America's Best Dance Crew Season 5

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Tired of trendy club dances, this brash Atlanta crew feels it's time to put true Southern street dancing on the map. These overconfident dancers are fired up by the complete absence of Atlanta crews repping on America's Best Dance Crew and know they have what it takes to put ATL on the map. When the crew started, they knew they wanted to bring a little sex appeal to their street crew. The key component to this crew is their lone female member Elizabeth. Elizabeth wants to break all female dancing stereotypes with her hard-hitting moves.

It's been a tough year for crew member Jason. Seven months ago, his sick mother fell asleep one night when the house caught on fire and she barely escaped. Jason had to move back home and has been spending all his money to rebuild the house. The house is almost finished, but he is deep in debt. The crew has rallied around Jason, and such set backs have only made the Swagger Crew stronger and more confident as a unit.

With a combination of southern cockiness, fast footwork and determination, this crew is ready to bring some raw swagger to the America's Best Dance Crew legacy.

Led by a feisty female, these dancers pride themselves on their southern "Crankin" style and are on a mission to become king of the dance jungle. Cranking uses big step movements and arms to cover the entire dance floor. Each of the six members has a unique "animalistic" move to wow this year's competition.

Their secret weapon is Raqi, the only girl in the group. She's truly one of the guys, and they try to keep up with her hard-hitting aggressive style: lockin', poppin', wacking and voguing. Standing at only 5'1", she packs a punch and is known in the crew as "Big Mama." She doesn't run with the pack, she's the queen of the tribe.

When twin brothers Anthony and Antwain quit college to pursue dance, their family shut them out. In response, they put this fun-loving and goofy crew together and now consider the group an extended family. The twins' family still has never seen them dance but they are hoping to win back their love and support as they perform on America's Best Dance Crew.

These professional jump ropers are seeking exposure for their sport while at the same time conquering the dance world. They've walked away from their college degrees and steady jobs in pursuit of a dream: to become professional jump ropers and pioneers of a burgeoning sport.

All six members are a part of the USA Jump Rope All Star team, which only features the best of the best in the country. Saltare comes to America's Best Dance Crew to expose the sport they've dedicated their lives to, challenge themselves in a different arena, and prove that jump rope is more than just child's play. Now they must incorporate their unique skill set into major dance performances. With America watching, will these jumpers be able to transition their trademark jump rope into viable dance routines on the America's Best Dance Crew stage?

This Canadian crew is out to storm the home of hip-hop and demonstrate a level of synchronicity not seen before. Being the first-ever foreign crew to compete on America's Best Dance Crew, Blueprint has a lot to prove. And for this crew, the name Blueprint is more than a title: it's a creed. Precision, precision, precision -- that's their motto. Every move this crew does, they do as one, moving together. Their dance crew is run like an army, training hard to look like one unit and learning the origin of the move to perfect it. This perfectionist crew doesn't believe in tricks and stunts, they believe in unified movements down to every minute detail.

Blueprint says Canada is not supportive of dance programs. The Government has cut the arts budgets and refused Blueprints' applications for dance grants. Their belief is that, with international recognition, Montreal might finally take an interest in the dance community and hopefully help it grow.

In the six years since the group started, these Montreal natives have become the premiere crew in the Canadian dance world. But making a name for themselves in the country where hip-hop was born would be the ultimate barometer of success.

These big boys are out to break negative stereotypes and prove dancers come in all sizes. These guys have big hearts and hope they can inspire others who have a passion for dance, saying, "No matter what the size, if you love to dance, you are a dancer."

Heavy Impact hopes the combination of infectious feel good dancing and inspirational charm will win over America, but they know this isn't going to be an easy feat. They know people are going to assume they're a joke based on their appearance; this is a hurdle they've faced their whole lives.

Inspiration has carried these boys a long way. Two years ago, crew member Isi was ejected from a car in an accident that left him hospitalized for a week. Lying in that hospital bed, Isi wondered if he'd ever dance again. Thankfully, he recovered and fought hard to get back into the dance scene. Going through that experience was eye-opening, and he realized how much he wanted to make dance his whole life.

Making it to America's Best Dance Crew is a huge success for them and they know how important their first performance is. They want to prove you can't judge a book by its cover: "The first show is our first impression to America and we want to hit hard and go for blood."

This crew has auditioned every season, and their refusal to give up has finally paid off. Changing members after each audition, the crew believes they finally have their dream team for success on America's Best Dance Crew. Educated on the streets, this diverse crew's styles include krumping, tutting, popping, breaking and even a hint of salsa.

They claim unless you're a professionally trained dancer, no one is willing to give you a chance, which explains why five members of the crew are unemployed and they have hit rock bottom financially. America's Best Dance Crew is finally offering them something no one else would: the opportunity to be champions.

Static Noyze has always felt like the outcasts, never really fitting in with anyone but each other. Bored with what they call "stock hip hop," routines and moves that they've seen before, this off-the-wall group of dancers promises to shake up the America's Best Dance Crew stage with their distinct style of dance. They consider themselves to be innovators of dance and describe their style as hip-hop with a contemporary twist. What makes them truly unique is that they use their routines (which they refer to as their "creations") to convey offbeat stories told through cutting edge moves and costumes.

Leading their style brigade is crew member Peter, a makeup artist by day and drag queen by night. As a drag queen he's known as Baby Gaga. But even in this world he feels like an outcast, saying, "There aren't a lot of short Asian drag queens in the world." Static Noyze doesn't mind being called odd -- in fact, they embrace it. These eccentricities are what make Static such a unique group, and they hope America finds their unconventionality charming enough to become Americas Best (quirky) Dance Crew.

Driven to prove that Hawaii has a thriving hip-hop community, Hype 5-0 is out to show there's more to Hawaii than swaying grass skirts and coconut bras. With limited funds for travel, Hype 5-0 has honed their skills by spending countless hours on the Internet studying crews from the mainland. Now after conquering the island dance scene with imported moves, this hard-hitting hip-hop choreo crew is ready to export themselves to the mainland and take America's Best Dance Crew by storm. This crew is so passionate about dance that when once knocked for having "baby faces," they immediately gave themselves a complete makeover, adopting an edgier style by getting tattoos, face piercings and hair dye. The crew has proved they will do whatever it takes to gain an edge. They have immense Hawaiian pride and incorporate native dance moves in all of their routines.

This passion for dance has also led to several sacrifices including giving up college scholarships and missing high school graduation. At the age of 16, crew member Will left home when his family relocated so that he could remain with Hype 5-0. Living with friends and rekindling a relationship with his estranged mother, Will made a huge life-changing decision for the love for his crew.

Relishing the fact that they're often underestimated and overlooked, Hype 5-0 is ready roll through the America's Best Dance Crew competitors like an unstoppable lava flow.

These shaded showmen inspired by robots aim to entertain the dance world with their unexpected humor and revolutionary mixed style. Over the last couple of years, the Poreotix members have laboriously honed their craft of popping and robotic movement and are at the pinnacle of their game. The way in which the crew blends the different dance styles gives them a distinctive animated look, and their integration of humor makes their performances fiercely entertaining. Poreotix are true showmen and never perform without their trademark shades. They use them as a tool to hide emotion so they can provide unexpected twists in their routine, taking the audience from serious to funny without tipping their hand.

Unfortunately, crew member Justin Valles has more on his plate than just winning the America's Best Dance Crew title. During this season's auditions, Justin's father was hospitalized for liver and kidney failure. He has since been released from the hospital but has been rejected for a liver transplant. They are unsure how much longer Justin's dad can survive without a new liver. This obviously weighs heavily on Justin's mind, and he feels blessed to be able to give his family the joy of watching him dance in these unfortunate times.

This crew has captured a special style and is extremely confident they will be crowned the next winner of America's Best Dance Crew.