Cramp Dem cheerleaders.

In search of the sixth dance group to hold the Dancin' Dynamites title, the top 12 groups who made it through the elimination rounds, went on show as the battle officially began in the first studio show held on Saturday at the Karl Hendrickson Auditorium, Jamaica College.

Judges Kimberly 'Weezy' Hyman, Orville Hall and guest judge, Latonya Styles, CEO of Dance JA, gave their critiques of the routines and then scored each group's performance.

The night seemed to belong to the Cramp Dem dancers, as the two nervous-looking members tricked the crowd and delivered a very entertaining routine, earning a perfect score from each judge.

Judge Weezy asked audience members to stand and join her in giving the duo her second 'winnings' of the night.

Hall said: "Mi woulda dumb if mi nuh talk!" with the audience responding, "Mi woulda deaf if mi nuh hear!" He then took over again saying, "Dancers! Dem bad eeh?" And once again the crowd joined in with, "How dem bad suh?"

"Weezy, dis is what I call dramatic dancing performance tun up full 10," said Styles.

Prior to their performance, Ed Haadie kicked things off and had promised madness and pure energy in their routine. They delivered, as they danced up a storm and entertained the audience with funny antics.

Styles thought the antics were too much, saying: "That was more drama than dancing," and challenged them to represent as men. "The girl-acting ting, mi nuh like it."

Weezy gave them 'winnings' however, pointing out that what they were doing was dramatic dancing, and gave them 'props' on a good performance.

Black Eagles followed and, although dancing to songs from the Winnings rhythm, their performance was exactly the opposite. Hall told them that they needed to project their routine from the stage while Weezy said their energy levels needed a boost.

Diamond Squad's use of excessive hip-hop stunts while dancing to dancehall selections was frowned upon by Weezy and Hall.

too much hip hop

A fairly good performance came from Flava Xpressions as they took to the stage with fierce looks and movements, but once again, excessive hip-hop stunts was their black sheep.

The nerds of Kritical Squad came out well costumed, but they seemed to have slacked off on their dance studies, as their performance was not so bright and their 'nerd theme' was nowhere in sight throughout the routine.

"Yuh know seh almost everything inna unno routine wrong? I don't know wah di bulla fa? the choreography was all over the place," said Hall.

Weezy asked where the nerd theme was, and advised them to bring out the storyline of the theme.

In red and yellow matching vest and shirt, Xcalade Dancers also represented well.

Armed with 'Gully barber shop' and 'Vybz Kartel gaza pan' props, Progressive dancers took to the stage. However, these props failed to explain the storyline and the judges made it known through comments such as, "Mek me see the story through dance. Mi nuh understand wah the two sumting dem fa. Don't try an use the props to tell the story," coming from Hall.

The Double Trouble females from Sweden also represented well, but their energy level was a bit low.

Infamous also suffered from a routine which failed to expound on the night's dancehall theme. as Hall said: "It neva feel like dancehall none at all."

Kleva Ks tried to infuse energy into their steps, and had some amount of success. Styles and Weezy gave them advice on how to improve their performance.

And it was not a case of 'save the best for last', as Garrison Youths tried to hammer away their competition and ended up doing a boring performance.

"The routine was just like this, flat," said Weezy.

Styles and Hall shared similar views on their ability to work together as a group.

Cramp Dem dancers.

Past Dancin' Dynamites competitors, Manase of Unlimited Dancers, who won in 2009 (foreground), and members of Untouchable dancers.

Progressive dancers.