Saturday, July 11, 2009

Something different at LA auditions: No Label

Most of the videos that I've seen of the LA auditions for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4 present dancers doing styles that are very close to traditional hip hop or bboying. There are few cowboys, tapdancers, or other 'outside' styles.

Here's one notable exception: No Label from Los Angeles, CA. This is one graceful and lyrical audition incorporating ballet and interpretive dance. It's difficult to say if they are ABDC material without seeing their choreography callback, but their audition stands out.

Mailbox: Supreme Soul, Quest, Lil Mama

  • Pharside posts a video of Supreme Soul's new studio called House of Mayhem, complete with dance clips, candids, and artwork
  • Speaking of artwork - Quest's Hok has his work featured in the latest issue of Think Contra. Congratulations!
  • Lil Mama reflects on lip gloss, literacy programs and America's Best Dance Crew in this interview with NBCNewYork.com

Friday, July 10, 2009

BloggingABDC is One Year old today!

BloggingBestDanceCrew.com had its first meager posts one year ago today. I want to thank all of you for making my work so much fun.. I appreciate all of you watching the shows and the crews of America's Best Dance Crew Seasons 2 and 3 with me, sharing your opinions, and making inspired suggestions!

So thanks and I hope you'll stick around for Season 4 and beyond!

Video: Randy Jackson and LA Audition Freestylers

While readers are heatedly debating the pros and cons of the different crews that auditioned for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4, I wanted to share footage of some cool time at the LA auditions. Randy Jackson took a break to talk with some of the crews that were waiting their turn and to cheer on some free style dancing.

Send some love to Phillip Chbeeb - leaving SYTYCD

Phillip Chbeeb of Marvelous Motion as voted off So You Think You Can Dance last night, after making it to the final 12. We will miss seeing him each week. He was obviously a master of hip hop. He also showed great style in other dances, especially this week's jive routine. He had a somewhat goofy and self-effacing way about him that made him a favorite with many, many fans.

So, feel free to use the comments to send POSITIVE messages to Phllip.

Photocredit: Fox TV

Upcoming Events - Week of July 10

  • Super Cr3w: July 11 at Kababayan Fest at California's Great America; July 12 Meet-and-greet from 4-6pm in at Shiekh store in Milpitas, CA
  • Kaba Modern: July 13-14. Mike Song will be at the International Sommerkurse 2009 in Zurich Switzerland
  • The JabbaWocKeeZ tour with New Kids on the Block continues

Thursday, July 9, 2009

More NY audition footage: should Shhh! be heard from again?

The auditions for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4 prompted return tryouts from people who had already appeared on ABDC, including members of Status Quo and Supreme Soul. Shhh! had been eliminated during the live audition show for ABDC 2, but returned to NY on June 14, 2009 for a shot at ABDC4.

Here's Shhh!'s audition (from SemiToastySushi's Youtube channel -- the people who also bring you SuperCr3w.com) and their choreography callback performance (from our own channel). Should Shhh! get a second chance?

Congratulations to Live In Color for success on America's Got Talent!

Live In Color (from America's Best Dance Crew Season 1) passed their America's Got Talent audition and are on to the Las Vegas Round. If you want to watch their 15 seconds on screen, click here, watch commercials, and fast forward to 18:42. Congratulations!

We know from advance photos that Break Sk8 also auditioned for this season's AGT. Will AGT soon be airing a rematch of America's Best Dance Crew Season 1 surrounded by flutists, magicians, and animal acts?

Shane Sparks teaching Knicks City Dancers

Shane Sparks showed the 68 Knicks City Dancer semi-finalists some moves this week. He taught them ahard-core hip hop routine and the women competed to make it to the next round. Then 30 dancers were selected to move on to KCD Training Camp (July7-9). At the end of camp, 17 dancers and 5 finalists will be selected for an online vote to win the 18th spot on the team, which will be unveiled at the July 10 Team Announcement Event at The Hill.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Congratulations ICONic for success on America's Got Talent!

ICONic (from America's Best Dance Crew Season 1) was a hit on the June 7 America's Got Talent, impressing the judges and moving on to the next round in Las Vegas. Congratulations. To watch, click here, sit through a commercial and fast forward to 28:36.

Survey: Who will MTV pick for ABDC 4?

It's YOUR turn to vote on who you think MTV will pick for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4 (NOT who you personally would pick!). We don't have the full lineups for any of the cities here (either due to lack of info, lack of videos, or our own personal choices), but here's a good sample of the crews that auditioned for Season 4. Sorry if we didn't include your favorite crew on the list! To help you choose, you can watch LA videos here, NY videos here, and Chicago/Orlando videos here.

You can pick as many crews as you want, but please try to keep it to 9 choices total, since MTV will only pick 9 crews. This survey will be open for about a week, or until MTV officially announces the ABDC 4 crews. And, we will run a second survey in about a week to let you pick which crews YOU personally would choose for ABDC4.
Thanks for the idea and the help, ILogan!

Step Up 3-D: Rehearsal Footage

DefyOne posted about her experience on the Step Up 3 set, and shot video of some of the rehearsal session. Thanks for the tip, Melissa and SuperCr3w.com!


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

What ARE the top ABDC performances of all time?

Now that MTV has announced they will run a clip show with the top America's Best Dance Crew performances for Seasons 1-3 (aka 'all time'!), SOMEONE's got to decide what they are. We've run surveys in the past for the Best of 2008 (Seasons 1-2) and the Best of Season 3. But what would you nominate now??

Clip Special --" ABDC Top 10 Performances of all Time" to air August 2 on MTV

MTV has just announced that "to kick off another season and tide fans over until they can get more of the electrifying routines they love, Randy Jackson will count down the best crew performances from seasons past in a 60-minute MTV clip special called 'Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dane Crew Top Ten Performances of all Time.' " It will air on August 2 at 9pm ET/PT.

The release also announces that there will be nine crews competing at the beginning of Season 4 and that the season opener on August 9 will run for 90 minutes, starting at 9pm ET/PT. There will be 8 episodes in the new season.

Live stream Michael Jackson Memorial: July 7, starting 12:55ET, 9:55PT

Click here to watch on Hulu.

NY ABDC Audition Highlights: Wrush

We've got a few more videos we want to show from the NY auditions for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4, to give you a sense for how fierce it really was that day. The daily reminder: we have no influence with MTV and the ABDC audition judges, and we have no inside information on the choices being made.

Today, we feature Wrush from Boston. They rushed in at the end of the auditions and had less time than most of the other crews to prepare for the choreography callbacks. Nevertheless, their callback is one of my favorites, since it shows a broad range in dance styles that still seem to fit together (giving them a leg up for dance challenges) and the confidence to pull it off. Click here for Wrush's website.

Compilation: Chicago and Orlando auditioners for ABDC 4

In a few days, we will run a survey asking readers to vote on which crews they think MTV has chosen for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4 (In a few weeks, we'll also run a variation, asking which crews do you think they SHOULD have picked. To help you out, I am putting together posts for each of the cities, listing many (but not all) of the crews that we know auditioned this season. If there are posted videos at this time to their auditions, I'll use that; otherwise I'll link to a recent performance video (unless there are no good examples available). If you know of others, please leave a comment and a video suggestion. Here's the current list for Chicago and Orlando:

ASIID in rehearsal

ASIIDCrew TV has a new video introducing the crew members and showing them in rehearsal.

Monday, July 6, 2009

NY ABDC Audition Highlights: Rhythm City

This week, I'll highlight a few more of my favorite NY auditions for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4, though I can't post about all the great crews who came out. Important: Please remember and believe me that I have no inside information on who will be picked and absolutely no influence on MTV or the ABDC audition judges. None. Nada.

Today's spotlight is on Rhythm City. They had a kickass audition for ABDC Season 3 and have won or placed in several 2009 East Coast competitions, including World of Dance NY and Prelude EC . They bring an intensity and immediacy that is rare even for the crews that have competed on previous seasons of America's Best Dance Crew.

Video Compilation: NY Season 4 auditioners

In a few days, we will run a survey asking readers to vote on which crews they think MTV has chosen for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4 (In a few weeks, we'll also run a variation, asking which crews do you think they SHOULD have picked.

To help you out, I am putting together posts for each of the cities, listing many (but not all) of the crews that we know auditioned this season. If there are posted videos at this time to their auditions, I'll use that; otherwise I'll link to a recent performance video. Sorry if I don't include your crew at this time -- I'm trying to keep it to the list with the biggest current 'buzz'. And, I still have a few more NY audition highlights posts for this week -- not done yet! Here's the NY list:

United Styles Bboy competition to be held in Boston August 1- 2

The beginning of August is a hot time for dance competitions. Boston will be the site of the United Styles Competition, featuring up to 70 dance crews competing for major money and the United Styles Bboy cup in their 5 on 5 competition. The weekend also has master classes on air moves, headspins, rocking, and popping taught by Kid Freeze, Fast Break, and others. Click here for more information.
Click here to buy tickets.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

LA Audition Highlights: Artistry in Motion

Salima Koroma attended 4 hours of the Los Angeles auditions for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4, and sent us videos of some of her favorite crews. IMPORTANT INFORMATION: we have no inside information on the results of the auditions and no influence with MTV or the ABDC audition judges. So this represents her impressions and nothing official.

Today's featured crew: Artistry in Motion. As they express in this video interview with the Los Angeles Times (near the bottom of the article), the crew aims to bridge the gap between contemporary dance and hip hop, while bringing ethnic pride into the mix.

Video Compilation: Highlights from LA auditions

In a few days, we will run a survey asking readers to vote on which crews they think MTV has chosen for America's Best Dance Crew Season 4 (In a few weeks, we'll also run a variation, asking which crews do you think they SHOULD have picked, so keep track of your favorites NOW!).

To help you out, I am putting together posts for each of the cities, listing many (but not all) of the crews that we know auditioned this season. If there are posted videos at this time to their auditions, I'll use that; otherwise I'll link to a recent performance video (unless there are no good examples available). Sorry if I don't include you at this time -- I'm trying to keep it to the list with the biggest current 'buzz'. Here's the LA list:


Mailbox: SC3's RonnieBoy, SoReal Cru, Quest's Tutting Truck

  • ChinaShop covers Super Cr3w's Ronnie Abaldonado (RonnieBoy) as he visits Orlando,Florida, with loads of photos. Here's Part I, about the screening of Turn It Loose. Part II documents his dance workshop the next day. Thanks for the tip to Melissa at Supercr3w.com
  • SoRealCruTV has a segment with choreography from Brian Puspos.
  • From aaadfhhlnrsv's Youtube channel, Quest doing their tutting routine in the back of a pickup truck