Who Will Win the Ultimate Dance Off? (Part 1)

His shield's coming off, his shield's coming off. Let's go. Happy New Year! We're the Three Musketeers, and today we're doing a special challenge to celebrate. And remember to follow our YouTube channel if you want to see what the lives of shooting dancers are like. Let's go! Competing, we have Team Stryhard, with Sam as the leader. And over here, we have Team Party Hat, with CC as the leader. And one more thing, the losing team will have to face a grueling consequence. Oh my gosh. And to judge, we've invited two special guests, Diana and Linjie. Before we begin, Sam, what's your team's biggest strength, and why are you gonna win? Okay, our biggest strength is that we're very creative, and we're like chopsticks together, okay? We're unbreakable. High five! Yes! What are you guys most worried about for this challenge? They're not worried. We're not worried. The first challenge, the ethnic folk dance challenge. So each team prepared an ethnic or folk dance for the other team to learn. You have five minutes to learn it, and you have three members representing your team. Us three will judge. Whichever team does it better gets a point. Let's begin. Not too bad. No! Let's continue. It's fine, don't be biased. Support. Two versus one. I think we lost. Let's reveal our decisions. Three, two, one. The dance is really important. I really like Daoyoung in the front. She's not just doing moves, she's dancing, actually dancing. Enjoy it. I'll be honest though, I was pretty surprised that you guys made it like that. You guys did a bit better than I imagined, but not good enough. Sorry. We tried hard. The reason why I gave it to Team Party Hats is mostly because they were more together, movements-wise and synchronized. And for the gentlemen, we forgot movements. That's my biggest problem. That's so basic. Sam, what are you doing for your team? Look at Kim, he's trying so hard. The reason I'm able to yawn is because I know Kim has this in the bag, okay? No problem. I'm gonna take a quick nap while he gets it. It's a hard one. Three, two, one, reveal. For this round, you guys get one point each. The draw. Oh, it's a draw. Okay, so total tally is one to one, and we'll give a little bit of an explanation for why we chose. I'm sorry, girls, but I guess my expectation is pretty high, so didn't reach my expectation. Because the last one you did was really good. Well, you guys still impressed me with your ability to do the style of the movements correctly. The reason why I chose Team TryHard was because, in my opinion, their choreography was harder. And the second is that Jisung's dancing feeling was really, really good for the dance. So I had to give it to them. But the girls did really well, too. The second challenge is the technical move combo. So what you have to do is perform any technical move that you can do consecutively, okay? And you'll select two team members to represent your team. Their time is combined, and whoever does it for the longest wins. So it's gonna be time-based. We got our two competitors here. What's your strategy? Explain. Okay, my strategy is just win, okay? Slow and steady, and then think about the happy moments. Happy moments? What are you talking about? Just try hard. Slow and steady wins the race. Come on, guys. We got this. Ready? 3, 2, 1. Go! Dude. That's... Oh, my. Are you kidding? Okay, it's been... It's been 30 seconds. Oh, my gosh. 30 seconds. 35 seconds. Stop. Oh, my gosh. That's pretty intense. One second. Guys was 53 seconds, and girls were 58. But what movement were you doing? Okay, so I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to take 10 seconds off because the rule was you have to do the same movement the whole time. So we're gonna take 10 seconds off of the girls' time right now. So there are 48 seconds, and guys had 53. 53. 3, 2, 1. Start. His movement is... This movement requires a lot of stamina. She's kind of going off position right now. That needs coordination, man. You can try it. She's not in the same position anymore. Oh, no. His shoe's coming off. His shoe's... Oh, no. Stop. Keep going. His shoe. I stopped her time already. Megan can stop. His shoe. The boys lasted about 1.48. 1.48. And the girls, actually, when Megan stumbled on the side, I already stopped them. Sorry. So the girls are about 1.39. Okay? So 10-second difference. This round goes to the boys, then. Try hard. So right now, the total score is 2 to 1. All right, these challengers are very, very tough. They might look easy to our viewers, but they're actually very difficult to perform. And to do that many, it was very impressive. So good job to both teams. Challenge number three is the flexibility endurance challenge. So we've selected three flexibility movements which you have to perform. The first one is Zi Jin Guan, also known as the needle. You have to hold it for the longest time, okay? You'll be going head-to-head at the same time. The second round is the front leg hold on a yoga block. And the third movement is the side leg hold while blindfolded. Okay? Best two out of three wins a point. Good luck, guys. Flexibility challenge is actually really hard for guys, but we have a superstar here. So no worries, okay? We got this. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. If you like bubble tea... Yeah, he's the bubble tea guy. Matthew, are you nervous? I'm very nervous, actually, because they're all... Three, two, one, go. We have Hannah here and Matthew. So this takes a lot of flexibility... And strength. And endurance. And it's actually very impressive for a guy to do the needle. All right, all right. He's too scared to talk to distracted team members. Oh my goodness. So Hannah and Matthew... He's recovering, he's recovering. Matthew, just like you're doing. Our only requirement is that you hold... You're like... Matthew's struggling. Right now, they're probably feeling a little bit numb. Yeah. It's been more than a minute, by the way, so good job. This is really sad. Matthew has good endurance. It's hard because Hannah's actually straight the whole time. At least don't try this at home. Don't try this at home. Good job, Hannah, good job. Now we're going to do a front leg hold. Ready? Three, two, one, go. Straighten your legs. The way he's standing and walking... It's not very smart. He's going to do a very strategic move. What? It's okay. It's been 35 seconds. Yeah, he's like using his arm strength. For sure. Yeah. Look at the way he's pitched forward right now. Guys, we do this practice. Girls, get a party hat. The girls placed the block like this. The guy was like this, okay? It's two out of three already, so team party hats gets a point. So it's going to be tied 2-2. Right now, we're doing the third round as a bonus. No pressure, just for fun. He's doing so much for our team. Good job. It's okay. Three, two, one, start. This is actually a lot harder than it looks. Usually without blindfolds, they would just be standing still, but when you close your eyes, it feels completely different. He's already facing the wrong direction. And our baby panda is already facing the wrong direction. He's disoriented. Okay, you guys can come down. Three, two, one. There's no point theater here. Now, we are going to take a short break from our challenges. And we are in New York City. And we're going to visit some of the theaters we've performed in before, starting with Lincoln Center. We're at Lincoln Center right now, and I first performed here in 2010. And it also reminded me that I actually started performing with Xinyun in 2007. And going into 2022, I've been with the company dancing for 15 years. This brings back a lot of memories because a lot of the performers who I was working with at the time in 2010, they're not dancing anymore. And even for myself, I'm actually more focused on teaching right now, even though I'm still performing with the company. So it just brings back a lot of memories, and especially the good and the bad, right? That comes together. Throughout these 15 years, we've been through a lot of tough times. And especially as a dancer, you go through a lot of hardship. You have to take a lot of pain. But even though it wasn't easy, it was still a really great experience. And going into 2022, I want to remind myself that regardless of if things are good or bad, I have the choice myself to choose whether to be grateful and happy about my situation. So that's just reminding myself. And I'm also happy to be here with my friend today, Sam and Jisung. Yay! So yeah, it's just that right now, you know, things are a little bit uncertain sometimes, but we still have a lot to be thankful for. Like, you know, with our friends and family, just to be here, it's actually a really amazing experience. Exactly. Yup.