After seeing the Jabbawockeez on ABDC - they revitalized my love for B Boy battles and dance crews. I will never be of their caliber however to see the techniques and the evolution of dance - they had me simply mesmerized on their on-screen performances.
Recently I had the privilege of watching these guys (literally) up close and personal along side with their new co-stars Super Crew (also featured on ABDC).
Looking at show prices - it was rather steep. Luckily we got the hook up and so we checked out the show. The venue was rather small which had its good and bad aspects (will review in a bit). The stage was literally a hands reach from the first row. Stadium style seating and in an orchestra format (circular around the stage). So there really wasn't a "terrible" seat in the house.
The nice thing about front row seating is how close you are to the dancing. The down side is... how close you are to the dancing. With the raised stage, you can't get the best view of the choreography because you are simply too close. Also there is a bit of smoke machine action throughout the performance so getting smoke in the face can be bothersome to some folks.
Outer edge seats still allows great views of the stage however based upon the formations of the dance moves, you simply don't get the best view or full effect of the choreography either.
Best seat in the house would be center of the rows and about 10 rows back (which are the cheaper seats).
The dancing was sub-par to my expectations. There was very few technical moves or innovative moves that they (Jabbawockeez & Super Crew) displayed on ABDC. For those who have never seen break dancing before I'd say it was "cool" but to have grown up around BBoys and seeing windmills, table tops, coin drops, etc - it wasn't anything worth mentioning. The choreography in general was more fitting for a school talent show than it was for a "vegas head-liner"
The music selection had quite a range of styles - some not some "age appropriate" for kids under 13. And there was a terrible rattling from one of the center speakers throughout the show (assuming it was blown out).
The good and the bad was the amount of audience interaction. There was a lot of it. Possibly a bit too much, given that the show is 1.5 hours long, If I had paid $120 for a ticket I would have liked to see dancing the entire time. I'd say 30 minutes of the show was audience interaction which does keep people engaged but if I wanted to see that I would have gone to a variety/comedy show.
The show was fun and crowd pleasing - but did not live up to the standard that I had in mind. The rest of the crowd overall seemed to love the show. I on the other hand still had a good time but was far from "impressed" I expected so much more as I know the potential and the innovation of both crews.