeah I'm sponsored yeah but um you know again like I was just trying to like get into the community learn about the space practice my butt off you know uh and it was fun I kind of got into some trouble hung out with like kind of the bad crowd okay and we just so happened to be like a skater sort of crew so my mom associated with skateboarding with being a criminal so she's like you're not skateboarding anymore through my skateboard away she threw it away threw it away um like she forbade me to even hang out with these kids but of course I'm gonna figure out a figure out a way you know it's I actually bought another skateboard and I left it at my friend's house so that I can go to the air and skate so my hack was like oh Mom I'm gonna go ride my bike with my friends and ride my bike to my friend's house and then we go skate that's fire um and but anyway so yeah I kind of got in with the wrong crowd and so my mom like you know she like took me out of that school sent me to another school and then at this school was um where I saw a bunch of kids breaking and I was like well what is this this looks this looks cool and so it transitioned from like skateboarding to dance when I was just interested in dance and um and it's interesting so you know like I mentioned with skateboarding you never really saw it in media yeah and it slowly started getting its exposure and then you know you would see you know um yeah like competitions being televised I think X Games had a lot to do with like giving that visibility to the sport yeah and then I mean now like fast forward it's an Olympic sport and so I I see dance I've always kind of seen dance as like oh we're just modeling what happened to skateboarding yeah completely like because dance was something that it was a social thing you know you go to a party you might see some people like yeah at school getting down in the hallways or whatever but it was never this like um it never got put on the platform to be viewed as like high art or even a sport you know and then you know you fast forward into things like Red Bull bc1 and uh you know Olympic youth exactly you know so now it's getting and then you know it shows like ABDC World of Dance like all that stuff like helped get uh dance into the spotlight absolutely and so I think um in a lot of ways there's a lot of what happened in skateboarding that I see happening in dance and um and I think what drew me to both of those things were the kind of the same things you know like it's just something that I found to be fun and I wanted to be a part of pushing that narrative forward yeah and um yeah like fast forward to you know these platforms you know from what what steezy's doing to you know like you know even what we're doing with kinjas and trying to get stories out there and um I mean you know like that's what I love podcasting like you asking me these questions uh not to say that like whatever my my story itself is gonna do anything per se but like I think when someone out there that may hear this or watch this will know like whoa okay so almost anything's possible you know what I'm saying like I always I always say man I wish there was more content like of Bruce Lee talking yeah like I there's a few interviews that I've I've seen him and I'm like man this guy has like a well of knowledge that probably it just never got out there because he just wasn't around long enough and enough content with him you know so I'm like man this stuff is really important and like that you just never know it lives forever you know interesting thing about the Bruce Lee thing because I think that when you consider the the the era of that time and meaning that media and being able to get an individual message out is a lot harder right we you have to be filmed and being filmed is very expensive in that era but it's crazy to think about how Bruce Lee has a ridiculous amount of influence and impact in the world despite the limited amount of media and I think that really speaks to also kind of what you were talking about in terms of um the you know how how early in the game early into skateboarding early into into dance you're not really given those opportunities um because it's not as widespread yet these thought processes media surrounding it and so you had to physically show up to places and do things and not necessarily go there for the sake of impacting people but go there to show face and to to make real interactions with people I guess there's something interesting about Bruce Lee himself not having a lot of content and making huge impact I think every era we kind of go through these these these um I don't know or at least in the past we have this limited amount possibly high impact or absolutely zero reach but nowadays we have too much reaching and it's very easy to not make an impact as well or make a negative impact because of how widespread it is yeah yeah you know I think with um yeah Bruce Lee having passed away a long time ago is still influencing people today like how is that even possible you know what I mean and I feel like um few people in this world will ever ever have that kind of impact on the world I feel like Kobe Bryant's gonna be another one I mean thankfully there's a lot more content with Kobe yeah um that's going to live forever you know what I'm saying and and I think it was because the life that they lived while they were still here on this Earth was so extreme and so intentional and like you know it's it's always the crazy people that will be there once I mean you know I mean that in the most respectful it's best way purposeful piece yeah and like I mean the impact that he's had across every category from Sports to music to you know obviously martial arts but like dance you know like he was such a cultural icon and the fact that he was Asian you know what I'm saying yeah he was that guy that I was like okay he looks like me I'm going to go after that yeah I mean and then like and then day one song kind of slid right into that okay you're the Bruce Lee of skateboarding yeah yeah and so yeah it's it's really it's interesting to me too that like um yeah how someone can have so much impact even from you know beyond the grave you know yeah yeah how did it feel when day one song followed you on Instagram oh my gosh it was it was the craziest thing I remember I was in Korea so this is my first time uh in Korea as an adult I mean before that I was two so I don't remember I remember I was just in my Airbnb um and like I just like commented on like one of his posts and then he responded back and I was like Oh shoot what and then like and then we were just like in the DMS and then he was like yo Jabbawockeez bro like big fan I'm like what you have no idea bro I've been like following you since I was like 11. wow yeah it was it was it was dope um yeah and then we've just been kind of you know just keeping in touch social media buds it's so cool huh yeah man it's it's interesting how I see you I don't know if the word is attaching yourself but really modeling a lot of mindsets um and Inspirations off of like a few particular people right and I do know that one of the big things that's really important in your life is your faith right and I noticed on your IG profile you have what a Romans 8 28 about being purposeful right why is that the the uh the verse that really sticks with you yeah I mean uh dude I I have this kind of tongue-in-cheek say this in my life I feel like I've lived four different lifetimes uh I've just experienced a lot of stuff um difficult things uh things that uh could have broken me uh in some ways have broken me and I've been able to heal from um and all that to say is that like God does work everything out for his good purpose um and I've just seen that um happen in my life over and over and over again and so that's just kind of a reminder to myself that like no matter how far um you feel like you can fall uh like God's working through that you know and I've seen I've seen just the craziest times that my life has bounced back in ways that um I also am able to kind of see like wow if that didn't happen I wouldn't have gone here and I wouldn't have experienced that and I wouldn't have met this person and then now I'm now doing this it's just like yeah everything works itself out there's always a purpose in it and um so with that said it also keeps me humble to know that like um it's never me it's never uh my skills my strength my talent it's just all of that God gave it to me so you know my life my life's purpose is to do all things to glorify God and and anything good that happens I'm like that's all God you know what I mean so yeah that's kind of how I how I live my life wow I love hearing that so that and it really makes me think about the you know the people that are in your life because God introduces people into our lives right um Community especially and you're someone who you said you love being a part of Cruz teams and now you're a part of kinjaz for how many years now has this been it's been eight years eight years of kinjas wow I'm I'm really curious about if they're who is a person that you were close with before you joined the kinjas and who is a person you grew close with only through being on the crew hmm that's a good question I mean I've known Mike's song for a long time um so we met during that yeah my whole sort of like uh K-pop dance stuff because I I did collaboration yeah PK that was where I met Mike because uh my crew breakdown We performed that collaboration and uh that year was the the the the the viral video yeah so Mike was battling it was like a it's just like a freestyle contest like who wants to come up out of the audience you know so you know Mike went up there and then and then obviously elsewhere came up and it was just like what the heck was that I think I just melted in front of me but uh no I met Mike uh slightly after that uh that show because uh he somehow linked with my boy Mike Chong and um yeah I remember I like taught uh taught him this piece like this Justin Timberlake song from then on we just were like we just kept in touch with each other and we're like yeah we'll find some way some way to dance and then fast forward to um you know he he or he was got into UCI I was there at the time already I was already on Kaaba and then um you know he was like yo Ben I'm you know I'm coming to UCI uh like like what what dance team should I dance for I was like dude and he's like oh really I heard cadc is good though too I'm like trust me bro he's like you guys have any performances like yeah dude welcome week so I was like we have a show or we're performing and um he came saw it and he's like all right yeah and then you know from there he went on to directing and then and then ABDC happened and they're like oh shoot we're competing against each other but it's all good yeah we're all fam um so yeah we we stayed close for a long time so I'm when we met he was in high school still you know what I mean yeah it was wild um so yeah Mike and I definitely you know uh were close throughout the years and and and then um you know when Mike I remember when he was living in Vegas he was like yo man do you think um like what do you think about you know me stepping I feel like I want to kind of focus on building kinjas and I was like dude honestly do it bro you know yeah and um so he went and you know they did kinjaz in in 2010 and um I always you know for me I'm like I love seeing my friends do dope stuff you know what I mean and to see kinja's birth at the time which was Ambu Black Ops yep I was like Yep this is it this is it whatever you guys are doing this is it you know and I knew that there was a magic there I wanted to go back because I wanted to get the second part of that that question which was if there's a person unking just that you're closer with now too that you actually weren't originally close with before you joined the crew yeah you know I the the just the first two that come to mind um bam like bam uh John ha and like Ving and the funny thing is because Ving and I were on super Galactic together too um but that was kind of like it was his his first year on and then I was kind of me phasing out because we were like that's when Jabberwocky did ABDC so um but yeah we never really got close during our time in sgbm but yeah during throughout our run in kinja's um yeah I don't know I've just been able to build like just deeper friendships and bonds with those guys and um yeah I think those are the the few that come to mind what was it in particular that really allowed those relationships to Blossom because I do think it's it's something that a question I get asked a lot is how to balance my friendships with co-workers because these are the people I see more than I see my wife you know I see everyone here so often yeah and we we always have a great time but we're expected to be to an extent professional we we tell crazy jokes and everything right like what experience is really allowed someone like you and Ving to grow closer through pictures it's just life dude you know like what I love about um dance dance just kind of just gives an excuse to get together yeah you know what I'm saying yeah we have the thing that we enjoy doing to kind of give us a reason to get together um you know but I think for me I I look at everything as an opportunity to get to know people on a deeper level so I'm like yeah we're here to dance but I'm actually here to just have a good time and hang out and get to know people yeah and so yeah just through um whether it be like tough times you know and and a lot of times when you can kind of go through the trenches with somebody um in whatever way like uh and just being able to talk through some stuff be um human be imperfect be like vulnerable yeah things like that and I think I just I've had um just a lot of times to just yet whether it be like us after a rehearsal going out to eat but just like hanging out and and like just being able to share life stories and things like that um man like doing a TV show like talk about being in the trenches like those are some of them that'll Bond you yeah you know because you know people are literally like bodies are breaking down and you know at the same time people have life they got you know kids to take care of to like you know wives girlfriends um you know all the while like you know us trying to like you know win this TV show yeah yeah and so on like from rehearsals to yeah man there's just a lot of stuff um and you know and then always like post performance you always gotta you know in those party moments we just yeah gotta release sometimes you know and and um but yeah I think some of those times um have been the you know gives us opportunities to kind of like get to know each other and yeah not not just those three man I freaking love all my brothers of course yeah I I definitely wasn't close to them before kid yeah yeah dance is such a cool such a cool sport art activity whatever you want to call it because it's it's so versatile in the way that it connects people it's sort of like an inherently vulnerable um activity as well you are just showing your body and showing what you got yes you can perform but there's always that always means you're also showcasing your interests one of the big things is like Best Buy kinjaz is such an interesting crew because a lot of it is built off of anime and everyone on the crew loves anime and it's being able to be a kid with a group of people dance allows that it gives you exercise you you have your activities you have competition set up for it I just think it's it's just such a wild thing and I I really want more and more people in the world to to enjoy it in the way that they want to enjoy it whether they want to compete I'm going to do it professionally or just do it at the club or just at a wedding or something like dance is so so cool because it opens doors for ourselves within ourselves and also for interacting with so many people yeah yeah I love that to clarify though not everyone in Ken just loves anime oh good to know yeah it's a funny thing who doesn't you know uh Mike and I have this um it's just this funny little thing of like bornakinja like meaning like you know all of those sort of quote unquote nerdy geeky things and not everybody uh not everyone was born a Kinja that much but um anime [Laughter] sorry sorry for uh no offense taken so um Ben 142 episodes of the kinjaz podcast later who is your worst guest we're at 122. oh 122 yeah but we will get there um who's your worst guess I'm totally kidding um no I'm curious about some guests that maybe like surprised you with the amount of chemistry you actually had with them yeah dude that one's tough because like and I'm being totally honest like there's always something that I connect with with every guest that I never expected um you know I if someone asked me this oh who is your favorite guest um and I think the first person that came to mind um it was Ellen Ellen Kim and um prior to her being on the pot I mean I I know Ellen you know we we're we've been friends for a long time but we never really had a conversation like we did on the podcast and um yeah she was very you know open and hearing her life story was like I was like whoa I wasn't expecting us to go there yeah I mean and it was very just real and I just appreciate it and I think to be honest with you like that that episode kind of made us like much closer friends yeah you know and and even after we we finished recording we just stayed and talked for more and it was just like whoa you're dope Ellen you know so that was I guess that that episode took me by surprise I just wasn't expecting it to to be that um but man just oh dude uh most recently we had Mike Posner yeah that guy's life is a freaking movie dude absolutely like um been a fan of his music I had no idea I'm like bro you are straight up like a superhero you walked across America you you summoned in Mount Everest like what a guy and and then still just you know cranking out music and and yeah it was a mind-blowing Anthony and I didn't have much words you were like we're just here for you yeah we're just listening to your story because we don't have anything to really add it was one of those like you know um yeah just loss of words type of things but uh yeah Mike Posner um yeah his pod was crazy probably one of the craziest conversations I've ever had in my life wow yeah that's so cool I love that so much were there any um particularly profound lessons or um just things mentioned on the podcast that you wanted to um yeah you know I I love um you know especially when you you see people for their talent you you like whatever it's whether you're dancing or whether you're doing music or you're cooking like you know we see the talent because that's the stuff that is on display right but you don't get to see mindset until you talk with the person and I think um the commonality that I find in um mostly everybody um I'm a big fan of of uh discipline and or like big fan of like learning what people's routines are because I think um you are a product of your your habits you know what I mean and so I I'm always curious like hey what do you what do you do you meditate like do you go to bed early the first question you asked me today was what what is like a day look like for you yeah I'm very curious about what people's daily routines are like yeah yeah well just to wrap it up Ben uh thanks for being here it's it's a pleasure to talk to you know especially a person that I've watched dancing from my very first years um and uh just I we always have this fun little ending you have a few eight counts to tell the people what fun things you're working on next is there anything you want to let them know a few accounts yeah you got a few way counts of uh no no what do you have coming up what can people look forward to yeah I'm working on a few uh exciting projects uh some of which I can't quite uh disclose but spicy uh I will say um yeah be on the lookout for Groove time and groove time uh speaking of innovating in a space that doesn't exist you know I think uh the whole you know we were talking earlier about uh nfts and you know web3 and all that kind of stuff if you care to follow my journey I'm on you know I'm on all the socials B Tech under underscore Ben Chung um but yeah that's that's kind of me right now just fire just cruising awesome man well thank you Ben this has been the steezy podcast and we'll see you next time y'all peace thanks again for tuning in again this podcast was brought to you by us steezy Studio be sure to get your dance on today too so if you want to get some exercise in take a steezy sweat class if you want to just Vibe out and feel good you definitely need to check out a good Groove along or if you're up for the challenge it's time to finally start one of those advanced classes you've been eyeballing see you in class theme music for the podcast is Tempo by Neiman [Music]

Channel: STEEZY

Views: 17,207

Keywords: Online dance classes, dance tutorial, world of dance, steezy, steezy studios, hip hop dance, the kinjaz, Steezy dance, dancing, dancers, dance, 3 choreographers 1 song, dancers reacts, kpop dance, STEEZY podcast, Podcast, Dancer, Dancers, Dance Podcast, Ben Chung, jabbawockeez americas best dance crew, jabbawockeez abdc, jabbawockeez world of dance, Jabbawockeez, Btek, kinjaz podcast, Claydohboon

Id: DOKcatvWwn8

Length: 48min 59sec (2939 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 26 2023