I attended the sold-out America's Best Dance Crew Live show in New York on September 23, fourth stop in the 25-city tour. Kudos to the producers of the tour for translating solitary small-screen pleasures into a massive big-stage celebration. The tour experience didn't allow some of the great aspects of watching the TV show -- the competition between the crews, as well as the chance to snark with your friends about the crews, judges, and the voting public. Luckily, it more than compensated by showcasing awesome choreography that both highlights the best dances of Seasons 1 and 2 and introduces new routines and combinations. You may miss the TV show's subtler dance moves and the replays, but you're guaranteed auditory and visual overload. First, the sensory overload. Well, this show was loud -- forget about talking to your friends. Instead, give yourself up to the bass vibrations and the crowd's spontaneous screams and responsive chants. To give you a flavor, here's JabbaWockeeZ introduction: Powered by Podbean.com
This was accompanied by lighting pyrotechnics and the gleam of hundreds of little phone cameras trying to capture everything for Youtube. Good luck with that -- the Youtube videos DO NOT come close to capturing the live experience. You gotta go. Really. Each crew reprised its favorite routine and a mash-up of its 'best' dances from the TV show, as well as performing one new original dance. Honestly, all the crews brought it on, so that JabbaWockeeZ and Super Cr3w did not dominate the night. JabbaWockeeZ did a great job with an original "Look into the Future" of dance, starting tongue-in-cheeck with the theme from "2001: A Space Odyssey" and playing into an out-of-planet experience. In New York, ICONic and Lil Kim also took the stage as surprise guests. In addition, there were themes that involved the intermingling of the crews, including a Jacksons tribute and a look into recent dance crazes like Voguing and Soulja Boy. The themes were fun but not terribly innovative. Watching them was like going to a wedding or Sweet 16 party where there are 'entertainers' hired to get the party-goers on the dance floor. Except these are REALLY REALLY GOOD entertainers. The show ended with a mock dance-off. The dancers in various combinations brought out their toughest moves as the crowd screamed their approval. Amazing and worth the price of admission.
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