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‘Carmel Jabbawockeez. Recognize.’

These five upperclassmen have created a movement here with their hip-hop and break dancing skills featured in their dance group, Jabbawockeez

By Tommy Sneider
<[email protected]>

Senior Michael “Mike” Mestetsky

Who started the Jabbawockeez?
Actually, we were trying to help two girls to see what they wanted to do for a trike team. I left for a second, and when I came back, everybody was smiling. When I came back, my buddy said, ‘I have the best idea.’ And he said Jabbawockeez. So we told the girls, ‘You guys aren’t doing that.’ And that’s kind of how it started.

Where did you guys find the inspiration for the costumes?
We base our whole idea off of the real Jabbawockeez. Our other inspiration comes from Vogue and Teen Magazine. Glamour, too. (Michael) Zervic bought them offline.

And the talent show money?
I spent it on the High School Musical 2 soundtrack.

Senior Derek Jamerson

What’s the most difficult part?
Getting everybody coordinated, as far as like schedule because five of us have different schedules, so just getting everybody together is really tough.

What’s the weirdest reaction you have gotten from a fan?
At Homecoming, we were down at the stadium and doing what we do and there was a girl, and she freaked out and she was yelling and screaming and asked us to sign something and treated us like real celebrities. It’s so much fun, just by wearing the shirts to take the pictures people were talking about us, so it’s really cool.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I think overall it was really fun and just it’s a pretty good example of how to  participate in the school. It just makes it a good year.

Senior Michael “Mike” Zervic

Where do you get inspiration for your moves?
Our inspiration comes from the dance crew on the TV show “America’s Best Dance Crew,” and they won the show and the whole series so we thought they were the most original. Mine just comes from local dancers or amateurs online, like moves from them on YouTube or something.

Do all of you guys plan to continue it in the future?
We may have some special events, like Winter Formal or Dance Marathon; we might do something special for that. We like to keep our events under wraps.

And the talent show money?
Shoot, I spent it on gas. (laughs) Gas and food, we’re making a living off of our shows.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Basically we wanted to go out with a bang this year, since you only take with you what you leave behind, and we wanted to show Carmel High School the Class of 2009 is going big, we wanted to go out with bang and kind of have an example of what other classes should follow and how spirited they should be.

Junior Ilya Soyfer

What’s your favorite part about the group?
How hyped the crowd gets, just how excited people get and how it’s so different cause you’re not used to it, cause they get so excited.

Do you guys have plans to continue this in the future?
Yeah. This year for sure, probably not next year.

What’s the weirdest reaction you guys have gotten from your fans?
Just the amount of support, how people just when they see us their reaction afterwards just kind of blows us away, like that big of a reaction.

Where do you get the inspiration for your moves?
It just kind of comes from the heart.

Senior Kyle Yoon

Where do you get inspiration for your dance moves?
I used to be on a dance team when I was in Korea. I danced for like two or three years, so that helped me. It was hip hop break dance pop and lock, and we practiced an hour a week.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Carmel High School, get into dance culture.

What’s your favorite dance move?
I like to break dance, so the side swipe. It’s a break dance move, I do stuff on the ground and do a 360.

What’s the weirdest reaction you guys have gotten from a fan?
I guess Carmel doesn’t have many break dance or hip hop dance teams, so I guess a lot of people were kind of lost since there’s not many guys who do dance teams. A lot of people thought it was more of a show rather than actual dancing.

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