World of Dance Season 2! WEEK 8 Live Blog!!

As you may have read, WoD is moving to Wednesday nights, starting tomorrow, after tonights final qualifier round AND it’s going to change to two hours in length. Thank god for that – maybe they won’t edit the dances for time that way. I’ll be curious to see if everyone who made it past the qualifier round is actually seen in the duels or not. We know that around 20 or so acts that auditioned will never make it to air, so I wonder if the same will happen in the duels. Before the show starts tonight there are:

  • Five Upper Teams that we haven’t seen, including Brooklyn Dancesport Club (ballroom, obviously), ClubHouse (fusion/swing), Funkywumps, Opus Dance Collective and Pursuit.  I suspect we definitely see Pursuit since they are contemporary – and this show is as obsessed with contemporary as SYTYCD is.
  • Five Uppers, including 6 Feet Deep, Angyl, L&J, Morning of Owl and St Kingz – all are urban, hip hop, poppers except for L & J who are contemporary.
  • Nine Junior Teams, which is really too many to list, but include The Pulse (ballroom), Tribe Unleashed (hip hop), Iowa Girlz (contemporary), LilKillaz Crew (break dancing), and Dollhouse Dance Factory (hip hop).
  • Eight Juniors, including 3 Xtreme (hip hop), Avery and Marcus (ballet contemporary!!), Kaeli Ware (contemporary ballet!!), Lil Motormouth (popping/annimation), Second to None (Tap), plus Victoria Caban (flamenco dancer) and some hip hop kids.

Since we only see between 6 and 8 dances per one hour show, that means roughly 20 dances won’t see the light of day during the qualifiers.  Of course it begs the question how many duels we will see. 🙂

Funkywunks are apparently going to be seen tonight:

Second to None makes it on air tonight, so that makes me happy…

3Xtreme also makes it to air:

Tribe Unleashed

Victoria Caban with Second to None…

T-minus 30 minutes!!

And here we go!! Let’s get right to it.

First up, 14 year old Victoria Caban – junior flamenco dancer from New Jersey!! Kill it, girl!! Her family is from hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico. Go girl.

She’s a little toughie!! Strong latina woman, per JLo. Oh, excellent!! Sharp, crisp, attitude. Only 14 and she could teach most of the DWTS pros how to Flamenco. Would love to see her dance with Derek. His flamenco was amazing!!

JLo loving her flamenco, says she has exquisite lines (true). Very outstanding. She mixed in some contemporary, Ne-Yo loves it. Derek is in rapture over it, he says he felt it. Says she is a Misti Copeland of Flamenco. Says she is captivating.

Scores: 89, 90, 93 (Ne-yo, Derek, JLo). Average of 90.7!!

Ne-Yo says he’s taking up flamenco….I would pay to see this. 🙂

Pursuit up next (called that one right). Well dressed group of Upper team doing contemporary.

Love the still parts. First toss was a bit sloppy in my opinion. The pauses are very effective for me. I also like this style of contemporary. Very cool.

Jennifer has goosies. I hate the word “goosies”. Ne-Yo on target – contemporary with isolations. Derek talking about counter rhythms. He loved it.

Scores: 86, 89, 86, in order for an average of 87. Going on to the next round. 🙂

Derek choking when asked if he’s ever dated anyone who is a better dancer than him. LOL. Nope. 😉

L&J up next, with contemporary…and NO package, which is a very bad sign. If not for now, then for later.

Great lifts, like the staccato movements. Very sharp. That was quite good!!

JLo cracking me up with her shipping…too bad both have boyfriends. Judges love it. Derek talks about practiced emotion, but says they were amazing, not practiced at all.

Scores: 88, 89, 94 (Derek, JLo, Ne-Yo) for an average of 90.3!! They were good. Loved them.

Judges being amusing, making a bit of fun with Derek.

Pulse up next from Utah – Center Stage. Derek Hough’s studio. 🙂 They’re excited for him to see them.

And he’s already happy with their entrance. He’s going to love this, he’s big on formations. Song is great, sync is great. Oh yeah! that “all in hold” section he’s going to love. Great lifts. Just all the way around excellent!!

Derek loved the elements, loved the shadow roll. They freak out when he goes to show them. They all freak out over dancing with Derek. I would too. Judges have critique, and they like it, but…

Scores: 78, 84, 79…Average of 80.3. Damn, that was close. I thought Derek sunk them there for a minute. So happy they made it through.

Next up two little babies called Avery and Marcus doing a ballet/contemporary fusion. Wearing rocking outfits. Girl is on pointe – hard!

Holy crap, the flying flip thing was great and I love the song choice. They boy’s leaps ar amazing. and the girl’s flexibility. This is more of a rocking’ ballet, contemporary. Finish was a bit rough.

Jennifer comments on their nerves but tremendous talent. Ne-Yo likes the strength and agility, but agrees with Jennifer. Derek likes the fusion, loved the 540, the song choice…noticed the struggle in the transitions which I also saw.

Scores: 85, 83, 84 for an average of 84 – moving on to the next round.

Funkywunk up next!

Oh…I’m digging it. wow. Cool lift, great sync. Fun personality. Love it.

JLo loved it, they were sexy and they knew it. Ne-Yo also liked the lift, Derek loved it. Derek liked the trajectory, said it was very original.

Score: 85, 87, 89 (Derek, Jennifer, Ne-Yo) for an average of 87…going on to the next round!

Here we go speed round…Iowa Girlz go through, but won’t last with lack of package. Dem Raider Boyz also go through with no package and little shown of the dance. GirlCool – same thing. they have a great style and go through, but no package. Second to None, tap group goes through. Little b-boys also go through, as does Opus and 3 Extreme. Judges seem to love all these acts, but it seems obvious they won’t win their duel. Angyle also makes it through, as does Tribe Unleashed. And JLo ends up with Silvery pom poms. 🙂

Okay, now I’m tired. 🙂

So, did they save the best for last?? Morning of Owl from South Korea is up next. It means wisdom is the start. They’ve been together for 18 years!

Love the opening picture. Love all their pictures. Something very appealing about this group. Very strong, I think Love that pose on his heels. This routine just builds and builds!!

Jennifer is loving it, can’t figure out what style it was, they say they combine many styles. Ne-Yo talks martial arts and he loves that part of it Derek thinks it started slow and they it went to a new gear. He’s digging it

Scores: 82, 86, 84 for an average of 84. See you next time Morning of Owl!! Excellent. there is something about them I love.

That’s it for the duels, folks! What did you think??