Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew is back for a fifth season with fresh acts battling for the top spot. The show starts off with its regional battle, where five crews from each region battle to be in the top three, and then the nine crews (separated into three regions) that make it will move to nationals to battle for the $100,000 prize. Continuing as judges are teen idol from 'N SYNC JC Chasez and hip-hop artist Lil Mama. New on the panel will be R&B singer Omarion, who is known for his popping influenced dance style in his music videos, and also starred in You Got Served. And what would the show be without Saved By The Bell's very own AC Slater (Mario Lopez) as host.
Hoping to impress the judges with their lunatic android style and to represent Orange County properly is Poreotics from Westminster.
“There hasn't been a crew with a full-popping robotic style with a comedy twist like ours,” says crew member Matt Nguyen, “And we wear shades when we perform on stage.”
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The sunglasses, Poreotics (which is comprised of Matt Nguyen, Chad Mayate, Can Nguyen, Charles Nguyen, Justin Valles) explains are so they can disguise emotion in order to surprise
viewers with unexpected tricks and gags. The OC act blends the
technical side of the JabbaWockeeZ and the theatrical humor of Quest
Crew. They started off as three high school friends, who practiced
popping together, and then moved to the choreography scene and formed
Poreotics in 2007.
Already this season there's so many
different crews with styles we've yet to see, like Saltare Crew, who
uses jump roping in their routines, and Static Noyze who uses their
hip-hop with a contemporary twist, which caused a clash between judges
Omarion and JC.
“I can tell that you have all kinds of
different styles,” said Omarion, “But I can see how that can be a detriment… I didn't
enjoy it like I thought I would.”
JC on the other hand, responded with, “With all due respect, I
completely disagree with you. I thought that was a cerebral
performance… You dance with an intelligence behind it.”
The show has become an interesting phenomenon, where we are seeing more
movies based on the hip-hop dance scene and culture. The funny thing is that this dance style and
culture has been going on for years, but somehow Randy Jackson made us
want to watch it… or is it even his idea? (Click here for the latest
lawsuit.)
“This show has all the opportunity to offer for all the
dancers who are trying to make [dancing] as a living,” says
Matt.
Don't forget to tune in to find out if Poreotics Crew makes it past the regional finals tonight, Thursday Feb. 11 at
10 pm, on MTV.
