Mar

28

2008

(33) Comments

Jabbawockeez Are America’s Best Dance Crew!!

12:15PM by Alvin Lin

The finale for MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew was last night, and surprise surprise, the Jabbawockeez took home the top prize, in a decision where a record 38 million people voted for the winner!!  They dominated the entire season with something new and creative every week, on top of their world class talent, style, and technique.  While accepting they were sure to give props to Status Quo, a deserving opponent, who they said they considered as family.  Judge comments for the Jabbawockeez included, ‘You guys are the sickest group I’ve seen in my life’...‘You all set the standard for the next 10 seasons’.  In the final episode, the judges mentioned how the Jabbawockeez have inspired a new culture, a hybrid genre of dance which mixes hip hop and theater.  In fact, here is a Youtube clip of an eight-year old imitating them, even the mask!  Additionally, this victory was even more emotional, considering they overcame the loss of one of their crew members (Gary).

America’s Best Dance Crew was ground-breaking in its representation of Asian Americans, featuring two amazing AA teams (Jabbawockeez and Kaba Modern) who proved, week after week, that Asian Americans not only can dance, but have style and personalities.  Far too often in media, Asian Americans as a group are stereotyped as stiff model minority types (engineers, scientists, geeks), or accented foreigners.  America got to see another side, letting people know Asian Americans are American too, and can have endearing personalities and artistic creativity and talent in dance.  Who knows, maybe this will also influence Asian American youth, into not being afraid of expressing themselves and pursuing dance or other creative pursuits.  Additionally, this show should be commended for showing stories of all the dance crews from different parts of the country, of all kinds of ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.  It showed how the fabric of America is a lot more multicultural than we are used to seeing.

It’s hard to grasp the sheer excellence of what Jabbawockeez did without seeing the entirety of their performances. So without further ado, here’s the complete list of performances by Jabbawockeez on America’s Best Dance Crew for your streaming or downloading pleasure.  I’m not a dance maven, but here is my best attempt at describing each of these clips.  If you pay attention, you’ll notice the Jabbawockeez somehow connect every ending of their previous dance with the beginning of their next dance.

Note, you must be a registered member to view download links!

Episode 0: Live Auditions

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In casual street dress. Very smooth and slow movements which incorporate theatrics and breakdancing

Episode 1: Dance Crew Pick ("Apologize" by One Republic featuring Timbaland)

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‘The Battle Begins. Wearing all Black, with White ties.  The song switches to a faster beat in the middle with heavy drum beats.

Episode 2: Music Video Choreography ("Ice Box” by Omarion)

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‘Music Video Moves’. Again wearing all black.  Some slo-mo robotic moves.  They were ridiculously coordinated and synchronized here.  Near the end there’s a little saxophone and jazz feel to it

Episode 3: Dance Crazes ("Lean wit It, Rock wit It” by Dem Franchize Boyz)

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‘Dance Craze Challenge’. Wearing grey hoodies, and acting like mimes.  Some hip hop. The sound at the end sounds a bit like the Knight Rider intro.

Episode 4: Characters & Storyline From a Movie ("Ayo Technology” by 50 Cent)

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‘Movie Characters’. ‘They act out a heist’.  Wearing all black, with street/urban props. One of them does an amazing flare on a car.

Episode 5: Michael Jackson Thriller Videos ("P.Y.T. Pretty Young Thing” by Michael Jackson)

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‘Thriller’. Wearing blazers and paying homage to the king, Michael Jackson.

Episode 6: Broadway + Hip Hop ("All That Jazz")

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‘Broadway Remix’.  A Broadway theme and dress, to hip hop. Ends in miming musical instruments.

Episode 7: History of Hip Hop (Hip Hop Compilation)

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‘Evolution of Street Dance’. My favorite one, this dance explains the timeline of dance and hip hop. A bit humorous and with a wide array of music. They go nuts on this one, let it all hang out.

More Articles of Interest:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/03/26/apop.DTL
http://www.asianweek.com/2008/03/13/jabbawockeez-unmasked/
http://buzzkilled.com/blog/2008/03/21/oh-my-the-guiltiest-of-pleasures/
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-story-americasbestdancecrew-winner-jabbawokeez,0,7864849.story

Their website can be found here: http://jabbawockeez.com/thefamily.html

Next Week, Kaba Modern Wrapup and Videos!

Hoc said 03/28/08 09:51 PM

aikyrie said 03/28/08 10:11 PM

iPsD said 03/28/08 11:09 PM

minty said 03/28/08 11:38 PM

Sakura said 03/29/08 01:04 AM

DjVictorious1 said 03/29/08 01:46 AM

DorkyDucklin said 03/29/08 04:38 AM

Hoc said 03/29/08 08:12 AM

otaku said 03/29/08 09:08 AM

azn said 03/29/08 03:17 PM

moonchild74 said 03/29/08 09:44 PM

inspector gadget said 03/30/08 10:42 PM

tlee said 03/30/08 11:07 PM

Aaron said 03/31/08 05:30 PM

apocynum said 03/31/08 10:44 PM

Kar Nut said 03/31/08 11:43 PM

alehkcis said 04/02/08 09:14 AM

katsimest said 04/02/08 12:09 PM

Hoc said 04/02/08 07:12 PM

alehkcis said 04/03/08 10:55 AM

missfood said 04/05/08 01:16 AM

Divinitys Creature said 04/16/08 05:27 PM

4EverShebez said 04/20/08 10:57 PM

aikyrie said 04/20/08 11:14 PM

katsimest said 04/21/08 02:19 AM