Mia’s Take: ABDC 3 Episode 5

Five fabulous crews are left on Randy Jackson’s America’s Best Dance Crew. Tonight’s challenge was to emulate eye popping illusions. With the help of illusionist and magician Franz Harary, the teams used his suggestions on which props to use in defying reality in their choreography. Although only two groups out of five conjured up magic this week, four made it to next weeks episode. The judges had it going on this week with Shane Sparks looking nice in his Jabbawockeez tee. Also, Lil’Mama is looking much better every week: she’s choosing fashionable beauty over Brooklyn street style, and what a pretty choice it is.


The two all-girl crews were up for the first round. It’s not surprising that the Beat Freaks are a top rated crew; Fly Khicks don’t even have half of the Beat Freaks’ creativity. A master mix of “Freeze” by T. Pain feat. Chris Brown accompanied Beat Freaks’ perfect performance. Their levitation challenge featured a silver, floating magic ball. The girls were no frills this week as their en pointe unison was pure hip-hop skill. In fact, their choreography was so clean that they didn’t need the magic tricks. I really agree with Shane Sparks this week as he said this performance is one of the best of all three seasons.

Quest Crew was up next, and again, it was no surprise that this team is one of the two crews seriously vying for the top spot. Their music was a master mix of Lil’ Wayne feat. T. Pain’s “Got money.” The difficulty of their challenge made me pretty nervous: pass an object through their bodies while dancing. This talented troupe is always ready with true showmanship and marvelous acrobatics. Their finale of a giant mic stand being thrust through one of their members was a nice ending to their choreographed story.

I almost fell asleep during Striker All-Stars’ performance, which was set to a master mix of “Swing” by Savage. They seemed to cram so many things that should be interesting into their set. That really made me want to like the performance. Moreover, the challenge that was given wasn’t easy at all; they had to walk through a solid object. But what they did was pointless because it was just plain boring. They stretched themselves thin with more than one magic trick, and none of them were impressive.

The Bottom two crews weren’t on par with Strikers All-Stars; they were worse. Dynamic Edition had to make someone appear out of thin air. Their master mix was “Starstruck” by Lady Gaga feat. Flo’rida. Yet, for all of their hard work, they only started and ended strongly. Clogging is not a type of dance that can make it to the top of ABDC, but these kids certainly have a spot in ABDC history.

Fly Khicks made their stretch like rubber challenge look like a lap dance from the movie Showgirls. I don’t know how these girls do it. They have a gift of making everything they do look totally cheap. You know, girls, stretching like rubber doesn’t specifically mean do eagle spreads, lots of them. Their music was Beyonce’s “Diva” and their costumes were stretchy, tacky gold Lamé. I guess sex does sell because Fly Khicks are going to be there next week with the actually talented groups. They must be keeping them for fodder because they aren’t keeping them for skill.