On 27 March 2008 I was backstage at the finale of America's Best Dance Crew in a red JabbaTV shirt, standing next to a group of masked dancers from California. A few hours later they were the first champions in the show's history.
Eighteen years later, those same friends and my team, GAM Esports, collaborated for the Esports World Cup. Watch it above. I still can't quite believe that sentence.
We come from the same community
I didn't meet the Jabbawockeez as a fan. We came up in the same dance community, and I was with them through that first season, working on JabbaTV, the crew's behind-the-scenes channel. I watched them go from a crew people loved in the scene to a crew the whole country knew.
From a TV win to a Las Vegas stage
A TV win can be a moment. They made it a movement. They built a show, a brand and a home in Las Vegas, and they took dance to people who never thought they cared about it.
On 31 May 2013 I was there for the opening night of their first show at the Luxor, standing under their name on the side of the building. I brought my cousin Demi as my date, and we celebrated with Phi and his parents. Seeing a Vietnamese family at the grand opening of a Las Vegas show their son helped build is a memory I'll keep forever.
Two of the people who helped build all of this are Vietnamese Americans: my friend Jeff "Phi" Nguyen, who has danced with the crew since 2004, and Nick Ngo, the crew's Chief Operating Officer.
From the underground to the world stage
That's what the Jabbawockeez did for dance. That's what we're building for esports.
Dance spent years underground: crews, battles, people doing it for love, and parents telling their kids to get a real job. The Jabbawockeez helped turn it into mainstream entertainment without losing what made it real. Esports in Vietnam is on the same road. It started in internet cafés and local tournaments. Today a Vietnamese club plays on the world stage, and families watch together.
The collaboration, and the streets of Ho Chi Minh City
In 2022 I brought the crew a GAM jersey backstage in Las Vegas. Four years later, GAM went to the Esports World Cup in Paris as Vietnam's only Club Partner, and GAM and the Jabbawockeez collaborated on one campaign, built around the hero film at the top of this post, "From the Underground to a Global Movement", released on both our channels.
Then we took it home. For three days, seven LED screens across downtown Ho Chi Minh City played it. The campaign reached 9.4 million views and 25 articles in Vietnam's national press. Seeing our collaboration across the streets of Vietnam is something I'll never forget.
A full-circle moment
Vietnamese talent shows up everywhere: in esports, music, dance and business. This collaboration put Vietnamese stories from different communities and generations on the same global stage.
That's the movement we're building at GAM: bring the best of Vietnam to the world, and the best of the world back to Vietnam. My friends showed me what that road looks like eighteen years ago. Now we're on it together.
G-A-M, GAM! We are Vietnam.
At a glance
- The win: the Jabbawockeez won Season 1 of America's Best Dance Crew on 27 March 2008. TK Nguyen was with them that night.
- Las Vegas: TK was at the grand opening of their first show at the Luxor, 31 May 2013.
- The collaboration: GAM × Jabbawockeez was made for the Esports World Cup 2026, where GAM Esports was Vietnam's only Club Partner.
- The film: "From the Underground to a Global Movement", released on both GAM's and the Jabbawockeez's channels.
- Results: 7 LED screens in downtown Ho Chi Minh City for 3 days, 9.4M views and 25 national press articles. Read the case study on gam.gg.
