DISGRASIAN™

M&M Cru v. ACDC Dance Battle: As Jesus Said on the Cross, "It is Finished"

The epic online dance battle between Miley Cyrus (M&M Cru) and ACDC went live Monday night–well, not exactly, since it was recorded on Sunday–at the Teen Choice Awards, which Miley also hosted. ACDC, led by Step Up 2: The Streets director Jon Chu and one of the movie’s stars, Adam Sevani, brought in the JabbaWockeeZ to close out their performance, while Miley inexplicably featured LL Cool J. Is this one of those things where LL is so uncool, he’s cool again? And, for that matter, was LL–superhuman abs notwithstanding–ever cool?

Fuckin’ tweens. Why’d you hafta go and make things so com-pli-ca-ted?

The M&M Cru was declared the winner by cougar-licious Fergie, which was kinda bullshit (notice how few shots there were of Miley actually dancing), but, then again, it’s really a win-win situation for everybody involved. Disney owns Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus’s ass. Disney also owns Touchstone, which put out Step Up 2: The Streets. To paraphrase The A-Team‘s Hannibal: I love it when a corporate plan to take over the internet in a fake viral campaign comes together.

That said, I saw Step Up 2: The Streets Monday night (it came out on DVD last month) and thought it was a pretty good dance movie. And I totally want to put one of those floor trampolines from that club scene with Channing Tatum in my living room. In fact, I wouldn’t mind putting Channing Tatum in my living room, knowwhatimean?

But I was surprised and disappointed by the Japanese foreign exchange student character, Kido (played by Mari Koda). Mostly because I can’t really comprehend why an Asian-American director would resurrect that archetype yet again–you know, the key-razy foreigner who speakee da Engrish and dong undastan the wor combin ow you mouse. Yeah, Mari is Japanese and speaks with an accent. But so much was made of her foreignness and inability to understand her friends that it took away from her brilliant dancing. And the world presented in Step Up 2 is a perfect example of what people mean when they say “post-racial.” It shows people of different cultures and races mixing without complication except in the case of Kido. That seems to me like having it both ways. And it’s not exactly what I’d call “stepping up,” Jon Chu.

I will say that the movie is decidedly Asian. Not because it features a couple Asian characters, but because it’s about a dance battle called “The Streets” and the lead character, Andie, is a street dancer. Ultimately, though, it’s not the street crew who wins, it’s the performing arts SCHOOL KIDS. So basically the message is that you can stay in school and be cool. Wait–did my parents make this movie??

Here’s the last, wet scene of Step Up 2 where the school kids triumph. Mari is in the black hat and her body’s like rubber:

Source

Filed under: Adam Sevani, Dance Battles, Disney, Engrish Is Played, JabbaWockeeZ, Jon Chu, Kido, Mari Koda, Miley Cyrus, Step Up 2: The Streets, Teen Choice Awards, The ACDC, The Miley and Mandy Cru

It Ain’t Over ’til the Fat Lady Does the Robot

The online dance battle to end all online dance battles (in the long, venerable history of online dance battles) between the Miley & Mandy Cru and the ACDC (Adam/Chu-Dance Crew) is going LIVE.

I don’t really know what that means, but the latest installment from the ACDC should give you an idea of what’s to come:

To see the M&M video that preceded this, featuring cameos by Ryan Seacrest, Carson Daly (doing a wicked Running Man), magician David Blaine, and the Harajuku Girls (sans their big-boned, blonde owner), click here.

Filed under: Adam Sevani, Breakdancing, Dance Battles, Free the Harajuku Girls, Hip-Hop Dancing, Jon Chu, Miley Cyrus, Step Up, The ACDC, The Miley and Mandy Cru, White Girl's Overbite

Miley Gets Serrrrrrrrrrved

Have you heard of The Biggest Online Dance Battle goin’ down between Miley Cyrus, her friend Mandy, and Step Up 2 director Jon Chu and one of the movie’s stars Adam Sevani? It’s taking the internetz by storm!!!

(Alright, full disclosure…never heard of it until Intern Jasmine made me hep to it)

Anyhoo, here’s the latest installment from ACDC (Adam/Chu Dance Crew), featuring cameos by JabbaWockeeZ, Lindsay Lohan, Diana Ross, Adam Sandler, and a bunch of awesome dancers that I don’t recognize (my dance connoisseurship being limited to the 3 F’s–Flashdance, Footloose, and Fame):

Click here for a full history of this “battle.” Warning: this footage contains depictions of White Girl’s Overbite and may not be SFW.

Thanks, Jasmine!

Filed under: Adam Sevani, Dance Battles, Jon Chu, Miley Cyrus, Step Up, White Girl's Overbite, You Got Served