World of Dance Aftermath: Klaamation

So World of Dance Pomona kicked off its first tour stop of the new decade this past weekend. New crews debuted, veterans returned, and there were some surprises along the way. The bboys gathered in a separate building for 2-on-2 battles with rows of vendors stretching across the floor. Surprisingly, the event was less crowded than last year with fewer people watching the choreo performances and a thinner bboy turnout. What does this mean? Are folks saving their money during these hard economic times? Or is the hype for the hip hop dance scene dying? Maybe both are valid reasons. WOD opened their doors at 3pm and the event ran until past 11pm. That's a long stretch of time, which was exhausting for a lot of people. After this past weekend, we might look back at WOD Pomona 2010 as a mark of things to come.

But in the meantime, we can enjoy what the choreo teams presented on stage. Klaamation popped on to a lot of people's radars with six members taking the stage - three girls and three guys. Was this their whole team? It seemed that their performance was just a teaser for what the crew can do. We got to see some interesting use of tutting-inspired concepts. Klaamation showed they're about creating eye-catching pictures on stage with just a few bodies. This approach helped them to stand out from other teams with twenty to thirty members performing at the same time.

You can see a clip of Klaamation's performance here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MScjOlZI9a4

Intricate. Sexy. And willing to stand out from the crowd. That's Klaamation, from what we saw on Saturday night. For a while since 2008, Kaba Modern has been seen as a model for sexy, intricate choreography coming from their public image created by MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. Can Klaamation give Kaba Modern a run for their money? Or will they forge their own path? We haven't seen a lot of them in other videos online, but this performance at WOD Pomona 2010 might spark a buzz for them in the dance world.