Quest Crew

Quest Crew, also known as Quest, is an American hip-hop dance crew from Los Angeles, California who were declared winners of the third season of America's Best Dance Crew. They were founded in 2005. They made their first few appearances individually on shows like So You Think You Can Dance and at events such as Kollaboration 8 and World of Dance.

History

Quest Crew consists of Hokuto "Hok" Konishi, Ryan "Ryanimay" Conferido, Dominic "D-Trix" Sandoval, Steve Terada, Ryan "Feng" Feng, Lydia "Lyddz" Paek, Aris "Sfffeee" Paracuelles, Andy "Rocket Man" Luo, Brian Hirano, and Victor Kim. A number of the team members originally performed with the SickStep dance troupe, but later joined other dancers to form Quest. D-Trix and few other members are also part of the world famous b-boy crew Flexable Flav which recently won Freestyle session in 2008 and placed second at Kb-boy World Masters in Korea in 2008. The crew's name reflects the influence that the Quest Learning Center, located in Artesia, California, has had on the group. Individually Ryan appeared on the first season of So You Think You Can Dance while Hok and Dominic appeared on the third season. During the third season, Hok and his partner Jaimie Goodwin performed a jazz routine called The Hummingbird and the Flower which was choreographed by Wade Robson. Robson later won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for this routine. Steve Terada is a well established extreme martial artist and tricker. He appeared in the Black Eyed Peas "Pump It" music video, and has also appeared in the film Memoirs of a Geisha. Brian Hirano appeared in Natasha Bedingfield music video "Pocketful Of Sunshine". Victor Kim and Lydia Paek are also widely searched youtube stars for their singing and instrumental skills.Their covers and originals are widely viewed with thousands of subscribers added each day. The entire crew appeared in the Far East Movement music video "Dance Like Michael Jackson". Quest Crew also performed on Idol Gives Back in 2008, and toured with Gloria Estefan and Sheila E. Later on seven of the members, Ryan, Dominic, Hok, Steve, Victor, Feng, and Brian, represented the crew on the third season of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew, winning the competition on March 5, 2009. Lydia Paek also appeared in the third season of America's Best Dance Crew, but due to the seven member cap, she performed with the Boxcuttuhz crew instead.

So You Think You Can Dance

Five out of the ten active members of Quest Crew have appeared on So You Think You Can Dance. Crew member Ryan 'Ryanimay' Conferido appeared on the first season as a finalist. He was eliminated in the fourth week. Steve Terada, Victor Kim, and Hokuto 'Hok' Konishi had all auditioned for the second season. Steve and Victor were both eliminated in the early Las Vegas rounds. Hok nearly made it to the top 20, but was only in the United States on a student visa, and was ineligible to be employed which led to his dismissal from the program. After obtaining a work permit, he had returned for the third season along with Dominic 'D-Trix' Sandoval. This time, both made it to the top 20. Hok was eliminated during the fifth week of competition and D-Trix was eliminated in the seventh week. Both D-Trix and Hok went on tour with the rest of the top 10 dancers with D-Trix as a featured dancer and Hok serving as a substitute/swing dancer.

America's Best Dance Crew Season 3

In 2008 Quest Crew became the winners of season three of America's Best Dance Crew. The seven members who competed were Hok, Feng, D-Trix, Brian, Victor, Steve, and Ryan. Lydia Paek, who is also a member of Quest Crew, decided to perform with the Boxcuttuhz due to the show's 7 member limit rule, meaning she could not dance with Quest. Quest Crew originally auditioned for season one but were unable to take part of the show because of crew members D-Trix and Hok's original contract with So You Think You Can Dance.

Week 1: Sudden Death Challenge

During the Sudden Death Challenge, Quest Crew performed to their own master mix featuring Hero by Nas. They received overwhelmingly positive comments from the judges and were saved from elimination. Kid Rainen, a member of the JabbaWockeeZ served as a guest judge in place of JC Chasez. He complimented D-Trix's double halos and shoulder halos b-boy moves. Lil' Mama complimented Ryan on performing a backflip and landing on his head (describing him as 'crazy'). Shane Sparks also praised them, and said, "The battle is on."

Week 2: Fit Test Challenge

During the Fit Test Challenge, Quest Crew was given the challenge of Kickboxing. This challenge was performed to a master mix of Kevin Rudolf ft. Lil Wayne's "Let It Rock." Steve is a martial arts instructor, and he took them through all the basic punches and kicks. The crew relied on him to deliver those heavy blow ups. JC said they had great moments but thought the performance seemed a little too "Tae Bo" and said they had too much posing. Lil Mama agreed. However, Shane Sparks thought there were many moments in their performance where they killed the show and praised them. Nevertheless, they were saved from elimination that night.

Week 3: Britney Spears Challenge

During the Britney Spears Challenge, the Britney Spears song that Quest Crew received was "Toxic". For this challenge, they had to perform a portion of their routine blindfolded. Their performance was given positive remarks from the judges with judge JC Chasez calling it his favorite performance of the night. Shane Sparks, stated that the crew "killed the stage" when they incorporated a little feminine vibe into their routine. Shane Sparks also complimented Ryan on doing a "Shablam,". D-Trix was originally planned to perform the solo at the end, but ended up injuring his shoulder while rehearsing the solo. This setback forced crew member Ryan to perform the solo. He ended up injuring his knee during the "Shablam".

Week 4: Whack Track Challenge

During the Whack Track Challenge, Quest Crew got You Got It (The Right Stuff) by New Kids on the Block as their whack track. The crew chose to do the crotch grab pendulum and their routine featured Hok looking like he was on his hands but in reality he had switched his clothes around and eventually changed back into regular attire. The performance was again praised due to Quest's creativity and getting Hok in and out cleanly.

After this performance, there were controversies by some fans of the show throughout the internet. It was pointed out that the move done by Hok had been performed by Korean B-Boy crew, Project Soul. Quest was accused of being "biters", however D-Trix soon issued an apology through a bboy forum.

Week 5: Illusion Challenge

During the Illusion Challenge, Quest Crew had to put an object through their body. The crew chose to perform to a master mix of Got Money by Lil Wayne feat. T-Pain. In their performance, Ryan Feng "stabbed" Brian Hirano with a coat rack and broke it off.

JC criticized their performance by pointing out that there was too much posing. JC also criticized Quest on their transitions. Some fans in the audience did not approve of JC's comments and responded with 'boos.' However, Lil Mama responded by instructing the fans in the audience not to boo because that would not enable Quest to listen to their "Words of Wisdom." Shane Sparks also stated to Quest that "Beat Freaks are on your butts", with Victor jokingly responding backstage saying "I'm honored that they're on our butts. I like them there, actually."

Week 6: Battle of the Sexes Challenge

During the Battle of the Sexes Challenge,It was between two boy crews, and two girl crews. Quest Crew had to dance to the song "Forever" by Chris Brown. The crew decided they would imitate the smooth moves and gliding from the video. The judges complimented their performance and Shane complimented D-Trix(Dominic Sandoval) on having the cleanest air flares on the show.

Week 7: Hip-Hop Decathlon and Last Chance Challenge

During the Hip-Hop Decathlon Challenge, Quest was put into the bottom two for the first time against Fly Khicks. The crew had to incorporate five styles of hip hop into their routine: threading, krumping, housing, tutting, and waving. Hok was familiar with tutting and Ryan Conferido knew how to thread so the crew depended on them to work on those sections. Songs performed in the Hip Hop Decathlon were: Poker Face by Lady Gaga, Love Lockdown by Kanye West, I'm in L.A trick by LMFAO, Closer by Ne-Yo, and Get Up by 50 Cent. The performance received a standing ovation from the judges and audience. The judges highly praised the crew. D-Trix performed elbow airflares, which received compliments from Shane Sparks, Hirano receiving compliments for being buff - since he ripped his shirt off during the krumping section - and Steve Terada performed a backflip from a sitting Indian-style position. Victor Kim performed threaded handhops, and Hok Konishi choreographed the tutting section. JC praised Hok in his tutting by calling him a true Egyptian and stating that Hok should be called "King Tut".

The second challenge involved creating their own song, much like season 1 and season 2's last chance challenge. Quest's song was titled "orQUESTra". The song included Ryan Conferido's own piano piece. Ryan actually played the piano during the middle of the performance while D-Trix performed headspins to the alternating tempos on top of the piano which was sick. After a box split and locking solo by Hok, Victor Kim performed a headhollow to a hollowback. At the end of the performance, D-Trix pushed Steve Terada who was in the middle of a vertical back flip over Hok and Victor, and ended with the Quest Crew Salute.

ABDC Finale

For the finale Quest performed in a dance collaboration with Strikers All Stars and Dynamic Edition. This group which was chosen by Shane Sparks to dance to the song "Right Round" by Flo Rida. Later that same night Quest performed a routine with fellow finalist Beat Freaks to a mastermix "Beggin'" by Madcon. After nearly 20 million votes were cast, Quest was declared the winners of America's Best Dance Crew season 3 thereby becoming the first crew to win whose members are all of Asian descent. Their victory dance was to "On Top of the World" by T.I ft Ludacris.

Ethnicities & Asian community

The 10 current members of Quest Crew are all of Asian descent. Quest Crew became the first crew to win ABDC whose members were all of Asian descent. All current active members are all Asian-American, with the exception of Hok being raised in the United Kingdom and Feng in Taiwan.

Members on America's Best Dance Crew Ryan (Ryanimay) Conferido is of Filipino descent.
Dominic (D-Trix) Sandoval is of Filipino, Chinese, Indonesian, German, Irish, Spanish, Native American, and Portuguese descent.
Hokuto (Hok) Konishi is of Japanese descent (Raised in the United Kingdom).
Brian Hirano is of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, and Filipino descent.
Victor Kim is of Korean descent .
Steve Terada is of Japanese descent.
Ryan Feng is of Han Chinese descent (originally from Taiwan).

Other Members Aris (Sfffeee) Paracuelles is of Filipino descent.
Lydia (Lyddz) Paek is of Korean descent.
Andy (Rocket Man) Luo is of Chinese descent.

Inactive Members Adil (Beyond) Thathaal is of Pakistani descent. He is listed as inactive member, as he is currently acting in Norway for musical theatre.
Nick Teti (Nicky T) is of Caucasian descent. He is listed as inactive member, as he is currently in a Warner Bros. singing group V Factory.

The Official Quest Crew website shares this statement:

" Based at the Quest Learning Center in Artesia, CA, Quest Crew members have been featured in SYTYCD, American Idol, music videos, stage shows, movies and t.v. We support our community in events throughout the year like L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa’s Asian Pacific Heritage Shows, Disney’s Multicultural event, Coalition for Asian Pacific Entertainers’ Gala, LA 18 KSCI-TV interview and stage shows, Kollaboration, etc. We believe that giving back is important and that success is only success if shared."

Life After ABDC

Crew members Hok and Victor Kim are set to appear in the upcoming film Boogie Town.
The entire crew is set to appear in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel, due to be released on Christmas 2009.
Crew members Hok and Steve were featured on Inside Edition.
The entire crew appeared in the teaser trailer for the fourth season of America's Best Dance Crew.
D-Trix, Aris, Hok, Ryan, and Victor were featured as background dancers for Sean Kingston's Performance on the 2009 Teen Choice Awards.
The entire crew is set to appear in a Pepsi Smash commercial.
Steve served as a guest instructor for the Martial Arts challenge on the fourth season of America's Best Dance Crew.
Ryan, D-Trix, Hok, and Aris performed at the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards.
Members of Quest will be appearing in music videos for Baby bash and Snoop Dogg.
Both D-trix and Hok appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show in 2009