We're back -- tune in for crew videos!

We just returned from Los Angeles. We have quite a number of videos to process and post, including several crews, Randy Jackson, and a glimpse of how crazy it is onstage after the Finale. I promise I'll have a few up tomorrow. So, bear with my computer and jet lag -- I think you'll be glad you did.

Beat Freaks Video after ABDC Finale

Beat Freaks spoke with me after the America's Best Dance Crew finale about who they'd like to tour with, the first dance moves they ever learned, the involvement in the movie "B Girl" and how their involvement might bring more respect to women in the hip hop world. Thanks to readers TiVaughn, Karen Chu, and Litisha for the questions used.

Quiz: Which Dance Crew are You?

BuddyTV has a nifty on-line quiz so that you can channel your inner dance crew. Based on questions on your dance style, your pluckiness, and your taste in Janet and Michael Jackson music, they'll tell you which America's Best Dance Crew team fits your personality.

Which America's Best Dance Crew Are You?

More on America's Best Dance Crew. Created by BuddyTV

Quest Podcast -- Did they think they would win?

Buddy TV spoke with Quest on Friday after the Finale. In their podcast, Quest members describe what it felt like at the finale, how they knew Beat Freaks was going to keep them on their game, and their plans.

Photocredit: MTV

More Season 3 Finale recaps

• Buddy TV credits Quest's tricks as the reason they won America's Best Dance Crew Season 3
• Entertainment Weekly complains about the America's Best Dance Crew finale being tedious, the group dances being 'unmeshed' and her favorite crew taking second place
• LA Times liked the show a whole lot better than EW, and posts about a dozen video interviews taken after the finale
  

Mailbox: Lil Mama, Mario Lopez, JC Chasez

• San Francisco Fashion Examiner was disappointed at Lil Mama's non-outlandish outfit at the finale.
• New York Post talks to Mario Lopez about the Season 3 girl crews, the idea of an all-judges crew, and the America's Best Dance Crew drinking game (alcoholics- pray that Mario doesn't say 'megamix')
• TV Guide interviews JC Chasez, who won't answer which is his favorite team, which crew is the fan's favorite, or whether season consistency is better than a strong finish.
  

Photo credit: Chris Polk

Interview with Shane Sparks at ABDC Finale

Sarah R. spoke with Shane Sparks after the America's Best Dance Crew Finale about his expectations for Season 4:

We just returned from interviewing Quest!

Quest is making the rounds in Los Angeles today, but they found time to talk with Sarah and me. What a great group of guys -- one of my favorite Blogging Best Dance Crew interviews ever! I'll upload it soon. In the meantime, a quiz: Lil Mama called them the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. But what comic book characters do THEY identify with?

Early Finale Reports and Video

• MTV Remote Control got first crack at interviewing all the crews, judges, and America's Best Dance Crew celebrities, just after the Finale ended. Watch all 6 clips
• Zap2It recaps the show, with a few extra tidbits (best one: did you know that the ABDC winner's trophy was a bobblehead?)

Contest winners - Congratulations Baby Boy and Jeff#1

The winners of the BloggingBestDanceCrew.com contests were:

• Top 4 Challenge - Baby Boy was the first to get the finishing order of Quest - Beat Freaks - Fly Khicks - Strikers for America's Best Dance Crew Season 3. Though there were over 200 entries in the first 4 weeks, nobody got it right until he hit it in Week 5.
  
• Elimination Challenge - There was a tie between Eddie (who went into this last week with a 1-point lead, but guessed Beat Freaks for the win) and Jeff #1. However, Jeff came closer to predicting the number of votes cast in the last week.
  

I'll contact both of you about your prizes. Congratulations!

REASONS TO STAY WITH BloggingBestDanceCrew.com

America's Best Dance Crew Season 3 is over, but BloggingBestDanceCrew.com will be here for you over the next few months. Why should you keep reading us?

• Over the next week, we'll run videos of our interviews at the finale. During the off-season, we'll try to have regularly scheduled podcasts with the Season 1-3 crews
• We'll post the latest news on America's Best Dance Crew plans, including news of any tours and Season 4 (we hope)
• We'll keep up with your favorite crews, judges, and ABDC personalities. We'll supply information on performances, workshops, meet-and-greets, films/videos, merchandise, and anything else they're up to.
• We try to get YOU in the action, letting our readers tell us what questions they want to ask their ABDC favorites, and getting ABDC readers into local hip hop dance events as field reporters
  
• ABDC may be done, but hip hop dancing is thriving. We'll provide news and videos about other dance events including World of Dance, Hip Hop International, and any international Dance Crew competitions.
• We'll run forums, contests, and polls so that you can stay connected to others who love ABDC.

So stay with us! You'll be glad you did.
Photocredit: icanhascheezburger.com

Finale - first report from the press tent

We just returned from the America's Best Dance Crew taping. My ears are still ringing and I am still scraping confetti off my shoes. That was intense!

As with last season, I watched in the press tents with BABDC reporting crew members Sarah, Michelle, Cheryl, and with members of 21 other press outlets. Though there was some laughter (especially at the Ninja Turtle comment), wild cheering (at the Quest announcement), and lots of videotaping (why would you tape a TV in the press tent?), I missed on-line blogging and chat with this site's readers. Afterwards, we waited in an area suspiciously like a windtunnel, and finally got to see the stage around 30 minutes after the show stopped taping.

Then all hell broke loose. 22 media outlets and about 14 interviewable celebrities/crews = media feeding frenzy. We tried to interview Quest, but kept getting moved aside by other larger or more persistent camera crews. Man, I should have had my NY game going more. We did get to talk on camera to Shane Sparks, Randy Jackson, Ringmasters, Dynamic Edition, Beat Freaks, Strikers, and off camera to GOP, co-producer Howard Schwartz, Fanny Pak and JC Chasez.

No major revelations (except that there WILL be a Season 4), but we'll share the answers to our reader questions soon. And, we're going to try to talk to Quest tomorrow. No promises, but here's hoping... they did smile at us!

Survey: Which group gave the best performance at the ABDC Finale?

Survey: Which ABDC winner would win in a dance-off?

poll by twiigs.com

The Party Room/Critics Corner is NOW OPEN -- Join us!

The Critics Corner for America's Best Dance Crew Season 3's Finale is now open! Share your impressions, frustrations, hates and loves. Did America vote right? Were the group performances awesome or awkward? What strange things did the judges say this time? Give us your reactions to the Finale and to the season in general. We'll leave this post open and prominent, so you can comment all the way to Season 4!

ETA from Tbone: MTV is hosting an online after party with the ABDC Insider and Tim Kash featuring interviews with the crews, judges and various hangers-on. Keep your eye out for our own Nancy T! And of course the party will continue all night long right here on BABDC...

Photocredit: MTV

Live play-by-play blogging of ABDC Season 3 Finale!

At 10pm, TBone will be watching America's Best Dance Crew and live blogging the facts as he sees them. So tune in at 10 and feel free to read along!

Even though this software gives readers the option of sending comments, please post most of them on the separate Party Room/Critics Corner post instead (unless you REALLY want TBone to see your message real-time). Reason: with this software, reader comments must be manually inserted and he'll be pretty busy between the TV and the keyboard.

Survey: Which was your favorite America's Best Dance Crew Season?

Surveys say: Quest wins Season 3

The BloggingBestDanceCrew.com surveys indicate that Quest should beat out Beat Freaks and win America's Best Dance Crew Season 3:

• 82% of respondents said that Quest gave the best performances over the whole Season 3 (1,238 responses)
• 88% said that Quest gave the best Week 7 performance. (1,149 responses)
  

Of course, all that is based on the idea that our respondents are similar to the people who used MTV's voting system and that there was no major difference in how often partisans for Quest vs. Beat Freaks actually voted.

What would you do to make the Finale memorable?

We know that tonight's finale for America's Best Dance Crew Season 3 will have 3 group performances and the crowning of the Best Dance Crew. That leaves at least 20 minutes to fill. MTV could run retrospectives, have some individual performances, some interviews..all well and good.

But, if you were an ABDC producer, what would YOU do? What other performances and guests could they trot out to make it a truly memorable show? What retrospective footage would you want to see (the auditions, top moments, crew candids?

Youtube Spoof of ABDC Season 3

Tonight, America's Best Dance Crew brings back all of the Season 3 crews. To adequately prepare you, Ryanandangelo perform a 2-man summary of America's Best Dance Crew Season 3 in less than 4 minutes.

T0NIGHT: Join us for live blogging,The Critics Corner, and more

Thank God it's Thursday! Watch America's Best Dance Crew Season 3 Finale with us tonight! The Week 7 Critics Corner opens at 9:30 ET and stays open as long as you want, so that everyone can comment on anything remotely related to ABDC. What did you think of the group performances? Are you happy or mad at the season result? What would you like to see changed in Season 4 (providing there is a Season 4).

At 10pm ET, TBone be doing live play-by-play while watching the show, so feel free to tune in to get his take or to get a sneak preview of the action (for those of you from the West Coast/Canada/India or other ABDC-deprived zones). I'll be watching from a press tent in Los Angeles, preparing to interview crews and ABDC people on-stage after the show ends. I promise to visit the Critics Corner when I finally return to my motel room (it'll be late!)to see what you think. Perhaps I'll even have some scoop (or dirt) to share.

Coming up: Post Finale Interviews with Crews, judges and more

I just landed in Los Angeles, and can't wait to join the hordes of press doing post-finale interviews. Please come back in the next few days to watch interviews with as many crews and ABDC people as we can get to (asking questions submitted by our readers), read any scoops that I find, and read about what it's like after the show is over!

Beat Freaks Fans: Get Ready for B-Girl, the Movie!

America's Best Dance Crew Season 3 ends this week, but the Beat Freaks go on! Lady Jules is the star of an upcoming independent film called B-Girl, about a female breakdancer in the world of underground hip-hop. Fellow crew member Teresa was one of the chief choreographers for the film. It will also star Wesley Jonathan (Roll Bounce), Drew Sidora (Step Up 2), Aimee Garcia (The George Lopez Show), and stellar b-boys Flipz, Flearock, Legacy, Remedy, and Steelo. For more information on the film (and to see clips of the Beat Freaks), go to bgirlmovie.com and the BGirl Movie Youtube channel. Here's the trailer. We'll have updates and more information soon, we hope!

The Main Event Report Pt. 2: Performances!

On February 28, Bergen Performing Arts Center was packed with hip hop fans and dancers. Thirteen East Coast teams competed, hoping to win the first East Coast Main Event. Fr3sh Dance Company hosted the show and its three groups performed in the exhibition program, along with Boogie Bots, Lost Kids, Funkanometry SF, Project EM. It was a serious dance competition, using official score sheets from the Hip Hop Dance Association, and judged by dance professionals: Emerson Aquino and Gina Rosale (Funkanometry SF), Keone Madrid (Choreo Cookies), Rocko Luciano (Boxcuttuhz), Kyle Hanagami (The Lost Kids), and choreographer Mariel Martin. Brian Puspos (SoReal Cru) was also in the house to lend support. And the Master of Ceremonies was Brian East of Boogie Bots. Brian -- if Mario Lopez leaves America's Best Dance Crew, I nominate you to fill his shoes!

The place was packed and aroar. The competition differed from ABDC format, using full size crews (a dozen and more members) performing five minute programs. All of them captured the attention and love of the audience. For me, the best ones distinguished themselves through tough moves, precision, and holding my interest by varying how they changed up with their different subgroups, how they varied tempo and energy, and their use of surprise in transitions. My personal favorites were winners Rhythm City (who I loved at the ABDC auditions too), Capital Funk (second place), EPIC Motion (third place), and newcomers WRUSH. This competition was a supremely good idea for showcasing new talent and proving that the East Coast can stand up to the West.

The exhibition teams were amazing, giving lie to the idea that ABDC has used up all the best talent. Here's The Lost Kids:


Click here to see my performance videos of Boogie Bots and Fr3sh Dance Company, as well as other people's videos of Rhythm City and EPIC Motion.

Mailbox: Team Millennia workshops, Status Quo, Mario Lopez

Team Millennia 7 (the TM group that appeared on America's Best Dance Crew Season 3) will host a dance workshop (with meet-and-greets) on Saturday March 7 in Fullerton, CA. They plan to bring their workshop to other locations:, including the East Coast, over the next few months: March 21 - Stylz Dance Studio in Covina, CA; April 11 - Jayvee Dance in Alhambra CA; April 18 - Hype Studios in Torrance, CA; April 26- New York (location to be announced); April 27 -Step by Step Dancesport in Bergenfield NJ; May 16 -Studio 429 in Encinitas, CA

The Appalachian Online (the student newspaper for Appalachia State University) spoke with Status Quo when the crew performed locally. Status Quo describes how they met, how they came up with their crew name, what it was like to watch themselves on TV, and what's on their IPods. And, they plan to make a movie about hardcore street dancing.

Congratulations to Mario Lopez at receiving one of Cosmopolitan Magazine's Fun Fearless Male awards!

Hilarious Beat Freaks interview (with some dancing)

Sassy went to the studio and talked to Beat Freaks for Lemondrop.com. This is not your same-old, same-old video. Sassy (who sounds like Fran on The Nanny) asks the crew if the Octomom should train the babies to be dancers, what they'd do if they found out Quest were vampires, and dances with them using slinkies, fans, jump ropes and other props. And her bray-laugh stops the unflappable crew COLD.

Groups and Playlist for ABDC Finale

MTV Remote Control reports on America's Best Dance Crew group performances for the finale. Since geography was not emphasized this year, the judges chose how the crews would be grouped.

• Team 1: Boxcuttuhz, Beat Freaks, Team Millennia performing to "Just Dance" by Lady Gaga
• Team 2: Dynamic Edition, Strikers All-stars, and Quest performing to "Right Around" by Flo Rida
• Team 3: Fly Khicks, GOP, and Ringmasters performing to "Numba One (Tide is High)" by Kardinall Offishall ft. Keri Hilson

It appears that they tried to match (not mix) crew specialties for the crew that were not top 3, so that there is a choreo team, a 'footwork' team, and a 'street dance' team.
How would you have grouped the crews together?

JabbaWockeeZ in DJ Drama's new video

The Jabbawockeez are featured in DJ Drama's video for Day Dreaming. It also features Akon, Snoop Dogg, and T.I.

The Main Event Report Pt.1: Interviews with Boxcuttuhz, Lost Kids, Boogie Bots, ICONic

On February 28, Fr3sh Dance Troupe hosted The Main Event, the first dance East Coast hip hop competition. Twelve teams from DC, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, and New Jersey competed for the title, the trophy, and a winner's belt.

Before the show and during intermission, I talked to judges, teams, and audience members who had an America's Best Dance Crew connection: Rocko from Boxcuttuhz, Brian (Boogie Mind) from Boogie Bots, Brandon Tyler from ICONic, and the Lost Kids (who auditioned for Season 3, and are favorites of many of my readers). They discussed their ABDC experience, how the show impacted them, who they want to win this season (my favorite phrase: The Lost Kid's 'Freak the Quest'!), and showed me some of their favorite moves.

Here's my noisy hallway interview with Boxcuttuhz' Rocko: Click here to see the interviews with Brandon, Brian, and the Lost Kids. And come back later for a report on the performances, complete with videos of the Lost Kids, Fr3sh Dance Company, Boogie Bots, and the winning crews.

Retrospective on Season 3 Crews

MTV Remote Control posted new video of America's Best Dance Crew Season 3 teams prior to their first appearances on the show. The season went by quickly!

Beat Freaks wins the internet war, but will it matter?

Maria at A Time to Dance analyzes how Quest and Beat Freaks use the web's social networking tools. Her conclusion -- Beat Freaks wins hands-down. Here's her comparison:

• Beat Freaks and its fans take full advantage of free tools including a Wordpress blog, a Facebook page, a Youtube channel, MySpace page, and twitter. The FreaktheVote.com site has a professional look and feel, with voting access
  
• Quest's website is less oriented toward fans, and Maria thinks the mission statement is more corporate than social. Their Facebook and Myspace pages have relatively low usage and there is no Twitter or Youtube channel

My question: will this make a difference in who wins the title of America's Best Dance Crew this season? Should it?

Talk of Fame injures himself with Fly Khicks!

For the last several weeks, when Albert Lawrence at Talk of Fame interviewed eliminated ABDC crews, he's taken a dance lesson from them. Well, this week he visited Fly Khicks after they were eliminated from America's Best Dance Crew in Week 7. The results are painful for me to watch!

EMPOWER Benefit Field Report, with ASIID & Supreme Soul Interviews

Field reporter Jayne Kanishak (who also writes YouLovetoWatch, a blog devoted to Reality TV) attended the EMPOWER benefit produced by Soulciety.org. Here's her report, complete with interviews with ASIID and Supreme Soul:

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the Soulciety show in Alameda, CA, featuring ABDC alumni Supreme Soul and ASIID. Smart Mark from Phresh Select also did a smashing solo performance.

Soulciety was organized by Ron Carino in an effort to educate and benefit underprivileged youth overseas. The Alameda installment of the non-profit fundraiser was packed to the reafters with amazing talent. From beat boxing, to turntablism, to turntablism with a solo violinist, to spoken word, to some of the freshest, most unique (check out Ill Abilities) dancing Alameda has seen in a while, the truly wonderful acts kept a smile on my face for the entire two-hour show. The energy was upbeat with positive vibes coming from the crowd. It really was a great night and a very successful show. ASIID started the night off right with a touching lyrical piece to Halo by Beyonce. This was a very technical and difficult piece; something we really didn't get to see from the group on ABDC. I was totally impressed. Later in the evening, ASIID brought the house down with a slamming combination of jazz and hip-hop. Their choreography and musicality was fun and flirty and their performance was full of attitude and sass. You should have seen the girls in the audience screaming for Joey! It seems that he has attained rock-star status in Alameda!

After the show, I had a very chill, impromptu backstage interview with Melissa and Tristan (and Della at the end) from ASIID, where they also reveal who they are cheering for at the end. Despite the fact that I more or less intruded on their backstage downtime, they were incredibly sweet and ready to talk. Honestly, I felt like I was just kickin' it with my friends. They were so laid back and unaffected by the fame that they've attained since ABDC. Talking to them was just easy. Thanks go out to them for taking time out to talk with me and for giving such an amazing performance later in the night!


Click here for rest of Jayne's report, including her description of Supreme Soul's performance and highlights from her interview with the crew. Thanks Jayne!

Get your SoReal Cru news from their new Street Team website

SoRealCru Street Team is now online. This site is more than a fansite. Besides having bios, pictures, and videos of the America's Best Dance Crew Season 2 favorites, it promotes all the SoReal Cru events, including SoReal Cru TV, their apparel site, and upcoming shows. Also, because they have close contact with many of the crew members, they can answer questions from SoReal when the crew is too busy to handle all their fanmail (like when they are out on tour). So, sign up today and you won't miss any SoReal Cru news!

Freak the Vote TV thanks fans, urges more voting!

Freak the Vote TV has been presenting entertaining videos all Season 3 long. This week, they thank fans and urge them to keep the voting up all week long.

Mailbox: Lil Mama interview, great ratings, crew videos and your dose of Detox

• Bossip interviews Lil Mama about her music, her life, and her role on America's Best Dance Crew. Here, she talks about her unique role on ABDC: "I bring swag and identity. I definitely inspire the show... As you can see a lot of the crews wear studs in their clothes. They wear bright colors. That’s all inspired by Lil’ Mama. Before that, that style wasn’t on our show or any show...It’s so many people that love my style and love what I bring"
• If MTV cancels America's Best Dance Crew, it shouldn't be based on ratings alone. According to TV By the Numbers, last week's ABDC delivered its highest ratings since the Season 1 finale for people aged 12-24
• Pacific Rim uploaded 11 new backstage videos of Quest, Beat Freaks, and Fly Khicks
  
• LMFAO help Jim Cantiello figure out this week's ABDC
• Detox - MTV Shows
  
  

More Week 7 Recaps from all over

The America's Best Dance Crew recappers are pulling out all the accolades for Quest's Week 7 performance.

• Spoil the Ending thought the show was 'fire' and can't figure out who to vote for anymore
• Reality TV thinks the tide had turned (at least in the studio audience) for Quest
• You Love to Watch lists the 5 reasons she loves Quest
• Buddy TV calls it 'a whole new ball game' and cites Steve's somersault over 2 Quest crew members as the move of the evening