Dancer Profile: Brandon Leong
Interview conducted by Beverly Luu
2. Age & Ethnicity
22, Chinese/Japanese/Caucasian
3. Hometown/Current location
Mission Viejo, CA/Irvine, CA
4. When and how did you begin dancing?
My first memories of me dancing are from when I would try to imitate the movements while watching my parents’ VHS tapes of Michael Jackson’s “Moonwalker,” Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance”/”Riverdance,” and Cirque du Soleil’s “Nouvelle Experience” at about five years old. These performances all fascinated me as a young child, but I never pursued dance beyond the living room during those years. In sixth grade, my mom encouraged me to try an all-boys intro class to hip hop and breaking at Mission Viejo Dance and Performance Arts Center (now known as South Coast Conservatory) because I was becoming a chunky 12 year-old. She noticed my likening for playing the violin and Dance Dance Revolution as a kid and thought that dance lessons would be a good active hobby for me since swimming, basketball and soccer had all fallen out of my interest in the past. Plus, she wanted me to be one of the guys who had cool dance moves at middle school dances…too bad I didn’t even end up going to any until high school because I was too shy. I credit my parents and my first coach Dennis “DC” Caindec (former Culture Shock Los Angeles artistic director) as the jump-starters to my dance career.
5. What dance teams or projects have you been a part of?
Teams and projects that I have been a part of include: MVDPAC Co-ed Hip-Hop Competition Team, Kreative Movement (Kaba Kids), Vitamin D, UCI’s KASA Freshmen Dance-off team, Urban Motus, Kaba Modern, Project Groovement, The David Lee Project, KM Legacy and Insight jazz dance ensemble.
6. What are you currently working on now?
I am currently working towards finishing the last requirements for my bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Social Behavior at UC Irvine, developing a career path for myself, and gaining new life experiences in general. In terms of dance, I am now dancing with KM Legacy, exploring new areas with Insight jazz dance ensemble at UCI and re-evaluating both what dance means to me as well as how I can creatively utilize my talents to better those around me.
7. So I ran into you at the Empire of Funk conference last week and Kaba Modern founder, Arnel Calvario, was one of the speakers at the conference. Was there anything he said in particular that struck you as being important in terms of being a Hip Hop dancer?
I have spoken with and heard from Arnel numerous times in the past, and his words never fail to inspire me. Yet, one of the ideas he expressed at the Empire of Funk conference that resonated with me the most was his belief that having API (Asian-Pacific Islander) representation in the mainstream has the power to validate those who may have felt alienated otherwise. While there is a lot of politics, stereotyping issues, and RESPONSIBILITY involved with being a minority figure in popular media, having somebody in the cultural space that one can relate to can spark a form of self-efficacy in a person to positively change his/her life forever. On a mass scale, the former could potentially empower an entire community.
8. What do you think is the relationship between hip hop and the Asian American community?
It really is difficult to understand this relationship, as many communities do exist within the generalized umbrella term of “Asian Americans/API’s”, not to mention the instances of other intersectionalities of gender, class, sexual orientation, ability, etc. However, what we do know is that API’s have been involved in the cultural production of hip-hop for several decades and that many continue to occupy a stake in its evolution today. In general, I think hip hop acts as a medium for empowerment for marginalized persons.
9. In mainstream media, such as film and television, there is an underrepresentation of Asian Americans in terms of dance but here in SoCal, a majority of dance teams have a good number of Asian American dancers. What does it mean to be an Asian American dancer in the wider scope of things?
While Asian American dancers remain underrepresented in the mainstream today, I believe they have definitely obtained a huge increase of media exposure within the last decade. However, there is still a lot of work to be done in order for us to achieve some type of ideal “grand justice.” As an Asian American dancer, I see my position as an opportunity to demonstrate to others the complexity of cultural phenomena like hip-hop, as well as the diversity of peoples which they impact. It is important to note that while Asian Americans are institutionally ostracized, other groups also experience their unique set of problems, and advocating for the voice of one group should not necessarily be prioritized over the other.
10. As a dancer, what is the greatest lesson you've learned so far?
Dancing has provided me with so many situations and people to learn lessons from! However, I think the most valuable thing I have gained from dance is the authentic validation from my peers and mentors that has shaped me to be more confident in being myself and pursuing my endeavors.
11. How do you balance dance, school, and work (if you are working)? Do your parents worry about it affecting your grades?
In the past, the way I prioritized my time often contributed to dips in my achievement at work, school and dance. At some points I have also experienced stress within my interpersonal relationships, as well as declines in my physical and mental health. While my parents have worried about the consequences of my past decisions, it helped me learn to take responsibility for my own actions. I believe that finding balance in life is a constant struggle, especially when having many resources available can cause me to form higher expectations for myself. Yet, assessing what is most important to me and training myself to stay task-oriented have been processes that I practice to keep me happy. As my past coordinator Dana Roy once taught me, living simply can have the most rewarding results.
12. So when Kaba Modern was on America’s Best Dance Crew, it was a big deal because Asian Americans were on MTV, mainstream media. We were probably in middle school at the time. Do you remember watching them on TV and did you ever think that in a few years, you’d be a part of that dance crew?
Actually, my first exposure to Kaba Modern occurred at Vibe 10, when I attended my first ever collegiate dance competition in January 2005. After Kaba Modern performed and won first place that year, I became really excited about the group and followed them in the only way I knew I could: by purchasing the Vibe DVDs for the following two years (since nobody uploaded full shows onto YouTube those days). I returned to Vibe three years later at Vibe 13, which was the same month when ABDC aired their first episode of the audition round with Kaba Modern. Seeing Modern’s set at Vibe and Kreative Movement’s performance in the pre-show was just a confirmation that I wanted to be part of the family. A month later in February 2008 I made it onto Kreative Movement and the rest is history. Not even when I was on Kreative did I believe I would be dancing for my dream team later on…it really was a humbling experience to gain that honor in 2011.
13. How do you think YouTube plays a role in the dance community today?
YouTube plays an integral part in the expansion of the dance community. It provides a platform for massive amounts of people to access nearly unlimited amounts of inspirational material online. Likewise, it allows for anyone with internet and a video recording device to upload their dancing to the network for users to view; anybody has the chance to share their artistry or enterprise themselves to the world. It truly is an amazing phenomenon to see how information can spread globally in an instant, especially if it can have a positive effect on those who receive it. On the flip side, the high saturation of dance videos online also has the potential to induce a level of disunion and ignorance in the dance community. Firstly, YouTube users now have the option of experiencing performances and workshops virtually rather than attending events in person…it saves time and lots of money! Sometimes just watching a video can feel like enough, even without physically interacting with the people who were there. Secondly, YouTube acts as an indirect mode of “education” for some viewers, especially with dancers who use the website as a primary source for learning dance. This surface-level of learning leads the risk of awareness of dance history being lost, as anyone can now post their own teachings for others to follow. Paired with consumption of so many readily available videos/workshops/dance groups to choose from, a lack of deep engagement with these resources can lead to a diluted pool of common knowledge. Lastly, YouTube has helped push an underground movement more into the mainstream, meaning that people have taken advantage of dance by further commercializing it into an industry. When dance is approached as a business, the availability of space where dance is shared for free can be sacrificed. Thus, the privatization of many high quality dance resources confines the knowledge only to and for the financially privileged. There are many pros and cons to the interplay between YouTube and dance, and it is our responsibility to study this in order to have any control of the future of our community.
14. Who are your Asian American dance inspirations?
I’ve come across way too many to list! The people inspiring me the most at the moment are those who are using their artistry in highly innovative, strategic manners and those who are generating critical discussion about dance in their respective social circles.
