By Dwayne Yates
During NAACP's second Battle of the Crews, the Kiva buzzed like a teen club filled with chatter and songs recorded by rappers whose lyrics don't advance much but bank accounts.
The audience bobbed heads idly to the music until the show began unexpectedly with event-coordinator and NAACP fundraising chair JaRel Clay and his crew sneaking through the crowd as hockey-masked slashers. After they simulated killing an innocent bystander, they made their way to the stage fusing together Baltimore beats, b-boy style, krumping, and a dip, which electrified the crowd.
After that, show host Paul Miller didn't have to do much to get the crowd hype. The dj played "MC Hammer" by Rick Ross enough to keep them satisfied for two weeks.
The group performances went like this:
Lazy grinding, pop-locking, basketball shorts underneath sagging pants.
Hip-hop-inspired cheerleading and salsa dancing.
Violence used in every act; a lot of faux beatings and shootings.
Hearing the song "Monster" for the second time in a routine, zombie booty shaking, lingerie, fake blood, doll heads, stripper moves.
More booty shaking, more fake blood blood, ripped clothes, hearing "Monster" for the third time in a routine and a major wardrobe malfunction.
Video game inspiration, vogue beats, creative costumes.
There was a tie for second place going to DFF and the Golden Reflections. Kent State's Legacy dance group claimed first place in the group competition by 11 points. Co-captain Brittany Destanik said the group adds modern hip-hop, ballet and ballroom to their routines because the members all come from different backgrounds.
Last place went to Akron's Finest, who were knocked out of the competition due to the wardrobe malfunction mentioned earlier.
One of its female members danced onstage with her breasts exposed for almost two minutes, while the crowd watched in awe. Only Amy Crawford and judge Mark Buckley bothered to stop her.
Clay and the NAACP board were not happy.
"As soon as I saw a nipple, I said, 'Nope. Disqualified,'" said Clay.
The audience-participated dance battles were as hard to watch. Some contestants did well doing the dougie, pulling off b-boy moves mostly seen on TV and pop-locking for their lives. But, others clapped their booty cheeks, jumped into splits and percolated on headstands. It was not a good look.
Clay had to get onstage, pause the show and tell audience members to get in their seats and act civilized since they were at an NAACP event, which stands for advancing people of color.
The main goal of the event was to raise school supplies for students at Davey Elementary School in Kent and Hartford Middle School in Canton. That was accomplished when NAACP filled two 16" x 16" boxes full of school supplies donated by audience members. The organization also raised money to go toward its educational programming in the future.
The board released a statement today taking responsibility for all the foolery that happened at dance battle saying:
We cannot change the instances that occurred, but we will assure you that every event sponsored by KSU-NAACP from this point on will encompass our six founding principles: Unifying, Advocating, Motivating, Leading, Educating, and Believing.
