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The Jabbawockeez crew celebrated 2,000 shows at MGM Grand last month.
Monday, March 2, 2020 | 2 a.m.
Last month, Jabbawockeez concluded its “Jreamz” production in the dance crew’s own theater at MGM Grand with a celebration marking an impressive 2,000 performances. That’s quite a feat all by itself, but it’s even more incredible to consider the group has been playing the Strip for a decade this year, staying strong and continuing to evolve its unique show while bouncing between different casinos.
The next celebration is set for Friday with the debut of “Timeless,” the fourth version of the masked crew’s Vegas show, focused on unique, original choreography set to the “ultimate playlist” of music from multiple pop genres. Jabbawockeez will continue at its home of the last four years, the 350-seat Jabbawockeez Theater just off the main casino floor at MGM Grand.
“It’s been a decade since we’ve been here and it just makes sense. Why not celebrate with a brand-new show and give people new content and new music to bob their heads to?” says Phi Nguyen, one of the group’s founding members.
Originating in San Diego, Jabbawockeez became an international phenomenon after winning the first season of MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” competition show in 2008. Known for creating cinematic imagery through their precise choreography and identical hip-hop uniforms, the group initially landed a limited engagement in a different MGM Grand space, now the David Copperfield Theater, in May 2010.
That show was called “MUS.I.C.” and was a groundbreaking success. Jabbawockeez was the first dance crew to headline the Las Vegas Strip, where dancing has always been a prominent piece of the entertainment landscape, even if dancers are traditionally relegated to background performer status. Their show has always been built around dance and incorporated heavy elements of hip-hop and their success has been influential.
“We think it’s awesome,” Nguyen says of the evolution of dance in Strip productions. “I feel like dancers have always been put in the background, not that there’s anything wrong with being a backup dancer. But you don’t have to dance behind another artist. We have our own show and we’re seeing that happen now more than ever. There’s a lane for everybody out here. We’ve seen the dance culture [in Las Vegas] grow and we’re just happy to be part of that culture.”
“MUS.I.C” won over audiences and received a permanent spot at the Monte Carlo, then the show moved to Luxor in 2013 and was revamped as “PRiSM.” Two years later it returned to MGM Grand in its current, cozier home as “Jreamz,” a production which incorporated a stronger storyline into the mix of music, dance, audience interaction and customized special effects.
“We’re approaching it not as a revamp but a whole new organism,” says another Jabbawockeez original, Kevin “KB” Brewer, about “Timeless.” “We’re going back to our first [Vegas] project because there’s some content there people haven’t seen for a while, but we’re breaking it all apart like Legos and reconstructing it and it feels so different.”
Brewer also notes the crew opened up the creative process to the entire team this time around, incorporating many more dancers and artists into the composition of “Timeless.”
“For the first time in the history of Jabbawockeez, we’re going from a bit of a closed circle to leveraging the collective mindset, opening up to the other geniuses in our camp,” he says. That includes the 15 performers that hit the stage every night, a diverse group of men and women.
“Expect the unexpected,” says Nguyen. “We don’t want to let the cat out of the bag on all the cool things we have planned production-wise, but people know now that it’s not just the dance crew that won ‘ABDC.’ It’s a full-on production and it’s not just a hip-hop show, either. There’s a lot of character. It’s a little more light on the story. There’s still a concept a common thread, but as far as movement and flow, it’s a big production.”
Jabbawockeez “Timeless” premieres at 7 p.m. March 6 at the Jabbawockeez Theater at MGM Grand (3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South, 702-531-3826). The show’s schedule this month is Sunday and Monday at 7 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday at 7 and 9:30 p.m., and starting April 1, it shifts to 7 p.m. nightly with additional 9:30 p.m. shows Thursday through Saturday. For more information, visit jbwkz.com.
