Dance has made a comeback on TV. It began with "Dancing with the Stars" and then proceeded to many cookie-cutter copies, such as the new "Dance War," which is already ending due to its lack of viewers.
The newest example of these televised dance-offs is "America's Best Dance Crew" on MTV, presented by Randy Jackson of "American Idol."
Hosted by Mario Lopez, who's best known for playing Slater on "Saved by the Bell," the show calls for dance groups to compete against one another in weekly challenges to become "America's Best Dance Crew."
The groups are separated into two halves by Americans who watched the dances the week before. Those in the bottom half are eliminated until only two are left. The two remaining groups then compete for the judges in an attempt to "save themselves" and go on to the next round.
The premise is so simple - just a basic competition of dance groups - that the show might be considered boring and unoriginal. All these fears subside once the actual dancing begins. These dancers are not fakes, pulled off the streets without any professional experience to be magically turned into dancers by expert coaches and choreographers. Many of them even choreograph their routines themselves, making the dance challenge that much harder.
The judges are J.C. Chasez from 'N Sync, Shane Sparks, a hip-hop choreographer and dancer, and Lil' Mama, an R&B singer with the hit song "Lip Gloss." Clearly, the judges are the least serious part of the show. Without a judge that has an impressive dance resume, the judging at the end of each round seems a little arbitrary. They seem to be concerned with who put on the best show rather than with whose choreography and dancing was actually the best.
If the judges seem to be biased toward the hip-hop genre of dancing, that's because the dance groups are weighted that way.
Even though there is a theatrical group and a pop group in the final eight, most of the dancing on the show so far has been hip-hop. However, this might change as the show progresses and the challenges provide more opportunity for diversity.
While the groups are centered on hip-hop, there are many variations within these enclaves. Kaba Modern, a group from California, specializes in isolations, while Iconic focuses on theatrical dancing similar to that on Broadway.
Fysh 'n Chicks is the only all-girl group left on the show, and JabbaWockeeZ wears masks while they dance. BreakSk8 dances on roller skates.
After some consideration, it becomes clear that the dancing is actually quite spectacular. Consider the difficulty of getting two people dancing together in sync, then think of the difficulty of getting six to eight people in perfect rhythm, a task that many of the groups do well.
Because all of the groups dance so well, the competition seems to be on a weekly basis, meaning whoever does the worst that week will be sent home. It does not seem to be a dance competition about a portfolio of work over time.
Also, because of the seeming lack of technical expertise among the judges, the dancing sometimes turns into who performs the best stunts.
While it is entertaining to watch people do multiple flips and lifts, it takes away from the actual dancing, and these groups are the best of the best when it comes to their dancing and choreography.
All in all though, the routines are amazing and most of the judges have nothing bad to say, making for good entertainment, but not much competition.
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