Video: Dumbo (Poreotics) freestyle

WorldofDance Youtube just released a video of Matt 'Dumbo' Nguyen of ABDC's Poreotics, taped just after World of Dance Seattle in October 2011. World of Dance's next event will be an industry awards show on February 19 in Los Angeles. Click here for info and tickets.

Latest from Yak Films: Academy of Phresh, Monster Squad, In da Clutch - "RIP Soda Pop"

Daniel "Soda Pop" Lewis, a pioneer popper from Philadelphia, died on January 6, 2012. This video from Yak Films is a tribute to his life and dance, performed by members of Academy of Phresh, Monster Squad, and In da Clutch. In support of him and his family, Philly Raw Talent had a benefit jam Sunday, January 8th to raise funds to start an education fund for his children.   If anyone, wants to donate funds to his education fund, please email phillyrawtalent@gmail.com

First clip from the ABDC7 auditions: Skittleheadz Crew dance outside the audition room

Not much news out just yet about the Chicago audition. Here's a warmup -Skittleheadz Crew posted a video of them being filmed, probably by local TV. Comment if you know where this was aired or if you have other news, photos or clips.

NAOTV Episode 10: That Next Thing

O hai pplz of teh interwebz! So I've been hard pressed for time this week and haven't been able to watch too many videos, so here's the two I liked the most.

Hazmat: Doo Wop (That Thing)

Hazmat starts of 2012 with a really fun piece that takes us back to the 90s. He shows us something different from his usual intense style. Me gusta.

Quick Crew: Next

Quick never fails to impress. Their first video of 2012 is no exception.

Poreotics fans: Join their new fan club (with merchandise!) and enter this month's contest

Poreotics (winners of America's Best Dance Crew Season 5) just launched a Fan Club. Members receive a rubber Poreotics bracelet, an autographed photo, a lanyard and credential, a framed membership certificate, and your name on their website. Lifetime membership fee is $25;shipping is $5 and International shipping is $10. Click here to go to Poreotics.com and sign up now.

 While you're at Poreotics.com, enter the current Fan of the Month challenge.  Justin "Jet Li" is the member delivering the challenge this month which is to "dance on the street". Contestants DO NOT have to wear a Poreotics t-shirt, but it's worth extra credit!

Video: Moon (IaMmE) dancing with Dumbo (Poreotics)

More inter-ABDC crew collaboration: a video of Dumbo (member of Poreotics) and Moon (member of IaMmE) dancing at the IaMmE house. from PoreoticsHD Youtube. Thanks for the tip, Greg and PerezOverride!

Instant Noodles members dance in DANakaDAN x afterschoolspecial's "Dreamers" music video

DANakaDAN and afterschoolspecial collaborated on a video for "Dreamers" that is heavy with Youtube stars, including Geo and Chuck from Instant Noodles (ABDC6), Ryan Higa, Wong Fu Productions, Cathy Nguyen, Aj Rafael, David Choi, Jason Chen, Jennifer Chung, Joseph Vincent, Toestah, Arika Sato, Kevin Lien, Dawen, Paul Dateh, and  Andi Terada. From afterschoolspecialsd Youtube

Video: 787 Crew dance on Daddy Yankee's "Lovumba"

787 Crew (ABDC Season 6) appear in Daddy Yankee's music video "Lovumba".

Advice for ABDC Auditioning crews, from the audition director

Here's some advice on auditioning for America's Best Dance Crew, from ABDC Casting Director Michelle McNulty. We posted many of these words of advice (with some modification for Season 7) just before Season 5, and it still applies:

• How to register: For audition location, registration, how to apply, and other details, go to ABDCCasting.com
• Key success factors are the same as earlier seasons: branding, versatility, being true to yourself, engaging the audience, staying non-defensive. Details here.
• Who should audition:  Crews should have 5-7 members (if you want to include more members, contact ABDC@mtv.com for permission). Members can be any age. They welcome crews that auditioned for earlier seasons. Details here.
• Advice to new crews: If you are forming a new crew, make sure that all performers are at the same high level. One weaker dancer can pull down the entire crew
• Show something new! Traditional hip hop styles are welcome -- they want the b-boys and choreo crews to come out to audition. But crews have to show something different than what's already appeared on the show.  For example, if you're a non-adult crew, show how you're different from ICONic Boyz!
• NO BYTING of other crews' signature moves, whether or not the original appeared on ABDC!
• Common mistakes: here are three common problems with audition routines that should be avoided

Let us know if you attend the America's Best Dance Crew auditions!

Auditions for America's Best Dance Crew Season 7 start this weekend with stops in Chicago and Houston. If you go -- as an auditioner, friend, press, or on-looker -- let us know!

Send us your impressions, travel diary, photos, videos, whatever, SO LONG AS IT DOESN'T VIOLATE ANY OF THE MTV AUDITION CONTRACT RULES! You can post links here or email them to BloggingABDC@gmail.com. And, good luck to all auditioners!

Videos: Kolanie Mark's 2 crews vieing for ABDC: RNG at Monsters of Hip Hop; Phyzikal Graffi-T

Many of our most devoted readers are also extremely devoted to the work of Kolanie Marks, choreographer for RNG. He's bringing two groups to the America's Best Dance Crew auditions: RNG and Physikal Graffi-T. Here's recent work from both crews at the recent Monsters of Hip Hop 2012.  If ABDC audition judges liked both, which one do you think they should pick?

Video: JabbaWockeeZ rep Qualcomm at 2012 Consumer Electronics Show

The featured performers at the Qualcomm Keynote presentation at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show were Grover and JabbaWockeeZ. Alas, not together. But here's JabbaWockeeZ; click here for Grover.

Video: Roast Beast intro and sample freestyle -- auditioning crew with ABDC alum from Royal Flush - REVISED!

America's Best Dance Crew is welcoming returning crews for the ABDC Season 7 auditions, so we hope they give a serious second look to  new crews with leaders from prior ABDC seasons. Here's Roast Beast from Atlanta featuring  Tyrone 'Neyon' Foster, a member of ABDC5's Royal Flush Crew. They will be auditioning in Houston on January 15. We hope Roast Beast  has the stuff to make it to Season 7! From ROASTBEAST4 Youtube.

TiVO Alert: Nappytabs, ABDC alums on MOBBED tonight

It's Wednesday night, and another Mobbed is on Fox at 9pm ET/PT. I'm not sure what the plot is, but it again features Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo and some of the better dancers in the LA area. I'm not even sure which ABDC alums appear tonight (the clip is short) but this clip was featured on Fanny Pak's Facebook page. I can forgive Mobbed their theatricality and tendency to mortify people as long as they keep employing good dancers! Update: the show has members of Fanny Pak and Choreo Cookies

Video: Quick Crew | Next - The Weeknd

Here's the latest piece from Norway's amazing dancing trio, Quick. Don't forget to subscribe to their Youtube Channel and support their work!

Video: Nick DeMoura (feat. Ian Eastwood & Jun Quemado) - "Otis"

Fresh from Nick's Youtube Channel, here is the latest piece he has put together, featuring his fellow Skouts, Ian Eastwood and Jun Quemado:

Video: Mike Song dubstep choreo + freestyle - "Promises"

The latest from Mike Song (Kaba Modern Kinjas): a dance to "Promises" (Nero and. Skrillex) showing his dubstep choreo and some freestyle. From Mikeosong Channel

Second chance - Name the ABDC7 superstars contest

If you already entered our contest to predict the musical superstars for America's Best Dance Crew but are having second thoughts, you're in luck! And, if you haven't entered yet -- jump in. You can enter the second week of forecasts now till midnight January 12. The third round won't begin until the auditions are over since scoring will reflect info that might be released during the callbacks. Here are the rules -- just leave a comment below.

Video promo for ICONic Boyz Tour

ICONic Boyz (ABDC6 runners-up) are about to start a nine-city tour. Here's some of what you might expect to see. You can buy tickets here.

Videos: Recap of Juste Debout's 2012 Japan Prelims, from StepxStep Dance

StepXStep Dance is a relatively new website devoted to covering the dance world, with a focus on street hiphop. An example of the coverage you can find -- they've assembled videos from the 2012 Juste Deboute prelims held in Japan on January 5. Visit StepXStep Dance's post for an event description and many showcase and battle videos. A sample is this Judge's Showcase featuring Kei, Caleaf, Niako, and P-Lock

Video: Law (Poreotics) workshop - "That Girl"

Laurence 'Law' Devera of Poreotics (ABDC5 champions) recently taught a workshop at ORG. Video from PoreoticsHD Youtube. And they continue the fan of the month competitions at Poreotics.com -- January's challenge: record yourself dancing in the streets

Dancers and dance crews: opportunity to perform in a music video

We received this message from Li, a music video director in LA who is looking for some dancers for an upcoming music video: "I'm directing a music video for an up and coming singer, Meeghan Henry.The song is called "Crash a Party."  For the video, I'm looking for amazing bboys and dance teams to display their skills - crews and soloists alike...Our shoot date is Sunday, Jan. 22. We are shooting at the exclusive Exchange LA.

I'd love it if you guys could help our production find the best dancers and crews to battle it out in the video. As a former touring dancer, I'd always wanted to make a video that marries great camera work with great dancing.  Above all else, I want this video to be a celebration of all the performers we showcase. I want to invite the best of the best to come out and play with us and be creative for one day. And all footage will be available to crews for reel purposes. Here's a previous video from Li. If you're interested, email him at lilu.913@gmail.com

Videos: Instant Noodles at Full Force 17th Anniversary competition

Full Force Crew celebrated their 17th anniversary on January 7, 2012 with a competition in Las Vegas. Member of Instant Noodles (ABDC6) competed in 2x2 and group matches. Videos from Instantnoodlescrew Youtube

Video: Jaja (IaMmE) freestyle

The members of ABD6's IaMmE continue releasing solo and sub-group videos showing off the many talents of each of the members. Here's Jaja free-styling, from JAJAvankova Youtube.

Hype 5-0: Hazmat's New Channel & Video

Josh 'Hazmat' Ulep has released his newest video on his brand new Youtube channel, HazmatHype. This is only part 1 of this series, so make sure to subscribe for more!

Video Flashback: Poreotics at Rock the Schhol Bells in 2008 -- another reason to give NOW!

Yesterday, we posted about a fundraiser for this year's Rock the School Bells. If you need more reason to give, the organizers want to remind you of great past performances. For the next 12 weeks (leading up to this year's event), Brian Crizaldo's Facebook page will feature a video from past RTSBs that introduced or popularized some of the best dancers around. The first offering: Poreotics at the 2008 Rock the School Bells. Watch the video here, subscribe to RTSB's Facebook page, and -- most important -- give!

Video: Flash mob for "It's about Time" movement - pro dancers need better working conditions and "Respect"

From the website for The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA): dancers and performers and other union leaders, members and supporters joined informational support rallies at Sony Music offices in Beverly Hills, New York City and Miami to show their solidarity for the upcoming negotiations on Jan. 11 and 12 between the Union and the major record labels, including Sony, UMG, Warner, EMI, Disney and most of their subsidiary labels. In Beverly Hills, dozens of members of the Los Angeles dancers’ community concluded their press conference and rally with a “flash mob” performance. The union wants to negotiate for safe, fair working conditions and health care for  dancers and performers who appear in music videos.

Pacific Rim filmed the flash mob in Los Angeles and talked to members of Beat Freaks (ABDC Season 3 runners-up) and other participants.