The season, hosted by Mario Lopez, featured a judging panel consisting of Lil Mama, JC Chasez, and Shane Sparks.
Following the live casting special on January 26, 2008, the initial pool of dance crews was narrowed down to nine.
The judges selected one crew from each group (italicized) to be safe from elimination and move on to the next week.
Afterwards, the judges picked the bottom two crews to compete in a sudden death dance-off to guest performer Flo Rida's song "Low".
At the beginning of the show, the crews teamed up to perform a routine to a hip hop remix of Annie's "It's the Hard Knock Life".