Getting freaky on 'Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew'

This week's Janet Jackson themed challenge has some of the America's Best Dance Crew Top 6 feeling their oats. Shenanigans!

Spoilers

The show opens to an all-crews number to a mix of "Rhythm Nation," one of the Fanny Pak girls being lowered from the ceiling and playing the Janet part. It was really cool seeing that many people on stage, though not everyone was hitting the moves as hard as I was expecting. Great job by the choreographers - Rosero McCoy and Tabitha & Napoleon Dumo (who're pulling a double shift since they also do some work on So You Think You Can Dance).

So the Janet Challenge isn't to do an exact whole video but to take moves from a compilation video with chunks from pretty much every dance video she's ever done and weave them in with their own.

1. Fanny Pak
Song: "All Night (Don't Stop)"
Wow...you can tell they're comfortable with each other. Lots of dirty stuff going on including a girl-on-girl kiss (which Shane slo-mos) and other assorted  naughty touches. Not to say they didn't have great choreography in there. I didn't see any specific Janet moves but it was very much in that spirit. Good job all around.

2. Supreme Soul
Song: "Nasty"
Eh...they just didn't hit it this week. There was some good signature movements, both of their own and of Janet's, but I felt it was uneven. The ending was really good, the beginning was decent but the middle fell flat. Lil' Mama dug it but JC and Shane shared my sentiments. Like JC said, it could've been "a lot more nasty."

3. Boogie Bots
Song: "Control"
I really thought they had a good approach to it. The majority of the movements were robotic or "controlled" and had a lot of recognizable Janet moves. And the ending was dope - they formed the evolutionary chart, ending with one of the guys as a robot. General approval from the judges, though JC wanted more from them.

4. SoReal Cru
Song" "I Get So Lonely"
Oh my. Major props to really keeping in with the spirit of the video. I recognized moves both from this song's video and "If" and their original stuff was really strong. Even the costumes were on. Shane, who thought it was the best of the night (so far) caught some stuff from the "Feedback" video too.

Bottom Two
Big surprise on the bottom two for me because I don't think either deserved to be there. Sadly, I have such an affinity for both so either way I won't be happy with the outcome.

1. Supercr3w
Song: "Black Cat"
That...was sick. One guy (Ronnie) did a series of floor work that ended with "gorillas" in which he was spinning on flat hands in a tuck position. They included quite a bit of Janet but it was decidedly their flavor. And the stunt where they were throwing one of the guys around was really good.

2. A.S.I.I.D.
Song: "If"
This was sick too. They included signature moves from "If", "Pleasure Principal," and "All For You" and they started blindfolded. Really, really excellent work.

So, after much deliberation and entirely too much dead air, A.S.I.I.D. is going home and I kind of feel like someone punched me in the gut.

Before I sign off, forgive a small rant. Janet Jackson doesn't get nearly the amount of respect and praise as she deserves. Among her other accomplishments, she single-handedly revolutionized the way Pop and R&B artists approached live performances and, between her and Michael, drew the blueprint most use for their videos. You know how everyone dances with a headpiece microphone instead of a handheld? Thank Janet ("Control" in 1986). Do you like Britney Spears or Ciara? Thank Janet. I could go on and on but all I'm saying is that people need to wake up and give her far more props. Best recognize.

Now that that's out of my system, what were your thoughts on tonight? Were you surprised by the bottom two like me? Did you expect Supercr3w to go home instead? Which performances were your favorties/least faves? Now excuse me while I go watch Janet videos...

E-mail

• Digg
• Facebook
• Fark
• Yahoo Buzz
• Stumbleupon