NBC’s World of Dance – Looking Forward to Season TWO, What Would YOU Fix?

It’s funny. I have a twitter search for World of Dance so every week I see people claiming it’s “rigged” or “fixed” or the “judges suck”.  It’s always fans of people or groups who were eliminated.  Is this what our society has come to: when things don’t go your way, it’s all fixed or rigged? I guess when you look at the White House…well, that mentality trickles down into everyone after a while, unless you keep your brain engaged and really THINK about the issues that surround the country. That mentality is VERY immature. But I’m not here to debate politics, only a silly dance show.  And the squeaky wheels on twitter are often mental midgets in any case. 😉

Is World of Dance “fixed”??  No, I don’t believe so – not in the real definition of that word in this context: meaning that when the show was cast, they already knew who the winner was going to be. THAT would be “fixed”. Is it produced and manipulated? Of course – it’s TELEVISION. If you go into watching a show like this and don’t expect some sort of manipulation then you’re just being naïve.  The editors and producers job is to make a TV show that people want to watch and for that there needs to be a bit of drama and suspense – they’ve learned that from other dance shows.  It has to be entertaining! And honestly, righteous indignation over your favorite being eliminated shows you CARED. That you’re invested. Mission accomplished.

Do the judges have favorites which may make them biased in one direction or another?? Probably. They’re human beings. That’s how human beings work. Don’t YOU have a favorite?  I have several. Otherwise, what the hell’s the point? People have favorites. Judges are people too. This is not hard to figure out.  Does one judge pick people she wants to work with in the future and score them better than others? Well, seems likely – but that’s all part of them being her “favorites”.  Is it crappy? Yep.  Of course. That’s why there are three of them.  To get your way, you have to be obvious – and take the heat. 😉 Read more..

August 4, 2017 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 7

Before we get started on the Cuts, let me point out to the still whining Jabbawockeez fans that the ratings didn’t crater in the least as you were predicting. They’re holding pretty steady and are, in fact, damn good ratings for a summer show. Guess you all don’t have the impact that you thought. I should point out that many of you whining on twitter whined about it so far after the fact that it was clear you didn’t watch the show as it aired or even within the following 24-48 hours. Why does this matter? Well, it means YOU DON’T COUNT in the ratings, dearies. If you can’t be bothered to watch the show for your favorite as it airs or shortly thereafter, you are not a significant part of the audience because you don’t impact the ratings. Sorry. 🙂

Anyway, welcome to the Cuts. The first week that the judges actually got it wrong at least once. It was bound to happen. We lost my beloved Lab and we have TWO contemporary dancers at the top of the junior division. This is a crime, IMO. Eva is great…so is Diana…but man. Come on. Eva at least changed up her routine. But young girls doing contemporary doesn’t move me. It doesn’t excite me. And RARELY is it compelling anymore – they all tend toward the same ticks and moves.

Diana is the first out of the gate of the Junior Division and does a perfectly nice dance, but it feels like I’ve seen it before – and her score (92) is ridiculously high and is the kiss of death.  I think it was Courtney (and others) who said that maybe the other divisions are too heavy in Hip Hop and I say that’s probably what they were trying to avoid….but I say so what if it is heavy in hip hop?? The Lab are amazing. Part of me wonders if the judges are just too susceptible to the youngsters being all heart wrenching. Read more..

July 24, 2017 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 6

Can I just say that I am SO sick and tired of the whining from the Jabbawockeez fans?? Look, I was a fan. I am a fan. But to claim they were cheated out of a win, or it was a “mistake” or that the show is “over” because they lost?? Get real. GROW UP! They are not the only great dancers in the competition. And they just weren’t bringing it – not for me, not for lots of people.  And, as you will see from the numbers below, they were NOT on track to win the show. Not even close. Neither is Ian Eastwood, who I much preferred. But I skip ahead…

Below is a table showing all of the dancers/teams who made it past the qualifiers and their qualifying scores. To recap, the highest scoring dancers from each category pick first who to duel against. Then the next highest and so on. Read more..

July 17, 2017 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 6 (Duels) – Power Rankings

So in what’s seemingly becoming a pattern – I apologize for the extreme tardiness of these rankings 😛 At least this time, I have a legitimate excuse – we were experiencing some pretty hefty technical difficulties this week, which have only recently gotten remedied. Thank god for bosses who know how to fix this stuff…thanks John!

This round of the power rankings is brought to you by this face, my favorite gif of the moment 😛 :

So this week wrapped up the duel round, and I gotta say – why the hell have they turned the last episode of each round into such a slapdash, gotta-fit-it-all-in-despite-taking-our-time-the-first-two-episodes pace? We’ve only got 4 episodes of this show left in the season, and there’s acts that we still know next to nothing about and have only seen tiny glimpses of, and the pacing of each of these third episodes of a round just leaves my head spinning.  Really hoping this was just a result of this being the rookie season of this show, and everything next season will be a lot better thought-out and more organized.

Another thing I’m hoping not to see next season? A bunch of previously-established acts with super-rabid fanbases that have a sense of entitlement about their faves. I’ve said it before, but I get the impression that certain acts may have been invited to do the show for the simple purpose of bringing along their previously-existing fanbases and hopefully boosting ratings for the show – I get that.  But at the same time, watching Jabbawockeez fans have an absolute MELTDOWN on Twitter and Ne-Yo (naively) trying to reason with them just gives me apoplexy. Oofdah. So let’s just leave it at “I get it, you needed to get viewers for the show.  Well now that you’ve got them and are guaranteed another season, maybe try turning your attention to fresh, new, undiscovered acts?”

So fifteen acts remain – five in each of the three divisions, and apparently that’s gonna get cut down by half in the next round…how? No idea 😛 But at this point, I think Kinjaz are the most likely to win the team division, now that Jabba is gone; The Lab, Diana Pombo, and Eva Igo will probably be duking it out for the junior division; and I’m not so sure now that Les Twins is gonna coast through and win the upper division spot in the finals – their appeal seems to be fading in the eyes of at least two judges, and I’m seeing more and more fans complaining online about how “overrated” they are. I’m not sure that it’s necessarily in the best interests of the show for these guys to win…but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.  I’m thinking Mihacevich Sisters, Immabeast, Pasion, Chapkis, Super Cr3W, and Swing Latino are probably goners in this next round – I just don’t think they can hang. The rest is up in the air. Read more..

July 15, 2017 I Written By

Medical device sales by day, reality TV blogger by night. Makeup artist, baker, hair model, and wannabe DIY-er when time permits, and a potty-mouth 24/7. Read more of me at puredwts.com, and follow me on Twitter & Instagram: @putuincespence

‘World Of Dance’ Season 1, Week Six – The Performance Videos

We’re posting the performance videos for World Of Dance Week Six courtesy of @Idolxfactor1 and WOD Official You Tube as soon as we can in the space below! Keep checking back….

ETA: Below are more of the performances. Sorry for the delay! We had some site issues last night.

The videos above work internationally! Below are you tubes from the official site…. Read more..

July 11, 2017 I Written By

Just a music and dancing fan here ....and a lover of life, nature, animals, and spending as much time as possible camping all over in our travel trailer. Favorite Quote at the moment: "Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching, and live like it's heaven on earth." ~ William Purkey. Follow me at: Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

NBC’s World of Dance, Season 1, Week SIX – LIVE Blog

So has anyone else been paying attention to the promo on twitter for tonight’s show? I think/hope/pray we might be in for a surprise. 😉

And hey, I’ve only cried twice at AGT so far. I still have 10 minutes, I guess…

…and they hit me with the big one. Geez. A contestant was killed in a car accident and they’re airing his audition at the request of his family. So young. :::sob::: Unbelievably talented. He made it to the next round. :::sob:::

First up on World of Dance is Stroll Groove versus The Kinjaz….we never saw Stroll Groove in the Qualifiers, so I think we have a good idea who’s going to win. They barely got through with an 80.3. Again, Goliath picks David to dance against. I have to say I have little respect for that.

Kinjaz up first. Love the screens. The visuals are amazing. I can hear Derek yelling. 🙂

That was freaking amazing – like magic at the end. So clean, so perfect. And Derek reads my mind with the “masters of illusion”. 🙂 Agree – a million dollar routine.

Stroll Groove obviously edited down but great routine also. I liked the way this crew entered the stage – rewind if you missed it.

Ne-Yo points out that their stepping after the routine was more dynamic. I don’t know about that – it was DIFFERENT.

Kinjaz win it with 91.3 over 81.3. Ten whole points. Yeah, agreed. But I have to ask again – the great dancers aren’t afraid to take on the best. I’ll have to go look and see what pick they had.

Next up is Luka and Jenalyn versus DNA…hmmm, tough call on this one. I think I prefer DNA, but at least this one is a fair fight.

Luka and Jenalyn don’t really appeal to me for some reason but I can see how extraordinarily difficult that routine is – quite amazing actually.

Derek loved it, as did Ne-Yo and Jennifer. I do think they stepped it up from their last routine. I really appreciate Jennifer’s point that they aren’t acrobats but dancers and they shouldn’t forget that. I agree.

DNA blows a relatively simple move. Bad news. After their qualifier they are unlikely to make it. Now they feel too rushed. Much better when they slowed it down.

Luka pumping the audience – good sport. They went to the Derek school of not admitting a mistake. Derek very kind because he knows the absurd difficulty of that routine.

Winner is Luka and Jenalyn with 88.7 versus 80.3.

We then proceed to blow through several routines.

Immabeast and

Kings Unite versus Pasion – Pasion wins

Rhythmatic versus Chapkis Dance Family and the Chapkis wins it.

Oh boy…The M sisters versus D’Angelo and Amanda.

This is what sucks about DWTS – Ballroom versus Contemporary.

D’Angelo and Amanda – with a boo boo in the spins.

The M Sisters seemed pretty good, but their routine was also very chopped up. I sure hope that they get two hours next season because both routines were severely shortened. Anyway, Jennifer finally says what I always say about contemporary – the same thing over and over if you’re not careful.

The M Sisters win it by a hair.

Now the big one: Rouge versus Jabbawockeez versus Ian Eastwood. We already know who isn’t winning – the ones who didn’t get seen during the Qualifiers.

Come on, Ian!! 😉

First up, Rouge. Great start!! Okay, started great but started to look like a college dance team after that. Agree with Jennifer on the choreography. Also agree with Derek on the sloppiness.

Next…Jabbawockeez. It was great but….the Kinjaz were better, IMO. The slo-mo part was good, but really nothing special there. Especially compared to Kinjaz.

First two routines were also obviously edited, which is disappointing.

Now, Ian Eastwood. Loved this routine – not as much as I loved his first one, but it was awesome. Very fresh.

And Ian squeaks out a win by one point – well deserved IMO. I’ve always loved the Jabbawockeez, but I’ve not been impressed by their routines on this show. Someone on twitter said, “Jabbawockeez have nothing to prove, they’ve set the bar.” Absolutely right. And no shame in getting beaten by a point by a new young crew. There was much argument when the show started if Jabbawockeez should even be on, considering their extensive professional career. Well, as long as it’s not Les Twins, someone newer has a shot. I’m betting on Keone/Mari or Kinjaz.

I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 5

No World of Dance this week due to the Fourth of July – Happy Independence Day everyone!! Despite there not being a show this week I figured I would post this now and give people time to think about it.

Another incredible week last week on World of Dance. Still a great show. But I have to make a comment on some complaints I’ve seen on social media.

Complaint number 1: “Derek, shut up, confidence is all part of Les Twins style, it’s part of battling, yadda yadda yadda” combined with some version of “you don’t know what you’re talking about” or “you’re just racist”.

Heidi’s answer: Oh grow up. When the “confidence” is against an opponent of a similar style and who was as successful in the first round as you were (like, say FIK-SHUN – you scared, Les Twins??)…and it occurs ONLY during the dance, then you might have a point. But I don’t think there is any question that the self-proclaimed “best dancers in the world” chose a dude at the bottom of the leader board doing a style they have little respect for and absolutely nothing in common with INSTEAD of a guy who’s style is very similar to theirs and who was also close to the top of the leader board. Les Twins had first pick and they went to the bottom of the leader board and proceeded to be arrogant as hell which was a complete turn off.  Even Ne-Yo questioned their choice – it’s an obvious question to ask, especially combined with the “confidence” that Les Twins was showing (that WAS off putting).  How do “confident” men pick a tapper at the bottom of the leaderboard? What were they afraid of?? The confident “best dancers in the world” would have picked Fik-shun. But they didn’t, which begs the questions. Read more..

July 4, 2017 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 4

I have to say, I really like the duels concept. I also appreciate that the high scoring duelers get to pick their competition in their category. And that means that for this upcoming week, Les Twins – the high scorers in the upper division – picked Kyle Van Newkirk who is the LOW scorer. That seems….unsporting, to say the least.

Of course, this is a reality show. Do we really believe that, A) Les Twins are actual competitors and not ringers brought in to bring eyes to the show (like the Jabbawockeez), and B) that the contestants REALLY picked their competition with no outside influence?? Ordinarily, I would give it more of a chance – for one thing, it needs to get as much attention as possible in order to continue to exist. And for another thing this show BENEFITS anyone who appears on it, regardless of how far they go. For that reason, I appreciate it. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that it IS a reality show. So I can’t give Les Twins too hard of a time. Yet. 🙂 Also…the matchup of Les Twins with Kyle seems tailor made to get a ton of PR, which is exactly how they’re promoting it. It seems so…set up. Contrived. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it goes down. And if Kyle REALLY wins. Despite these questions, I still LOVE the show…the dancing is first rate.

Anyway, let’s look back and the Qualifying scores in each Division:

So, if they go in order, Les Twins had the first pick in that Division and picked the low scorer, Kyle. By the same token, Eva Igo picked Kyntay…but if they really went in order, Eva had last pick and could only pick the last remaining dancer(s) in that Division – Kyntay. She would have had no choice. Swing Latino would have had second pick and they picked the last place team in their division (correction, second to last) – a somewhat logical choice in this instance, but still it seemed like David versus Goliath. It actually ended up being close.

Another duel was a heartbreaker – Keone and Mari versus Quick Style. Again, they likely had no choice. Neither team was in the top five, so they were likely the last two groups standing in that division. But in looking at the tables, I realize that the Upper and Team Divisions currently have odd numbers. It makes me wonder if some of the 45 dancers not shown so far are going to make an appearance in the duels as cannon fodder. Kinda hard to have duels with odd numbers. Based on what we know so far, Pasion has to pick either Luka/Jennalyn or DNA – and whoever is left doesn’t have a dueling partner. Hmmmm…..sure enough, watching the show again reveals that there are indeed people on the roster that we didn’t see in the qualifiers.

I also take back what I said earlier. Eva didn’t have last pick but second to last.

Anyway, let’s look at the Duel scores.

Fik-Shun was high scorer so he picked and went first. Swing Latino was higher than Miami All Stars and they also went first. Then they switched it up and had Kyntay and Keoni/Mari both go first in their duels despite being the lower scorers. Of course, we don’t know if that is the true order…it could have changed in editing.

Basically, I think the right picks were made and the right people went through. Love Quick Style and I’m bummed out that they went against Keone and Mari, who are one of my absolute favorites. That one was too close. Scores I disagree with while agreeing with the winner was Eva versus Kyntay – there was NOT that much of a difference score-wise between them, although I do think Eva won.

Some people improved on their qualifying scores and some didn’t – no idea yet if that is going to mean anything in the long run. I suspect not. Some of the difference between qualifiers and duels were very minor, like Fik-shun versus Nick Daniels. Others were quite massive – Miami All Stars gained 7 whole points while Swing Latino lost a couple points. Unfortunately for Miami All Stars it wasn’t quite enough. Kyntay also gained a few points while Eva lost one – not enough, once again. Keone and Mari gained 6 points also, while Quickstyle lost a couple.

I’m not seeing any patterns here, yet. You?

June 26, 2017 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 3

So…why are the Jabbawockeez allowed to be mellow and Ian Eastwood isn’t? Just asking. They didn’t get a significantly higher score than Ian did, but the commentary was very, very different. I think that even these judges are susceptible to star power – and make no mistake, the Jabbawockeez are already stars. Well established stars who had their own Vegas show, am I right?

So that begs the question that I’ve seen floating around the internet: is it fair to have well established dance stars compete against complete unknowns? It’s hardly the same as DWTS, where the public votes and therefore it gives the a leg up in terms of fanbase. And, unlike some other sites, I do draw a pretty hard line between Jabbawockeez and someone like Fik-shun. I don’t think Fik-shun is either well established nor a millionaire so I don’t have a problem with him competing at all. But having the Jabbawockeez compete is almost like having Derek himself compete – he’s famous and probably no longer needs the money, although it’s always nice. 🙂 So…is it “fair”? Read more..

June 20, 2017 I Written By

I'm a nerd and proud of it. Two degrees in geology also means I love BEER. :-) I'm also a Derek lover - proud of that too. So don't scream at those of us on this site and call us a bunch of "biased Derek-lovers" - it's just ME. :-) It may sound like I hate DWTS at times, but really, I'm just a snarky nitpicker from way back. And I'm cynical and jaded too. But I do love DWTS. :-)

Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 3 (Qualifiers) – Power Rankings

NOTE: Apologies on the lateness of these rankings – work was a nightmare today, as I’m now down one team member due to her being on maternity leave; additionally, I found myself having to go back and rewatch some acts – there were just a crap ton on last night’s show.

Holy “wow, maybe we should have thrown more acts into the first two episodes!”, Batman – last night felt a tad frantic, as if they were trying to cram in a ton of acts after only really featuring less than ten in both of the previous weeks’ qualifiers.  And we STILL did not see all of the 45 acts on the full list of contestants – so does that mean we aren’t actually going to see some of the acts at all? Or are some of the acts coming into the battle rounds without their initial qualifier performance being shown, and they’re gonna tell us more about them in the coming weeks? I don’t really know how all of this is going to shake out, but if watching a few seasons of AGT has taught me anything, it’s that if they don’t show your initial audition on the air, and you just kinda show up in the Vegas week rounds, then your odds of advancing are probably not that great. If they don’t see fit to show you from day 1, then they likely don’t think you’re worth it. I hope I’m proven wrong in the case of World of Dance. Read more..

June 14, 2017 I Written By

Medical device sales by day, reality TV blogger by night. Makeup artist, baker, hair model, and wannabe DIY-er when time permits, and a potty-mouth 24/7. Read more of me at puredwts.com, and follow me on Twitter & Instagram: @putuincespence