Jai's Judgement on ABDC's VMA Challenge

Here's the rest of Jai's recap. Thanks Jai!

We Are Heroes: Madonna – “Vogue”
The ladies had nice levels, musicality, and synchronization with their performance. The voguing section where Hiro and Riquel had Nichelle and Mami wrapped around their waists was pretty athletic. I also caught Ali voguing upside down on the couch which was pretty cool! The tutting and voguing section with the fans was clean. In the words of JC, WAH owned the props. The props…well, you know the rest! LOL! Although the set up for Ali’s freeze was a little unstable, she cleaned it up and held it together. Ali and Nichelle’s double back hand springs and back tucks were nice and matched the beat perfectly. I felt like WAH’s performance lacked the swagger and intensity from their two previous performances though. Overall, this routine was just okay in my opinion.

AfroBorike: Britney Spears – “Slave 4 U”
The opening with the guys hanging from the chains REALLY caught my eye; it was hot! I have to agree with Lil’ Mama though about Josue’s flip. *checks to see if a pig has flown outside of my window (LMAO!)* It was slightly off but athletic nonetheless. Even though people do not care for AfroBorike’s “sexy” moves, I was actually glad - for once - that the girls incorporated the belly dancing move because it was something that I remembered from the original performance. Another athletic move the group had was when the guys flipped the girls over by their ankles and dragged them backwards. Miguel tossing Zoeth in the air and having her do a clean, twirling flip was great! The entertainment value was definitely evident throughout their performance. Their routine had touches of their signature salsa style as well. This was an overall good performance for them.

Massive Monkees: N*SYNC – “Tearin’ Up My Heart”
Okay, MM were seriously in synch at the beginning of the routine when they were dancing in the desks. I loved how ripping up Leiomy’s picture played onto the lyrics! Although Brysen slipped up by not hopping up on the desk, he recovered with the rest of MM when it came to the choreo. Marcus’ “inverted freeze” move (if that makes sense…LOL!) and no-hands cartwheel were hot! That cartwheel was pure athleticism. The choreo that MM did while Marcus was using Lil Lazy’s foot as a mic was so funny to me, but in a good way; I was laughing with them! I guess I was somewhat surprised by it although I never doubted that MM could not do choreo. The popping section where Tim, Lil’ Lazy, and Brysen were the puppet masters and Jerome, J.D., and Marcus were the puppets was a nice MM spin on the original performance. Lil’ Lazy’s head spin was a nice touch to end the routine. However, I loved the ending when Tim and Brysen pushed off of the desks and hit a freeze and dropped down to a…whatever that b-boy position is! LOL! I don’t know what it’s called, but it was dope (especially since they hit those moves perfectly with the song)! The entertainment value and confidence that MM had made this routine their best performance on the show!

P.S. – I’m sure Zatzz squealed with delight when Jerome pulled his shirt over his head. HAHAHA! Her wish for “shirtless” Monkees had somewhat been granted. LOL!

Rhythm City: Chris Brown – “Wall to Wall”
Once again, I appreciate RC’s clean, synchronized choreo with this performance. Denzel’s back flip over Kenny was great, considering that he had his back to the audience. One wrong move, and Denzel could have fallen off of the stage. Although I liked the Charlie Chaplin move, it was not as energetic or animated as it was in the original performance. The round lighted platforms were cool, but I think it slowed down RC’s routine especially when they were jumping around from platform to platform. I also noticed that Ashley’s ending handstand was not as precise as Domonique and Kenny’s handstands; her legs reminded me of a see-saw…LOL! They had great formations and levels throughout the performance, but their energy level kind of waned off when it got to the second half of the routine. RC’s performance was good, but a little better than WAH and AB’s performances.

Honestly, I agreed with ONE crew being selected for the bottom two. If it’s true that “a crew is only as good as its last performance”, then having Rhythm City in the bottom two was correct. Their dance craze and VMA performances were okay. Not bad, not great…just okay. Yes, Rhythm City had the clean choreo, the levels, the back flips, etc. for both weeks. However, I felt that their routines for both challenges lacked that distinctive Rhythm City swagger we saw in week one. It just seemed like Rhythm City’s performances slowly plateaued as the weeks went on.

When it comes to the other crew in the bottom two, Massive Monkees should NOT have been there. Period. These guys have been steadily improving since Bollywood week. In my opinion, they had one of the best performances for the dance craze and VMA challenges. Even though their challenges have been questionable, Massive Monkees seemed to take those challenges and run with them! Their last two performances had more energy than Rhythm City’s last two performances. [Side note: I’m one of those people who likes seeing a challenge infused with a crew’s signature dance style AND reflected THROUGHOUT a performance. Just seeing it appear ONE or TWO times during a routine is not enough for me. Massive Monkees were Ricky Bobby-ing and tearin’ up all kind of hearts every which way on that stage with their last two performances! LMAO! Why? Because they performed as if it were their last night on the show. Rhythm City? Not so much. Sorry.]

Who do I think will be in the bottom two for week 7? If I keep that “a crew is only as good as its last performance” mentality, then AfroBorike and We Are Heroes could battle it out for a spot in the finale. Both crews’ last two performances were good, but We Are Heroes have a slight edge – in my opinion –for their Stanky Legg routine. Unfortunately, I think We Are Heroes will get eliminated, setting up an AfroBorike/Massive Monkees finale. Until Sunday kids!

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