Kanye West challenge on 'America's Best Dance Crew' inspires the competitors

I realized, based on my excitement for this episode, that I hate the majority of superstars out there right now. Most of the featured artists in this season have blown. Kanye is someone whose music I love so I was pumped to have the crews dance to songs I actually enjoy. The fun part about this week was the crews weren’t dancing to just one song, it was a medley of Kanye songs. That’s how deep and awesome homeboy’s discography is.

With only three crews left I was wondering how the show was going to fill an hour. One answer came in the form a group dance featuring the remaining crews. These don’t really do it for me. They try and feature the strengths of each crew while simultaneously have them dance as a single unit, but I find the performances to be rather lackluster. Even dancing to the amazing “All of the Lights” wasn’t enough. Is it the lack of challenges? Is it the lack of competition? I dunno, but I am underwhelmed. Another answer was longer dances. This I liked. The other answer is coming later in the review.

So read on.

As the number of crews dwindled it made IaMmE’s chances of staying on top less and less likely. This week they were finally in the bottom as Iconic Boyz took the win and the guaranteed safety for next week’s season finale. For the first time this season IaMmE had to battle for their right to stay alive.

Poreotix, the winners of season 5, were handing out the challenges this week. The crews had to incorporate certain moves into their routines. Iconic Boyz got the Dougie (a personal drunken favorite), the Boogaloo and Isos. I found myself losing track of the challenge parts because I got so into their dance. I had to watch it twice to catch everything. While I do believe, and have noted several times in past weeks, that the boys have gone as far as they have due to their age and cuteness. But they really can dance. And they’re great performers. They’ve shown improvement week after week. JC may disagree but what does he know?

Phunk Phenomenon had to incorporate the Dougie, the Boogaloo…and…Isos. Wait? Isn’t that the same set of moves Iconic Boyz had to use? That’s kind of lame, ABDC. Give them unique challenges again. I get that the three crews are different and will use the challenge moves in different ways, but still. Initially, I yawned. I yawned yet again after the performance. It was not a strong enough display for me to believe they are the best. Was it bad? No. Was it indicative of the best dance crew in America? Again: no. Lil Mama said they’re the underdogs of this season. Did she see the Underdog movie with Jason Lee? It’s not cool to be an underdog anymore.

Once IaMmE got ready to go I was excited that the dance challenges were the same for each crew. The body movements necessary to perform Isos and the Boogaloo could be done by this crew in their sleep. As usual, they dominated. The whole dance was fantastic but I literally lost my mind when the girls got on top of the guys shoulders and started doing the Dougie. That was insane! The crowd started chanting their name, JC’s mind was blown, D-Trix was speechless (thank god) and Lil Mama had glowing praise. How could this crew not advance and then take the finals next week?

At least half of that has been proven correct so far because IaMmE did in fact win the battle and move on to face Iconic Boyz in the finale. The rest of my prophecy is pending. Big props though to Phunk Phenomenon. They were a great crew dancing for great causes and they should be very proud of how far they got.

The final part to the episode (and to my question of what the hell are they going to do to fill an hour) was the Iconic Boyz and IaMmE performing a routine that was entirely their own. From music to wardrobe to choreography, they had the ability to create a dance that was all them and that was what America was given to vote for the winner.

Iconic Boyz dance was what you would expect from them at this point, as the freedom of this final dance would have implied. It was cute and it was solid. I liked the dubstep breakdown in the middle. And come on, those suits were adorable. I want one.

IaMmE took a superhero approach to their dance, assigning everyone elements and colors to match. How Captain Planet. I didn’t dig their narration music so much, but the dance worked. It allowed each of the individual members to show off their own stuff while still contributing to the group as a whole. It was very IaMmE. If you didn’t pick up on that they spelled it out at the end with their bodies. Once again, the crowd chanted their name.

America, I think we have our winner.

Matt blogs at Monsters of Television.

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