My capacity to appreciate arts elimination shows is ever increasing. I catch every episode of Project Runway, So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol. I hadn’t seen America’s Best Dance Crew till this season and only tuned in because Massive Monkees is on it.
In
Seattle, MM is hard to miss. I’ve seen its members in small clubs and large
stadiums, during competitions and solitary star turns, but I’ve never
seen them so flat as they are on America’s Best Dance Crew.
I
blame the show. Its tight, brassy format kills what’s best in its subject. Given the freedom to set its own agenda, a great crew will reveal an ability to expand on a moment and keep uncovering different
aspects of solitary and group moves within a circle of discerning
admirers.
I like Afro Borike and Vogue Evolution or at least I
think I do. I’d love to see them in a different setting. Even so, I
hope MM takes it all but won’t be following them to the finish line, as
this show too painful to watch. It proves it’s possible to ruin a great
thing by wrapping it in shoddy packaging and imposing truly goofy challenges. I like the judges, especially
Shane Sparks, but they too can’t breathe inside this show’s stale air.
Dance crews deserve better.
Check this for a sampling of the real deal. The movie wasn’t so hot, but this trailer is thrilling.
Massive Monkees’ Jerome Aparis in happier times. Photo, Josh Trujillo.
I beg to differ. This is the one dance show where they actually focus on the art form. The audience is not sold on half-baked B list celebrities trying to dance, but actual real live dance crews who do their own choreography and the challenges are different every time.
How is the different setting any kind of valid argument? All the other shows you mention take place on the same stage with the same challenges and critiques over and over again.
If you are so in love with the absolutely mundane reality competition where the true focus is not on the art form but on salacious costuming and has-been celebs, then your opinion is just as half-baked as the people who participate in them.
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