Beat Freaks rip the floor

Gender was also foregrounded on last week’s episode of America’s Best Dance Crew. In the Battle of the Sexes Challenge, the final four consisted of two all-girl crews—Beat Freaks and Fly Khiks—and two all-boy crews—Quest Crew and Strikers All Stars. They were challenged to perform to a male or female singer. Unfortunately, two of the choices were recently scandalized Chris Brown and Rhianna. I suspect there was no time to remedy this as it would have been unfair to Quest Crew and Beat Freaks who drew the tabloid couple and who had only a week to choreograph their sets.

But it didn’t matter. The winner was overwhelmingly clear. Beat Freaks “ripped the floor!” as judge Shane Sparks exclaimed. I can’t entirely put my finger on it, but this performance was far more powerful than any of the women steppers I saw in Stomping on the Yard (see my blog “Stepping on Gender”.) Their choreography and performance were completely convincing. They owned the movement and won the moment.