2008 Woodie Awards
'America's Best Dance Crew?' Only you and JC Chasez can decide
Caity Cudworth
Issue date: 3/26/08 Section: Entertainment
03/26/08 - In the days of yore, battling for honor meant breaking out your kilt and war paint and kicking ass Braveheart-style. But today's rival groups, or "crews," don't have to fight on a muddy field. They can duke it out in a less bloody way, a way that will ensure that their shoes stay fly and that their doo rags remain intact; dancing.
But while a dance-off may be less gory than traditional warfare, rest assured, it is a merciless form of battle.
Not only can dancing smooth out deeply-entrenched rivalries, it can also improve your life, lifting you out of a gritty and hopeless world of drugs, violence, ethnic tension and poorly-designed apartment buildings.
If there's one thing the recent spate of dance movies has taught us, it's that sometimes, when your life is hopeless and you don't have the option of becoming a white rapper, math genius, or pro-basketball player, the best thing to do is break out your dancing shoes.
And now all that inspiration can be found on cable TV. Enter "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew."
This show could not have come at a better time.
You see, although America remains deeply divided politically and socially, hopefully the people of this great nation can put aside their differences and exercise their democratic right to vote.... for the hottest dance crew around. Seriously, Randy, props, dawg. This show is just what America needs.
Even better, "America's Best Dance Crew" is hosted by Mario Lopez, whose waxy, ageless face still looks as (frighteningly) youthful as it did when he played A.C. Slater on "Saved by the Bell."
But what has Lopez been up to in the 15 years since those shenanigan-filled days at Bayside High?
He's actually been hosting "Pet Star" on Animal Planet. This job required him to spend his days humoring deluded pet owners who enjoyed dressing their dogs or iguanas up in funny hats and vests and guiding them through cumbersome dance routines.
But while a dance-off may be less gory than traditional warfare, rest assured, it is a merciless form of battle.
Not only can dancing smooth out deeply-entrenched rivalries, it can also improve your life, lifting you out of a gritty and hopeless world of drugs, violence, ethnic tension and poorly-designed apartment buildings.
If there's one thing the recent spate of dance movies has taught us, it's that sometimes, when your life is hopeless and you don't have the option of becoming a white rapper, math genius, or pro-basketball player, the best thing to do is break out your dancing shoes.
And now all that inspiration can be found on cable TV. Enter "Randy Jackson Presents America's Best Dance Crew."
This show could not have come at a better time.
You see, although America remains deeply divided politically and socially, hopefully the people of this great nation can put aside their differences and exercise their democratic right to vote.... for the hottest dance crew around. Seriously, Randy, props, dawg. This show is just what America needs.
Even better, "America's Best Dance Crew" is hosted by Mario Lopez, whose waxy, ageless face still looks as (frighteningly) youthful as it did when he played A.C. Slater on "Saved by the Bell."
But what has Lopez been up to in the 15 years since those shenanigan-filled days at Bayside High?
He's actually been hosting "Pet Star" on Animal Planet. This job required him to spend his days humoring deluded pet owners who enjoyed dressing their dogs or iguanas up in funny hats and vests and guiding them through cumbersome dance routines.