Thomas James Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
America's Best Dance Crew, often abbreviated as ABDC, is an American competitive dance reality television series that features both national and international dance crews. The show was produced by singer, record producer, and former American Idol judge Randy Jackson. The series premiered on February 7, 2008, on MTV. It was originally developed for NBC as World Moves.
Kaba Modern is a dance group originating in Irvine, California. It is a spin-off of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Filipino cultural club, Kababayan, which means "countrymen" in Tagalog. Created by Arnel Calvario in 1992, Kaba Modern began as dancers that performed the hip-hop portion or the "Modern Suite" of Kababayan's annual Pilipino Cultural Night (PCN) at UCI. Since then, Kaba Modern has entered multinational competitions and gained recognition in the media. For instance, a few Kaba Modern members helped choreograph the "dance battle" scene in The Debut in 1997 while three members were shown onscreen during the Making Of featurette of the DVD.
The Jabbawockeez is an American hip-hop dance crew that rose to prominence as the winner of the first season of America's Best Dance Crew in 2008. Established in 2003 in San Diego, California when dancers Kevin "KB" Brewer and Joe Larot put together an innovative dance crew. They participated in dance competitions with the idea of striking a balance between dancing to the music, and dancing as an artistic expression.
Quest Crew is an American hip-hop dance crew from Los Angeles, California who were declared winners of the third season of America's Best Dance Crew. They made their first few appearances individually on shows like So You Think You Can Dance and at events such as Kollaboration 8 and World of Dance. They helped with the choreography for well-known duo LMFAO and have previously toured with them as well. On August 29, 2015, Quest Crew was declared all-star champions of Season 8 of America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC) receiving $100,000 and the ABDC trophy again. This is the crew's second time being declared champion of MTV's hit show.
SoReal Cru is a hip-hop dance crew from Houston, Texas who gained fame as the runner-up on the second season of America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC). Before ABDC, they won first place at the World of Dance competition in Pomona in 2008. After the second season of America's Best Dance Crew was over, they returned to MTV for a two-part ABDC special, Battle of the VMA's. In the spin-off, popular crews from seasons one and two competed for an opportunity to win $25,000 for charity and to present the 2008 VMA for Best Dancing in a Video. Alumni crews BreakSk8, Fanny Pak, Kaba Modern, Status Quo, and SoReal Cru participated in the event. SoReal Cru danced to Forever by Chris Brown and made the cut in the preliminary rounds while BreakSk8 and Status Quo were eliminated. After the public voted, SoReal Cru lost to Fanny Pak and Kaba Modern for having the fewest votes. After a dance off at the VMA Preshow, the public voted again, and it was announced during the VMA's that Fanny Pak won.
The fourth season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on August 9, 2009. All three regular judges, host Mario Lopez, and backstage correspondent Layla Kayleigh returned. This was the last season to feature Shane Sparks as a judge. In the live finale, which aired on September 27, 2009, We Are Heroes was declared the winner.
Fanny Pak is a ten-member contemporary, hip-hop and jazz-trained dance crew from Los Angeles, California that gained popularity after appearing on the second season of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC). Often while performing, the crew wears bright clothes and bold patterns reminiscent of the 1980s as well as fanny packs, which is where their crew name originated. In addition, all of the members were born in the 1980s. The crew returned to ABDC on the seventh season, placing fifth in the competition.
The fifth season of America's Best Dance Crew premiered on January 28, 2010. Similar to the live casting specials featured in the first two seasons, the first three episodes consisted of separate regional auditions before proceeding to the official national-level competition. Shane Sparks did not return as a judge this season, due to his arrest, and was replaced by Omarion in his only season as a judge. In the live finale, which aired on April 8, 2010, Poreotix was declared the winner.
Todrick Hall is an American singer, choreographer, and YouTuber. He gained national attention on the ninth season of the televised singing competition American Idol. Following this, he amassed a huge following on YouTube with viral videos including original songs, parodies, and skits. A documentary series about his video-making process titled Todrick aired on MTV in 2015.
Poreotics, also known as Poreotix, is an American all-male dance crew from Westminster, California. The crew was formed in 2007 by Matthew "Dumbo" Nguyen and specializes in popping, choreography and robotics, hence the name Po-reo-tics. They have performed in numerous hip hop dance competitions, most notably coming in 1st place in the USA division of the 2009 and 2010 Hip-Hop Internationals and in other dance programs and competitions including the Vibe 15, FUSION X, Body Rock, and World Of Dance. On April 8, 2010, they were crowned the champions on the fifth season of America's Best Dance Crew. On January 14, 2011, they were crowned as Team of the Year at the World of Dance awards.
I.aM.mE is an American hip-hop dance crew from Houston, Texas. The group rose to prominence after being crowned champions in the sixth season of America's Best Dance Crew. The three founding members, Phillip Chbeeb, Di Moon Zhang and Brandon Harrell, formed I.aM.mE after Marvelous Motion Crew disbanded. Three additional members, Chachi Gonzales, Emilio Dosal, and Džajna "jaja" Vaňková, joined later after an audition.
Austin Harris Mahone is an American singer. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, he gained initial recognition performing covers of pop songs on YouTube.
The seventh season of America's Best Dance Crew, also known as America's Best Dance Crew: Return of the Superstars, premiered on April 11, 2012. Return of the Superstars used the same show format of the previous season, in which the crews performed to the music of one specific artist each week. The season featured artists including Rihanna, Britney Spears, Madonna, Pitbull, David Guetta, LMFAO, Jennifer Lopez, Drake, Flo Rida, and Katy Perry. In the live finale, which aired on June 13, 2012, Elektrolytes was declared the winner.
Olivia "Chachi" Hildén is an American dancer, choreographer and actress. She was a member of the dance crew I.aM.mE, which won the sixth season of America's Best Dance Crew in 2011.
Tanisha Scott is a three-time MTV VMA-nominated choreographer best known for her work with Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Sean Paul and Beyoncé. She is noted for incorporating Jamaican dancehall moves into mainstream music.
Normani Kordei Hamilton, known mononymously as Normani, is an American singer and dancer. She first rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, which became one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. While in Fifth Harmony, she competed in Dancing with the Stars (2017). She embarked on a solo career with her 2018 debut single "Love Lies", which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified 5× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
PrettyMuch were an American pop and R&B boy band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed by Simon Cowell in 2016, the band consisted of Brandon Arreaga, Edwin Honoret, Austin Porter and Zion Kuwonu. The band released five EPs and a debut album before disbanding in 2023.
88rising, formerly known as CXSHXNLY, is an American music company that founder Sean Miyashiro describes as a "hybrid management, record label, video production, and marketing company".
Tate Rosner McRae is a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer, and actress. At the age of thirteen, she gained prominence as the first Canadian finalist on the American reality television series So You Think You Can Dance. McRae was signed by RCA Records in 2019 after her songs had gained traction online—including her 2017 viral hit "One Day"—and released her debut extended play (EP), All the Things I Never Said (2020) the following January. Released in April of that year, her single, "You Broke Me First" became an international hit and peaked at number eight on the Canadian Hot 100, as well as number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2021, McRae was the youngest musician to be featured on the Forbes' 30 Under 30 list.
