Jabbawockeez at the Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino: Las Vegas, NV

We all know how intense things can get on the casinos on the strip but how is it in Las Vegas at the dance competition of the century? We arrived at the Monte Carlo to witness the dance spectacular Jabbawockeez. Jabbawockeez earned their credibility with their impressive dances on the street and on network TV, but how does this dance crew hold up in a permanent instillation in Sin City?

The Jabbawockeez show actually heightened my awareness to something that I'd always subconsciously known. Sound and action or movement have always been part and parcel; you know to look up and get out of the way if you hear a siren, you know the movement affiliated with high-pitched squealing bells as much as your body knows the movement a thumping bass groove requires. That's nothing new. What was interesting to me are the visual pictures created by the Jabbawockeez crew.

They had a voice over in the beginning of the show which talked about sound and images; what your mind sees when it hears a sound. I'm listing to a song right now that I have a very clear picture for; even though I've never seen the band, the music video (if there are still music videos), and I've only recently and rather briefly been to the place they're singing about. The song, "Blue Ridge Mountains" by Fleet Foxes is a very distinct sounding blend of instruments. Even though I have been to the Blue Ridge Mountains, the place that I saw is not the place that the band is playing about. Nor is the picture I'm seeing the same Blue Ridge Mountains that I saw; it's the Blue Ridge Mountains the band has evoked in their song. I heard the song before I visited the place and I have very distinct pictures in my mind at different points in the song, even if those images are just the thing that I'm seeing, that the band is singing.

See it's even difficult to talk about in any kind of cohesive way; which is why so few of us actually address the issue. But Jabbawockeez does their best to paint the picture for the audience to see the same thing.

The show itself was good but also came up somewhat short. That is, I liked a lot of the riffs they were taking. In one segment they leaped around from Guns n' Roses to Fred Astaire to Bell Biv Devoe to Vanilla Ice to New Kids on the Block (with their signature "Right Stuff" leg fan and everything). They also riffed on what looks like their roots which was break dancing as well as some of the masters of their individual mediums: Michael Jackson, Elvis, and Queen to name just a few. They even went so far as to begin to address their "Alice in Wonderland" namesake.

Jabbawockeez actually looked too comfortable with their routine and this is both their virtue and their vice. If the Jabbawockeez gang got together and told a cohesive story and put together some full on dance numbers (like their final number with Coldplay; but not with Coldplay) they could really dazzle and amaze.

It looks to me like the Jabbawockeez crew doesn't know what they're trying to do yet; they're good at a lot of things so they will do a lot of things. But what will really make this crew shine is when they can hold an audiences attention on one number for longer than 2 minutes. Most of their dance breaks were anywhere between 10 seconds and maybe one or two were 3 minutes. But three minutes being your long is not going to make a sustainable show. Granted some of the people in the audience were snapping pictures and talking to each other at full volume for the duration, but those rude members are in the minority and are not representative of how most people feel about live performance.

In order to elevate your level of show quality, elevate your level of performance! Jabbawockeez obviously have master of their instrument; they obviously know how to choreograph a good portion of a dance break. Quit with the stupid brat humor and engage your audience more in your performance. By doing so you will open yourself up to a far greater reach of those who will love you so much more than those who are already do.

And to the haters? Forget em.

Source:

(1) http://www.montecarlo.com/entertainment/

(2) http://www.jabbawockeez.com/