AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREW Premieres Tonight – Meet the Crews

This message is going out to all of y’alls, but especially y’alls* that love some SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE.

Tonight is the season premiere of AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREW, a must-see dance competition that brings together the best of the best of dance crews from all over the country. Your jaw will be on the floor once you see what these cats are able to do. Death defying tricks, inspirational movement, and crazy fun routines that will have you on your feet.

I was a little late to the ABDC game. Last season was the first season I watched in full, and let me tell you…I was hooked! You will be too.

ABDC winners are no joke. Season one champions, Jabbawockeez, are recognizable, even if you never see their faces. The masked crew has appeared on tour with NKOTB, with Shaq during the NBC All Star Weekend, in their own Gatorade commercial and most recently on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. Last year’s winners, Quest Crew, are in high demand these days. No surprise…check out this hot ABDC promo featuring Quest crew, and get a sense of the talent you’ll be exposed to starting tonight at 9pm on MTV.

I know many of you reading this are fans of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. Trust me, you’ll love this show! Not only does it feature Shane Sparks as a judge each week, but SYTYCD alums have been well represented. Last year’s winners, Quest Crew, featured three former SYTYCDancers. Ryan (S1), Hok (S3) and Dominic (S3). And this year, Donyelle Jones, a finalist in S2, is a featured dancer with Artistry in Motion. Reason alone to check it out, right?

So make sure you’re in front of your TV at 9pm tonight for this season of AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREW.

And to get you ready, here’s a run down of the nine crews that will be competing tonight.

(* I’m not one to encourage binge drinking, but if you were to partake in a drinking game based on the number of times the judges say “y’alls” during a given show…well, let’s just say that you might be better off playing with water.)

AfroBoriké is bringing a Latin-American fire to America’s Best Dance Crew. Previously, all the members of AfroBoriké danced together in a Las Vegas show called “Fuego Raw Talent.”

They describe their style as “spicy” and “exciting” and hope that their hot moves will win enough votes to crown them America’s Best Dance Crew.

Artistry in Motion is a group of ladies on a dancing mission. They are trying to unite the hip-hop and contemporary styles of dancing and turn it into a genre they call “contemp-hop.” The girls hail from all different parts of North America and have combined their individual styles into something special — special enough to get gigs dancing with artists such as Missy Elliot, Black Eyed Peas, Wayne Brady, Lloyd, Ludacris and Gnarls Barkley.

The girls are excited about bringing together many different styles of dance for America’s Best Dance Crew and think their “contemp-hop” is good enough to get them to the top.

Formed just three years ago, Beat Ya Feet Kings is a young dance group from Washington, D.C. After attending school together, Richard, Dante and Jose formed the crew to go up against the Krump Kings in a dance competition. Porché and Brandon were recruited later and now the group has an unbeatable connection.

Richard is convinced that they will be getting the entire country beating their feet. Will they beat their feet hard enough to win America’s Best Dance Crew?

Fr3sh started in 2003 in Matawan, New Jersey. Founded by Adrian Causing, Fr3sh started as a group of friends dancing for fun. It has since evolved into a huge dance company. These seven dancers are the backbone of the company and are ready to take on America’s Best Dance Crew.

It looks like that might be a winning combination; they won first place in the 2008 East Coast Dance Competition in Washington, D.C., which helped put them on the map and allowed them to be featured in many performances and competitions around the country. They’ve proven they can work a crowd and they are going to try to win over all of America in order to be known as the “best.”

Massive Monkees are bringing their massive resume from Seattle to the America’s Best Dance Crew stage. Two separate dance groups, Massive and Untouchable Style Monkeys, merged in 2000, forming the super group known as Massive Monkees.

Jerome thinks that experience, chemistry and unique style will be exactly what the Massive Monkees need to be America’s Best Dance Crew.

Led by Alonzo Williams, the crew was founded in 2006 as part of the non-profit hip-hop dance organization Rhythm City Inc. Since then, the crew has traveled to compete on national and international stages. They have also appeared on BET and in several music videos.

So why do they think they will win? “Because we are from Bronx and this is where hip-hop started and Rhythm City is representing” says Kenny Bermudez.

Straight out of the country music capital of the world, Southern Movement combines their love of country music with a hip-hop flavor.

This honky-tonk beat-boxing crew insists while they may appear to be the underdog they have an edge on the rest of the competition. “We are one of the first crews from Tennessee to try and break the barrier of the line dancing country bumpkins and show America’s Best Dance Crew that we can take hip hop to a new level,” says Sherita.

From the underground ballrooms of New York City the members of Vogue Evolution have set out to spread their unique dancing style into the mainstream. The crew comprises of some of the most respected dancers in New York’s “Vogue” house/ballroom scene, which has been around since the Harlem Renaissance.

Why does Vogue Evolution think they’ll take the ABDC crown? “Our style has been replicated by so many people that do not execute the specific steps correctly,” Dashuan says. “We as a crew selected the best from the scene to show the mainstream where it’s from.”

Japanese-born Hiroka “Hero” Mcrae started the We Are Heroes dance crew in Los Angeles with one goal in mind: to prove that females can hold their own in the hip-hop dance world.

We Are Heroes have a strong work ethic and are very determined to win this competition. They want to be the first all-female ensemble to win America’s Best Dance Crew, and Nichelle thinks that their “creative and inventive” moves will be exactly what America wants to see.

Who is with me?  Will you be checking out AMERICA’S BEST DANCE CREW tonight? Y’alls best be!