The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers

The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, commonly called The LXD, is an American web series that premiered on Hulu. The series follows two groups of rival dancers: the Alliance of the Dark, who are the villains, and the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, the heroes, who discover they have superpowers referred to as "the Ra" through their dance abilities. The entire story takes place over hundreds of years, beginning in the 1920s, up to the year 3000.
The series was created, co-directed, and co-produced by Jon M. Chu, who says he was inspired to create it by Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and "Smooth Criminal" music videos and by the dancers he met while filming the movie Step Up 2 the Streets. The series was choreographed by Christopher Scott and Harry Shum, Jr., with assistant choreography by Galen Hooks. Members had a wide variety of specialties, including hip-hop, krumping, contemporary, tricking, popping, b-boying, jazz, tap, and ballet. All of the choreography and stunts were real. There were no special effects or wire work, and the entire series was shot on location without the use of green screens.
50% of the sales of the official LXD T-shirt went to support the work of the nonprofit organization Invisible Children, Inc.|group="fn"

Members and cast

Sources:

Roger Aaron Brown as The Narrator
Jaime "Venum" Burgos, Ivan "Flipz" Velez,

and Josh "Milky" Ayers as The Observers

Wilbur "Wilpower" Urbina as Joe Drift
Luis "Luigi" Rosado as Trevor Drift
Carly Lang as Alice Wondershaw
Daniel "Cloud" Campos as The Illister
Jeremy Marinas as Justin Starr
Travis Wong as Jimmy Angel a.k.a. Shado
Nicholas Braun as Cole Waters
Chadd "Madd Chadd" Smith as Sp3cimen
John "J Rock" Nelson as Jasper James a.k.a. The Dark Doctor
Marie "Pandora" Medina as Autumn
Shelby Rabara as The Dark Nurse
Richard "Steelo" Vazquez as Spex
Vivian Bang as Miss Harlow
Oscar Orosco as Tendo
Aaron "Duece" Cooke as Dante
Christopher "Lil' C" Toler as Z
Galen Hooks as Ninjato
William Wingfield as Katana
Harry Shum Jr. as Elliot Hoo
Aja George as Stereo
Terence Dickson as Minijack
Straphanio "Shonnie" Solomon as Phono
Christa Lewis as Parvine
Sean "Fresh" Redding as Polo
Diva Zappa as Ruth
Nick Demoura as Murray
Robert Rich as Gus
Charlie "VZion" Schmidt as The Prophet and The Ringmaster
Christopher Scott as Copeland
David "Kid David" Shreibman as Karen a.k.a. The Kidd
Stephen "tWitch" Boss as Dr. E
Harmony Costa, Antwan Davis, and Khalid Freeman as Beat Bullies
Caity Lotz as Taylor Jensen
Adedamola "Nugget" Orisagbemi, Nicholas "Slick" Stewart, and Marc "Marvelous" Inniss as The Eaters
Jesse "Casper" Brown as Peetie a.k.a. Fangz
Anis Cheurfa as Achilles
Carey Ysais as Karey
Ricardo "Boogie Frantick" Rodriguez as The Wave
Josue "Beastmode" Figueroa as Stakka
Danni "Danni G" Gutierrez as Dreads
Cuong "Tony Styles" Ly as Waru
Marie "Maryss from Paris" Courchinoux as Scales
Rino Nakasone as Teethe
Maya Chino as Gills
Chanel Malvar as Finns
Brandon Philips as Umbra
Bryan Tanaka as Umbra
Dondraico 'Draico' Johnson as Umbra
Giovanni Watson as Umbra
JD McElroy as Umbra
Mykal Bean as Umbra
Brandon Shaw as Umbra
Cassidy Noblett as Umbra
Johnny Erasme as Umbra
Beau "Casper" Smart as Ox
Luke Broadlick as Ox
Ryan "McLovin" Houchin as Ox
Tara Macken as Ox
Cameron Boyce as Jasper James a.k.a. The Dark Doctor
Ele Keats as Diane James
Johnathan "Johnny 5" Malstrom as Experiment 2A2
Peter "Smurf" Quintanilla as Experiment 4K8
Jefferey "Machine" McCann as Experiment 9S2
Lorenzo "Devious" Chapman as Experiment J4E
Patrick "Pakelika 10" Wesley as The Exterminator
Terrance Harrison as Gimpspark
Ron "Tempo" Evans Jr., and Soh "Tetris" Tanaka as Rabids
Adrian "Lobo" Miramontes, Joshua "ACE" Ventura, Mike Song, and Anthony "Anflowny" Lee as Shadows
Nancy "Asia One" Yu as LXD Elder: The Countess
Rueben Lucky "Flat Top" Hall as LXD Elder: Groove Guardian
Andre "Boppin Dre" Diamond as LXD Elder: Black Diamond
Jerry "Flo Master" Randolph as LXD Elder
Roger "Orko" Romero as LXD Elder
Ceasare "Tight Eyez" Willis as LXD Elder: Style Ripper
Kendall Glover as Lil Rina
Angelo "Lil Demon" Baligad as '''Dark Nurse's son'''
Series history

The first two seasons of The LXD were released in 2010 and the third premiered in August 2011. Shooting first began for the series in February 2009. It took 18 months to complete filming for the first two seasons.

The Uprising Begins

Season one focuses on the back story of the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers, the "good guys". Each episode introduces each of the characters and their specific dance ability. The season premiered July 7, 2010 on Hulu. The first two webisodes, "The Tale of Trevor Drift" and "AntiGravity Heroes", were both released July 7. The remaining eight were released every Wednesday afterward.

Chapter	Character introduced	Dance style showcased	Date released
The Tale of Trevor Drift	Trevor Drift The Observers The Illister Alice Wondershaw Brendan Broman	B-boying	July 7, 2010
AntiGravity Heroes	Jimmy Angel Justin Starr Cole Waters	Tricking	July 7, 2010
Robot Lovestory	Sp3cimen The Dark Doctor Autumn The Dark Nurse Invalid Shadows	boting Popping Tutting Ballet	July 14, 2010
The Uprising Begins	Miss Harlow Spex Tendo	B-boying	July 21, 2010
The Lettermakers	Z Dante	Krumping	July 21, 2010
Duet	Ninjato Katana	Contemporary	July 28, 2010
The Dark Doctor Deal	—	Popping	July 28, 2010
Elliot's Shoes	Elliot Hoo	Hip-hop	August 11, 2010
Fanboyz	Stereo Phono Minijack	Krumping Popping Hip-hop Boogaloo	August 18, 2010
I Seen a Man	Copeland	Tap dance Waving	August 18, 2010

Secrets of the Ra

Season two tells the back story of the villains of The LXD which consist of Organization X—called The Ox—and The Umbras. The second season also premiered with two chapters, "The Legion" and "Lessons", which were released October 26, 2010. The remaining webisodes were released every Wednesday after with the exception of Wednesday, November 24 due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Chapter	Character introduced	Dance style showcased	Date released
The Legion	The Kidd Elder Jack Dr.E	B-boying Popping	October 26, 2010
Lessons	Beat Bullies Taylor Jensen	Stepping Tap Popping B-boying	October 26, 2010
The Rising	The Eaters Fangz	Flexing B-boying	October 28, 2010
Mark of the Ox	Karey The Wave Achilles Waru Dreads Stakka	Tricking Waving Fire dancing B-boying	November 2, 2010
Tails of War	Scales Teethe Gills Finns	boting Jazz Jazz Funk Popping	November 9, 2010
The Greater of Two Evils	The Umbras	Jazz Free running Krumping Tricking Jazz Funk	November 16, 2010
Origins	—	Hip-hop B-boying	December 1, 2010
Experiments	Experiment 2A2 Experiment 4K8 Experiment J4E Experiment 9S2 The Exterminator	Ballet Popping B-boying	December 8, 2010
The Good, the Bad and the Ra, Part 1	Gimpspark	Tumbling B-boying Krumping Tricking Popping	December 15, 2010
The Good, the Bad and the Ra, Part 2	The LXD Elders	boting Popping Tutting Waving	December 15, 2010

Super Ballet

There is episode titled "Super Ballet" that was supposed to be presented as part of the series narrative. It was left out of season two because Chu felt it didn't fit into the storyline. He eventually released it in 2012 when The LXD became available on YouTube. The dancing performed in the episode is a mix of ballet and tricking.

Rise of the Drifts

Season three tells the back story of how the LXD was formed and what led to the Ox and the Umbras uniting to become the Alliance of the Dark. I.aM.mE, a dance crew from Houston, TX who won season six of America's Best Dance Crew, makes an appearance in season three as the Reanimators. Ceasare "Tight Eyez" Willis, the creator of the dance style krumping, also appears in season three as the character of Style Ripper, one of the LXD Elders. Season three premiered on August 11, 2011, with two chapters: "The Extraordinary 7" and "Ashes". With the exception of September 1, the rest of the chapters in the season were released weekly on Thursdays.

Chapter	Character introduced	Dance style showcased	Date released
The Extraordinary 7	Annabelle Black Diamond The Countess Groove Guardian Joe Drift The Mignifisick Sir Swoop Style Ripper Ringmaster Winston	Bollywood dance Roboting B-boying Krumping	August 11, 2011
Ashes	Locking Goons	Locking	August 11, 2011
Forbidden	—	Flamenco	August 18, 2011
Can't Dance	Vivienne	Rhythmic Gymnastics Burlesque Hip-hop Vogue	August 25, 2011
Salvage	Robots	Roboting	September 8, 2011
Reprogram	—	Roboting Popping Tutting	September 8, 2011
RA Games	—	B-boying	September 8, 2011
Mess in Aisle 7	The Rinas	Ballet B-boying	September 15, 2011
Alliance of the Dark	Reanimators	Popping Animation	September 15, 2011
Rise of the Drifts	—	Contemporary Jazz B-boying Popping Ballet	September 22, 2011