An Ohio State student didn’t dance her way onto MTV’s “America’s Best Dance Crew” — she jumped there instead.
Lisa Brown, a third-year in middle childhood education, is a member of Saltare, a jump-roping group that will compete in the show’s east regional finals at 10 p.m. today on MTV.
Saltare is comprised of college students around the U.S., all of whom are members of the USA Jump Rope All-Star Team. Saltare was created as a sub-group of the all-star team to audition for ABDC in New York City in December.
Because of Saltare’s jump-roping background, Brown said dancing is a skill she and her group mates have to work at.
“I have zero dance background … My dance background is dancing at the club,” Brown said. “I’m not a trained dancer by any means. Before I went out [to Los Angeles for the show], I was watching online tutorials, but how can you learn to dance online?”
Brown said other teams competing in the show have shown a lot of interest in Saltare, and this helps with learning dance moves.
“The best thing has been how many people we get to jump rope,” Brown said. “Yesterday we had somebody try to krump in the rope.”
For showing other teams their jump rope moves, Saltare usually receives some dance instruction.
“There has been a lot of sharing of styles,” Brown said.
Learning dance moves hasn’t replaced Brown’s schooling, however. Brown said that in order to keep her scholarship, she is taking online classes during the show to remain a full-time student. After rehearsal one night, Brown said she had school work to finish.
“I was in the lobby last night until 12:30 [a.m.] taking a quiz,” Brown said.
With Brown’s hectic schedule, she said the support she has received from home has been appreciated.
“My parents have been great,” she said.
Brown said that before leaving for the show, she called them up and said “I have to leave for a little bit, leave my life, quit my job … They told me it was a chance of a lifetime and I should go for it.”
Brown said that her friends have been equally as supportive.
“One of my best friends, Courtney, created a group on Facebook,” Brown said.
The group, publicizing the airing of Brown’s first show, has about 600 members, she said.
“Going through the list of people in the group, there were people I don’t necessarily know,” Brown said. “There are friends of friends … The support has been huge.”
She said friends at OSU even sent her off with a big dinner.
The news of getting to be on “ABDC” was even more exciting for Brown because it wasn’t expected. Brown said that she wasn’t in the initial group that auditioned for the show in New York. Some of the original members had to leave the group because of commitments at home. So Brown was called and asked to join the group, she said.
Despite Brown being an addition to Saltare, she said the group works together very well.
“We all have a blast and come up with ideas [for the routine],” she said.
Saltare is the first crew on “ABDC” to jump rope. Brown said that while that makes Saltare unique, other groups have qualities that set them apart in the show as well.
“I wouldn’t say we have the unique part in the bag,” Brown said.
She hopes that the jump roping will help them in the first stages of the show, however.
“We would hope they say ‘I can’t imagine what else they can do, so let’s keep them on to see,'” Brown said.
Saltare will perform on “America’s Best Dance Crew Regional Finals: The East,” today at 10 p.m. on MTV. Saltare will compete against four other teams from its region. Judges will pick only three teams to move on to the national competition.
