Drexel’s Best Dance Crew Recap

By: Sarah Glorioso

We Are Heroes - America's Best Dance Crew Winners and DBDC Guest Performers

Friday night  in the Main Auditorium, as part of CAB’s Spring Jam events,aspiring dance crews gathered together to compete for the title of Drexel’s Best Dance Crew.  Along with the treacherous competition, MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew season four winners, We Are Heroes, visited and performed for the audience and competing dance crews.

The first competitors of the night were Drexel’s Blue Diamond Dragons, an all women crew that has been together and performing for four years.  From performing at elementary schools to basketball games, this dance group has experience getting crowds going and dance along with them. Their theme began with a grandmother describing the history of step dancing, complete with grey hair and a rocking chair to add effect.  She described how step dancing began in tribal Africa and how it became the dance of the oppressed people in slavery.  Finally, she discussed the use of step in the military and as communication between people.  They even had three costume changes throughout the performance!  The MC of the event summed up the Blue Diamond Dragons in one word; “fierce.”  Due to their impressive concept and intricacy, these fantastic ladies came in third place, receiving a hefty check of $500.00.

Next up was the ever-so-sexy Salsa Con Cache.  For two years, they’ve been performing and tearing it up at Drexel, with a focus on salsa dancing.  With their flashy orange and black ensemble, they were sensual, fast, fun, and made the crowd want to get up there and shake everything they’ve got. The twirls, flips, throws, and overall appeal of this crew earned them second place and a huge check of $750.00.

Next up was the brand new dance crew, Rebirth.  It consists of five people, ranging from the United States to the Caribbean, coming together to dance to different types of music.  They had the most addicting music mix of all the groups, in my opinion, because it had a wide range of hip-hop and R&B music of today.  The four men wore matching green and purple plaid hoodies, while the one woman dancer wore a white hoodie with graffiti décor on the back.  They most exciting part of the act was the impressive break dancing in the middle of the act.  The dancers were in sync perfectly and definitely deserved to place at least third, in my opinion.

The ladies of Jhalak - from their Facebook

The dance crew that performed last, but definitely not least, was Drexel’s all women, South Asian Dance Troupe, Jhalak. They have been together for seven years and have performed at other events, such as January’s huge competition Phillyfest. This dance, music, and costume combination was absolutely phenomenal.  With their incorporation of traditional South Asian dance into current hip-hop moves, Jhalak showed that their dancing has no limits. Their dance began with the catchy “I Can Transform Ya” Chris Brown song, while the girls did the original artist justice, known for his intricate choreography.  Their overall theme was military-esque and got the crowd out of their seats dancing along.  It was an incredibly impressive performance, and won the team the prize that they all deserved. $1,000.00 and this year’s title of Drexel’s Best Dance Crew!

After the competitors were done performing, the judges deliberated as We Are Heroes performed for the audience.  It was an absolutely electrifying dance; they moved like I’ve never seen people move before. They also hosted a “stanky leg” competition, of which the winner received a signed We Are Heroes t-shirt.  This team was the first ever all-girl team to win America’s Best Dance Crew in the entire history of the show.  The ladies come from the United States all the way to Japan and have performed all over the nation.  They’ve even been on shows such as Oprah, Ellen, and It’s On With Alexa Chung.  After the judges announced this year’s winners, We Are Heroes stayed in the Main Building for a meet and greet with all of the attendees of the competition.  I even got a picture with them!  Afterwards, I got to sit-in on their interview with Entertainment U reporter, a new entertainment website here at Drexel, Lee Singletary, in which they stated that “The audience and us vibed together.” It’s great to know that We Are Heroes loved us as much as we loved them and even shouted out to Drexel more saying “we love Drexel and Philadelphia is so dope!”  Lee then asked the ladies “In light of the competition here tonight, what words of wisdom would you give to crews that are just starting out?”  The ladies responded to all aspiring dance crews to “Have a common ground. Communicate and remember you are there for the love of dance.” We are very appreciative to We Are Heroes and the Campus Activities Board to give Drexel such a fun and new way to celebrate Spring Jam!

To check out more about We Are Heroes, watch this clip from the season 4 competition!

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