ABDC Season 5, The South Regionals

America's Best Dance Crew is back and this season starts off with Regionals for South, East, and West. Apparently Midwest is just a total wash. Since I'm in Chicago, I'm kind of offended. In these Regionals, 5 crews will compete on the LA stage and 3 will move on to the National/actual competition that starts on February 18. The first region to compete was the ultimately lackluster South region. Jungle Boogie who specializes in cranking went first. This is not Soulja Boy's Crankin. I actually found this authentic version less exciting personally, but that's probably because everyone is turned off by anything involving the word crank by now. They were boring. Ghost crew was next. This crew seemed to favor robotic, Jabbawokeez-like isolations, but again I found it boring. Then X-treme Motion took the stage with their booty shaking fest known as bucking. They weren't anything that Live in Color or Fly Khicks didn't do better.

Swagger Crew was the best of the night, but that's not saying much. This crew was the most a kin to a new school, Hip Hop crew. However, they gave no real indication that they can keep up with the legacy of Kaba Modern, So Real, Quest, & Rhythm City. In an episode quickly going down hill, they were the only glimmer of hope for the South. Royal Flush closed the show with a hot mess. As JC pointed out, they tried to give us everything -- including some Vogue Evolution (yes I'm implying that the girl looked like Leyome's little sister/biggest fan). On the other hand, Omarion & Lil' Ma were right about not having focus and too corny to function. Royal Flush has apparently auditioned for every season and finally got this far, which makes me sad that this is what the South had to offer.

It was an easy decision to send Swagger Crew and Jungle Boogie to the finals. Why Jungle Boogie you ask? Basically compared to the rest, being forgettable is better than vividly BAD. In the battle to advance, Royal Flush managed to out trick the other crews and make into the finals. I personally felt Ghost out danced them in the battle, but I'll admit Royal Flush wasn't far behind. I think the "try-and-try-again" story seemed to resonate with the judges (and SpoilTheEnding) more than the "troubled youth." East coast is up next week.