America's Best Dance Crew (Season 6) - Finale Anticipation

As ever, ABDC is wrapping up its season with two crews facing off for the title: I aM mE, a popping crew featuring none other than Phillip Chbeeb, and Iconic Boyz, featuring, in D-Trix's words, "a bunch of dancing Justin Biebers." (More accurately, they're more like Justin Bieber's younger brothers, as the Boyz are mostly 11 years old.) The difference between this season and past seasons, though, is that, as MGK argues, they're the equivalent of Sanjaya Malakar:

[They] aren’t terrible or anything, and in fact are really impressively good for a bunch of eleven-year-olds… but ultimately, they’re a bunch of eleven-year-olds who are up against dancers who in many cases have been dancing for longer than the average Iconic Boy has been alive, and the relatively basic nature of their routines makes it pretty obvious that they’re outmatched.

Iconic Boyz have inexplicably outlasted my two favorite crews of the season: Phunk Phenomenon, a solid all-around crew with great choreography and a great b-boy named Bebo, and Street Kingdom, an all-krumper crew led by none other than Tight Eyez, one of the style's creators and legends. (Street Kingdom struggled at times this season, but when they were on, they brought more epic fire than almost all other crews, past and present.) The judges can't hide their relative lack of enthusiasm for Iconic Boyz, either -- in the top three episode, their praise for IB was damned and faint, but they enthusiastically gushed for Phunk Phenomenon, and were practically transcendental about IME. Lastly, in the penultimate, otherwise completely useless episode where IB and IME battled head-to-head, IME absolutely clowned IB, which I'm considering a precursor to the end of IB's improbable run, and MGK's Sanjaya comparison is key to understanding why.

In addition to Idol, vote-in shows of all kinds have had contestants who progress deep into a competition despite not having the same talent as their peers (all the Coreys on SYTYCD, for instance). However, just as online alarmists reach a certain panicked pitch at the possibility of a clearly unqualified winner, the voters on these shows have demonstrated their ability to self-correct and prevent the Sanjayas from winning. Charm and cuteness can carry a Sanjaya far, but a minimum of talent ultimately rules these programs. (I'm not sure why this self-correction happens -- maybe voters, confronted with the Armageddon of an Undeniable Hack Winning, feel shamed into voting for the worthier contestant, or, the CUET voters constitute one discrete demographic voting en masse, while all the other demographically disparate voters, who previously had been splitting votes among the various contestants, can collectively coalesce behind the other remaining finalist to form a super-coalition to outnumber the speed-dialing fingers of the ZOMG CUET set.) To its credit, ABDC, despite featuring a bunch of finales where one crew obviously doesn't belong, can boast of a worthy list of past winners who can seriously grind, and with all of them (the Jabbawockeez, Super Cr3w, Quest, We Are Heroes, and Poreotix) set to perform tonight on the finale, we'll be witnessing before our eyes a manifest reason to expect IME to pull out the win tonight.

That said, I'm aware that ABDC could fall prey to numbers in a way that Idol or SYTYCD don't. I assume that a cable show is going to have fewer voters than a broadcast show, which means that the smaller sample size of voters allows for greater volatility in the results, and so the people tweens dialing in for CUET might actually overwhelm viewers voting for SKILLZ. There's also the disquieting fact that Iconic Boyz have the distinction of being the only crew this season to have never been in danger of elimination (and we know that they received the most votes heading into the top 3 episode), a testament to their vote-getting abilities.

Nevertheless, I'm putting myself out there: by the end of tonight, I aM mE, America's Best Dance Crew.

SYTYCD Miscellany

First, a Youtube of Legacy dancing with ~* sWoOn *~ Rino from the Beat Freaks:



And after the jump, a gif of Cat that disproves her claim that she can't dance.

America's Best Dance Crew - 4x04 "Bollywood Challenge" - More Thoughts

One thing about ABDC that's always made me uncomfortable was how the show isn't shy about throwing some squad under the bus on air. In the very first episode, we saw the supposed leader of Enigma Dance Kru beefing with the rest of his team and acting like an insufferable know-it-all. Seeing unmitigated bad behavior predisposes people to disliking him, and the judges certainly weren't immune, giving him a stern talking to before ultimately booting Enigma. The leader's behavior almost definitely wasn't the sole factor in their elimination, but I'm sure he made the decision easier for the judges.

In "Bollywood Challenge," we saw such uncomfortable candor again when backstage footage showed Leiomy acting out and contemplating quitting. And again, the judges didn't like it, but Vogue Evolution weren't on the chopping block. But again, I never like to see behind-the-scenes transgressions aired onstage and then addressed directly by the figures of authority, where the perpetrators don't have the same platform to defend themselves. The setup, in other words, is unfair and explicitly imposes a moral framework that I'd just as soon ignore.

(As a contrast, the only time that SYTYCD has ever gone out of its way to undermine the moral standing of a contestant was when we saw Joy being chastised by Dmitry for her listless work ethic. Ever since, the most controversial act we've seen in these tightly controlled interviews is probably Gev wearing an Abu Ghraib t-shirt -- everything else is rehearsed into benign harmlessness.)

Similarly, seeing the post-elimination reactions of the just-booted crew (like Artistry In Motion's impetuous disbelief) can also be jarring. I don't want my mental image of chivalric competition to be punctured by dancers who are incredulous or angry that they've been eliminated! Maybe I overvalue the fiction of reality tv's surface smoothness.

Indie rating: The Knife – "From Off to On"

America's Best Dance Crew - 4x04 "Bollywood Challenge"

Is anyone underwhelmed with the season so far? I've found it incredibly uneven, with the choreography tepid as a rule. The closest routine that's been memorable was We Are Heroes' Beyonce challenge, which was pretty classic aside from the winceful booty-shaking, while everything else tops out at "nice," certainly nothing that's made me lose my mind.

Où sont les Beat Freaks d'antan?

Indie rating: The Raveonettes – "Last Dance"

America's Best Dance Crew - 3x07 "Hip Hop Decathlon and Last Chance Challenge"

Well, speaking as a Beat Freaks freak, that was kind of a letdown, wasn't it? This is the first chance I've had to vote for them, but I have a hard time hance half of their "decathlon" was uninspired and messy, and was overall a rare example of their their swagger exceeding their performance.



Continue reading...

A pimp way to put your stamp on the season, even if it punctuated a listless, lackluster performance the high point of which was over almost before it started (Shorty bringing the buckness during the krumping). (Speaking of Shorty, she's proven herself to be the group's all-star -- the krumping, the head spin, etc. -- no easy feat since the Freaks like to showcase different dancers with each performance.)

Beat Freaks - Hip-Hop Decathlon (61 MB)

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I don't know if you noticed, but I certainly did: What was up with Rino's sexy dip at the end of their decathlon?



I change my mind; this was the best part of their decathlon.

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Not that they were that much better in their second dance, but for the sake of just for trainspotting completeness: Beat Freaks - Last Chance (27 MB)

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On the subject of the Last Chance dance, though -- its timing seems odd to me. Because the participating crews had to lay down some tracks, and even accounting for minimal involvement from the crews, you'd still have to set aside some lead time to finish the music and arrange for the big and/or custom props, which makes me wonder how the Fly Khicks fit into the Last Chance. Did everyone know they were the odd team out before it was announced on the show? Or did they go through with recording a track and performing a routine that ultimately wasn't televised? Or were they just kept in the dark while Beat Freaks and Quest scurried behind their backs?

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Anyway:
Quest - Hip-Hop Decathlon (57 MB)
Quest - Last Chance (21 MB)

Indie rating: Stereolab - "Fruition"

America's Best Dance Crew - 3x06 "Battle of the Sexes"

Everyone else is getting ready for the show tonight, but since I'll have to watch this online, I might as well get my licks in on Beat Freaks' awesome routine. (Incidentally, get it here (38 MB).) Although they're at their least convincing when they're downrocking -- their feet are kind of slow and they don't hit with the same extension and power that other b-boys have -- but the Freaks are so hot at everything else that I'm happy to overlook this shortcoming. I mean, the popping at the beginning? The routine could've ended right there and the girls would still have been safe. (Do I say that just because I love robots, i.e. am I a robosexual?) To top off their everything-else technique and choreo, Beat Freaks have a unified sense of style that stamps each routine with its indelible flavor all but that they can also change up from challenge to challenge with something entirely different = UNBEATABLE.

Indie rating: Labradford - "S"

America's Best Dance Crew - 3x05 "Illusion Challenge"

Y'alls know I've been loving the Freaks this whole season, but they threw down some real next level cheese at the rest of the crews/Quest. They got a break with their prop, no doubt -- the levitating ball gave them a lot of freedom in their routine to do pretty much what they wanted to do (assuming, as I am, that the ball was on a wire hanging from the rafters). However, they could have easily phoned in their routine instead of burning down the house, so any love their way is totally deserved.

And Shorty's windmill in time with the orbiting ball? THAT'S WHY THEY CALL IT MAGIC.

Beat Freaks - Magic Challenge (27 MB)

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I'm sure that I've seen Lil Mama's hat somewhere else -- or a reasonable facsimile of which -- sometime within the last three or four weeks, but I can't quite place it...

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Oh, Mario Lopez, your hacky vacuousness is so deliciously apparent when you have to ad-lib:
"Beat Freaks! Trying to beat the competition, tonight!"
"Quest crew... are on a quest!"
"Fly Khicks! Showing us what they got." (Love how he doesn't even try to come up with one of his trademark bons mots here.)

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Outtie! I mean, I was sure they'd be out this week!

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Layla Kayleigh looks like the British Nicole Richie.



Indie rating: 浜田麻里 - "Aire Kaaiya (Assisted by Autechre)"

America's Best Dance Crew - 3x04 "Whack Track Challenge"

All season long, Beat Freaks, Quest, and Strikers All-Stars have been a step ahead of the pack, though in the last challenge, I thought the Strikers slipped a little (and going into this week, I thought they'd have the advantage of having a Hammer track that still pumps). If the latest poll on MTV.com is any indication, Quest seem to be in firm control of the competition:

Quest Crew 49%
Beat Freaks 19%
Ringmasters 10%
Dynamic Edition 8%
Fly Khicks 7%
Strikers All-Stars 7%

I wasn't nearly as impressed by Quest's routine, mostly because of how much time I spent trying to figure out how Hok was doing his upside-down thing. (Allow me my stupidity, please.) Ask me what else I remember from them this week, and I'd blank before finally remembering Dom/D'Trix pulling up his shorts to show off his drumsticks in rehearsals -- which sort of sums up my feelings about Quest, i.e. they're creative to a fault, sometimes to the detriment of their overall routine. They have no problem hitting their "high spots" (i.e. showstopping tricks, like the blindfolded super-catapult maneuver from the Britney challenge) or working the comic angles, but sometimes I find their choreography lackluster.

Beat Freaks, on the other hand, feature choreography that often involves the whole troupe, with more moving parts and thus a greater feast for the eyes. (And yes, I think they're cute, too.)



In any case, the dual backspins were awesome, and the fourth-wall breaching girlie fans asking for JC's autograph was a great meta touch. What's more, they integrated their humor a lot more into the choreography itself with the stiff, mannequin-like white-boy poses -- but then they also threw in some serious funk behind their Carltons, all of which means I want to marry them all.

Indie rating: Mahogany – "My Bed Is My Castle"

America's Best Dance Crew - 3x02 "Fit Test"

In the spirit of SYTYCD recaps, behold some very late America's Best Dance Crew thoughts.

I'm sure that among the reality dance connoisseurs throughout the interwebs, it's already become a commonplace, but I must say it anyway: there's hardly any grandstanding from the judges, which is indescribably refreshing. The show focuses solely on the dancers, which is how a reality dance program ought to be.

Anyway, Beat Freaks and Strikers All-Stars were in top form for the Fit Challenge. Strikers brought the cutting energy that made their stepping snap, the six-long monkey-roll was insane, and the end pose was a perfectly light touch of creative humor. Meanwhile, Beat Freakz apparently have never played Wii Fit, but that didn't stop them from owning their 90(?) seconds onstage. The Beat Freak who took the lead has some deep reservoir of endurance.

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Judging by the routines I've seen, Quest seem to be lesser than the sum of their parts, but this time, I agree with Shane -- their athleticism and playful ingeniousness shined through. I especially loved their Street Fighting pastiche.

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After their first performance which involved a ladder, and their second which culminated with a military press (a meta-play on the military crawl?) and body slam into a table, I'm almost positive Ringmasters are pro wrestling fans.

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Dynamic Edition: love their clogging, hate their name.

Indie rating: Safety Scissors - "Phone"