‘America’s Best Dance Crew’: A six-pack to go
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With Brooke Burke long gone, ‘Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew’ might have looked like a knight on a white horse, or a pastrami sandwich for a famished traveler, to dance fans as it premiered three weeks ago. After the sometimes tear-inducing -- whether from laughter, sadness or rage -- ‘Superstars of Dance’ was unveiled, somebody had to do something to get dance back to favored status on television. In stepped ‘America’s Best Dance Crew,’ restoring some semblance of hope, and introducing nine talented groups of performers ready to compete (none of which are Shaolin monks, I believe).
Down to six now, this is easily the most diverse lineup to hit the stage for ‘ABDC.’ Each has been able to spotlight what they do -- from clogging to stepping to I-don’t-even-know-what-the-Ringmasters-do (It’s called flexing, but I call it ouch). The show went a bit international with GOP Dance from Puerto Rico (Ho!). But the goodwill was very short-lived, and they were out first. There were lots of hometown groups, but the home cooking hasn’t helped -- last week, with the elimination of San Diego’s Boxcuttuhz, or this week, with another local crew watching their banner fall after the Britney Spears dance challenge.
But before that ... Beat Freaks. Last season, the knock on Super Cr3w was that all they could do was breakdance. Well, Beat Freaks stopped all the talk before it could even start with their Britney ‘Womanizer’ routine. They showed that they could dance without breaking. And it was good. Other groups beware -- this all-star lineup of b-girls (yeah, we know about the movie, Lady Jules!) will be tough to beat. Met them real quick in the crew garage:
One crew that could give them a run is the Strikers All-Stars. Talk about precision. That’s what stepping is all about, but these dudes broke the stepping mold and shaped their own cohesive dance group. I sat next to some Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority members at the first show, and they were proud of their fraternity brothers. They should be -- easily one of the top three crews now.
Speaking of a sorority, the other all-girl group this season just keeps trudging along. Fly Khicks might’ve been dismissed as another Sassx7, but after the first 30-second battle, in which they blew away GOP Dance and Boxcuttuhz, you knew these girls had a bit of an edge. Still cheerleader-like? Yeah, a little. But they’ve shown they can adapt.
Another group that seems to get better each week is L.A.’s own Quest Crew. I mistakenly lumped them in with Team Millennia and Boxcuttuhz at first, but their creativity and athleticism put them a step above those others. Besides Quest and Beat Freaks, no one really has any tricks to match (not counting Ringmasters’ stretchy stuff). As their song choice indicates, they could be ‘Toxic’ to other crews if things fall into place.
Dynamic Edition. What can you say about them? Clogging will be a tough sell. Despite what JC Chasez (and show co-creator Howard Schwartz) said to me -- that this is ‘America’s Best Dance Crew’ and not America’s Best Hip-Hip Dance Crew -- we know who watches the show and what the majority of voters are going to favor. Regardless, this team is together, precise and has a lot of heart. They’ve already proved that clogging is awesome, but we’ll see how far it can go and how much they can grow.
Ringmasters. Ouch, man. Just ... ouch. Flexing will never get old, but there has to be more to it. Like the cloggers (as my co-worker and probably everyone else calls Dynamic Edition), Ringmasters can continue on if they show that they can adapt and do other things while keeping their core flexing skills in the forefront.
Orange County’s own Team Millennia had come back for a second go-round after being eliminated last year very early, this time with a new rocker theme. That didn’t help, and may have thrown off the many fans that they came in with. Of course, they could do more than that. This group and its extended family have sooo many styles! But, the image adjustment and being a bit less precise may have been too much to overcome.
-- Jevon Phillips
