Latino-influenced Afroboriké places in MTV dance competition
By Juliette M. Ebner
Staff Writer
MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC) ended its fourth season on Sept. 27. Afroboriké, a Cuban-Puerto Rican dance group, won public support throuh their accentuated Latino dance style, which they incorporated with their hip hop routines.
In this season, nine crews competed for the title, each doing their best to succeed in the weekly dance challenges. In the end, We Are Heroes, the first all-female crew to win, was crowned this season’s best dance crew.
Yet, what about the runner up?
Afroboriké only fell once into the bottom two, but were the underdogs from the beginning.
Some may say they were the underdogs because only the U.S. Latino population, which composes only 13 percent of the nation, mainly supported Afroboriké’s Latino identity and moves. Yet, their Latino culture might have worked to their advantage as the Latino population abroad, plus those in the nation, voted for the group through ABDC’s web site.
The group of three women and three men constructed their name from a combination of two words, Afro-Cuban and borinken, representing both the mixture of Puerto Rican and Cuban cultures and the Puerto Ricans’ native name for their homeland.
“I didn’t think they would be that great,” said Stacy Houser, a senior kinesiology and women studies major. “I don’t know why I thought that.”
Before the season started, Afroboriké member Zoeth L. Cardenales-Velazquez said that their different backgrounds would make them stand out. “We will be the difference in the show, something new, with good ideas and concepts,” she told MTV.
Eager to show off their “island flair,” Afroboriké brought a touch of folk, mambo, salsa, and reggae to their routines. They were also one of the few crews to incorporate a salsa-like partnering into their routines.
The six dancers, Elisabet Riera, Cardenales-Velazquez, Miguel A. Reyes Santiago, Alain M.Lavalle, Josué Vega Torres, and Veronica Collazo first started out as part of a Vegas show called “Fuego Raw Talent.”
When the show fell apart, Afroboriké decided to take their moves to the next level. “We then had the opportunity to audition for [ABDC] and made the decision to bring our Latin flavor … and [MTV] liked it and they picked us,” Cardenales-Velazquez said.
Afroboriké is not the first Latin dance crew to compete on the show. In the third season, the group G.O.P. Dance from Puerto Rico took the stage, only to be voted out by the judges in the first episode.
Although Afroboriké did not win the competition, they showed that Latino-dance style can be appealing in the mainstream media and win the support of the audience, both Latino and non-Latino.
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Posted by admin
on Oct 20 2009. Filed under Entertainment.
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