Fame or Famine

I’m currently on the road on a 3-week business trip, and it’s not very easy for me to catch episodes of the shows, or see the dance performances. Frustrating, let me tell you – but usually I can catch them on YouTube in several places, sometimes just the dances, sometimes with the montages at the beginning as well.
ABDC, on the other hand, has just the performances available, one after the other, and uncluttered with the filler material that goes into the full episodes. That’s not to say that I won’t go watch it – want to hear what those judges …read more

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Poor Chelsea Traille, put to the bottom three in the last episode and then ousted by the judges. You can see her solo below; I can see why the judges might not have liked her – in my opinion, while her technique and energy are great, there’s not a real coherence to the solo – instead of having a definable theme or beginning, middle, and end, she just sort of strung a bunch of fairly standard dance forms – flawlessly executed, mind you, but still standard – into a solo. And for the judges in the third season, that’s just …read more

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One of the most challenging parts of working in ensemble dance is the challenge of getting everyone together. Whether it be the difficulties of rehearsing (such as So Real, who don’t have their own studio and use reflective windows) or Supreme Soul’s trouble just keeping their dance together  (Shane Sparks told them to “clean it up”) any time that you end up with that many dancers doing that many intricate moves, you’re going to have some trouble.
 The Weakest Link
With this kind of ensemble, there is no room for someone to have a “bad day” or be even slightly off. The …read more

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A.S.I.I.D. (Detroit, MI) – They grew up in tough neighborhoods and lean on each other for support. Their inspiration comes from crew member Joey who is deaf.
Boogie Bots (Washington, DC) – They think of themselves as robots that have come to life. Each performance is dedicated to crew member Joesar’s father, who has been in a coma for the past six months.
Distorted X (Houston, TX) – All are studio dancers who have dubbed themselves “Houston Socialites — without the money.”
Fanny Pak (Los Angeles, CA) – This zany bunch is looking to bring back the bold and wacky energy …read more

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I’m actually out camping in the wilds of Wisconsin this weekend, so I’m afraid while I’m able to Blog Off I am going to miss America’s Best Dance Crew tonight. It’s interesting to see how this show has captured a lot of audience that seems perhaps burned out by the pomp and circumstance of So You Think You Can Dance? (note: that link goes to what I consider the snarkiest review ever. When you spend a page complaining about the fact that you have to review something in the first place, you’re pretty snarky. I’m just sayin’).
Still, there is something …read more

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“Hi, my name is Jessie, I’m 15 and I have my own radio show,” started the email in my in-box, and I almost thought it was spam. Luckily, my peripheral vision caught the name Shane Sparks in the paragraph and I read more closely…
Welcome to the Big Show with JK Live!
Jessie is the host of a show aimed at teens on BlogTalkRadio. Aside from the normal sports talk he’s also covering entertainment news, and am I jealous: he’s managed to snag Shane Sparks (about whom we’ve raved before) for an interview. You remember Shane, fantastic choreographer on So You Think …read more

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