SYTYCD, Star Search, America’s Got Talent and ABDC: Breakdancing on Reality TV

Posted on March 29, 2009

There’s something mesmerizing about seeing the human body do amazing things. It can be singing, contorting or flying through the air; we love experiencing our fellow man honing a craft or creating art.

We’ve been fascinated for years. Even before the modern circus developed in 2nd century BC, societies held competitions–often as a rite of passage–where boys would prove they were men by displaying ability while everyone else watched

Is it any wonder then that talent-based reality TV show has become so popular? While not the first, American Bandstand and Soul Train become hit shows by televising music and dancing. The 80’s leveraged their formula to bring us Star Search and Amateur Night at the Apollo. Things were going well until 1995 when Al Gore’s internet creation started disrupting people’s focus.

But there was a renaissance 2002, when American Idol emerged and reignited public interest in watching other’s display their talents on TV. After its success, some of their executives realized there was a market for a dance version of the show. And with that, So You Think You Can Dance? was born. With an inquiry like that being the show’s title, you knew some breakers were going to respond! Here are some of them answering the question in the different countries it was asked:

  • America - B-Boy Ryan Conferido
  • Canada - B-Boy Jeremy Tran (also peep locker Katie Lee)
  • Malaysia - B-Boys from the 2008 and 2007 seasons battle
  • Scandavia - This is a top 24 clip with b-boys from Norway, Sweden and Denmark

A remake of Star Search also started around this time with dancing replacing modeling as a category. There were 4 seasons and nearly all of them were won by a b-boy, Do-Knock. Despite mild acclaim, the show only lasted until 2004.

With these programs doing so well, Idol’s Simon Cowell took the cue to create another talent-based reality show, America’s Got Talent. This was more of a variety show and it wasn’t long before breakdancing made it’s way onto it’s stage as well. There are Got Talent spin-offs in over 20 countries and breakdancers have been on a lot of them:

Finally, in 2008, MTV got in on the action. Really, they should have been first. SYTYCD is on Fox and America’s Got Talent airs on NBC but MTV has the dance-loving youth market cornered like Mike Tyson. They finally released America’s Best Dance Crew and have been giving access to b-boys and b-girls ever since. Breakdancers have won each of the competitions held so far: Jabbowockeez in the first season, Super Cr3w in the 2nd and Qwest Crew in  3rd.

Though these shows don’t always allow breakdancing to be done in it’s truest form, they have been a platform to jump-start careers. For example, ever since winning ABDC 1, Jabbawockeez have been in Gatorade and Pepsi commercials (I guess there’s no conflict of interest) and even performed with Shaq at the last All-Star Game. And then there’s the financial component: some of these competitions pay up to $100,000! These dancers do it for the love but it’s great that they can extend that love to their wallets and bank accounts.

And this is only the beginning. There will be new shows (anyone want to bet that the Bravo Channel creates one?), twists on existing shows and some will die off. I know some people are concerned that the growing popularity is looking eerily familiar but there is fortunately enough information available to prevent breaking culture from repeating history.

For more information on the shows, you can check out their websites here:

Pregnant Women Breakdancing!

Posted on February 10, 2009

Well they’re not really pregnant (they were wearing preggie suits) but I can imagine how freaked out the on-lookers must have been by the b-girls with buns in the oven:

This was done by a non-profit organization, Oxfam, to increase awareness on the dangers of giving birth in poor countries (World-wide, 1400 women die every day in pregnancy and childbirth due to a lack of basic health care) and is one of a series happening in Paris, Berlin, Utrecht and across Canada.

Breakdancing around the World: Canada

Posted on December 30, 2008

Though breaking started in the Bronx, NY, it has since grown from a U.S. fad to world-wide phenomenon. I‘ll periodically post a “Breaking around the World” blog to showcase b-boys and b-girls from all around the globe.

I’ve never understood why Americans poked fun at Canada so much but their b-boys are definitely no joke.  I wrote about the impact of Canadian b-boys Buddha and Lazy Legs but some others have also been very influential. Bag-o-Trix and Supernaturalz crews both helped popularize threading, an intricate footwork style (also known as origami style) that many b-boys do today.

Here’s a highlight clip of Dyzee of Supernaturalz Crew where he does a lot of threading:

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