Recaps and reactions from all over! The word on ABDC VMA Icons show! #abdc

• Aaron and his LittleBlogofDance provides both ABDC history and discusssion of dance technique to justify the elimination. And, thanks Aaron for BABDC's new banner!
• Entertainment Weekly highlights standout moves for each crew in its writeup  
• LA Times does a quick recap, then interviews Riquel Olander of We are Heroes about sacrifices, disappointment, the future, and her prediction for this season
• MTV interviews TPain on the elimination

New Blogging ABDC Contest -- predict the Top 5 in order! #abdc #abdc8

Now that eliminations have begun, it's time to run a contest to predict the results of the rest of the season. Who will win it all? What's the boot order?

The Top 5 contest: Submit the names of the top 5 crews -- in the order that they'll finish. For example, in Season 5 the winning entry would have read " FINAL 5: 1. Poreotix 2. Blueprint Cru 3. Hype 5-0 4. Jungle Boogie 5. Saltare" Note: if you change your mind, you can enter again the next week, but we will only accept the FIRST entry from each commenter each week (PLEASE DO NOT USE MULTIPLE IDENTITIES!!!). The prize goes to the first person to get it right, based on the week they submit the answer. If more than one person submits the right answer in that same week, we'll employ a tiebreaker rule to be determined.

To enter: Each week, we'll publish a new post for this contest. When the weekly post is up, add a comment with the names of the final 5, specifying the final order. Subsequent weeks' entries will be accepted from Thursdays (once I put up the new contest post) until midnight ET the following Monday. Yes I know there is a chance for spoilers since the program tapes the day after the prior show airs. That's why you need to get the order right as soon as possible! You can enter the contest now -- deadline for the first entry: Midnight August 10. This week's contest is not closed. Enter again on Thursday for your next shot at truth and glory

IMPORTANT:

• Create a user name you will use every week for the entire contest, and make it memorable (not just a common first name or word).
• MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE THE WORDS 'TOP 5' in the comment (so I can search for them easily)

Good luck! During Season 4, we didn't get a correct entry until 1 week before the season ended, so keep entering if you change your mind! 

Ninjaboi's Review of ABDC8's Episode 2 (aka what the judges aren't telling you!) #abdc

 So last week was not a weird collective hallucination/dream, America’s Best Dance Crew is actually back, and we have a second week’s worth of routines to look at analyze, and pick apart in way too much detail. (Wait that’s just me? Really? Okay then… I guess someone has to).

For those of you who somehow stumbled upon this site randomly (Only a 4.22 x 10^-31 chance that you randomly selected from the 26 letters before adding a dotcom, by the way) for the first time today, my name is Ninjaboi, one of the content contributors/advocates/moderators/lifelong member of this site, thanks to the kindness and grace of our fearless leader Nancy.  I have way too much free time on my hand (or a horrible sense of priorities and time management, it’s hard to tell which sometimes), an unhealthy obsession with excel (seriously though, have you used Excel in an English class? I have), and a deep love for this show, dance in general and this site. Put it all together and you’ve got this review you’re reading right now.

This week, our former champions (plus Kinjaz) dance to songs by “VMA Icons” which in all honesty, really is still pretty open ended.  They did try to emulate different artists in their sets, and we’ll just have to see how well they did.  In the end though, dance trumps challenge, so long as the challenge is met at a minimum. And with an open ended challenge like this, there’s no real reason for the dancing to not be top notch. 

Ninjaboi's ratings for the night (on a scale of 1-20)

1) Super Cr3w - 19

2) Kinjaz - 15

3) Quest Crew - 14

4) Elektrolytes - 13
5) I.aM.mE - 12

6) We Are Heroes - 10

The full review (and explanation continues here - definitely worth the read for dance fans. Thanks again Ninjaboi for the insights! 

Are you going to tonight's ABDC taping? Tell us about it!

America's Best Dance Crew Season 8 tapes again tonight with The VMA Fashion Challenge. If you will be in the audience (or backstage or press or performing!), please let us know (almost) all about it --- what you think of the performances, music choices, clothes, and what a fashion challenge even means. Just please do not include spoilers:  DO NOT reveal who is in the bottom and who goes home. 

If you want to attend a performance in the weeks ahead, go to 1iota.com.

Videos: Mashable dance lessons from Kinjaz, Quest Crew #abdc

Mashable has some exclusive dance lessons based on America's Best Dance Crew routines. Today's lesson: Kinjaz teaches steps from the OMG performance in Episode 2. Click here to watch the Quest Crew lesson

What was your favorite crew in ABDC8's Episode 2? #abdc

What was your least favorite crew for ABDC8's Episode 2? #abdc #abdc8

ABDC Party Room and Critics Corner now open! Join us! #abdc

The Party Room/Critics Corner for ABDC 8's Episode 2 is now open! Join lots of other readers, fans (or not) as they vent on what they love and what they hate. IMPORTANT: If you want to write a long comment, write in in NotePad or Word and then paste it into the comments field. Otherwise, all your work may disappear if someone posts something new while you're in the middle of writing.  JUST BELOW THIS POST IS OUR LIVE BLOG -- Join us there during the show taping!

Did the right crew get sent home? Any highlights? What should they change in the ensuing weeks? Let us know what you think!

Join us NOW for Live Play-by-Play of ABDC's Episode 2! #abdc

This is live play-by-play for tonight's America's Best Dance Crew Season 8 Episode 2. Follow along or keep up with the show if you can't watch it immediately. It's not easy to simultaneously watch the show, write about it, AND monitor the comments, so please leave most of your long comments at the Party Room/Critics Corner post above this post! You should be able to sign in on the platform the first time you try to leave a comment. So -- dive in and watch with us.

Video clip of ABDC8's Ep. 2 opening number - watch now! #abdc

JustJared.com has an exclusive clip of tonight's opening number featuring all 6 crews:

Video: I.aM.mE explain how their style has evolved #ABDC #ABDC8

Emilio and Moon take a moment to let us know what they have done since they won. They also tell us how their style has evolved especially since they added new members.

Video: Elektrolytes get chill about Week Two (with potential spoiler?) #ABDC #ABDC8

Joey and Sal take time out to let us know they are both enjoying the competition. Watch and see how they are getting ready for this week. And pay particular attention to 0:22 -- unintentional spoiler?

We're at Hip-Hop International 2015! | Follow us on Facebook and Instagram

I'm here LIVE at HHI 2015. You can follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Blogging Best Dance and see all the happenings here in SoCal! Today begins the World Championships with the Junior and Adult divisions.

Who do you guys want to see? Leave us a comment on Facebook or Instagram and I'll hook it up!

BLOGGING BEST DANCE

Join us tonight for ABDC live play-by-play, party room, surveys ++ #abdc

Tonight is Episode 2 of America's Best Dance Crew's Road to the VMAs. We'll be watching  at 11pm ET/PT, 10pm other timezones and will open our live-blogging post about 15 minutes before showtime. We welcome the comments, observations, and clean snark of the community. 

We'll also have a Party Room/Critics Corner post for you to comment on what you've seen, as well as a few surveys. And, let us know if you feel inspired enough to write a recap in the next days. And, let us know if you're planning to attend tomorrow's taping!

Hope to hear from you tonight!

Survey results for ABDC Episode 1 - I.aM.Me #1, We are Heroes #6

Thanks for voting in our survey last week on your favorite and least favorite performances for the premiere episode of America's Best Dance Crew Season 8. 

Out of almost 600 votes, the favorite crew was I.aM.mE (32.6%), followed by Kinjaz (30.7%) and Quest Crew (23.7%). Out of almost 400 votes, the least favorite crew of the week was We Are Heroes (49.0%) followed by Elektrolytes (31.4%). 

Please vote again tomorrow after the show!

Video: Quest Crew faces a game changer #ABDC #ABDC8

Steve and Rudy talk about a major wrench that was thrown into the crew's plan for this week. Will they be able to overcome this? Tune in this Wednesday night to find out!

Video: Super Cr3w stratagizes for Episode Two #ABDC #ABDC8

Members Neguin and Ben explain how they are getting ready for this week and liken the whole experience to a strategy game.

HHI USA Championship Results

The results are in! Here are your USA Hip Hop Champions going on to compete at Worlds.

Junior Division

Gold: CLASSIC of West Covina, CA - 8.56
Silver: CHAPKIDZ of Suisun City, CA - 8.19
Bronze: THE PRODIGY of Las Vegas, NV - 7.96

Varsity Division

Gold: MINIOTICS of Orange, CA - 8.73
Silver: KABA KIDS of Irvine, CA - 8.30
Bronze: ILL HABITS of San Diego, CA - 8.13

Adult Division

Gold: OUTLAWZ of Gilbert, AZ - 8.85
Silver: PROPHECY of Suisun City, CA - 8.66
Bronze: 1UPCrew of Oakland, CA - 8.65

Megacrew Division

Gold: THE DROP FAM of Tucson, AZ - 9.29
Silver: CHAPKIS DANCE FAMILY of Suisun City, CA - 9.21
Bronze: ELEKTRO ACADEMY of Gilbert, AZ - 8.93

It was a long night last night. My favorite performances were from Kaba Kids and Miniotics. It should be noted that Aria aka Babywockee is dancing with Kaba Kids (they grow up so fast! ::tear::). I didn't catch their performance, but Ill Habits received a roaring reaction when the hometown crew placed third. And chants of ::A-Z! A-Z! A-Z!:: filled the ballroom as two of their megacrews took home medals. The atmosphere here is ALIVE!

Its been awhile since USA has gone far in the Worlds (Academy of Villains?). Let's see if they can keep up with the international crews! We'll keep you posted here and be sure to follow HHI on Facebook for live commentary on this week's events!

Watch Hip-Hop International USA Finals RIGHT NOW!

Head on over to HipHopInternational.com right now to watch the USA Hip Hop Finals in all four divisions - Junior, Varsity, Adult & Megacrew. Remember, the top three crews in each division go on to the World Championship and represent the USA. Good luck to all the crews!

WATCH HIP-HOP INTERNATIONAL USA FINALS NOW!

Video: Kinjaz tell us how they are getting ready for Week Two #ABDC #ABDC8

Members Darren and M-Pact talk us through the nerves they felt last week and what they plan on doing this week. They also mention they are saving their big guns for later on. Will it pay off? Find out this Wednesday!

Video: We are Heroes explain how they are going to bring it. #ABDC #ABDC8

One of only two champions to be in the bottom three times, We are Heroes is no stranger to fighting for their lives. In this video Riquel and Sara talk about how they are preparing for the upcoming battle and how they are getting ready for this week's challenge. Best of luck ladies!!!