America's Best Dance Crew (season 4)


The fourth season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on August 9, 2009. All three regular judges, host Mario Lopez, and backstage correspondent Layla Kayleigh returned. This was the last season to feature Shane Sparks as a judge. In the live finale, which aired on September 27, 2009, We Are Heroes was declared the winner.
On August 2, 2009, as a prologue for the season, the show premiered a special episode hosted by Randy Jackson called "The Top 10 Performances of All Time", where Randy showed his favorite routines from the first three seasons.

Cast

Nine dance crews were selected to compete on America's Best Dance Crew. The contestants auditioned in four cities: New York City, Chicago, Orlando, and Los Angeles. Similar to the previous season, the crews were not officially divided by region; however, the regions were still listed on each crew's banner. This was also the first season to showcase crews from three regions, instead of the usual four. The group Vogue Evolution featured the "Wonder Woman of Vogue," Leiomy Maldonado.
Dance CrewHometownRegion
AfroBorikéLas Vegas, NevadaWest
Artistry in MotionNorth Hollywood, CaliforniaWest
Beat Ya Feet KingsWashington, D.C.East
Fr3shMatawan, New JerseyEast
Massive MonkeesSeattle, WashingtonWest
Rhythm CityBronx, New YorkEast
Southern MovementNashville, TennesseeSouth
Vogue EvolutionNew York, New YorkEast
We Are HeroesLos Angeles, CaliforniaWest

Results



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Episodes

Episode 1: Crew's Choice Challenge

The nine new crews chose songs that best showcased their talent in the season premiere. After the bottom three was chosen by the judges, the crews had to face each other in a dance battle to "Boom Boom Pow" by The Black Eyed Peas.
Dance CrewSong
Beat Ya Feet Kings"Skillet" by Backyard Band
We Are Heroes"Waters of Nazareth" by Justice
AfroBoriké"Aguanile" by Marc Anthony
Massive Monkees"Kill Joy" by N.E.R.D.
Artistry in Motion"SFM" by Basement Jaxx
Southern Movement"Sideways" by Dierks Bentley
Rhythm City"Life of a Star" by Mims
Fr3sh"Ante Up" by M.O.P.
Vogue Evolution"Took the Night" by Chelley

Beyoncé stopped by to hand out the challenges for the crews, who had to use her music videos and tour performances as inspiration for their routines.
Dance CrewSongChallenge
We Are Heroes"Single Ladies "Take the section of the video known as "The Grind" and create strobe effects.
Rhythm City"Sweet Dreams"Update "The Charleston" which is featured in the video.
Massive Monkees"Work It Out"Dance with hula hoops without accidentally dropping them.
Beat Ya Feet Kings"Crazy In Love"Booty-pop with never before seen flare.
Southern Movement"Jumpin' Jumpin'" by Destiny's ChildBust out all of the moves from the video with new creativity.
Vogue Evolution"Déjà Vu"Perform African-style dancing within their routine.
Artistry in Motion"Diva"Perform with chains incorporating the entire crew.
AfroBoriké"Beautiful Liar" by Beyoncé and ShakiraWork exotic Shakira-like moves into the routine.

The crews had to incorporate martial arts moves into their routines. Quest Crew's Steve Terada appeared as a guest instructor.
Dance CrewSongChallenge
AfroBoriké"I Know You Want Me " by PitbullCapoeira
We Are Heroes"Starstrukk" by 3OH!3Karate
Vogue Evolution"Work" by Ciara feat. Missy ElliottShaolin Kung Fu
Massive Monkees"Bounce" by MSTRKRFT feat. NOREExtreme Martial Arts
Beat Ya Feet Kings"Chillin'" by Wale feat. Lady GagaTaekwondo
Rhythm City"La La La" by LMFAOMuay Thai
Southern Movement"Ugly" by Bubba SparxxxKali

The six remaining crews were challenged to infuse the flavor of Bollywood culture into their routines. In order to learn the complex Indian-themed dance style, the crews met with Bollywood choreographer Nakul Dev Mahajan.
Dance CrewSongChallenge
Massive Monkees"Bang" by Rye Rye feat. M.I.A.Bhangra
Vogue Evolution"Calabria 2008" by EnurRajasthani
Rhythm City"Jai Ho! " by A.R. Rahman and The Pussycat DollsBharatanatyam
AfroBoriké"Dance Bailalo" by Kat DeLunaKathak
We Are Heroes"Arab Money" by Busta Rhymes and Ron BrowzGiddha
Beat Ya Feet Kings"So Fine" by Sean PaulGarba

The five remaining crews put their own spins on popular dance crazes. In addition to the challenge, the crews also had use the trampoline built into the stage sometime during their routines.
Dance CrewSongChallenge
AfroBoriké"Swag Surfin'" by Fast Life YungstazSwag Surfin'
Massive Monkees"Do the Ricky Bobby" by B-HampRicky Bobby
Rhythm City"You're a Jerk" by New BoyzJerkin'
We Are Heroes"Stanky Legg" by GS BoyzStanky Legg
Vogue Evolution"Halle Berry" by Hurricane ChrisHalle Berry

The final four crews paid tribute to memorable performances from the MTV Video Music Awards. The crews performed together in an opening number to "Smooth Criminal" by Michael Jackson.
Dance CrewSong
We Are Heroes"Vogue" by Madonna
AfroBoriké"I'm a Slave 4 U" by Britney Spears
Massive Monkees"Tearin' Up My Heart" by *NSYNC
Rhythm City"Wall To Wall" by Chris Brown

The crews competed against each other in two challenges: the Decade of Dance Challenge, in which the crews danced to a mix of five songs from the past five decades, and the Last Chance Challenge.

Challenge #1: Decades of Dance Challenge

The remaining three crews had to master dance styles from the last five decades. One crew was eliminated halfway through the show.
DecadeSong
1960s"Sex Machine" by James Brown
1970s"Uprock" by Rock Steady Crew
1980s"Cold Hearted" by Paula Abdul
1990s"You Make Me Wanna" by Usher
2000s"LoveGame" by Lady Gaga

The two finalists were given one last chance to perform before the lines opened for the final voting session of the season.
Dance CrewPerformance Title
AfroBorikéRaíces
We Are HeroesIchiban

Episode 8: The Live Finale

All nine crews returned for a group performance in the season finale. The judges each picked three crews that complemented each other and their dance styles. Then, the winner was crowned.
CrewsSong
Lil Mama: We Are Heroes, Vogue Evolution and Artistry in Motion"Girls On The Dance Floor" by Far East Movement feat. The Stereotypes
JC Chasez: AfroBoriké, Rhythm City and Fr3sh"Fire Burning" by Sean Kingston
Shane Sparks: Massive Monkees, Beat Ya Feet Kings and Southern Movement"I Do" by Lil Jon feat. Swizz Beatz and Snoop Dogg
We Are Heroes and AfroBoriké"I Gotta Feeling" by The Black Eyed Peas
We Are Heroes"I'm The Ish" by DJ Class feat. Lil Jon