'America's Best Dance Dance Crew': A champion emerges

Layla Kayleigh told me last week, and it was said over and over again, that there was no clear-cut dominant crew in the fourth season of "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew," and that was true. But in the final performance, there did seem to be one crew that climbed its way to the top, despite being on the bottom often. No dramatic Mario Lopez pose and music here: We Are Heroes is the new "America's Best Dance Crew" champion. The first non-b-boy crew and the first females to possess the "ABDC" trophy, they certainly deserve it -- especially based on those last two showings. But before we get into that, let's talk about the Judges' Choice performances.

Lil Mama's crew was up first, and she brought the girls out to play.  We Are Heroes, Artistry in Motion and Vogue Evolution took the stage after an intro and another obvious product-placement shot having to do with Facebook and a product that will not be named. At least they're upfront with it, just like this performance was with the girl power. Vogue is so dramatic with its movements, especially that leg-breaking back drop, that it raised the drama level of the other crews.  Heroes took the center with its pop-locking precision and gymnastics, then Artistry got on stage and seemed to meld both We Are Heroes' and Vogue Evolution's styles. They all worked well together, too, in what was probably the night's best number. Because I missed them on the night they were eliminated, here's Artistry at the finale.

'America's Best Dance Crew': Afroborike and tonight's finale

They were one of the last crews you thought would be in the finals of "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew," but Afroborike and their couples-dancing, Latin-flavored style has persevered and is now, along with We Are Heroes, awaiting America's vote a few hours from now. Who's going to win?  The popular vote is on We Are Heroes and their fire-spewing, backflipping, pop-locking finale. But Afroborike is resilient and has lots of support, so it might not be as clear cut as we think. Check back later on for commentary and video from the finale.

Luckily, we were able to have a quick talk with Afroborike member Veronica Collazo as the days closed in. 

How did your group form?
We were in a company in Vegas for a show for three years together, then the show fell apart (Raw talent life at the Sahara). We then had the opportunity to audition for the show and made the decision to bring our Latin flavor ... and they liked it and they picked us.

How did you come up with the name?
 Afroborike is a combination of two words. It's Afro-Cuban, because we have two cultures mixing.  We have 5 Puerto Ricans and one Cuban. Afro-Cubans and borike, which is the first name that the Indians used to call Puerto Rico. We wanted to mix all of that.

'America's Best Dance Crew': Chatting with We Are Heroes

The women of We Are Heroes have been popular, but embattled, since the first episode of the fourth season of "Randy Jackson presents America's Best Dance Crew." In the bottom two crews a few times, they had to be saved by the judges. But in their last two performances, they cemented themselves among "ABDC's" best ever.  As the final decision approaches (two days left) and Heroes is one of the two remaining crews, they took a little time out of their schedule to have a final chat.

You're repping the West, but is everybody from this side of the States?
Ali: No, we're not. Hero and Mami are from Japan. Nichelle is from the Bay area in California. Riquel is from Idaho and I'm from New York.  But we did all move out to Los Angeles to pursue a dancing career.

How did We Are Heroes form?
Ali: We all met Hiro separately because we were all professional dancers and auditioning and doing jobs.  Riquel and Mami were dancing with her for a couple months. When they actually got to doing the show, there were two other girls dancing, one from Japan and one from Europe, and they didn't have their visas. So Hero had seen some of us perform and called me and Nichelle two days before the audition, and that's how we got together. I actually met Riquel at the audition.

'America's Best Dance Crew': A chat with Massive Monkees

The Massive Monkees were one of the most popular crews on "America's Best Dance Crew" this season, and though they were eliminated on Sunday, they were nice enough to sit down and talk a bit about their season and their mission.  Confession:  The initial interview was lost (eaten by my imaginary electronic dog), and Massive Monkey crew members Brysen and Jerome were nice enough to re-chat with me about the Monkeys' past and their travels through the season.  After the interview there's a video conversation with Shane Sparks after the Rhythm City-Massive Monkeys battle about how he thought the season was going, and a few words from Fanny Pak's Glenda. Three days until the live finale, and congratulations to Massive Monkey Tim Soriano on his and his fiance's new baby girl!

Tell me about the b-boy culture in Seattle?

'America's Best Dance Crew': Emmys and two crews left standing

Before we get to the last show before the finale of "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew," let's talk dance.  Big awards shows traditionally have had a hint of dance -- or more than a hint in the case of the Hugh Jackman-hosted Oscars -- but that didn't often include hip-hop.  Until now.

The popularity of "So You Think You Can Dance" and "America's Best Dance Crew" was on full display at the Emmys on Sunday night when dancers Karina Smirnoff and Maksim Chmerkovskiy of "Dancing With the Stars" performed to LMFAO's "La La La" and were joined by dancers who included "So You Think" winner Joshua Allen and members of "ABDC" winner Quest Crew. It was cool to see the guys performing onstage at the Nokia, and props have to go out to Emmy nominees Tabitha & Napoleon D'Umo, choreographers for  "So You Think" and "Dance Crew."

'America's Best Dance Crew': Judges take the spotlight

Usually, despite whatever craziness erupts from the table, the judges are still overshadowed by the performances on "America's Best Dance Crew," which is a good thing. But in this week's episode, and even in the MTV Video Music Awards that followed, the judges seemed to take the spotlight away from the performance (just a little, but enough).

Let's start with the performances, which is where the focus should be anyway.  Time for the group dance, and with the crews doing a tribute to Michael Jackson, you know that they wanted it to be really great.  And their "Smooth Criminal" routine, with Rhythm City's Alonzo Williams getting the spotlight, was one of the show's best. I don't think there's been a group performance that has been as together and precise as this was (even the Janet Jackson in the second season, though that one was awesome, too). With crews like Rhythm City and We Are Heroes, that should've been expected, and Afroborike and Massive Monkeys got their chance to shine as well. I put it a mini step below the Missy Elliott performance and group dance, but hey, if Michael Jackson performed with them like Missy Elliott did ... maybe it's apples to oranges.

On to the show. Only four crews left, and there's no real need for a dramatic pause. We Are Heroes and Afroborike were the crews America voted to keep around, and Massive Monkeys and Rhythm City are the crews that had to battle it out to stay alive for now. We'll explore this a bit later. We (myself and colleague Deborah Netburn) asked the crews which judge they feared/wanted to impress most, and here were the responses from Afroborike and Massive Monkeys.

'America's Best Dance Crew': Trampolines, stitches and a tight race

So, the dance craze challenge was nothing new for "America's Best Dance Crew," and it didn't seem to be that tough of a test -- until you factor in the trampoline! As evidenced by the stitches-induced injury sustained by We Are Heroes crew member Nichelle during one of their rehearsals, it can be dangerous. Even if you're used to tumbling, the extra bounce can take you out of your comfort level.

That comfort level is something that the judges are seemingly trying to get all of the crews out of in the last few weeks. I don't know if they're physically tired or just mentally tired of seeing some of the same old moves, but the criticism has been a bit blunt lately. And it didn't stop Sunday night.

The first saved crew was Afroborike, sending Vogue Evolution to the bottom two. Don't ask me how, but Afroborike has latched on and gotten a following. It's tough to peg them or to gauge what the audience will feel like doing from week to week when it comes to this crew. Their challenge was to do the swag (swag surfing), dancing to Fast Life Yungstaz' "Swag Surfin'." Everyone will be talking about one move that they did, with the guys grinding in the faces of their female teammates. Risque, to say the least. They weren't very memorable with the challenge, or even in using the trampoline, but Shane Sparks definitely noticed "the move," saying "I've been waiting years for a show to let you do something like that on TV!"  JC Chasez, though, echoed my sentiments on the performance in saying that it was "good, but I need to see excellence."

Massive Monkees and Rhythm City were saved, so that meant We Are Heroes was once again in the bottom two.  Their Bollywood dance last week was pretty good to me, but not enough for the voters. I just don't get it, but they didn't dwell on it, so I won't.

'America's Best Dance Crew': Heroes, Kings, Monkeys and more

If last week was a bit of a misstep for many of the groups, this week was an episode where everyone got back on track and -- despite the "it's-all-family" mentality in the "America's Best Dance Crew" crew garage -- served notice that they were out to win the competition.

Bollywood was the challenge this week, and I liked how the different styles of dance were presented to the crews by Bollywood groups on the "ABDC" stage.  The lighting and atmosphere allowed the crews to take in not only the moves, but also the elegant presentations of the dancers in a way that the harsh practice studio would not have.  Very cool, and viewers even got an education in six very different Bollywood dances.

Massive Monkeys.  Been down on this crew for a while.  They've had tricks but haven't put it all together -- until this performance. Tricks like their neck-breaking space needle (see video), plus dancing, plus taking their time and actually showing us a little bhangra while performing to “Bang” by Rye Rye featuring M.I.A. really put them back in the game.  The crew hasn't been the best or cleanest choreographed crew, but they put it all together here really for the first time.  Offstage, you could tell that the crew was happy with their performance, and they definitely should be.

Vogue Evolution. The crew's public breakdown took center stage over their dancing. Member Leiomy Maldonado walked off the stage during an earlier rehearsal, and there was a rift for a little while.  Luckily, you didn't see it on stage as the crew performed the circular, flowing Rajasthani dance.  Despite the fact that Leiomy had to climb crew members' backs in high heels, it was only OK -- not great. The judges seemed more fixated on addressing the crew's internal problems than their moves. Viewers only got to see a piece of it, but at the show it felt like a full-on intervention.  Lil Mama, speaking directly to Leiomy,  said, "You're becoming a woman, then act like a lady."  JC Chasez complimented the crew, saying that they had performed like "professionals." During the advice session, Mario Lopez chimed in: "This is turning into Dr. Phil."

'America's Best Dance Crew': Mario Lopez's Sunday Conversation

In this Sunday's LA Times,"America's Best Dance Crew" host Mario Lopez chatted about the show, his other hosting duty on "Extra," and life post-"Saved by the Bell."  

You're in the middle of two jobs. What are you up to at this moment?

I had to run back to do some emergency voice-over stuff. I am the voice of "Extra" as well. That video of Dr. Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor, just came in. That suddenly beat the lead story which was about the dude from "Grey's Anatomy" -- what's his name?

Eric Dane.

Eric Dane, yes. Eric Dane and that little naked video of him and his wife with a friend.

That's right. Not a sex tape...

Well, so far!

I'm loving "America's Best Dance Crew" this season. Lots of diversity.

It's an eclectic bunch, huh? Vogue Evolution [an all-gay dance crew] makes me smile. But I'm impressed by all of them. I think the girl crew, We Are Heroes, is great. I've been impressed by the last two seasons of girl groups. They've really been able to bring it. I'd like to see a female crew win.

Read the entire article here.

-- Denise Martin

'America's Best Dance Crew': Kicked out with the martial arts

The martial-arts challenge, with a huge assist from Quest crew's Steve Terada, seemed like it would be a fun and difficult addition to "America's Best Dance Crew's" list of difficult challenges.  Not just integrating it into a dance routine, but also not having it look corny or too contrived.  For possibly the first time this season, the bottom-two battle was awesome.  Last week's Artistry in Motion and Afroborike head-to-head was tough but not like this one.  And I don't know what was with Shane Sparks, but he was extremely critical of almost all of the crews this week, setting a tough tone for the judging. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Afroborike.  Like I said last week, they had to give them capoeira, and they did!  Definitely wanted to see those dual round kicks, and they did try, but Shane called their routine boring. Martial-arts-wise, he's right.  This performance didn't really solidify their standing as the crew chose an easy cartwheel as its particular martial-arts movement, so they may again be in the bottom two next week.

We Are Heroes.  The group had to incorporate karate into their performance. Complex moves, but when you're a pop lockin' crew, complex moves can be broken down.  You assumed crews would have faux fights, but there was a cool section with a kick and a back flip that was pretty nice. As Lil Mama said, this "crew is so dope it don't make no sense." JC Chasez and Shane said it started slow but, overall, another strong performance.

Massive Monkeys.  Still waiting for something spectacular to happen with this crew, but they brought energy.  Their challenge was extreme martial arts, and they performed it adequately.  There were some cool flips, and the crew paired up well to fight, but as Shane said, there was really only one guy who performed their challenge -- the 540 kick.  It was a tough thing to pick, but they did the choosing.