Quest Crew IS America's Best Dance Crew!

The final episode of ABDC Season 3 was an outstanding display of dance, choreography, and team cooperation. The competition all season was tight and several crews could easily have come out on top. The final two, Quest Crew and Beat Freaks, tore up the stage last week with their final competitive performances. Quest Crew won the day.

Since the winner was decided ahead of time by viewer votes (and the announcement delayed until the last minute of the show), the producers arranged for all the crews to return to the stage for the finale. And instead of working as separate teams, three crews worked together to create unique choreographies that celebrated the strengths of each group.



The opening group choreography included my favorites, Quest Crew, Dynamic Edition, and Strikers All Stars. The choreography was terrific, but when the whole team broke into a sequence of Appalachian clogging, I got chills. Honestly. It was a gorgeous display of American dance traditions and their future in the emerging 21st century fusions. I so admire these young dancers. They are technically and creatively superior AND they have a strong sense of integrity. They show great respect and honor for one another, for other teams, for their judges and teachers. At least on this program, they exhibit what anthropologists call "communitas": the spirit of group solidarity that is created whenever a group of people shares an intense struggle.

Thank you dancers, Randy Jackson, the producer, and all the judges: Shane Sparks, JC Chasez, and Lil Mama (whose 40s inspired wardrobe reflects the old-in-new sensibilities we saw in the dancers).

Watch for Taking the Stage, the newest performing arts reality program from MTV, which begins March 19th.

The new season of So You Think You Can Dance begins tonight on Fox.

Judging the judges on ABDC

Last week on America’s Best Dance Crew, Lil’ Mama reprimanded the studio audience for hissing at judge JC’s comments about Quest Crew’s performance. “Sometimes ya’ll just need to like quiet down so they [the dancers] can get the message that he’s trying to give these young men up here,” she said. “Because they might be able to use that next week to help them out…You’re crowding our words of wisdom that can shed light onto these crews.”

And these judges—award-winning choreographer Shane Sparks, boy-group phenom JC Chasez, and hip-hop choreographer and singer Lil Mama—obviously have some wisdom to impart. Listen closely to what they are telling these dancers. In addition to specific comments on the dance, they express surprising sentimentality towards family, friends, and the art of dance marking them as the highest priorities in life. They espouse a clear set of ethics including cooperation and peaceful resolution to conflict. And they believe it the power of dance to impart these values.

Most dancers never have a chance to be critiqued by professionals, let alone by critics with a civil tongue. ABDC’s judges always offer constructive commentary on the choreography, performance, and the degree to which the task was satisfied. They compliment the performers when they honor their dance traditions and ancestors as well as when they demonstrate fresh innovations.

Its clear that the competitors themselves appreciate and respond to the judges’ commentary. Indeed, the increasingly high levels of professionalism, creative choreography, and personal expression in the dancers may be attributed to the judges commentary. So listen up, audience. You might learn something too.