America's Best Dance Crew

So I've been trying to catch up with this phenomenon known as America's Best Dance Crew, and subsequently two crews that I've heard about non-stop: Kaba Modern and Jabbawockiez. The draw of these competitions is that it combines ability (the obvious abundance of it in these dance crews!) and drama, where you can see some of the crews stay together, while others fall apart. It's interesting to view how these crews operate from a structural point of view.

Enigma, for example, had a strong central person. That person was not the best dancer in the crew and very confrontational. In BreakSk8, they also seemed to have a central leader, but that person was less confrontational. Iconic had a very obvious leader, but they revered him as their leader.

Status Quo had a rough start, and there isn't a clear point person. It seems as if all of Kaba Modern takes a leadership position since they train entire teams at UCI, which puts each person on equal footing. The Jabbawockiez definitely have a very flat structure, where each person is equal to other. Fish n Chycks and Femme 5 are a close knit unit that value the input of each member, but in terms of how they identify, Fish n Chycks is ready to challenge the boys in this obviously male-dominated field, while Femme 5 maintains its strength in what is commonly perceived as staying feminine.

It's an interesting dynamic. One of the things that keeps me intrigued, along with the fact that these are some AMAZING dancers.