World of Dance, Season 4 – The Semi Finals Part TWO, Live Blog

So here we are at the last week already! Tonight is the rest of the semi-finals and tomorrow night we find out who wins. As I said last week, I’m not sure I’m a fan of all the changes they made to the show this season – one of the main selling points was the scoring system. I suggested something similar for DWTS because the judging was soooo horrible, much of the time. This show has less of an *obvious* agenda that DWTS, but their scoring system seems much more legitimate. I also miss the divisions that hold through to the finale. Ah well, maybe they’ll change it back next season or maybe they’ll even make improvements that I agree with.

One thing that hasn’t changed….Derek Hough is just gorgeous. Especially for someone so goofy. πŸ™‚ It’s nice that he is a genuinely nice, kind man…I’ve met him a couple times and each time it was a real treat. I will miss him on TV every week. Not enough for him to go back to DWTS out of boredom though. πŸ™‚

T-minus 30 minutes…

Derek misses his “little score pad”. Me too, Derek. Me too.

Derek and Ne-Yo being super goofy as per usual. πŸ™‚ Both so handsome, so it works. πŸ™‚

So how did they pick who competed against who for these two different semi-final nights?

First up is our contemporary dancer Keagan Capps. Curious to see what they do with her since the contemporary folks haven’t had success so far. But I’ve seen the trio’s dance which comes up later and if they don’t make it I’ll be shocked.

Her dance is based on a tornado that hit her town. She’s honoring her home, which is nice. Fierce face!! Dig the fog, love the song. She’s very good, no question. Started great, but I feel like it lost a bit toward the end. Just me?

Ne-Yo asks what the song is about and she tells about the tornado. JLo gets that it’s about being in the eye of the storm, says it was beautiful to watch. Derek is raving, but he says choreographically the music didn’t match. Ne-Yo agrees and says she’s an amazing dancer.

Ne-Yo: 90
Jennifer:90
Derek: 92

An average of 90.7. I don’t think that’s going to make it through the night, but we’ll see.

UPeepz up next!! But first more Derek and Ne-Yo silliness, which I love.

Upeepz!! They are an upper group. Very cools start and I dig that floor roll thing they had going on. Wow, the sun is good and they are hitting it hard. I dig the sticks. Did they get edited??

Derek says they ooze passion and he loves that they brought in their culture, although it started slow. But they finished strong. Ne-Yo loves the fans, he was also thrown by the bamboo part, loves the personality. But it had ups and downs. Jennifer says they really feel like a crew. She didn’t feel it all came together, but their personality and performance is off the charts.

Ne-Yo:89
Jennifer:88
Derek 90

An average as 89. That’s definitely not going to hold up.

Jake and Chau up next. They are upper division – I’m mentioning that because I’m going to see if the four groups that make it all come from different divisions. That would be suspicious, especially since they structured the semi-finals this way.

I officially like the contemporary couples and trios more than the singles. I think it takes more artistry, sync and musicality. They are a lovely couple. Contemporary will never be my first pick but they are great. That flip toward the end was brilliant.

Derek was on his feet there for a minute. Jennifer is raving saying “goosies.” She got them afterwards because she was in shock. That makes them a champion. They were intertwined physically and emotionally. Her favorite of the semis. Derek’s like, “yea”. Derek says they’ve been so consistent and our expectations are high and they met it. Just the right amount of danger. JLo interrupts and says it was great dancing too. Derek is saying they hit it on all cylinders. I would have to agree. Ne-Yo says that felt like love. A common thread is the trust they have for each other. Nearly perfect. This should be a high score.

Ne-Yo: 96
Jennifer:95
Derek: 95

That’s an average of 95.3 which knocks out Upeepz. So, that high score is interesting, an Upper group knocked out by an Upper duo. Jefferson and Adrianita are also Upper. So…isn’t Geometrie Variable also an upper duo?? Yep. This might not be a great trend.

Derek’s pants are too tight. And Ne-Yo has undone his pants to allieviate his discomfort. LOL πŸ™‚

Bailey and Kida up next. They are new to each other, as you may recall. They are in the Junior category. Love the outfits. . Love the slow mo part, that was cool. I love the subtlety in their movements, in parts. That was good. Don’t know if it will hold up though.

Jennifer says they’re two of the best hip hoppers they’ve had. Ne-Yo says the prop worked against them, but Derek disagrees. He says they didn’t know they had the backflips in them. Jennifer says it was tough and they did a great job.

Ne-Yo:92
Derek: 92
Jennifer:95

For an average of 93. Seriously? That earned a 95 from Jennifer? Same as Jake and Chau. Huh. Okay.

Oxygen is up next. They made it through via redemption on an amazing routine. Hopefully they’ve learned their lesson. Oxygen is an Upper Group. Hopefully they stick to what won them redemption.

Love their outfits as well. I’m like Derek. Clothes. πŸ™‚

Okay, Geometrie Variable and Jefferson and Adrianita are both Upper division. The two high scores at this point are an Upper and a Junior. Oxygen is an Upper Group, so I suspect they may not make it. We’ll see.

Back to Oxygen. Love that opening – extremely cool. Woah. Wow. this is really excellent. Geez. I’m at a loss for words from that start. I think they want a group in the final and this might be the group. Extremely cool. I don’t even know what to type.

Derek says he doesn’t know what to say. Ne-Yo is shocked they almost didn’t get to see that. It was moving art. Jennifer asks one if she choreographed. Jennifer could feel everything she was feeling it. She was the maestro and it worked perfectly. It takes that kind of passion. Derek says it was so good, so theatrical, there were so many different things. So good. Ne-Yo says it was quality.

Ne-Yo: 98
Jennifer: 97
Derek: 94

An average of 96.3. I actually agree with that. They are in the finals for sure because there is only one performance left. Bailey and Kida are knocked out.

Holy cow, we have three upper division groups in the finals so far. I think the remaining trio and Jake and Chau are both Juniors so it will likely be three uppers versus a Junior. You know, I’m kinda reconsidering…I don’t have a problem with a less manufactured final where there is a mix of divisions and not an artificial one from each division like in the past. Provided that it ISN’T manufactured. It is a reality show after all.

MDC3 is up next. Saw this dance online already and it was very good, but I hadn’t seen Oxygen and others. So, we’ll see….

I do love this trio. I like that it’s different, with two women and one guy. Fantastic start. This dance is almost tough to watch, many very different moves I haven’t seen before. very different sort of contemporary. The light and the dark. Very evocative. Very good.

Derek and Jennifer are misty. Ne-Yo is just happy. Jennifer says they are the most incredible dancers. She’s speechless. She doesn’t have all the words to describe what she just saw. The emotion and intensity was so much to take in. They all played a distinct character. Derek says all three individually are stunning in their movement and their ability to create energy, and their ability to tell stories. He felt grateful to be watching it. He knows how hard it is. Ne-Yo says this is only the second time he’s gotten goosies in the history of the show.

Ne-Yo: 94
Jennifer: 98
Derek: 98

For an average of 96.7 which puts them in first place, knocking out Jake and Chau. Man, tonight was super tough. Super tough. No one has anything to be ashamed of. Excellent night of dance.

What we end up is three uppers – two duos and a large team – and a Junior trio. All excellent dancers and the first time EVER with this show that I could root for all of the dancers. As of this moment I would rank them in this order and it shocks me as much as it does anyone:

Jefferson and Andrianita
MDC 3
Oxygen
Geometrie Variable

And honestly the top three are really close to a tie for me. What do you all think??