World of Dance Season 3, Week 1 – LIVE BLOG!!

I can’t believe we are at Season 3!! Amazing! I’m going to try to continue doing contestant profiles as we go along…if you scroll down the page you’ll see those that I’ve done so far.

T-minus ten minutes!!

Whoop here we go!! Nice plaid Derek. πŸ™‚

This looks like it’s going to be great!

Sorry, trained dancer should get top billing. πŸ˜‰

Scott is looking fine, I must say.

First up are The Kings from Mumbai, India. Man, I love the Indian dancers, particularly if they do that style. They are billed as “Bolly Hop”.

Start is a little generic, with some cool tricks. the step thing is very cool. I was hoping for more belly, less hop though, if I’m being honest. But at the end of the day, great job. JLo is throwing shoes. Calm down Derek.

Scores: 97, 98, 98 (Ne-yo, Derek, Jlo) for a 97.7

Next up, Urban contemporary dancers from LA – Erica and Aidan. He was with Poreotics last season. And he got a girl out of it. πŸ™‚

Love the tricks. And I definitely like Urban contemporary better than plain contemporary. Just a tiny disconnect there towards the end. But pretty good for a couple that have only just joined up.

Jlo thinks they have all the ingredients but can feel that they haven’t been together long. Derek thought they were a bit out of sync (agreed). He thinks it was strong though. Ne-Yo feels it didn’t come together.

Scores: 85, 85, 84 (Jennifer,Derek, Ne-Yo) – for an average 84.7. So close!!

Funkenometry from Vancouver is up next. They’re both 15 but the height disparity is amazing. πŸ™‚ Oh and they are dancing

Very kid like and not up to snuff at the start. But they sharpen it up as they go along. They are amusing, but I don’t know that they’re going to make it. Oops..they were edited. Not a good sign.

Derek is amused by them and says that helps. He thinks their popping is great and they’re refreshing. Jennifer says the dancing was really good, and they made them laugh. Ne-Yo thinks they were entertaining but not competitive – too simple. Then he says “however” – they danced it so well the difficulty didn’t matter as much.

Scores: 87, 88, 87 for an average of 87.3!! I’m surprised, but good for them!!

Super cute little girl group coming up next. So sad, such anxiety. These cuties are the Crazy 8s from Anaheim Hills.

Super flexible, these little girls are really good!! The judges love them too. And the judges just die from cuteness. And the talent is amazing.

Jennifer wants to know all about them. I can’t even type actually, they are so cute. Derek calls them munchkins and he’s so impressed with them, stability in their turns. All are at the same level. Ne-Yo says they could win at an adult level

Scores: 91, 93, 95 (Derek, Ne-Yo, JLo) for an average of 93. Yes, they were that good. I love them and I love all the crying.

Love the camaraderie between the judges.

Jonathan and Jorge – salsa couple from Peru. Hilarious dudes so far. “Little nugget of a man…” LOL. Compared to Alyen and Maria, also salsa? – they don’t make it. Heavily edited so you saw it coming. But what about Jonathan y Jorge??

Great spin. Nice transition. Great spin again. Amazing. And the throw was killer. Pretty good sync. Whoa…another killer throw. Holy cow…that was really good. Tough routine!

Ne-Yo loves it – the energy, the costumes, all of it. Jennifer loves the costumes and the spins but she thinks the transitions weren’t as good, and there wasn’t enough Salsa (agreed). Derek says it was so fun and so entertaining – what’s so fantastic is that the genders don’t matter. Derek has to salsa of course. Derek pretty much kills it. πŸ™‚

Scores: 87, 89, 90 (Jennifer, Derek, Ne-Yo) for an average of 88.7!! Hooray!!

Who will go next?? Some interesting looking dancers here. Still waiting to be shocked. I’ve been entertained and pleased, but still waiting for the big bang.

Julian and Charlize are next dancing hip hop. They’re from NJ and LA. They have more experience, professionally and they think that gives them a leg up. We’ll see!!

Oh, I like how they are dancing together to the music – sounds weird, but not many have been dancing as a real couple in hip hop. This is quite good. Talented duo. And I love the song choice. Very good!!

Ne-Yo says quality quality quality. Great job. He says there were one or two places where the staging was hard on them. Great job though. Jennifer loves when moves make her go “OOOHH” – super strong. Felt like she was watching two kids from the neighborhood. She loved the whole thing. Derek says clarity is power, needs to be super clean – and 80 percent was that. Over all, he says – great job.

Scores: 86, 87, 88 (Derek, Jennifer, Ne-Yo) for an average of 87. Excellent.

The Heima – a b-boy crew from Korea – are up next. And we have some romance between one of the guys and his girlfriend who got cancer. Even with subtitles, this is a lovely story. They got married, and she made it through chemo. So romantic! And now they’re all crying. Damn, I hope they’re good – I love them!

Love the costuming. I don’t want to look away. Afraid I’ll miss something. This was amazing…but the ending pose was just brilliant.

Derek can’t sit down he’s so excited he’s going to express his excitement through his body. Beautiful pictures all the way through. Ne-Yo says WOOO! πŸ™‚ He’s pleasantly confused. He loved it – calls it elegant breaking. Well put. Jennifer says it was spontaneous and surprising and one of the most interesting ever. πŸ™‚

Scores: 94, 92, 95 (Derek, Jennifer, Ne-Yo) for an average of 93.7. They make it through easily – very worthy. They should be a contender for the title if they keep to that level.

The Minibots are next – a popping group from Vancouver. All scary kids except one. They get edited down so I suspect they aren’t going to make it. They do ask fun questions of all the judges. Cute. Ne-Yo says they have to work on sychronicity. And they only get an 83.3. πŸ™

Popping John is up next…and he’s a popper of course. πŸ™‚ He’s from Farmington. He’s 34 and calls himself a dinosaur. He might be right, but with age comes wisdom and experience.

Interesting start, for sure. He’s still remixed what sounds like a classical piece. He’s very good. I worry that he won’t hold up against all the tricky people. Hmmmmmm…..

Derek asks if he’s the godfather of popping, Jennifer says it has the same challenges as tapping (good call) but he’s a master of what he does. Ne-Yo thought it was really good, but not sure if it’s competitive.

Scores: 86, 84, 86 for an average of 85.3 – makes it through by the skin of his teeth. Ne-Yo was the low score, FYI.

Get Down District – cute girls who make it through but are severely edited which means they aren’t long for the show.

Who was the scary group?? They made it though but I missed their names. The editing means they might not make it past the duels.

Mya Walters also heavily edited – Derek says she’s a superstar wanting to come out. She didn’t make it. πŸ™ She needs a better routine.

Next up is a girl duo – Ellie and Ava. Contemporary, I”m guessing. Need to be more flown at the beginning, but they get very solid after that. I’m biased against contemporary dancers, but this duo has some interesting moves. And the ending pose was on point.

Derek loved it so much, says their individual ability is amazing. Sibling rivalry is good for them. He has experience with that. πŸ™‚ Derek and JLo say they were perfectly in sync. Ne-Yo says they were flawless from start to finish. JLo says there was a poetry to it. Says there is something interesting and beautiful here. Agreed on all points.

Scores: 95, 89, 93 (Ne-Yo, Jennifer, Derek) for an average of 92.3. They are going to the duels.

Tap Duo up next, the D’Angelo Brothers. They’re from Italy which means they have my vote. I went to Italy last summer and it is amazing!! Nice pants, boys. πŸ˜‰

Their sync was not good to start with, but the jump splits were pretty amazing. And they sync gets there. One thing about this show is how acts like this seem to get out out due to the lack of massive tricks compared to some of the others…but they had a couple great ones in here!

JLo loves how they talk. Derek talks about how tap is difficult on this show, but they are so clean. He asks if they can do something if it’s just them tapping sans lots of over playing music. He says they are phenomenal. Ne-Yo says his issue is sychrnicity of everything, usually, but they didn’t have that problem. JLo says it was intense and in your face. Great job.

Scores: 87, 86, 89 (Ne-Yo, Jennifer, Derek) for an average of 87.3!!

Lauren Yakima from Michigan is a contemporary dancer. And she’s up next.

She has to live up to Eva Igo. Great opening. Very similar to Eva, but I wasn’t a huge fan of hers so, let’s see. She has more maturity to her dancing. Not sure why Derek is so hyped. But okay. She was really good, but I didn’t see anything that much better than previous acts. But that might be me.

Derek says she’s exceptional…whole bunch of technical terms….they all raving. πŸ™‚ Jennifer loved how she commanded every single moment. Says this is a level of WoD that is expected. Ne-Yo also raving.

Scores: 94, 96, 97 (Jennifer, Derek, Ne-Yo) for an average of 95.7 – no hate from me, it’s just like I feel I’ve been watching dance for so long that I’m tired of contemporary. The moves seem limited.

Elektro Crew from Arizona is up next. tight crew, love the alternating slow and fast moves. Very slick.

Derek says they are fierce competitors, JLo says they are very clean and are fierce competitors. Ne-Yo says they have little room for error. Judges want them to step up intricacy. Derek says great start.

Scores: 85, 87, 87 (Derek, Ne-Yo, Jennifer) for an average of 86.3, so they make it. I loved them. Thought the score could have been higher.

That’s it until Sunday! Who was your favorite from the night. Mine is the Crazy 8’s – so cute and tiny yet so awesome!!

February 26, 2019 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. :-)

The Judges Promote World of Dance Season 3 – It Starts TONIGHT!!

Be here tonight for the live blog we typically do when the show is airing. First, though, is some promo that our judges have been doing recently – mainly Derek at this moment, but I’ll update as I find more.

Next, a great interview with Parade Magazine. There’s a tiny excerpt below (with something I didn’t know about Derek before!), but click the link to read the whole thing.

To judge ballroom dance, you have to study and pass a test or something.

Which I have.

Did you have to learn anything to be a judge onΒ World of Dance?

No. I think that for me personally and my experience in being a World Champion, winning shows, and choreographing, whatever it might be, I feel like that was a 20-year test that I might have taken.

ETA: Nice little facebook interview that I can’t embed

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. :-)