Interview with ABDC Audition judge Chonique: "I would have liked to have seen more innovation"

LA Times reporter Jevon Phillips spoke to ABDC 5 audition judge Chonique Sneed at the Los Angeles auditions (the video below), and again the day after the NY auditions when the 6-city tryouts were completed. In the video, she talks about the challenge of giving feedback and something she would like to see at the auditions: an ethnic crew with enough versatility to maintain their identity but keep it interesting.

Read the post-auditions interview with Chonique, where she describes how she became involved with the auditions, the role of women choreographers, and her disappointment about many of the auditioners: "There's definitely a format, a method to the madness, so people who have watched the show, they see what wins, they see what's competitive. A lot of crews, I felt, stuck to the format so much that they lost who they were as locals...it almost started to become a little monotonous...There was definitely some [crews showing something new] but I would've liked to have seen more".

And Jevon Phillips gives his personal Top Ten from the LA auditions based on watching (but not taping) the first day performances: Heavy Hitters, Knucklehead Zoo, Poreotics, The Hype, Neverland, Molodi 5, Destined 2 Be, Karmography, One Nation Crew, and Klaamation.