Dance Culture in America

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Martha Graham said, “Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are great because of their passion.” No matter what one’s color is or what one looks like, anyone can dance. When people hear their favorite songs on the radio, they like to get up and dance to it. Dance is a form of art that involves movement and music. With a group of people, different patterns and techniques can be formed, that one person cannot perform alone. As a group, it can make each dance step look precise and uniform and there are ways to make an individual stand out. By forming a dance crew, one can build strong friendships and it can feel as if their crew is a second family. MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew creates a cultural impact on society because it proves that people of different race, different region, and different gender can all compete for the same prize.

Formerly known as Music Television, MTV aired its first season of America’s Best Dance Crew, produced by Randy Jackson, in Southern California in 2008.It is considered a reality show but is better known as a competition or contest. Each season begins with nine or ten dance crews from around the nation. There have been four completed seasons and the fifth season is currently being aired. Every week, the crews face a new challenge and three celebrity judges decide which crew’s journey towards the $100,000 grand prize comes to an end. Crews have had to incorporate props, perform stunts, and imitate moves seen in famous music videos into their own choreography. When it comes down to the remaining two dance crews, the producers of the show organize a finale where the two remaining crews battle in the final performance to not only satisfy the judges, but also fascina...

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America’s Best Dance Crew makes a cultural impact because it opens to all kinds of people. Regardless of one’s race, location, or gender, the value of dance can be mutually similar to everyone. The show will do well as long as people can relate and appreciate the dance crews that MTV select to compete. Once the audience sees the performance, they will want to share what they saw on America’s Best Dance Crew last night, which will extend the fan base of the inspiring dance crew. They will be able to design T-shirts like season one’s champions, Jabbawockeez did, and create business revenue with merchandise and future shows.

Works Cited

Bright, Paul. "Who Are the Jabbawockeez on America's Best Dance Crew?" Associated Content, Inc. 11 March 2008: n.pag. Print.

“Martha Graham.” Goodreads Inc., n.d. http://www.goodreads.com Web.14 March 2010.

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