Shane Sparks - My Interview with ABDC Judge
The finale of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew will be this Sunday between "We Are Heroes" and "AfroBorike". I talked to Shane Sparks, the main judge on the show who is also a well-known choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance.
Shane thinks "We Are Heroes" will win because he thinks they are "hot". He mentioned that "We Are Heroes" was the pick to win from the very start.
I asked if there was a group he thought deserved to be in the Top 2, and he said "Rhythm City" deserved to stay on the show a little longer. "Rhythm City" ended up in the bottom 2 with "Massive Monkees" on the night they were eliminated.
I told him that "Vogue Evolution" was my favorite group. He said they reached their plateau on the show. After all the splits and backbends, Leiomy Maldonado would have "broken her leg" or "her head would fall off" if they lasted longer. True!
(Interview continues and MP3 clip after the jump!)
His favorite show moments all came from AfroBorike.
I asked if the added production values like the fire-breathing on the show distracted from the dancing. He said that this was the same criticism they had on So You Think You Can Dance, but thinks having a prop only enhances the show not take away from it. On ABDC they "get a little bit everything" like "circus acts, magic" and he loves it.
A question from one of my Twitter followers was: How do you think "Beat Freaks" would have done this year if they were in the competition? Shane said: "Beat Freaks would have won last year if Quest Crew had not done the performance of their lives on the last show." He said "people love to see female crews." And groups like "Beat Freaks" and "We Are Heroes" are "strong". "They didn't come out being little cheerleader girls or jazzy girls, they came out here popping and ripping the stage," he said. "They're not trying to get by on the cute faces, it's all about skill."
Shane also hopes to do some choreography on ABDC again (he did one time only during Season 2) but the producers have not asked him too. I asked about his return to So You Think You Can Dance as a choreographer last Summer and he said "I love it because I get to express myself." His favorite number that he choreographed this year was the Zombie Number with Jason Glover and Kayla Radomski. (I looked back on my comments about that number and it was the time I said Shane does not suck so hard anymore. Ha!) "I love that number so much," he said. "That's one of my favorite numbers I've ever done on anything."
Shane admitted that he was not on his A-game the night he choreographed two hip-hop dances. Unlike the Zombie Number, those were not well received by the judges who blamed the dancers for not doing a good job. He said he had a tough week that week because he was not inspired. He thought the dancers did a good job but since they were not Hip-Hop dancers, "they couldn't pull it off to make someone like Lil C or an average street dancer believe it."
He said he will be choreographing again on So You Think You Can Dance this Fall. Yay!
Also, he will be in New York to do the choreography for Dreamgirls which opens on Nov. 7 featuring American Idol's Syesha Mercado.
Shane Sparks is releasing a Hip-Hop Fitness DVD in December. He said since he did not do too much choreogrpahy this year, "you're going to see it on DVD". Awesome.
Finally, for all the aspiring dancers out there he says: "Learn as much as you can. Learn the basic of street dance, learn the basics of jazz, learn the basics of everything so you can be a stable dancer. A very controlled dancer. And when you decide to make that move to LA or New York or wherever you decide to go, make sure you have your head together because this world is so crazy and these people are so conniving, and if you are talented you never have to sell out. If you are a dancer do not go out and try to be a dancer, go out and be a dancer trying to be a director, producer, writer, singer, actor, etc. Come out there and have more goals than just one because this is a big industry and if you have only one goal in mind you'll get swallowed up."
You can follow Shane Sparks on Twitter at: @sparks5678
Interview clip: