Video of the day: US Troops in Afghanistan dance to "Telephone"

This video of some US troops in Afghanistan dancing to Lady Gaga/Beyonce's "Telephone" already has about 1,400,000 hits. The whole thing is pretty entertaining, and the dancing really starts around 1:40.

Paper or plastic: What Randy Jackson does during the ABDC off-season

Randy Jackson appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show on April 26, 2010. On the show, Randy goes back to his roots by working at his first job: bagging groceries. Kidding aside: the dawg's gracious and humble. Clip comes from TheDailyBeast.com's weekly roundup of viral videos.

ABDC5 Favorites: Blueprint's "Funhouse" for Week 6's Magic Challenge

Next up in our recap of America's Best Dance Crew's Season 5 favorite performances: Blueprint Cru's performance of "Funhouse" in Nationals Week 6 (the Magic Challenge) was voted by our survey respondents as one of the best for the ABDC5 Season. Here it is. Thanks for the links, Teldon!

MTV Shows

Watch JabbaWockeeZ on the Jimmy Fallon Show here!

JabbaWockeeZ (America's Best Dance Crew Season 1 Champions) appeared on the Jimmy Fallon Show on April 30, 2010 to promote their upcoming Las Vegas show MUS.I.C. You can watch them in the full episode here starting at 39.23 (just after the fifth on-line commercial break). 

Video: Massive Monkees in Korea

Massive Monkees battled in Korea in February 2009. This video shows some spontaneous rap and dance after the competition. From Jeromeskeeice Youtube Channel.

ABDC5 Favorites: Saltare in Week 5's Usher Challenge

Next up in our recap of America's Best Dance Crew's Season 5 favorite performances: Saltare's performance of "Caught Up" in Nationals Week 5 (the Usher Challenge) was voted by our survey respondents as one of the best for the ABDC5 Season. Here it is. Thanks for the links, Teldon!

MTV Shows

Field agent report: Ninjaboi's meeting with Quest at Disney Grad Nite

Field Report Summary: Operation DGN10 

Location/Time: 2200 EST, 04/17/2010 – 0400 EST, 04/18/2010
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort, Florida

Objectives:
-Meet and Greet with Quest Crew, ABDC Season 3 champions
-Acquire Interview asking reader questions
-Acquire Video of performances
-Acquire reader shoutouts from Quest
-Acquire autographs and photographs 

Field Agents:  Agent Ninjaboi (and non BABDC affiliated classmates)
Assisting Agents: Agent Nancy (BABDC Moderator), Agent Jerry (Quest Crew LLC) 

Background Information:
      Disney Grad Nite is an event held at the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, for graduating senior classes in Florida between 10pm and 4am for 4 nights in late April to provide the equivalent of a senior class trip before AP exams and such begin.  Along with allowing guests to ride most of the rides at night with fewer lines, live entertainment in provided (such as Quest Crew, Paramore, Keri Hilson, and All Time Low), today’s top music is played instead of the normal Disney soundtrack, and different themed dance floors and DJs are available. 
Click here to read the rest of this VERY entertaining field report. Thanks Agent Ninjaboi!

Upcoming Events - Week of April 30

4/30: Poreotix workshop at Team Millennia Dance Studio in LaHabra, CA 

4/30: Quest performing at Kollaboration in Columbus, MO 

4/30: Super Cr3w showcase in at SUNY Oswego in NY

4/30-5/1: Beat Freaks at Disney Grad Nights in Orlando, FL

5/1: DraZtik, Static Noyze, Phunk Phenonomen, NIA, and many other crews at Prelude New England in Boston

5/1: Wyld Styl performs at 'East Meets West' VIII in Houston, TX 

5/1: Quest performing at 2 Countries 1 Cause benefit in Philadelphia, PA

5/1: Heavy Impact workshop at Team Millennia Dance Studio in LaHabra, CA 

5/1: Vogue Evolution workshop at Gloria Eve Foundation in Hempstead NY

5/2: Vogue Evolution at The Mezzanine in State College, PA

5/2: Matt Cady (Fanny Pak) workshop in Chicago, IL

5/7-5/26: JabbaWockeeZ (with Super Cr3w as featured performers) in MUS.I.C. in Las Vegas, NV.

Post-ABDC Party Room now open - Join in!

The Second ABDC5 Memorial Party Room is now open!  Celebrate (or mourn) Thursdays without ABDC, or start some early May Day revelries. Join other like-minded people (or interesting strangers) to talk about Americas Best Dance Crew, dance, and topics too odd to predict. 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.

This is your party -- snark, humor, nostalgia and almost everything else (except obscenity and abject disrespect) are expected and welcome!

Image credit: LaughingSquid.com

ABDC5 Favorites; Poreotix from Week 4's Disco Challenge

Moving forward in our recap of America's Best Dance Crew's Season 5 favorite performances. Poreotix's performance of "Dancing Machine" in Nationals Week 4 (the Disco Challenge) was voted by our survey respondents as one of the best for the ABDC5 Season. Here it is. Thanks for the links, Teldon!

MTV Shows

Prelude New England on May 1: Draztik, Static Noyze, Phunk Phenomenon, NIA, E3 & more!

Prelude New England hits Lynn, MA on Saturday May 1. Exhibition crews include Draztik (on America's Best Dance Crew Season 5's regional auditions), Static Noyze 6 (the group that appeared on ABDC5) Phunk Phenomenon, LilPhunk, and Side Project. Some of the competitors are familiar names to readers who follow our coverage of the ABDC auditions, including NIA, E3, and Wrush. Click here for all the details and to buy tickets.

Yes, we will have another post-ABDC Party Room tonight!

Back due to popular demand: tonight there will be another open thread Party Room in honor of TNWABDC (Thursday Nights Without ABDC).   It will open at 9:30 and run until whenever. And, as usual you are free to talk about anything as long as it is not obscene or libelous. See you soon!

Favorite video of the day: Hungarian Dance Crew!

A reader commented on this video of a dance crew on Hungarian TV. Though the moves are relatively simple, the synchronization and overall choreography make for a compelling performance.

We are Heroes' Hiro to be featured in Justin Bieber/Sean Kingston Video "Eenie Meenie"

Hiro from We are Heroes will be one of many featured dancers on the new video for Justin Bieber and Sean Kingston's 'Eenie Meenie'. Here's a preview for the video. Thanks for the link, Austin!

New Contest starts today: ABDC Blowup!

Want to see more of America's Best Dance Crew? We're bringing back some of our favorite images -- but you'll have to look CLOSELY! This is a new contest created the "The 4th ABDC Judge". He's blown up parts of photos from ABDC Seasons 1-5. All images can be found somewhere on MTV.com. Your task: Name that crew.

Rules: This contest will go on for several weeks, and the person with the highest cumulative number of answers will win a Tshirt or other merchandise of his/her choice, worth up to $35. If there is a tie, we will randomly choose the winner. To make it a little harder, we are disabling the comments for the contest posts. Send your answer to abdccontest@gmail.com; we will NOT confirm whether you have the right answer. Please do not post your answer in on this site or elsewhere -- we want to keep this fair. If I find that you've posted the answer online, you are permanently disqualified from the contest and banned from all comments. Answers for this week's puzzle must be received by midnight May 3, 2010

Here's this week's image and a clue with VERY DELIBERATELY chosen words: 'sharp dressing for a sharp crew'. Happy hunting!

ABDC5 Favorites: Blueprint Cru for Week 3's Lady Gaga Challenge

More in our recap of America's Best Dance Crew's Season 5 favorite performances. Blueprint Cru's performance of "Bad Romance" in Nationals Week 3 (the Lady Gaga Challenge) was voted by our survey respondents as one of the best for the ABDC5 Season. Here it is. Thanks for the links, Teldon!

MTV Shows

JabbaWockeeZ profile in Las Vegas Weekly: Seeking Massage Therapists as 'interns'

Las Vegas Weekly talks about JabbaWockeeZ upcoming Las Vegas show. Read it here (thanks for the tip, Karen Chu!). Some highlights:

•  They have been putting in 20 hours days to handle all the choreography, training, press, and meetings needed to mount the show
• JabbaWockeeZ member Chris Gatula joked about internship opportunities with the crew: "Any chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists if they want to do any interning..."

Mailbox: Korean popstar shoutout to SoReal Cru Andrew, ICONic GEO website, Jungle Boogie

• Korean pop superstar Jay Park Beom has a shoutout to SoReal Cru's Andrew Baterina at 4:50 in this Stirfry TV video,. Thanks for the link, Georgie!
• ICONic leader GEO (from ABDC Season 1) has launched a new website: HipHopGEO.com. GEO blogs about his work and his dance. From GEO: "I want to create a space where artists can set goals following a positive example. If they're a dancer they can make it a career and a business by taking on the lifestyle of being ICONic and putting it in motion, like I did...It's time for the Be ICONic motto to make its way into the industry."
• Jungle Boogie will be featured performers at the National Talent Search show in Atlanta on June 11. NationaltalentsearchUSA.com has the details, including a special section for dance crews who want to compete in the regional competitions across the US

Talk of Fame at the ABDC Finale: Poreotix, Blueprint, Saltare, the judges, Randy and more!

Albert at Talk of Fame has assembled clips of his interviews on the red carpet after America's Best Dance Crew's Season 5 Finale. He talks to Randy Jackson about the West Coast's dominance, Omarion about his work on ABDC, Blueprint Cru and Saltare about the East Coast jump rope routine in the finale, Jungle  Boogie on showing their bodies, Lil Mama calling Poreotix the new Ninja Turtles, We are Heroes on Poreotix, and how Poreotix incorporated the crowd in their winning routine.

ABDC5 Favorites: Hype 5-0 in Week 2 Music Video Challenge

More in our recap of America's Best Dance Crew's Season 5 favorite performances. Hype 5-0's performance of "3" in Nationals Week 2 (the Music Video Challenge) was voted by our survey respondents as one of the best for the ABDC5 Season. Here it is. Thanks for the links, Teldon!

MTV Shows