In the last two weeks I have grown a fond appreciation for the MTV series America’s Best Dance Crew. Besides my previous blogged fascination with dance crew “Vogue Evolution” who by the way was voted off, I have admired the technical/choreographic strategy of the show. The competing dance crews are to maintain their personal style of dance while incorporating different dance genres, vocabulary and/or props, and are therefore judged on the execution, delivery and performance of it all. This I think takes the challenge a step further than my favorite S.Y.T.Y.C.D. The previous week (episode five) five dance crews had to take on the genre of South Asian (Indian) dance styles. As an active participant in this dance genre, through this program I learned more clearly the differences between Garba, Kathak, Bharata Natyam, and Bhangra, as the dance crews infused Latin, Hip-hop, Popping, and Vogue aesthetics to this classical art form. The second challenge (episode six) was incorporating popular dance trends inspired by music videos such as “The Stanky Leg”, “The Halle Berry”, and “Do the Ricky Bobby”; the challenge being most of these dances are regionally inspired, and not equally validated if at all recognized.
Kudos to Randy Jackson and the judges, in establishing a clear distinction between S.Y.T.Y.C.D’s contemporary in-studio dance training and ABDC’s urban street technique. These programs strongly influence International dance and music, while reinforcing the movement ”Dance as a Universal Language”.

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