America's Best Dance Crew-Season 4-Episode 7 Review

If you've been following Season 4 of America's Best Dance Crew on MTV, then you know Episode 7 televised Sunday, September 20th has us down to the final three dance crews. The three crews are:

• Afroborike
• Massive Monkees
• We Are Heroes

Mario announced that the crew that had received the most votes from the public was Afroborike and that secured them a guaranteed spot in the finals that will air live on September 27th.

This week's challenge was the "Decades of Dance" challenge. Each crew would have to create a routine that showcased the iconic dance moves of five decades. The featured dance moves were:

• James Brown representing the 1960s
• Rock Steady representing the 1970s
• Paula Abdul representing the 1980s
• Usher representing the 1990s
• Lady Gaga representing the 2000s

Afroborike's performance was actually pretty good. I felt that they had incorporated a greater amount of complexity than they normally do. I also felt that the five decades challenge forced them to create more transitions and I think they did that pretty smoothly.

I noticed that they seemed to play up the male sexuality a little more than the female sexuality this time. Makes me wonder what the voting demographic really is for this show.

With the two remaining crews being Massive Monkees and We Are Heroes, Massive Monkees won the coin toss to determine who would perform first.

Massive Monkees gave us a very high energy routine very reminiscent of Super Crew in Season 2. They had a number of really great moves including some very synchronized moves by two of the guys. I felt good about their routine and felt that they gave it all they had.

We Are Heroes came decked out in their hot pink and silvery gray flashy suits and put on a really good show. These ladies performed some great pop and lock moves and had incredible transitions, some super flips and features. There was so much energy in their routine. You could tell they were serious about winning.

There were times they reminded me very much of Beat Freaks in their Illusion Challenge. (See the video)

After Massive Monkees and We Are Heroes performed, the judges were faced with a tough decision.

It was decided that Massive Monkees would be eliminated and We Are Heroes would move on to face Afroborike in the live season finale next week.

I hated to Massive Monkees go. They are one of the few groups this season where you felt like you were able to get to know their personalities. I know we'll see more of them.

The final showdown was between Afroborike and We Are Heroes. Each crew was given a chance to create the music, the costumes, and the choreography that best represented them to the voting public one last time.

We watched as both crews went into the studio to design their customized music, shopped for wardrobes, and gave us a few clues about what they felt they were about. Afroborike wanted to express their roots and their culture through tribal reggae music. We Are Heroes wanted to create a powerful mix that exemplified them being super heroes and they wanted costumed that showed off their feminine, but heroic side.

Afroborike performed first. They utilized a large drum with the three ladies inside. It was a visually appealing entrance. They were dressed in tribal-type attire and the beat was lively but not overly impressive to me. There were no moments that really took my breath away.

We Are Heroes' performance was incredibly fast-paced and intense throughout the performance. They utilized fire and did a couple of tricks with the fire then lit the ring surrounding them. Between the flames and their bright costumes, the roar of the crowd and the upbeat music, the performance was simply unforgettable. They gave it their all.

The judges gave We Are Heroes a standing ovation. When they came back from the commercial break Shane was asked to comment on Afroborike and he was very complimentary towards them and said that they had been the underdogs, but they had won his respect and he wished them luck. JC was asked to comment on We Are Heroes. He actually congratulated both teams for making it to the finale, and went on to talk to several of the members of We Are Heroes specifically. He actually got quite emotional. Lil' Mama was asked to comment on both crews. She had great things to say about both teams, but I caught something in her plea to the voting public. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but she actually said:

"I hope the voters vote fairly. You have to look at the performance and see who was the best, who made the performance hot, who deserves to be America's Best Dance Crew, honestly."

To me, the hottest performance was We Are Heroes, without a doubt. Was that what Lil' Mama was implying by her "hot" comment, referring to the fire routine? Hmmmmmm