It's not easy putting together an ABDC trivia contest. I thought that we had a simple to understand (but difficult to solve) question for Week 4:"What is the only crew in America's Best Dance Crew history to replace more than half its members from the original audition?" It turns out there were two equally correct ways to understand the question:
If you consider only one season, Saltare was the only crew to replace more than half its members. Due to personal conflicts and issues with school, only two of the original six crew members who auditioned in Season 5 actually participated that season.
If you focused on the word 'original' in the question, then you could think of the question as covering multiple auditions and seasons. Legendary 7 participated in Season 5, but a few of the members tried out on Season 1 and performed on the show as Status Quo. This was NOT the intended answer, but is a legitimate reading of the question.
Even with multiple acceptable answers, there were only 10 correct responses this week. That means that anyone can still win if they do well in the next rounds of this contest. So, come back tomorrow for more!
Ambitious Alex, Barry Goods, Tony Tran and Trandrew of Kaba Modern Legacy premiered their latest choreography set at Singapore’s annual Night Festival in July 2010.
I am reposting this to help spread the word about the group that helped sponsor this event. This is one of many superb videos that can be found at VietnamtheWorldTour.com. From their website (which I encourage you to visit): "Viet Nam The World Tour is a movement of creative thinkers, artists,
writers, performers, filmmakers, documentarians and cultural producers
whose creative engagements attempt to challenge a global status quo...It exists as a series of live performances and a
collection of media, photographs, films and writings that can be found
online. These documents give proof and life to a movement that
transcends national borders and ideas of nation-hood; a movement that
brings together artists and a variety of art forms to celebrate the
spirit of creative energy...it is a brand that uses the creation of art to inspire ideas and more art."
This week, the 5 second clip featured America's Best Dance Crew Season 1 runners-up Status Quo dancing to "Hey Baby (Jump Off)" performed by Bow Wow and Omarion. Almost everyone who entered this week got it right, and there are still 50 people with perfect scores!
Here's the clip again, followed by Status Quo's performance. Thanks again to DirtfaceX for creating this contest and all the videos. And come back tomorrow of the next challenge -- we're down to 3-second clips from now on!
Rapper BBoyd just released his first music video called 'I'm Nice'. One highlight: E-Knock (from Status Quo on ABDC Season 1 and Legendary 7 on ABDC Season 5) choreographed the video and is the featured dancer.
Ringmasters (ABDC Season 3) have followed the tradition started by Breaksk8 and Status Quo -- America's Best Dance Crew alums appearing on America's Got Talent. (JabbaWockeeZ also tried to win America's Got Talent, but appeared on that show before ABDC premiered). Two members of Ringmasters successfully got through the first auditions and will move on to the Las Vegas round. I love how Howie Mandel raves about the dancers saying "I've never seen anything like that before" -- perhaps he might try channel surfing over to MTV. Ringmaster's segment begins at 26:05.
The manager of BreakEFX sent an update on their crew, including Cameron's injury and upcoming plans:
Although it wasn't spoken of during the episode, one of our dancers, Cameron Hobbs, suffered a severe knee injury on the Sunday night prior to the Tuesday taping. This forced BreakEFX to abruptly alter our piece in less then 24 hours to taping. It was an extremely stressful situation and quit honestly scary for my dancers. Putting all ABDC glory aside, my dancers truly consider themselves family and it was incredibly difficult to watch one of the strongest siblings in the crew go through so much pain and agony less then 24 hours from taping. BreakEFX muscled through the situation in a way that none can compare - they continue to amaze me with their strength and courage. With the aid of Cameron's parents, we were able to provide Cam with acupuncture treatments & various fitted knee braces which allowed Cameron the option to temporarily dance through the injury for the Tuesday taping. Further, it's our understanding that the judges were not informed in anyway of the injury. Now that we are safely back home in Colorado, Cameron has seen a specialist and in fact has severely torn his ACL. He will undergo surgery in a week and be out of commission for up to 9 months.
Its true that neither JC nor Omarion attended the Denver auditions. Shane Sparks and Nichelle were the ABDC judges during the callbacks.
BreakEFX will be performing alongside We Are Hereos and Status Quo tomorrow evening in Ft.Collins, Colorado for a live dance show called "Cruz Controls". The show is being sponsored by Colorado State University and is already close to being sold out.
Its My ABDC is back with his ratings. He thought Legendary 7 was an improvement over Status Quo (but felt they were sloppy) and loved Blueprint
Admit it - You Love to Watch is back! The East Coast crews have her excited about ABDC again, but she notes that several crews in the South and East misused aerial tricks: "Its not enough for you to just do the tricks. They have to work as part of your piece or you might be better off not including them at all and sticking with more actual dancing. Got it?"
AC Slater isn't prefers Lil Mama over Omarion, thinks DraZtik won the battle, and isn't feeling the Saltare love.
On the second episode of America's Best Dance Crew Season 5, five crews who auditioned in Boston and New York will compete for 3 spots in the 'Top 9'. Here's info about the crews, culled from MTV's descriptions and internet research:
Blueprint Cru from Montreal, Canada are the first-ever foreign crew to compete on ABDC. "This perfectionist crew doesn’t believe in tricks and stunts, they believe in unified movements down to every minute detail." They won Monsters of Hip Hop 2008 (albeit with different members than the crew that auditioned for ABDC)-click herefor a video of the winning choreography. They are all members of 8Count; you can watch other videos of Blueprint and 8 Count at the 8CountDance Youtube Channel. You can contact them on Twitter or at their website. Here's their ABDC5 audition routine:
Draztik hails from Rhode Island. They are mostly self-taught from music videos. Their choreography is contemporary and ballet, fused with popping and hip hop.Draztik member Kelvin Fabian's dance credits include freestyling on Showtime at the Apollo; more available at Kelvint2123 Youtube Channel. They can be reached at Facebook and MySpace.
Legendary 7 from Boston (pictured above) is the most recent incarnation of Status Quo, a crew that came in second in ABDC1. Crew leader Ernest "E-Knock" Phillips and Darius Rutledge were both appeared in SQ on ABDC. L7's style is big tricks, breaking, krumping and popping. Many of the Legendary 7 members auditioned in New York for ABDC3 and ABDC4 (click here for the Season 4 audition and callback). More recently, SQ Entertainment did well on 2009's America's Got Talent. They can be reached on MySpace.
Saltare members (pictured above) are East Coast college students who are also part of the USA Jump Rope All Star team. No video of the Crew, but here's a video of the 2006 Jump Rope All-Stars.You can contact them at Facebook and on their website.
Static Noyze from Boston performs "contemporary and theatrical hip hop choreography". They use their routines to convey offbeat stories, through cutting edge moves and costumes. Visit their Youtube Channel to see their workshops and recent performances. They won Elements X in November 2009. Reach them on Facebook and Twitter. Here's a rehearsal of their ABDC5 audition routine:
Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive on the 15 crews on America's Best Dance Crew Season 5. Go to the article to read about them, but here's the list. Thanks for the tip Tyler!
South: Jungle Boogie, Ghost, X-treme Motion, Royal Flush, Swagger Crew
East: Saltare, Blueprint, Legendary Seven (aka Street Legends, the crew with Status Quo members), Static Noyze, DraZtik
West: Blended Projekt, BreakEFX, Heavy Impact (aka Heavy Hitters), Poreotix, Hype 5-0
Who will compete on America's Best Dance Crew Season 5? Early in January, we will run a contest to let you 'cast' which of the crews you think should make it to ABDC5 Top 9. To help you choose and give these crews some exposure, we'll spotlight each of them and show any recent performance videos we can find. We know of 13 crews that auditioned in Boston on December 11, 2009, so we've covered them (in alphabetical order) over 2 days. If you have further information, links or videos to share for auditioning crews, please leave a comment or email us at BloggingBestDanceCrew@gmail.com
NIA incorporates African influences into their hip hop style. Click here to watch their ABDC4 audition and callback performances, and click here for their performance at East Coast Throwdown 2009. You can learn more about them from their brief report on the ABDC5 audition and on their MySpace page. Click here for their Here's a recent performance:
Phunk Phenomenon from the Boston area has competed in regional and national events including Prelude EC 2008 (where they took 1st place), Prelude EC 2009, ALC Showdown, Elements (Elements X peformance here), and Hip Hop International. Here's a recent performance at Bentley University that does justice to the group's precision and intensity:
Static Noyze from Boston performs "contemporary and theatrical hip hop choreography". Visit their Youtube Channel to see their workshops and recent performances. They won Elements X in November 2009 with this performance:
Street Legendz from Boston is the most recent incarnation of Status Quo, a crew that came in second in ABDC1. A group with many of the original Status Quo members auditioned in New York for ABDC3 and ABDC4 (click here for the Season 4 audition and callback). More recently, SQ Entertainment did well on 2009's America's Got Talent.
Wrush from Boston combines hip hop with contemporary and Latin dancing. They've appeared on 106th and Park, their choreographer was featured on Made, and they've competed in a number of regional dance events including Main Event and Elements -- most of which is documented in Dynamiktiggz Youtube Channel. They also auditioned for ABDC4 - watch their audition and choreography callback. Here's their World of Dance NY routine:
David -- a member of NIA -- reports that his crew did VERY WELL at the Boston auditions for America's Best Dance Crew, even getting a standing ovation from judges at one point in the try-outs. The judges loved their ethnic style and that they were also able to "kill" hip hop. He reports that other crews he saw at the callbacks included Phunk Phenomenon, Static Noyze, Geek Chic (a crew of Harvard and MIT students that may include Ridonkulous members), Wrush, and Street Legends (the new name for Status Quo). He also provided these photos of NIA and the Boston auditions
We've heard from various reports that ABDC Boston auditioners also included: Ridonkulous (who had to forfeit their spot because two members left that night), N-10-City, Blackout (a step team), Darkside, Dancehall, and Boston Tap Company.
We haven't received any real reports on the America's Best Dance Crew Season 5 auditions yet. But, here are some tidbits we've found in our searches:
Members of Strikers All-Stars (ABDC 3) watched the first day of auditions in Atlanta
Status Quo is preparing to audition in Boston
Xternal Technique auditioned in Atlanta and got to the call-back round. UPDATE: Swagger Crew, Royal Flush, StilletoZ, Motion Sickness, and Jungle Boogies also made it to the callback round in Atlanta. Thanks AjayeofSwag!
Some crews and their friends tweeted that they've made it to the Southern regional finals. I'm not reporting their names because it could disqualify them. Read the contract guys! MTV searches Twitter too!
If you have other news, post it here in the comments or send an email to bloggingbestdancecrew.com. Tell us if your crew is auditioning and where, if you made the callbacks, your anonymous impressions of performing in front of the judges or the scene at the auditions. Link any pictures or videos you took at the scene and we'll credit you in a post. But remember -- if there's positive news beyond making the callbacks -- keep it anonymous or you risk incurring the wrath of MTV!
America's Best Dance Crew alums Status Quo, Rhythm City, and Ringmasters will all perform at Autumn Fest 09 in Kingston, Rhode Island on November 20, along with Fabolous and Jadakiss. Click here for more information and here for tickets.
Hundreds of behind the scenes photos of Quest, Fanny Pak, Kaba Modern, Poreotics, and Beat Freaks at the Shoeture photoshoot are available at Shinobi-studios.com.
We are Heroes were guests on the Oprah Winfrey show taped October 15; no news yet on when it will air.
Shane Sparks and Mandy Moore will teach 10 classes to the dancers that will be featured in the Orange Bowl in Miami on January 10, 2010
TheJusticeonline.com (the student paper at Brandeis University) runs an article with great photos of Status Quo's recent performance on campus
MTV Remote Control reports that Massive Monkees member Bryson Angeles suffered a spider bite on his hand, shortly before starting practice for Episode 1. This could potentially limit his b-boy moves, so we hope this won't hurt the crew's performance at tonight's taping of America's Best Dance Crew 4.
According to So You Think You Can Blog, Shane Sparks "texts incessantly through the taping" of So You Think You Can Dance.
TheDartmouth.com talks to Dartmouth student Benja Wurzel, who auditioned with SQ Entertainment (Status Quo's new name) for America's Got Talent
Striker member Tallie Brinson is a backup dancer for singer Kristina Debarge in this clip from FoxNY.
America's Got Talent continues to feature crews from America's Best Dance Crew Season 1. BreakSk8 and a reconfigured Status Quo (called SQ Entertainment) passed their auditions and made it to Las Vegas. If the BreakSk8 videos below is removed from Hulu, click here and watch BreakSk8 at 4:00 and SQ Entertainment (no individual video available) at 8:33. They now join ICONic and Live in Color for the next round at AGT. Time for an ABDC 1 reunion, anyone? Thanks for the tip, John!
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?
