Videos: Interviews with District 78 on the master mix process and their upcoming album

Chris Trondsen interviewed the staff of District 78 (the group that creates ABDC's master mixes) backstage at the taping of America's Best Dance Crew's Madonna Challenge. In the first video, they introduce themselves,then talk about the process for creating the master mixes that caters to the crews (with an explanation of Stepboys' Madonna mix), fan reactions to the mixes, personal favorite artists, and information their other projects including a dubstep record including the ABDC theme "Wanna Get Hype".In the second video, they talk about the thinking and creative process for their new album "Thanks for the Falcon" that will be released on May 16, 2012.

Let us know if you attend tonight's taping!

America's Best Dance Crew Season 7 (aka the Superstar Season) will be taped tonight, with the 7 remaining crews dancing to Drake hit songs. If you attend the taping, leave a comment and let us know what it was like -- the dances, the judges, the songs, the crowd, the crews, the costumes, celebrities in the audience, oddities and funny moments, etc.
 
EXTREMELY IMPORTANT -- NO SPOILERS. DO NOT TELL THE RESULTS FROM THE SHOW, INCLUDING WHICH CREWS WERE IN THE BOTTOM OR ELIMINATED! 

ABDC7 Crew news & video: Fanny Pak contest; love from Perez Hilton; 8 Flavahz members in "Girl Gone Wild"

- Fanny Pak is running a contest. To commemorate Preston getting kicked in the face at rehearsals, they ask you to send them your most gruesome battle photo. Prize is an autographed photo from the crew (preferably with their faces intact)
- Perez Hilton has become a fan of America's Best Dance Crew, with 3 video clips from the Madonna Challenge
- 8 Flavahz fans are finding work by some of the girls on Youtube. Joshua noted that the girls are featured in several videos on iDejAnce Youtube Channel. And, RiffRaffDC found the video of choreography from Dejan Tubic and Janelle Ginestra to "Girl Gone Wild" at 1:50 and 2:42

Great news: Steelo will be dancing with Groovaloos on Dancing with the Stars May 1! AND watch this documentary trailer

It was just about a year ago that Steelo suffered the brain aneurysm that could have sidelined his career. But aided with prodigious amounts of physical therapy, love, and support (including donations from fans), he is recovered enough to appear with Groovaloos on the May 1 Dancing with the Stars  results show, airing on ABC at 9pm ET/PT.

More Steelo news: there is now a website for the documentary about his life and recovery: 444movie.com. Here's the trailer for the documentary. Thanks for the tips, Greg!

Video: Layla Kayleigh at Madonna Challenge on double elimination, crew moods & attitudes, love for 8 Flavahz

Chris Trondsen is on the couch with Layla Kayleigh backstage at the taping of America's Best Dance Crew's Madonna Challenge. In Part 1, she talks about how everyone was shocked (including her) at the announcement of the double elimination, how the judges will pick who is eliminated, the mood of the crews at the taping (especially after the double elimination announcement), the optimal crew attitude for doing well, fan bases and forecasts, Layla's hygiene practices, and some personal questions from Layla to Chris. In  Part 2 . Layla talks about  love for 8 Flavahz performance and swagger (though she does love all the crews of course!), how Season 7 returns to the ABDC formula of extremely strong crews, and Chris & Layla's plans to dance together with lessons from Beat Freaks.

Video: IaMElectricity

While members of IaMmE created the music and act in this latest video, it's Jaja's choreography and dancing that will captivate you. From IaMmECrew Youtube. Thanks for the tip, Greg and MercerMZ!

Mr. Wiggles at Rutgers University

Hey guys,  this is a bit of a last minute announcement, but Mr.Wiggles, one of the pioneers of the hip hop culture, will be teaching at Rutgers University tonight. A member of hip hop giants Rock Steady Crew, the Electric Boogaloos, and the Zulu Nation, he will be teaching two workshops, with a cypher, for the low low price of $10. It truly is a great chance to learn from one of the pioneers of hip hop (as Funkdation crew mentioned in their crew bio), and so if you're in the area, please try and come out and support hip hop. Click here for the Facebook event.

Byenyn's Review of ABDC's Madonna Challenge

Last week, five crews danced to Flo Rida’s club hits. I think most of us will agree that the Flo Rida group performance was one of the worst group performances in ABDC history. Not necessarily because of the dancing, but mostly because the cameras felt needlessly compelled to follow Flo Rida, the least mobile person on stage. Imagine if the Ke$ha group performance last season focused mainly on the poles.

After a tough dance battle, the judges saved Funkdation over Mix’d Elements. This week, the nine crews are going to tackle the music of pop icon Madonna, one of the most successful recording artists of all time and also the woman who once kissed Britney Spears at the VMAs. Mario Lopez gives the shocking (but also heavily leaked) announcement that two crews will be eliminated tonight from the three crews with the fewest votes. So soon?!

Click here to read the rest of the review. Thanks Byenyn!

Recaps for ABDC's Madonna Challenge

- Daily Princetonian pithily summarizes the performances, describes the highs and lows, and notes that we've returned to US's Best Dance Crew.
- AV Club gives the episode a B+ and got goosebumps from Funkdation's isolations
- AllVoices summarizes the show and has lots of links to old Madonna videos and some random images that don't seem to have much to do with the show. So confused!
- Ology gives highest grades to Elektrolytes and 8 Flavahz
- Screen Invasion thinks Collizion Crew was the right choice to stay and that they should get the best song during the Drake Challenge.
 - We'll Fix it In just posted their Flo Rida Challenge review, but hey, better late than never for Howard and LeKeith's patter. Bam.

Exclusive video interview with Myron Marten: all about Mos Wanted Crew and ABDC7

 Chris Trondsen interviewed Myron Marten (World of Dance, founder of Mos Wanted Crew) backstage at the America's Best Dance Crew's Madonna Challenge. Myron talks about how the MWC dancers were chosen, how fans are reacting to MWC, how they are dealing with the high expectations and pressure on the crew, how they view the competition on ABDC Season 7, what it's like when the crew works together on ABDC, how to reach the crew, and some personal info about the members (who's the most tired, smelliest, etc.).

Enter Week 2 of ABDC Elimination Challenge contest now!

Time for Week 2 of the ABDC Season 7 Elimination Challenge: Which crews will be in the bottom 2 each week? Who will be eliminated? Enter each week and the person with the highest cumulative score for Season 7 will win an ABDC crew shirt of their choice and size (up to $35 retail).
To enter: Each week, we'll publish a new post for this contest. When the weekly post is up, leave a comment with the name of the bottom 2, specifying which one is eliminated. For example, in Season 6, a winning entry for the Rihanna Week Challenge would have read: "BOTTOM 2 WEEK 5 -  Phunk Phenomenon, 787 Crew. Eliminated: 787 Crew."  You will be awarded 1 point for each crew you name in the bottom 2 that week, and an extra point for identifying the eliminated crew, for a total of 3 possible points per week. The person with the highest cumulative score wins, and we'll figure out something if we need a tie-breaker. 

This week's entries will be accepted from now until noon (East Coast time) on Saturday April 28, so that nobody can use insider info from the tapings. **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). NO EMAIL ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED
  
• MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE THE WORDS 'BOTTOM 2' in the comment (so I can search for them easily).  
• Only 1 entry per person per week, please.  Good luck!  

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED FOR THE WEEK AND NO MORE ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED.

What questions would YOU like us to ask the ABDC crews at the tapings?

Chris Trondsen and various ABDC alums will be interviewing crews backstage at tapings of America's Best Dance Crew this season.  Now that you've seen all the crews perform, what else would you like to learn about them?  Chris wants some new and fresh questions that will interest/amuse/intrigue the crews and the audience alike!

Leave a comment on some questions you'd like to have answered or some challenges you'd like to issue the crews and the judges, either in general or for specific crews/people.  If we use your question, we'll give you credit of course! And, this will be part of a master list; even if we don't use your question this week, it might get asked at the next taping. Thanks!

Week 3 of our ABDC Top 4 contest - enter now!

Thanks to all of you who submitted entries on which ABDC crews will be in the top 4 at the end of this season, in the order of their elimination. If you want to change your vote, here's your weekly chance. Note: there's no penalty for entering each week. If you get it right early, that's the vote that counts!The prize goes to the first person to submit the correct answer, based on which week they submit it. If more than one person gets it right that week, we'll employ a tie-breaker rule.  Click here for contest rules and prizes. ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL NOON (East Coast Time) on SATURDAY APRIL 28. THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED FOR THE WEEK AND NO MORE ENTRIES WILL BE ACCEPTED

The double elimination onstage at ABDC resulted in the elimination of 24% of the valid entries to date. So, many of you may want to reconsider your entries and try again this week. After all, who knows what twists might be thrown in next week?

Send some love to Irratik

I was so psyched when I heard that Irratik was picked for America's Best Dance Crew Season 7. The girls had all the creativity and technique of ABDC5's Blueprint Cru (another crew in the 8  Count family), with an added sexy fierceness that made them compelling to watch. Their performances at Hip Hop International and ABDC make it clear that they have potential to be major players in the dance world, individually and as a group.

This post is only for positive comments about Irratik. If you have something else to say, please comment in the Party Room/Critics Corner.
Photocredit: MTV

Send some love to Funkdation!

Last night's elimination also eliminated a rare chance for TV audiences to see a crew adept in the foundations of street hip hop dance. Funkdation brought strong technique and choreo surprises to the ABDC stage. I hope they appear again at Hip Hop International and other dance events so that we can continue enjoying their clean old-school style and talent.

This post is ONLY for positive comments about Funkdation. If you've got beefs or want to talk about something else, please take it to the Critics Corner post here.

What was your favorite performance during ABDC's Madonna Challenge?

poll by twiigs.com

What was your least favorite performance during ABDC's Madonna Challenge?

poll by twiigs.com

Vote NOW to save your favorite ABDC crews - here's the MTV voting info

The online voting is now open from now until 6:00am Eastern time. If you want to protect your favorite crew, act now! Click here to vote online at MTV.com. Performance videos will probably be online after 11:00pm West Coast time, to aid in your choices. If you want to phone or text instead, the numbers are: Phone: 1-855-4CREW + (0 +number): OR Text: 22444 then (number):
* Fanny Pak - 1 (so you would dial 855-4CREW01)
*Elektrolytes -  2 (so you would dial 855-4CREW02)
* Mos Wanted Crew- 3 (so you would dial 855-4CREW03)
* 8 Flavahz- 4 ((so you would dial 855-4CREW04)
* RNG - 5 ((so you would dial 855-4CREW05)
* Stepboys- 6 ((so you would dial 855-4CREW06)
* Collizion Crew- 7 ((so you would dial 855-4CREW07)

After you vote, join us back at the party room! It's a lot more fun than pushing vote buttons all night long. VOTING IS NOW CLOSED

The ABDC Madonna Challenge Party Room is now open -- join us!

The Party Room/Critics Corner for ABDC 7's Episode 3 -- the Madonna Challenge -- is now open! Join lots of other readers and fans as they reflect on the dance battle arena and who makes it out alive. 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. 

After the show is over: The party has just started, so stick around for more action, reaction, and interaction. Was the double elimination a good idea? Was it fair? Are you tired of Madonna and want some different superstars?  Which crews have changed since their first week -- for better or worse? This is your party -- snark, humor, recriminations, nostalgia and almost everything else (except obscenity and abject disrespect) are expected and welcome! 
Photo credit: Prefix Magazine.

Join us now for live play-by-play - ABDC's Madonna Challenge

Del, TBone, Ninjaboi, NamesAreOverrated, Mike, and Nancy will be co-hosts of this live play-by-play of America's Best Dance Crew Season 7's Episode 3 -- the Madonna Challenge. Feel free to follow along (particularly if you cannot watch it until later). Please be aware that your comments might not be posted immediately (or at all) as we have to moderate them, watch the show, and type at the same time. If you want to leave longer comments and be sure they're used, go to the Party Room (the post above this one).