America's Best Dance Crew

The fifth season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on January 28, 2010 and concluded on April 8, 2010. Auditions were held in six cities from November 20 through December 12: Atlanta, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York.^[1] Audition callbacks were held the day after auditions, with evaluations by the TV show judges and members of past ABDC champions.^[2] The first three episodes of the season featured auditions from each region: South, East, and West.^[3] Shane Sparks did not return as a judge this season, due to his arrest, and was replaced by Omarion.^[4]

In the live finale, Poreotix was declared the winner of Season 5 and received the $100,000 (USD) prize.

Crews

A dance crew became eligible to compete either through the live audition process or through submission of an audition video. In either case, each crew had to prepare and perform an original routine lasting one or two minutes. The audition judges selected several of the crews for callbacks, and presented them with another challenge; each dance crew was given music and told to choreograph another group routine, followed by a series of short individual freestyles. The following day, these crews performed their two routines in front of a small panel of judges. After another set of callbacks, the remaining crews performed their original audition routines in front of an ABDC "celebrity panel". These judges would then decide whether the crew would move onto the regional competition.^[2]

Results

Episodes

• Starting from the Final 5, when a crew gets eliminated, they take a look back at the eliminated crew's journey on the show while playing "Doesn't Mean Anything" by Alicia Keys.

Regionals: South

• Aired on January 28, 2010

The five Southern regional crews, selected by Lil Mama, JC Chasez, and guest judge Hokuto "Hok" Konishi from Quest Crew, performed to a song of their choice. The bottom three were chosen by the judges and danced in a battle for 30 seconds each to a mastermix of "Outta Control" by Baby Bash featuring Pitbull.

• Safe: Swagger Crew, Jungle Boogie
• Bottom 3: X-treme Motion, Royal Flush, Ghost
• Eliminated: Ghost, X-treme Motion

Regionals: East

• Aired on February 4, 2010

The five Eastern regional crews, selected by Lil Mama and guest judge Kevin "Keibee" Brewer from the JabbaWockeeZ, performed to a song of their choice. The bottom three were chosen by the judges and danced in a battle for 30 seconds each to a mastermix of "Hip Hop Is Dead" by Nas featuring will.i.am.

• Safe: Saltare, Blueprint Cru
• Bottom 3: draZtik, Legendary Seven, Static Noyze
• Eliminated: Legendary Seven, draZtik

Regionals: West

• Aired on February 11, 2010

The five Western regional crews, selected by Omarion, JC Chasez, and guest judge Nichelle Thrower from We Are Heroes, performed to a song of their choice. The bottom three were chosen by the judges and danced in a battle for 30 seconds each to a mastermix of "Showdown" by The Black Eyed Peas.

• Safe: Poreotix, Heavy Impact
• Bottom 3: Blended Projekt, Hype 5-0, BreakEFX
• Eliminated: Blended Projekt, BreakEFX

Week 1: Chart Topper Challenge

• Aired on February 18, 2010

The top 9 crews each performed to a master mix of a chart-topping song. The lowest ranked crew in each region danced in a battle for 30 seconds each to a master mix of "TiK ToK" by Kesha.

• Safe: Poreotix, Heavy Impact, Jungle Boogie, Royal Flush, Blueprint Cru, Saltare
• Bottom 3: Hype 5-0, Swagger Crew, Static Noyze
• Eliminated: Swagger Crew

Week 2: Music Video Challenge

• Aired on February 25, 2010

The eight remaining crews emulated popular music videos from the past decade, featuring videos from artists such as Britney Spears, Shakira, Rihanna and ABDC's very own Omarion.

• Safe: Poreotix, Jungle Boogie, Static Noyze, Saltare, Heavy Impact, Hype 5-0
• Bottom 2: Royal Flush, Blueprint Cru
• Eliminated: Royal Flush

Week 3: Lady GaGa Challenge

• Aired on March 4, 2010

Similar to the Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Britney Spears, and Beyoncé challenges from Seasons 1-4, the seven remaining crews performed the moves and fashion of hit songs by Lady Gaga. For the first time in ABDC history, there were no eliminations due to voting issues.^[10] At the end of the episode, the judges chose the best performance to receive immunity from the double-elimination next week.

• Safe: Static Noyze, Blueprint Cru, Jungle Boogie, Heavy Impact, Hype 5-0, Poreotix, Saltare
• Awarded Immunity: Blueprint Cru

Week 4: Disco Challenge

• Aired on March 11, 2010

The seven remaining crews gave classic 70's disco songs and moves a hip hop update. In addition to the challenge, all the crews had to incorporate a lift into their routines. This episode featured a double-elimination due to last week's non-elimination.

• Safe: Blueprint Cru (immune), Saltare, Poreotix, Hype 5-0
• Bottom 3: Heavy Impact, Static Noyze, Jungle Boogie
• Eliminated: Heavy Impact, Static Noyze

Week 5: Usher Challenge

• Aired on March 18, 2010

Similar to the Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Missy Elliott, Britney Spears, and Beyoncé challenges from Seasons 1-4, and the Lady Gaga challenge from earlier in the season, crews took inspiration from Usher's music videos. Usher himself gave each crew their challenges through a video.

• Safe: Jungle Boogie, Poreotix, Hype 5-0
• Bottom 2: Blueprint Cru, Saltare
• Eliminated: Saltare

Week 6: Illusion Challenge

• Aired on March 25, 2010

Just like its predecessor in season 3, the remaining 4 crews incorporated an eye-popping illusion or a mind-blowing magic act into their performance set. The final 4 crews kicked off the show with a group performance to "Take It Off" by Kesha with judge Lil Mama performing in the routine. Magician Franz Harary returned as the magic instructor for the crews.

• Safe: Hype 5-0, Poreotix
• Bottom 2: Blueprint Cru, Jungle Boogie
• Eliminated: Jungle Boogie

Week 7: Hip Hop Nation Challenge and Last Chance Challenge

• Aired on April 1, 2010

This week on ABDC the crews competed against each other in two challenges: the Hip Hop Nation Challenge and the Last Chance Challenge. For both challenges, the crews got to collaborate with producer Swizz Beatz.

Challenge #1: Hip Hop Nation Challenge

The remaining 3 crews displayed mastery of hip hop styles from around the nation. One crew was given the boot halfway through the show. The crews received help from three guest ABDC alumni from past seasons. Each alumnus was assigned to one of the dance styles the crews will be responsible for.

• Safe: Blueprint Cru
• Bottom 2: Poreotix, Hype 5-0
• Eliminated: Hype 5-0

Challenge #2: Last Chance Challenge

The crews created original beats with Swizz Beatz to groove to during their routine for the Last Chance Challenge to show America why they should be crowned the winner. The remaining two crews then performed their prepared routines before the lines opened for the final voting session of the season.

Week 8: The Live Finale

• Aired on April 8, 2010

The eliminated crews of season 5 returned and teamed up with the remaining two crews for a regional collaboration each song by a different regional artist. Each judge said their opinion on the crews of their region while judging at their region for auditions. West for Omarion, East for Lil Mama, and South for JC Chasez. Instead of going head-to-head, Poreotix and Blueprint Cru teamed up for their last performance.

On April 8, 2010, Poreotix was crowned the winner of America's Best Dance Crew Season 5, while Blueprint Cru was declared the runner-up.

• Winner: Poreotix
• Runner-up: Blueprint Cru

Special Episode: Champions for Charity

• Aired on April 15, 2010

ABDC had a charity event featuring all five ABDC champions. The five champions opened up the show with a group performance to "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled.

References

External links

• Official website