This week the competition revealed who would be competing in the top 3 and I have to say it was a little bit of a surprise to me. This week's challenge was the Magic Challenge, which was a favorite of mine when Beat Freaks absolutely killed it with their magic ball routine a couple seasons ago, so needless to say I was looking forward to this week's show.
Hype 5-0 was up first and their challenge was to utilize a magical floating stick that defies gravity, in their routine. The routine overall wasn't bad, the illusion was kind of cool, but I think they got the short end of the stick (ohhhhh, yep I went there). I mean it really was just a stick [on somestrings] that stood around the stage, they didn't really do a whole lot with them. I do think their choreography and the dance part of the performance was pretty good, but I think I just think they got stuck with a lame prop.
Poreotix was up next and their challenge was to make an object move with their minds. They used a box with circles cut in all sides of it and spun it around in the air, making it float and then in the end used it as sort of a bowling/wrecking ball to knock down the rest of the crew. I think this prop fit well with their style of dance and they were able to incorporate everything pretty seamlessly throughout the whole performance. With this one I neve really felt like they were working too hard to utilize the prop like I did with Hype 5-0, but something about the whole routine made it feel really short to me... but it could have just been me.
Blueprint Cru was up next and their challenge was to give the illusion of someone floating. This was the most theatrical I think we've ever seen this group and it was a nice change of pace. It shows that they have versatility and can do other things besides just go out and do a choreographed dance number. I will have to agree with the judges that it started off really slow and took way too long to get into the actual routine, but once it got going I enjoyed it. The illusion itself is another one of those that isn't the easiest to incorporate into a dance number. In order for the trick to work, one person has to stand perpendicular to the "floating" person because [I believe] there is a stick or platform of some sort that extends from the person's knee area, under the "floating" person, which is what allows them to appear as if they are floating. So essentially one person had to stand around and not move much while the person was floating, not to mention that the person floating couldn't move around much for fear of breaking the illusion. So I will say it wasn't my favorite performance of the night, but it was different.
Jungle Boogie was the last crew to go and their illusion was to make it appear as though someone is coming through something "solid". I thought their performance was actually very good and very creative. I especially liked the end where they used the black circle thing (which is used to hide the actual trick to the illusion on the mirrored wall) to create another illusion of a fist coming through the back of one of the members and out the front. I thought their energy level was much higher than anyone elses and their dancing was better, but unfortunately they were not saved by the judges and were sent home.
Now as much as I love Blueprint Cru, and have all season, based on this weeks performances, I think they were the weaker of the two. But having said that, I know why the judges chose to save them over Jungle Boogie and it's because they show more diversity in their dancing. Jungle Boogie has been pretty consistent over the course of the season, but there's never been any risks or evolution in their routines, they just all seem the same. They are great dancers, but I think the judges recognize the diversity in Blueprint Cru which is what they saw when deciding who would would stay.
So we're down to the top 3, Hype 5-0, Poreotix and Blueprint Cru and honestly, since the viewers are voting for the winner, I'm going to call it now and say Poreotix is going to take it this year. They seem to have been favorites from the very beginning and compared to the popularity of the other 2 crews, who have both been in the bottom 2 at some point, I think it's safe to say that they will take the title this year, but what do you guys think? Of the remaining 3, who will win?
