The sixth season of America's Best Dance Crew, also known as America's Best Dance Crew: Season of the Superstars, premiered on April 7, 2011. Taking a different route from past seasons, the crews performed to the music of one specific artist each week, including Rihanna, Lil Wayne, and other stars. The season also featured special guest appearances by various music celebrities including Justin Bieber, The Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Kesha, Nicki Minaj, and Kanye West.[2] Dominic "D-Trix" Sandoval, a former member of Quest Crew, the winner of the third season of America's Best Dance Crew, joined returning judges Lil Mama and JC Chasez as the newest judge.[1] In the season finale, which aired on June 5, 2011, I.aM.mE was declared the winner.[3]
For the sixth season of America's Best Dance Crew, auditions were held in four cities: Chicago, Houston, New York City, and Los Angeles.
| Dance Crew | Hometown | Region | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 787 Crew | San Juan, Puerto Rico | Caribbean | |
| Eclectic Gentlemen | North Hollywood, California | West | |
| FootworKINGz | Chicago, Illinois | Midwest | |
| I.aM.mE | Houston, Texas | South | |
| ICONic Boyz | Englishtown, New Jersey | East | |
| Instant Noodles | Orange County, California | West | |
| Jag6ed | West | ||
| Phunk Phenomenon | Boston, Massachusetts | East | |
| ReQuest Dance Crew | Auckland, New Zealand | West | |
| Street Kingdom | Los Angeles, California | West |
| Rank | Dance Crew | Episode | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||||||||||
| 1 | I.aM.mE | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | RISK | IN | WINNER | |||||||||
| 2 | ICONic Boyz | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | RUNNER-UP | |||||||||
| 3 | Phunk Phenomenon | IN | IN | IN | RISK | IN | RISK | OUT | |||||||||||
| 4 | Street Kingdom | IN | IN | RISK | IN | RISK | OUT | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Instant Noodles | IN | IN | IN | IN | OUT | |||||||||||||
| 6 | 787 Crew | IN | IN | IN | OUT | ||||||||||||||
| 7 | ReQuest Dance Crew | IN | RISK | OUT | |||||||||||||||
| 8 | FootworKINGz | IN | OUT | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | Jag6ed | OUT | |||||||||||||||||
| Eclectic Gentlemen | OUT | ||||||||||||||||||
A non-elimination episode meant to showcase the two finalists.
The first five crews auditioned for a chance to move on in the competition during the season premiere, beginning with a group performance to "6 Foot 7 Foot" featuring Cory Gunz.[4]
| Dance Crew | Song[5] |
|---|---|
| I.aM.mE | "Right Above It" feat. Drake |
| Phunk Phenomenon | "A Milli" |
| ReQuest Dance Crew | "Knockout" feat. Nicki Minaj |
| Eclectic Gentlemen | "Fireman" |
| Street Kingdom | "I Am Not a Human Being" |
The next five crews performed to Kesha hits to compete for a chance to move on to the next round, starting with a dance number to "We R Who We R".[6]
| Dance Crew | Song[7] |
|---|---|
| FootworKINGz | "Tik Tok" |
| 787 Crew | "Blow" |
| ICONic Boyz | "Your Love Is My Drug" |
| Jag6ed | "Sleazy" |
| Instant Noodles | "Dirty Picture" feat. Taio Cruz |
The Black Eyed Peas assigned each crew a different song and challenge to incorporate into their routines.[8]
| Dance Crew | Song[9] | Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| ICONic Boyz | "Just Can't Get Enough" | All members must stay connected for part of the routine. |
| Phunk Phenomenon | "Don't Stop the Party" | Must include a "slo-mo" section in their routine. |
| I.aM.mE | "Meet Me Halfway" | Must come together and create a machine. |
| Street Kingdom | "Imma Be | Incorporate light sabers in their routine. |
| 787 Crew | "Boom Boom Pow" | Create an illusion that they are teleporting. |
| Instant Noodles | "My Humps" | Create video game-like visuals on stage. |
| FootworKINGz | "I Gotta Feeling" | Create the illusion that someone is floating. |
| ReQuest Dance Crew | "The Time (Dirty Bit)" | Create the illusion that they are cloning. |
Katy Perry handed out dance challenges to the seven remaining crews.[10]
| Dance Crew | Song[11] | Challenge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phunk Phenomenon | "Waking Up in Vegas" | Make a roulette wheel. | |
| I.aM.mE | "Peacock" | Fan out like a peacock. | |
| 787 Crew | "Hot n Cold" | Make a roller coaster. | |
| ICONic Boyz | "Teenage Dream" | Make a wall, then break it down. | |
| Instant Noodles | "Firework" | Make a chain reaction and explode. | |
| Street Kingdom | "E.T." feat. Kanye West | Make a space ship. | |
| ReQuest Dance Crew | "California Gurls" feat. Snoop Dogg | Ride a wave. |
The six remaining crews choreographed routines inspired by Rihanna.[12] Rihanna's choreographer, Tanisha Scott, gave each crew a dancehall move to be incorporated.
| Dance Crew | Song[13] | Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Instant Noodles | "Hard" feat. Young Jeezy | The Head Top |
| ICONic Boyz | "Only Girl (In the World)" | Give It A Run |
| I.aM.mE | "S&M" | The Spiderman |
| Street Kingdom | "Rude Boy" | The Dutty Wine |
| Phunk Phenomenon | "Don't Stop the Music" | The Chaplin |
| 787 Crew | "What's My Name?" feat. Drake | Gallis Step |
Justin Bieber handed out dance challenges to the five remaining crews.[14] All the challenges were based on moments from Bieber's documentary Never Say Never.
| Dance Crew | Song[15] | Challenge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ICONic Boyz | "Baby" feat. Ludacris | Incorporate basketball-inspired choreography. | |
| I.aM.mE | "Somebody to Love" feat. Usher | Perform Usher's famous glide. | |
| Phunk Phenomenon | "Eenie Meenie" feat. Sean Kingston | Include steppin' in the routine. | |
| Instant Noodles | "Runaway Love" feat. Kanye West and Raekwon | Incorporate chairs in the routine. | |
| Street Kingdom | "Never Say Never" feat. Jaden Smith | Incorporate martial arts and high kicks. |
The final four crews kicked off the show with a group number to "Massive Attack" featuring Sean Garrett. Then, Nicki Minaj dropped by and challenged the four remaining crews to choreograph routines inspired by one of her alter egos.[16]
| Dance Crew | Song[17] | Challenge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I.aM.mE | "Moment 4 Life" feat. Drake | Incorporate childhood games in the routine. | |
| ICONic Boyz | "Check It Out" feat. will.i.am | Create a marionette onstage. | |
| Phunk Phenomenon | "My Chick Bad" by Ludacris | Incorporate belly dancing in their routine. | |
| Street Kingdom | "Did It On'em" | Incorporate military drills in their routine. |
The episode began with the three remaining crews performing a group number to "All of the Lights" featuring Rihanna. Season 5 winner Poreotix delivered the challenges to the crews. After the mid-show elimination, the final two crews performed their prepared routines to make their one last plea for votes.[18]
The crews had to demonstrate their versatility by creating a routine that incorporated three different styles of dance. All crews were given the same styles and songs.
| Song[19] | Style | |
|---|---|---|
| "Gold Digger" feat. Jamie Foxx | Dougie | |
| "Touch the Sky" feat. Lupe Fiasco | Boogaloo | |
| "Love Lockdown" | Isolations |
The two finalists were given one last chance to perform before the lines opened for the final voting session of the season.
| Dance Crew | Performance Title | |
|---|---|---|
| ICONic Boyz | The ICONic Dream | |
| I.aM.mE | Ill-emental |
The final two crews faced off in the penultimate episode of Season 6, which also featured a look back at their accomplishments so far.[20]
For the first challenge, the judges chose one routine from the past weeks in which the crews must improve upon and perform again. The judges selected I.aM.mE's Week 5 Rihanna performance and ICONic Boyz' Week 6 Justin Bieber routine.
The two crews then performed in a three-round dance battle. Swizz Beatz returned to provide the music for the battle.
| Round | Song[21] | |
|---|---|---|
| "Everyday (Coolin')" by Swizz Beatz feat. Eve | ||
| "On to the Next One" by Jay-Z feat. Swizz Beatz | ||
| "I Can Transform Ya" by Chris Brown feat. Swizz Beatz |
The winner was crowned in the Season 6 finale, which also featured performances by the past winners.[3] In contrast to previous seasons of America's Best Dance Crew, the finale was pre-recorded; each crew taped a faux winning and losing reaction, as well as their victory performance, and were unaware of the results until the final cut of the episode was aired prior to the 2011 MTV Movie Awards.
| Dance Crew(s) | Song[22] | |
|---|---|---|
| I.aM.mE and ICONic Boyz | "Raise Your Glass" by Pink | |
| Poreotix | "Friday" by Rebecca Black | |
| We Are Heroes | "Run the World (Girls)" by Beyoncé | |
| Quest Crew | "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO | |
| Super CR3W | "Power" by Kanye West feat. Dwele | |
| JabbaWockeeZ | "We Just Made It" and "Devastating Stereo" by The Bangerz | |
| ICONic Boyz | "Yeah 3x" by Chris Brown | |
| I.aM.mE | "Rocketeer" by Far East Movement feat. Ryan Tedder | |
| I.aM.mE | "Written in the Stars" by Tinie Tempah feat. Eric Turner |