ABDC is such a great show. I have not really been following the series for a couple of seasons, but this season I'm hooked. First and foremost, of course I am wrong about my opinions of the show or some of the crews featured. And of course, I am biased--that's the whole point of writing about your POV on something, isn't it? But disclaimer aside, this season's diversity of talent is insane. Granted, I did not see some of the previous seasons, which could have had some amazing stuff which my ignorant self is not aware of, but what makes this season exciting for me is that the talents are not as gimmicky as I thought they would be. Or at least some of them.
Before I forget, DJ Pauly D, whatever his name was: so unnecessary. They try to hype it up so much, given that this week was J.Lo's week, but I really don't think it's necessary. Lowest part of the show: Lil Mama's commentary. I cannot bring myself to listen to her--I've tried--and it's not only because of what she said. Funniest part of the show: when JC succumbed to following the crowd dancing the J.Lo signature dance thing. You could totally see his thought bubble: "Really? Urgh, F*ck it. *follows the crowd*".
Before I forget, DJ Pauly D, whatever his name was: so unnecessary. They try to hype it up so much, given that this week was J.Lo's week, but I really don't think it's necessary. Lowest part of the show: Lil Mama's commentary. I cannot bring myself to listen to her--I've tried--and it's not only because of what she said. Funniest part of the show: when JC succumbed to following the crowd dancing the J.Lo signature dance thing. You could totally see his thought bubble: "Really? Urgh, F*ck it. *follows the crowd*".
Anyway, obviously, MWC is the crowd's favorite, and I think that they are most solid dance crew on the series: they have some of the best choreography, some of the best dancers, and they win over their fans by their impeccable dancing, not so much by gimmicks. While RNG is strong on choreography as well, what makes MWC the one to watch is that they can execute their choreography flawlessly. Meanwhile it feels like RNG pack too much of a good thing in too short a period of time sometimes, which makes them look a teeny bit sloppy. But RNG are comprised of children, so perhaps anatomically speaking, they are already at a disadvantage. Nonetheless, I thought their piece this week was awesome, even better than last week's with the whole reverse concept thing. I am not particularly a fan of MWC's piece this week, and come to think of it, it seems that this crew is suffering from the problem of peaking way too soon in the season. Their debut piece was the best one, probably in the entire season, and they have not been able to top it off since--granted, now the show imposes ridiculous 'challenges' and assigns at-time-WTF tracks which more-often-than-not do not help this crew, or any crew for that matter, to achieve their best.
Electrolytes this week is very entertaining. The theatrics worked. It is incredibly hard to incorporate a story line into a dance piece, and I thought they did that brilliantly. This has been the downfall of the FP this season, I believe, because while FP are known for their theatricality and such, they did so at the expense of shortening their choreography moment in their piece, so much so that it appears that there isn't much dancing in their pieces. Of course, dancing is so much more than displaying choreography or pulling off stunts, but in a competition, one's got to bring out the goods, and mere acting is often less than appreciated. Perhaps if the camera angle is good, the FP's story lines/concepts would come across better to the TV audience, i.e. voters, but so far it has not worked in their favour. That is why this week, FP pulled all stops to showcase their dance choreography, their concept and their fulfilling of the challenge, and they did much better than they did in previous weeks. Thing is, for this crew, when they got artists like Madonna and J.Lo, they should have ripped. it. apart. (pull stops for emphasis!), you could hear the crack on your TV screens, but I think they have yet to reach that potential. And I really want to like FP more than I actually do, but sad to say, I think they are riding more on their established reputation and their supposed potential in surviving on the show, than on their performances.
The dark horse this season is 8F, and they are lethal machines. They say the best gifts come in small packages, and in this case they come also in eight flavours. This crew is the perfect blend of street dance (I won't say hip hop) and gymnastics (I won't say contemporary/jazz since they mostly, if only, use it for stunts). They really have good odds of winning the season because one, they are killing it each week someone should really have them arrested (save for may be last week, but that's a whole another story); two, they have a great back story (i.e. eight munchkins overcoming the distance to dance together and Angel's mum passing); and three, we have yet to see the best of them. I think 8F still have a couple of tricks up their sleeves that they are saving for the last lap of the season. One, two, three, and bam! A magic formula that will take them to the very end.
Speaking of back stories, the reason why 8F are winning people over is that their story is not one that has been relentlessly flaunted on the show for seasons, so much so that the audience are practically numbed by it, i.e. one that's about dancers struggling to make ends meet, living off the streets with parents who are disapproving of their career of choice, or one about injured dancers fighting to not let their crews down. Not that I want to trivialise these issues--they are real and serious issues--but we have seen it one too many times on the show that we are used to it (or may be just me?). If you're a someone who has chosen street dance as a career, chances are you are not going to be wining and dining at some fancy restaurant or driving a Jaguar, at least not until some producer wants you to star in the next Step Up movie. But in exchange, you've got a good body, friends which you can call family and the joy of doing something you love. So, you win some, and you lose some.
Anyway, the results so far have been justified, I think, first they kicked out the foreigners (voters putting the A in ABDC), then the crew with gimmicks as their main selling point (as in the case of SB, which I could not stand, putting the B in ABDC), and now the real popularity contest begins: which crew is the most exciting one that even though they are not the best dancers, they are the best at putting on a show for the viewers (which is a plausible interpretation of ABDC, I guess)? I think MCW would come out in the end as the winner, although I hope they keep 8F and FP till the end because I'm just curious about what they would do with the challenges and how they would react to the development of the show thus far: for 8F, with Angel's coming back to join the force, and for FP, their retaliation after having been thrown to the bottom two weeks in a row now. Exciting much!
