Philipchbeeb, leader of men (and women)

So over on America’s Best Dance Crew this season we’re getting a sort of Sanjaya Malakar situation developing: one of the crews is getting way more votes than their skill would reasonably deserve: Iconic Boyz, who aren’t terrible or anything, and in fact are really impressively good for a bunch of eleven-year-olds… but ultimately, they’re a bunch of eleven-year-olds who are up against dancers who in many cases have been dancing for longer than the average Iconic Boy has been alive, and the relatively basic nature of their routines makes it pretty obvious that they’re outmatched.

But the tweenage vote is keeping them alive. It’s obvious that the moment Iconic Boyz fall into elimination territory, the judges won’t save them – but the Boyz are, with only three crews remaining, one of two crews left that have never been in danger of elimination.

Certainly fans of good dance teevee are hoping that this week breaks their streak, since only one crew can avoid elimination this week, and as just noted, there’s one other crew that has never been in danger of elimination: that crew is I aM mE, which has not coincidentally been the most consistently entertaining and daring crew of the entire season (sadly, in a season with relatively few standouts). I aM mE is led by the redoubtable Philipchbeeb, who apparently traveled to different alternate Earths to find the Philipchbeebs of other worlds – a black Philipchbeeb, an Asian Philipchbeeb, a Latino Philichbeeb and two girl Philipchbeebs – to form a multidisciplinary crew of nerds with an emphasis on popping, which is arguably the hardest hip-hop form to do as a group since the timing has to be perfect.

Witness their first performance:

And they have only gotten better! Consider their most recent performance, wherein they were challenged (America’s Best Dance Crew likes to complicate matters by giving the crews challenges to include in their performances) to include child’s games and play in their routine:

And although our Earth’s Philipchbeeb is quite evidently the most talented dancer of all of his crew, he remains content to primarily stay in the background, as befits a true leader of men. He is the President and Grand High Poobah of Poppsylvania, and most deserving at that. Most likely I aM mE will become this season’s America’s Best Dance Crew winner, and it is primarily on his shoulders: you can see the little tweaks that his SYTYCD crosstraining has developed in him in the crew’s routines.

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