Interestingly, as we tweeted earlier, someone who had seen the rehearsals predicted Animaineax would be the winners. They were right!
To see videos, short biographies and links of the Move Like Michael finalists, click here to year our earlier blog.
To see videos, short biographies and links of the Move Like Michael finalists, click here to year our earlier blog.
Ash Mukherjee, Animaineax, Plague and Unity had made the finals of Move Like Michael Jackson. In preparation, all the stops had been pulled out and some of the groups were looking tense, except Animaineax, who were clowning about off camera.
The dance off
Performancewise everyone looked tight tonight. Unity against classically trained Plague who brought their tap shoes with them made the winner an obvious choice for Jermaine to choose a winner, and it was obvious they wanted to win by bringing their additional game.
That's not to say Unity didn't wreck it, as they did their best set so far.
Animaineax against Ash Mukherjee was a difficult dance off to decide upon a winner. Ash was the only solo act left in the competition, and his style is so different to the street dance competition., while Animaneax came on stage in coourdinating colours and matching chairs, of all things!
Judges Jermaine Jackson and Mark Summers were big on praising all of the acts, and once again, Jamelia didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
But Animaineax's style won over Jermaine's eye, leaving the Philipino superstars up against Plague.
While Plague said "This means everything to us, we came to win," you might not know that Plague have been going for years and are fortunate to have members of the group perform in Las Vegas and have some members in Cirque du Soleil - while Animaineax (as a group) are just over two years old - does your heart go to the already privileged or the underdogs?
All that was left before telephone voting was for the finalists to do a piece of Michael Jackson inspired choreography to a track that wasn't by Michael Jackson to win over the public. Plague chose Daft Punk's Harder Better Faster Stronger while Animaineax went for the less obvious Leona Lewis song, Bleeding Love. Then there was about 20 minutes - yes, 20 minutes - for viewers to cast their votes.
Surprisingly, (because overuse of Leona Lewis's voice induces migraines, not because we don't like them) the public voted Animaineax as the winners. Either the general public has a sharp eye for musicality and original choreography with slick line changes or their fans were voting from inside the studio to have beaten Plague, who used sections of tutting and gumboot choreography from their previous set repertoire to wow the judges, and the voting public. Only no one could vote inside the studio, because there's no signal in there!
So Animaineax will be performing at the Michael Jackson tribute concert next year in front of the world. No doubt their booking fee is going to go through the roof! Not that the prize mattered to them when their names were being read out, as they were all too busy filming the moment with Jermaine Jackson on stage on their colour coordinated iPods!
Unity and Plague will be performing at at Kymberlee Jay's Serious About Streetdance in January, while Animaineax's Mark Calape will be a contestant in January's So You Think You Can Dance on the BBC.
A big congratulations to Animaineax for winning Move Like Michael Jackson.
Click the video below to watch Animaineax rehearse their Bleeding Love routine, or double click to view it on YouTube with a choreographical explanation.
Special thank you
So a big thank you to TK of TK Spin for hooking us up with show passes... and an ironic sounding thank you to Spin and Carlos Neto for letting me take your place... And apologies for the fraudulent visitor pass we were given!
Don't forget guys, you can catch up with the episodes a week after they've been broadcast on the BBC iPlayer for only one week - click here for the programme guide and catchup links.
We'd love to hear your comments! What do you think of Animaineax winning Move Like Michael Jackson? How about Ash being the only non-streetdancer in the competition, or Plague being runners up!
Leave your comments below!
animaineax deserved to win but the format of the show was bullshit groups V solo artists wtf was that about it should have been group V group and solo V solo.
ReplyDeleteWho ever thought up the format for the show is an idiot.
Animaineax deserved to win, their moves narrate the lyrics grabbing the audience's attention and their tricks are different & interesting to watch - Plague are also incredibly good but their moves & choreography are similar to other dance crews with all the tumbling around etc, it's all been seen before. To add to their immense talent, their unique sense of style, charisma and joker personalities gave them the edge which is why I think Animaineax deserved victory.
ReplyDeleteThought Animaineax were Amazing. First time I've ever voted in any 'reality' show. They incorporated the MJ moves in more imaginative ways than anyone else. Opu
ReplyDeleteI wanted Ash to win, he's a great dancer! To bad he didn't win.
ReplyDeleteThis one was a hard one to call. I thought before the final that Plague were gonna come out all gun's blazing (which they did), but i also thought that animaineax would be the most popular act when it came down to the voting. Plague are unbelievable, without a shadow of a doubt the most talented UK Hip-hop dance crew and i'm glad that they've started to come out of the underground dance world and into the limelight. I also loved Animaineax, with swarf (of pink mafia fame) at the helm you know their choreography and musicality would be on point. I don't think though that the public fully understand or appreciate the animaineax slick choreography and musicality, i think it might of been a case of the infectious personality they have aswell as being really good dancers. Whereas with Plague it's easy to see that they are ridiculously talented but they don't seem to have the 'public vote spark' as i like to call it. A classic example was with Flawless and Diversity of course. The only major difference between that situation and this one is the fact that Animaineax are really talented dancers also, whereas i don't think diversity are that talented or unique in my opinion. Anyway Plague are gonna be on an upcoming sky1 show in january (with diversity's leader as a judge) so it'll be interesting to see how that turns out. Some of the cream of UK street/hip-hop dance really represented well on this show. PERIDOT,TRILOGY,UNITY,PLAGUE AND ANIMAINEAX really embody UK street dance and hopefully although not on a mainstream terrestial stage, the public got to see some 'real' UK street dance.
ReplyDeleteI heard the show was rigged with Animaniax being paid £200 each to stay in the show and that the public vote was for show. Even in the highlights Reggie says the final say was down to Jermaine. But I thought it was a vote...um.....
ReplyDeleteplague smashed the show no dought, cant believe animaniax won, YES they are good but they do not compete with plague. the whole show was a fix, its like they knew theyve won b4 the results were out. What kind of vote was that 20 minute shit. IT WAS A 100% FIX
ReplyDeletePlague was too good technically, I actually wanted to cry when they didnt win, I felt like I was robbed. Comeon lets be see Animaneax or whatever are good for this show but not for the dance act to commemorate MJ, they need to be tighter than they were like Plague were, they were mindblowing. Jermaines love for animanex probably made them win. 20 mins for voting is not really fair is it.
ReplyDeleteAnimaniax deserved to win as they are unique in
ReplyDeleteevery way, surely Jermaine won't choose Animaniax to honour his brother if they are not good enough. Plague is good but not good enough for the public.
That final was close, Animaineax stepped out da box, but i think either them or plague deserved to win. shame peridot wernt competin in da final.
ReplyDeletex factor have 2 days to vote, this show had 20mins. very poor.
Plague were fast and furious and should have won for being more enjoyable then anima. But this a tribute show for the man who added passion, inspiration, emotion the greatest popstar of all time MJ. If you listen to leona song, really listen to the song and look at anima again, U see how they were inspired and the the emotion level were far higher then plague. Anima touch the heart and soul of all MJ fans and really put it all out there with MJ poses. no1 can b like MJ but every1 can show they love for him
ReplyDeletePlague was the winners by far, this was suppose to be a dance competition,Animaineax were ok but if you know anything about dance, Plague were on another level, the whole show was fixed and that's why the BBC won't release the % of votes.
ReplyDeleteI'm gad the Animaineax won this competion, they have their own style in a unique way like MJ - MJ is alive again with there own style and dance move - I think this group will become very popular before we all know it ...but there might be a lot of jelousy from the others.
ReplyDelete