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ABDC got cancelled in 2012 due to declining ratings and lovely dance crews (the best dance crews already won in the first three seasons), but it's now back with an  ALL STARS season. Most seasons usually have only 1-2 good dance crews and the rest is relative filler, but this season looks to be providing solid competition. They are all pretty decent.Here's a link to the official site. Includes full episode video, random clips and more detailed crew bios. The show airs Wednesdays 11/10c, and the first episode has already aired. The Crews and my analysis: i.aM.mE  Season 6 Champions and the only crew past season 3 that's worth a drat, mainly through the strength of their popper Philip "Pacman" Chbeeb. Visually entertaining to watch with complex illusions, coined as "brain banging", makes them a contender for most audiences. When they need a solid performance though, Pacman steps it up with the most precise popping around. Definitely one of the best poppers on the show. Style: Brain Banging, popping, tutting, focus on illusions Pros: Crowd favorite, easy to digest illusions Cons: Too much intricacy can lose an audience or risk a sloppy performance Estimated Finish: 4th. We Are Heroes  Season 4 Champions notable for being the only all female crew to win all the way. Got trashed in Season 3 finals by Quest, so they really should be America's Runner Up Dance Crew. Solid bgirls all around. Style: Breaking Pros: Go Girls! Cons: Girls that break never really have much power, which will be required to put on flashy performances that appeal to wider audiences Estimated Finish: 6th. Elektrolytes  Season 7 Champions, notable for being a crew that I know nothing about since I stopped watching the shows. Feels like a crew that only made it because the competition got so thin in the later seasons. Style: General choreographed hip hop, lots of jumping around Pros: Name recognition? Most recent Champions Cons: Who are these guys again? Estimated Finish: 6th. Kinjaz  The new kids on the block that aren't really new kids at all. Led by Mike Song, veteran of Kaba Modern and an amazing popper, and various dancers from other crews. They seem to be carrying on the Jabbawockeez showmanship in their choreography, which is probably helped by the fact that an original Jabbawockeez member joined their crew - Ben Chung. Not as flashy as bboying or full of tricks, but the cleanest and solid dancing so far. Style: General choreographed hip hop, popping, locking Pros: Fusion of Kaba Modern choreography and Jabbawockeez showmanship = wonderfully clean and entertaining to watch Cons: Weak on wow factor Estimated Finish: 2nd. Quest Crew  Season 3 Champions and the gold standard for all dance crews. They have every trick up their sleeves, from popping to breaking to locking to tricks and stunts. They also have the best choreography of all crews as they're usually able to seamlessly meld all of these elements together into one cohesive performance. The only downside to this crew is that they're good at everything but master at none, so they might get hit hard in some specific challenges. Style: Everything Pros: Good at everything, amazing choreography. Now with a sob story for +1 sympathy Cons: Can get sloppy, no niche skills Estimated Finish: 1st. Super Cr3w  Season 2 Champions with a number in their name, led by Red Bull BC One 2007 winner, Ronnie. They robbed Supreme Soul and only won because the voting was monumentally stupid, but at least they were better than the runner up (who were so unremarkable I can't be bothered to look up their name). Ronnie is generally a "boring" bboy, as his style was more focused on precise and technical footwork and groundwork, which doesn't have the same visual impact as powerheads. Super Cr3w in general was boring, sloppy, and won through a weak field, and was my least liked crew... until they brought in two ringers. Lil G  One of bboy's greatest technical powerheads. Known for his insane power combos, precise freezes and clean style, he's a Red Bull BC One regular and a joy to watch. His signature move is an airchair that he freezes forever and casually combos in and out of, usually to hand hops, 1990s or flares. Neguin  Holy poo poo Super Cr3w picked up Neguin. This guy has limitless energy, great style, and oozes passion for dancing. Although not as technically capable as Lil G, he's an overall stronger dancer and won Red Bull BC One 2010. One of my favorite bboys of all time and the addition that I feel brings Super Cr3w over the top. If you want to know why I love Neguin so much, youtube "Neguin Red Bull 2010" for his battles that year. Amusing factoid: these two have battled each other numerous times in the past in major competitions, so it's doubly awesome seeing them paired up. As long as the crew focuses on Lil G and Neguin, they should be contending for the number 1 spot. These two are simply at the top of their game and unless they start bringing in Korean bboys, can't really be matched. Style: Breaking Pros: Motherfucking Lil G and Neguin Cons: One dimensional. Their choreography usually isn't great and transitions are sloppy. Estimated Finish: 1st... but probably 2nd or 3rd The Judges: T-Pain, Teyana Taylor and Frankie Grande. Judging has been bad before, but this is a whole new level of bad. Frankie Grande is the only one that seems to have any semblance of credibility. The Host: Jason Dundas. 
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Aug 6, 2015 00:44
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 03:25 |
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I really recommend watching the show if you haven't watched it before, or if you stopped watching after the earlier seasons. Episode 2 came out yesterday, and goddamn. The bottom 2 are pretty obvious, but the top 4 is a near complete tossup. i.aM.mE with some fun illusions that are starting to look a bit gimmicky and sloppy. They're the weakest of the top 4, but with enough crowdpleasers they might be able to cause an upset. Quest looked really off their game due to the injured member and last minute routine change - wasn't as clean and well choreographed as their usual stuff. Kinjaz doing what Kinjaz does best - clean well choreographed dance. Mike Song did sum it up well when he mentioned the lack of explosive moves though, so hopefully they can cover that area better later on. Super Cr3w looks like they're poised to go all the way if they keep up with their performances. Clean, powerful moves, solid choreography. Got to see Lil G's signature airflare to 2000s to airchair. I was hoping he'd hold the airchair for longer, but the crash was probably intentional for the ending "sweep" segment. No surprises for eliminations. Bottom two next week will probably be Elektrolytes and either Quest or i.aM.mE. Either way Elektrolytes will definitely be the next to go unless the other crew completely flubs their performance.
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Aug 6, 2015 19:53
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Episode 3 dropped this week, and I'm happy with the results. Super Cr3w: While I liked that it seemed like a tribute to just b-boying, that's all it seemed like it was. And they really didn't do much of anything with wardrobe, which was the main challenge. Okay, a couple tricks with a hat. Woo. Kinjaz: Clean routine, as always, but it felt like they did the same routine as their Usher one and added a couple of things to it in order for it to fit the challenge. They really need to expand their routine, or people will get tired of them fast. i.aM.mE: One of my favorites of the night. Could have been a bit cleaner in spots, but the performance really sold it. Possibly one of the few where thinking outside of the box really worked. I would like a .gif of Pacman with his arm slunked over his back dancing forward. Also, I can't get that drat song out of my head. Elektrolytes: I liked the idea, but it wasn't executed as well as it could have. The bit in the beginning was neat though. Quest Crew: Oh dear. This one was just fun to watch. Sloppy at times, but the entertainment and theatrics is what really nailed it (which I think is their strongest suit). Also I think they were the one crew that actually took the wardrobe aspect and ran with it. Can Quest go one week without an injury? I could see Kinjas and Super Cr3w in the bottom next week depending on if the judges pick the bottom based on this week or next week. Possibly Quest as well. Hard to believe that the top 4 is next week. Usually it's a while off, but this season didn't start with a ton of crews like seasons prior. Miz Kriss fucked around with this message at 06:56 on Aug 15, 2015 |
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Aug 15, 2015 06:52
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We talk about this in the SYTYCD thread sometimes.
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Aug 17, 2015 03:52
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As much as I like i.aM.mE, I could tell that it was their time to go. Quest's routine gave me goosebumps.
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Aug 26, 2015 23:01
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I kinda started losing interest for the past few weeks - I didn't dig the challenges and everyone felt like they were dancing to not lose, instead of dancing to win. This week though, with the last three being the best three crews, was freakin great. The result made a lot of sense - all three performed too well to drop. Quest's first: Quest is back to form - fun, clean and well choreographed. The sloppiness from previous weeks is gone, which really makes their routines look so much better. It still feels like it has too many flips, but that's probably a way to cater to the judges. The transitions into the flips with the pants was really unique. Their second performance felt a bit weaker, but still typical Quest. It was solid, but doesn't feel like it can hold up against what followed. It almost felt like a routine they should've pulled out in a previous week, not for what could be the game ender. Kinjaz's first: Doing what they do best. Clean choreography, clean moves, and interesting use of the bleachers to provide some visual levels. Typical Kinjaz, safe but solid. If Super's first performance was any stronger, Kinjaz probably would've been in danger of dropping here. Their second performance though blew me away. Absolutely blew me away. The ambiance was still typical Kinjaz, but instead of their usual large group choreography they focused harder on individual or smaller group routines which could really up the technical skill displayed for each dancer... and it showed. Their popping was fantastic, transitions with the screens sweet and beautifully clean. The general choreography was just beautiful as well, each transition made sense. Super's first: Doing what they do best as well. I felt that the song choice really hampered their ability to beatkill as bboys - it's painfully obvious their toprocking is fairly weak. It was still fairly safe and clean though, and the blowups with Ronnie's signature moves and Lil G's hopping airchair made it a solid performance. Their second performance was considerably stronger. As I mentioned in the OP, for Super to win they needed to really utilize Lil G and Neguin well... and they really worked them hard for this one. Lil G's airchair to one hand stand was sick, his 2000s a bit wobbly but on point (you can really see him pulling hard to keep the rotations going). Neguin's athleticism with his flips, culminating in the insane hop at the end was the best blowup you could ask for as well. This is what I was expecting from the crew all season, and I'm glad they finally started to take risks and pull out their best moves. Results for this week made sense, but next week I can see Quest dropping to third. Kinjaz and Super's performance were leagues ahead of Quest's performance. Between Kinjaz and Super will be a cointoss, depending on the mood of the judges. I personally felt Kinjaz was better, as big of a fan of Super that I am right now. My prediction though is that ABDC will pull what they pulled today and do a double winner by merging Super and Kinjaz into one mega crew. It just feels so right.
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Aug 27, 2015 18:34
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| # ? Apr 18, 2024 03:25 |
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I was NOT expecting the results to be the way they were. Very happy that Quest won, but I was totally expecting Super Cr3w to take it all based on their second dance last week. I also like that the OP pretty much predicted which crews ended up where. 
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Aug 31, 2015 15:13
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