This Week on World of Dance Season 3 – The Junior Teams Duel!

Get ready!! Anyone in particular you’re looking forward to??

March 22, 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. :-)

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

Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 5 (Duels) – Power Rankings

So I really had to take some time to ruminate on Tuesday night’s episode, because it felt like the first time that I got suspicious of this show’s motives.  Don’t get me wrong – I still love the show, and I think the level of talent is unparalleled; and I am fully aware that this is a reality tv show, and a certain amount of manipulation is to be expected to create suspense and draw in viewers.  But some of the other night’s results made me feel a bit icky, because I felt like a few of the acts got a bit exploited in favor of propping up a judges’ favorite – I feel like Kyle kinda got the shortest end of the stick (pun intended, in light of his performance), with The Posse and Royal Flux also being treated a bit like redheaded stepchildren. Given that all three were given quite truncated spots in the qualifier rounds (with Royal Flux not even appearing on the show during those rounds), I think we already had an inkling that they weren’t long for this show – but it just felt like adding insult to injury sticking some of them in duels with powerhouses they didn’t have a hope and a prayer of beating, and then potentially editing out footage that might have helped them save a bit of face (won’t say any more, but if a routine seemed short to you – perhaps it’s because part of it was missing).

Which brings me to the picking of the duels – and let me state for the record that I still can’t say with certainty that the proverbial man behind the curtain might not be telling the acts who to pick. But c’mon – pitting the highest-scoring qualifier performance OF ALL against the second-lowest-scoring qualifier of all??? It just becomes glaringly obvious who was going to win the Les Twins vs. Kyle duel – if it was Les Twins that picked him, sorry, but that was a d*ck move on their part. If they’re so sure of themselves and such amazing dancers, then it would have made a lot more sense for them to pick someone like Fik-Shun, who is closer to both their particular style and skill level. You’re so big and bad? Take on someone that might actually be a challenge for you.  If it was the producers that opted to pit Les Twins against Kyle? Then I have to wonder just what kind of deals were made to get Les Twins on the show in the first place. Like Jabbawockeez (and to a lesser degree, Fik-Shun, Super Cr3w, D’Angelo & Amanda, and the Miami All-Stars), Les Twins were pretty well-known coming into the show – probably second only the Jabbawockeez in terms of how popular they were already. They were touring with Beyoncé, for pete’s sake. And modeling for Jean Paul Gautier. Also worth noting: they’ve appeared on the World of Dance tour. Did they really even NEED to do this show? I’m gonna go with “likely not”, and wonder if they were asked to do the show in order to draw in viewers, much in the same way that Jabbawockeez and some of the other names I mentioned would. In which case, I could see how it might behoove a brand-new show looking to get renewed to keep a popular contestant around for awhile. Yes, I might have my suspicion-glasses on from so many years of blogging DWTS and the rampant manipulation on that show – but I’m trying to make sense of something that seems ridiculously unbalanced.

Anywho – seems like they might be setting it up for a final three of Les Twins vs. Jabbawockeez or Kinjaz vs. Eva Igo or Diana Pombo. In which case, I’ll just be enjoying the rest of the acts leading up to that point, because it seems a bit anti-climactic.  Should be interesting to see how things go down next week, as there’s gonna be a lot of loose ends to tie up – from the looks of the preview, there’s gonna be a 3-way duel between some of the acts from the team division (Jabbawockeez, Ian Eastwood & the Young Lions, and a group of girls that doesn’t look familiar – I’ll give you one guess who probably ain’t winning that duel), and it looks like it’s gonna be Luka & Jenalyn vs. DNA, D’Angelo & Amanda vs. Mihacevich Sisters, Kinjaz vs. somebody, and who knows what else, given that there’s STILL other acts that were called out as contestants prior to the beginning of the season, but didn’t get shown during the qualifier round. Never a dull moment 🙂 Read more..

June 29, 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

Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 5 (Duels) – Music from Tonight’s Show

Here it is – the music from tonight’s episode, in chronological order. I’ve included a description of when in the episode it played in parentheses. If you’re looking for music from previous episodes, all music lists can be found here.

“The Little Things” by The Big Gigantic feat. Angela McCluskey (opening montage)

“Scars to Your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara (The Posse qualifier recap)

“Bird Set Free” by Sia (Diana Pombo qualifier recap)

“Wild Things” by Alessia Cara (Diana Pombo vs. The Posse intro)

“In The Name of Love” by Martin Garrix feat. Bebe Rexha (The Posse performance)

“Rise” by Katy Perry (Diana Pombo performance)

“Final Song” by MØ (Diana Pombo vs. The Posse scoring)

“Viva La Vida” by Coldplay (Super Cr3W qualifier recap)

“Holy War” by Alicia Keys (Royal Flux qualifier recap)

“Believer” by Imagine Dragons (Super Cr3w vs. Royal Flux intro)

“Pretty Young Thing To Working Day And Night, Part 2” by DJ K-More (Super Cr3w performance)

“Brother” by Matt Corby (Royal Flux performance)

“Beautiful Ones” by Hurts (Super Cr3w vs. Royal Flux scoring)

“Bad Boy For Life” by P. Diddy feat. Black Rob & Mark Curry (The Lab qualifier recap)

“Canned Heat” by Jamiroquai (Boys of Temecula qualifier recap)

“Boom Clap” by Charli XCX (The Lab vs. Boys of Temecula intro)

“All I Do Is Win” by DJ Khaled (The Lab performance)

“Shut Up and Dance” by WALK THE MOON (Boys of Temecula performance)

“Kids” by OneRepublic (The Lab vs. Boys of Temecula scoring)

“Free” by 6LACK (Les Twins qualifier recap)

“Don’t Wanna Know” by Maroon 5 (Kyle Van Newkirk qualifier recap)

“Good Feeling” by Spectral Sun (Les Twins vs. Kyle Van Newkirk intro)

“Classic Man” by Jidenna feat. Roman GianArthur (Kyle Van Newkirk performance)

“Deep In The Bottom (Of Africa)” by Monique Bingham (Les Twins performance)

“I” by Kendrick Lamarr (Les Twins vs. Kyle Van Newkirk scoring)

June 27, 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

Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 4 (Duels) – Power Rankings

NOTE: Once again, apologize for the lateness – although I’m afraid this might become a regular thing for the time being.  With one team member at work on maternity leave, and the other more inclined to whittle fidget spinners out of wood (true story) than actually help me with the work load, my days at the office are…hectic.

So the first round of duels was both interesting and a bit refreshing. While I will reserve judgment on how much the contestants may have been influenced by the powers that be when picking their duel opponents, I felt like the pairings were fair for the most part, and I commend all of the competitors for being really good sports and having a lot of respect for their opponents. I also found myself agreeing with the outcome of each of these duels – I don’t think the judges got any of it wrong. Will that continue to be the pattern? Guess we’ll see.

The love affair with contemporary dancers continues, but the fact that they didn’t seem to have qualms letting Nick go (while gushing over Eva) makes me wonder if the judges might be realizing that “there can be only one” in the finals and it’s probably gonna be Eva. I actually really liked how Jenna got more heavily featured in the duel rounds – we actually got to see her in her element as a dancer, actually working with the contestants a bit, rather than just providing moral support (albeit very adorable emotional support 🙂 ) to their families backstage, like she did in the qualifier round.

So what’s on the agenda next week? Looks like the featured “duel” is Kyle Van Newkirk vs. Les Twins – a pairing that I don’t necessarily think is fair on paper, but given that they seem to be touting some “big shock” and a “David & Goliath” storyline…my guess is that Kyle ends up beating them 🙂 I feel like I saw a promo that showed more of the duel pairings, but for the life of me I cannot recall where – but it looks like D’Angelo & Amanda, Super Cr3w, The Posse, Diana Pombo, & Pasion are on the roster. I’m rooting for D’Angelo & Amanda to make it through, but it looks like they’re either gonna have to beat Diana or The Posse – both contemporary darlings much adored by the judges. Then again, I don’t know that there’s really another decent ballroom act in the junior division, so I wonder if the judges might be inclined to keep them for variety’s sake… Read more..

June 21, 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

Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 4 (Duels) – Music from Tonight’s Show

Here it is – the music from tonight’s episode, in chronological order. I’ve included a description of when in the episode it played in parentheses. If you’re looking for music from previous episodes, all music lists can be found here.

“Get Down Tonight” by KC & the Sunshine Band (opening intro)

“This Girl” by Kungs & Cookin’ On 3 Burners (judges intro)

“Unsteady” by X Ambassadors (Fik-Shun qualifier recap)

“Secrets” by OneRepublic (Nick Daniels qualifier recap)

“Human” by Rag ‘n’ Bone Man (Fikshun vs. Nick Daniels intro)

“Fragile” by Tech N9ne feat. Kendrick Lamar & ¡Mayday! & Kendall Morgan (Fik-Shun performance)

“Wicked Games” by RAIGN (Nick Daniels performance)

“The Days” by Avicii (Fik-Shun vs. Nick scoring and results)

“Bemba Colora” by Celia Cruz (Swing Latino qualifier recap)

“Dance Again” by Jennifer Lopez (Miami All-Stars qualifier recap)

“Light it Up (Remix)” by Major Lazer feat. Nyla & Fuse ODG (Swing Latino vs. Miami All-Stars intro)

“Lo Que Trajo El Barco 10 (Siempre Pa Lante/Hagan Silencio)” by D. En D, La Cali Salsa Big Band (Swing Latino performance)

“Jumpin’ Jack” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (Miami All-Stars performance)

“River” by Bishop Briggs (Eva Igo qualifier recap)

“Panda” by Desiigner (Kyntay qualifier recap)

“Just Like Fire” by P!nk (Eva Igo vs. Kyntay intro)

“Bang Bang” by Jessie J & Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj (Kyntay performance)

“It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World (The Voice Performance)” by Juliet Simms (Eva Igo performance)

“Alive” by Sia (Eva Igo vs. Kyntay scoring & results)

“Happy” by C2C feat. Derek Martin (Keone & Mari qualifier recap)

“Jolene” by Dolly Parton (Quickstyle qualifier recap)

“Paris” by The Chainsmokers (Quickstyle vs. Keone & Mari intro)

“Like Real People Do” by Hozier (Keone & Mari performance)

“Guidance” by Travis Scott (Quickstyle performance)

June 20, 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