Can A Contemporary Dancer or Group Ever Win World of Dance??

Or a ballroom dancer or tappers, for that matter. As I noted in my final live blog post for the season, hip hoppers have always won, either in pairs or groups.

Season 1 – Les Twins
Season 2 – The Lab
Season 3 – The Kings

The Kings describe themselves as Bolly Hop but there is little Bollywood and lots of hip hop in most of their dances. Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE the Kings and I’m not disputing their win at all. Their routines were fantastic, they always got me excited, and so on. I might even go so far as to say that the other finalists’ routines didn’t quite live up to The Kings final routine.

Can any routine ever hope to live up to the excitement of a routine like The Kings final routine? As Hip Hop, or Bolly Hop, it’s always going to be high energy. Very high energy. Contemporary, most of the time, is NOT high energy.

Also need to say that this is not really a critique of the judging, per se. I think the judges, over all, do a great job in a very difficult situation.

So, what do you do to fix it, if it’s even broke?? I think I need to go back and watch the winner and runner up from each season. First up, Les Twins.

Coming in second to Les Twins was Eva Igo, followed very closely by Swing Latino. Side note, in Season 1, three finalists each danced twice. I’ve included (I think) their final performance.

Now, both of these routines are excellent. I actually loved Swing Latino and the final scores were VERY close. When you averaged the two dances together, Les Twins ended with a 93.8, Eva with a 93.7 and Swing Latino had a 93.2. A razor thin margin.

Season 2 was won by The Lab. I LOVE the Lab and I was rooting for them the whole way, no lie. But…who was the runner up?? Michael Dameski, another soloist doing contemporary. Now, I was not rooting for Michael. At the time I didn’t think he was all that and preferred either the Lab or Charity & Andres. But a pattern is emerging, ain’t it? 🙂 Here’s the Lab’s final dance:

The Lab’s choreographer is VERY smart. They took the hip hop vibe, co-opted the contemporary emotions and came up with a dance that makes me weepy to this day. And there is no arguing with the synchronicity and the style of this dance. That’s a winner. Here’s Michael’s final routine.

Another good routine. No doubt. But does it stand up against The Lab?? And if not…why not? Of course, sometimes the final routines aren’t all equal and it comes down to contemporary versus hip hop. I would argue that Michael’s final routine didn’t deserve the win, compared to The Lab. It didn’t touch me, there didn’t seem to be anything special about it when compared to contemporary in general. That’s the way it goes sometimes and it brings up another question that I will discuss below.

Now, season three just happened, but let’s re-watch the dances with a couple days distance (and maybe clearer heads in some cases – yes, I saw ya’ll tweeting Derek telling him his scoring was crap). First, The Kings:

Now, don’t just watch the faces of the dancers and the judges – look at the faces on Zack Everhart and the other Unity LA dancers. They knew IN THE MOMENT after seeing that dance that they lost. There is no question – that dance was a work of art. Theirs was as well…but how do you compete with what the Kings did as a contemporary dancer? Here is Unity LA’s final performance:

This was a beautiful dance, a Monet like one of the judges said. What was wrong with it? Not a damn thing.

So now, essentially, you have three hip hop winners and three contemporary runners up. Coincidence? Probably not.

What are the differences between the winner and the runner(s) up? Well, there are a few things that are markedly different:

  • Many times it’s a younger dancer competing against people with more life experience to influence their dance. Dance is about emotion and your emotions are (usually) richer as you age.
  • Contemporary, as typically (way too typically) done, is slower, softer, beautiful, without the uptempo to get your heart pumping and the crazy tricks to make you hold your breath.
  • Hip Hop doesn’t have RULES; ballroom and, to a lesser extent, contemporary certainly do. One wrong step in a Tango and Derek will see it. One sickly foot in contemporary and Derek AND JLo will see it for sure. In Hip Hop, you pretty much have to fall over for it to be seen as an error.
  • Props. Lots and lots of props. Ballroom doesn’t do it. Contemporary rarely does it. Hip Hop?? All. The. Time.  If you look at Les Twins final, or The Labs second to last dance…many props and used extremely well.
  • Jennifer likes to talk about narrative, and sometimes it seems that the emotion of contemporary is a substitute for a narrative. All three of the Hip Hop winners have a strong narrative or story going on.  Most of the time, I watch contemporary or ballroom and can’t see the narrative. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH NOT HAVING A STORY OR A NARRATIVE…but I do find it interesting that all three winners DO. It certainly seems to help.

That’s quite a few differences between winners and losers. The combination of them might make the difference. So, between Les Twins and Eva Igo – were the winners deserving? Well, all winners are deserving for one reason or another, but I didn’t (at the time) see Les Twins as better than Eva. Up until the finale, I had seen them as rather one-note. Eva seemed to have more range and she was many years their junior. Michael Dameski versus the Lab? Well, I thought the Lab were firing on all cylinders all season long – I think that win was clear cut. Much more clear cut than Season 1. Unity LA versus The Kings?? Again, I thought the Kings had the better finale dance…but if Unity LA had done their divisional final dance on the final would it have been closer? Probably. But they might not have won their division.

When thinking about the final routines and how it can make or break a competitor…should everything hinge on the finale night, or should there be more attention paid to the work they did across the whole season?? Did they grow and evolve? Were they fantastic on night one and then fade away? Should there be a scoring category that takes into account growth or lack thereof?? Or should the scores of the entire season be averaged?

It’s hard to ignore that hip hop has won all three seasons, and really, season 1 is the only time I take issue with that. So what can be done? What more can they do to level the playing field? Will contemporary EVER win?? For the love of god, Ballroom is the hardest and gets no love – not fair, IMO. Most of the time, I get the impression that Jennifer, at least, prefers contemporary to most other styles. And Derek is going to go tougher on his specialty while Ne-Yo and Jennifer are relatively clueless on ballroom/latin. So, what do you think? What can be done? And does the show REALLY need fixing or did it work out the right way every time??

May 8, 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. :-)

Pure World of Dance, Season 2, Week 4 (Qualifiers) – Court’s Thoughts: The Good, The Bad, & the WTF???

So I know you already heard my thoughts this week in the live blog, but in the interest of consistency (and me rewatching the show and perhaps changing my opinion on an act or two), I thought I would stick with my weekly recap 🙂 I apologize for any redundancy – gonna try and keep this as fresh as I can!

I was thankful that last night was an improvement upon last week’s rather low-energy episode, but if there’s one thing it got me really thinking about, it was this: WE DO NOT NEED TO SEE EVA IGO AGAIN.  Yes, she is a great dancer; but she already made it to the division final last season, and ended up as runner-up in the whole thing; I do not think she has grown much as a dancer since last year, and really – are they gonna send Eva home early this year? How will that look? Last season’s runner-up ousted before the finale? Not a good look.  But also not a good look? Her winning the whole damn thing, as a consolation for last season.  I guess I’m just of the opinion now that, if you made it to the finale on WOD, YOU SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO COME BACK (unless you’re part of a different act in a different division – although I even have some reservations about that, too).  If you make it to the live shows on SYTYCD and don’t win, you don’t get to come back again; same rule for AGT – you wanna come back after making the live shows one season? Figure out a way to retool your act, a la Manny Castro and the many ways he managed to get his kids coming back to AGT season after season (Miami All-Stars, The Untouchables, D’Angelo & Amanda, Ruby & Jonas, etc.) Sorry Eva fans – I think I’m gonna have a tough time with her this season.

Sibling Rivalry Has an Upside: Jonas & Ruby. Probably the one act I was really looking forward to seeing, given that I was such a big fan of D’Angelo & Amanda, and I think Ruby has eclipsed her brother in terms of talent. I also think Jonas is a stronger partner to Ruby than Amanda was to D’Angelo (apparently they aren’t even dancing together anymore), and I’m gonna guess that Manny has probably honed in a bit more on the formula for successful choreography on WOD (The Untouchables are also on WOD this season, and apparently D’Angelo is in it – we’ll see if they can make it further than the duels this time). I will say that I wish Manny would tone down the flexibility displays a bit (one bendy leg trick per dance is plenty) and they probably need to pare down their costumes somewhat, but I do think there’s a lot of talent to work with here – Ruby’s a little firecracker, and if I can’t have her as a pro on DWTSJ, I’m fine having her here.

I Dunno What a Brada Is But It’s Good Sh*t: The Bradas. Probably the most impressed I’ve been with a hip-hop crew since S-Rank – just clean, unique, athletic, and with a ton of showmanship.  Loved that they had a bit of a storyline to their dance, and kept finding interesting ways to incorporate the bag into it.  Not much else to add, other than “Watch out, Ruggeds & Connection!”

There’s Still a Place For Pretty Dances (And Leg Weights) In This Competition: Expressenz. First of all, big ups to the first act from my home state on WOD 🙂 We may not be cranking out champions like Utah, California, or New York, but we still have some talent in the Hoosier state! I’ll admit – this routine was a tad pageant-y/recital-y.  The girls’ makeup was flawless, they had those perfectly tailored & bedazzled leotards, flesh-colored tights…the works.  And they were dancing to a country song, which I generally find a tad cringe-y.  But FWIW, they more than made up for it with their technique – never have I seen turn sequences done in such perfect synchronicity.  Even experienced teams usually have their girls a bit staggered on their turns after 1 or 2 – but this group? I can only imagine the precision & focus that got drilled into them to stay completely in sync on those turns. I think they have the potential to be very competitive – IF they can up their choreography to something more edgy and unique.  Right now my gut is telling me they’ll end up in a duel with the Fabulous Sisters.

Please Don’t Let This Be Les Twins, Part Deux: Eva Igo. Obviously not in the physical sense (Eva’s a 15-year-old white girl from Minnesota; Les Twins are 20-something men of color from France), but more in the “I hope they haven’t predetermined this to be ‘Eva’s season’ to make up for her being runner-up last year” sense. The thing I disliked most about last season is that that Les Twins appeared to have it in the bag from week 1 – and they basically just slightly tweaked the same routine each week, to rave reviews from the judges.  There was never a point where I didn’t think they would win. And while I certainly preferred Eva to Les Twins last season, I’m afraid this season, it just feels like more of the same from Eva (gymnastics, flailing, displays of flexibility) – and the judges are eating it up, and giving me that same sinking feeling I had whenever I saw the judges gushing about Les Twins: that this season’s winner had already been determined. However, I did get a few small glimmers of hope: one, the judges did seem to allude to her “being so good that it might get hard to top what she’s already done” and “the competition being a lot tougher this season”; two, she did only end up with an average score of 95, which has been bested by four other qualifying acts thus far – two of which are in her division (Charity & Andres and Sean & Kaycee). I guess time will tell if this season has been earmarked for her or not…

Maybe 8 Years Doesn’t Age You Like Fine Wine: Poreotics. This was one of the acts that I liked upon first viewing, then kinda went “ok, some of the weaknesses are showing” upon a second viewing.  I remember absolutely LOVING the Poreotics that ended up winning ABDC back in 2010 – all of their routines were so sharp, yet humorous and unique.  Just so FUN to watch – and while they still are fun, I feel like they’ve maybe lost a little bit of that energy that made them so appealing 8 years ago. Granted, they did mention that some of them had “left the group and gotten ‘real’ jobs” and they only decided to reunite after seeing Jabbawockeez on WOD last season; if it’s anything like other crews that have “gotten the band back together” to do WOD, the result often seems like a shadow of their former success (Miami All-Stars comes to mind – we’ll see if Manny can get The Untouchables further this season). They did have some fun moments that nodded to the stuff that originally made them popular – the card trick, the glasses, the fact that they were amalgamating several different styles (robotics, popping, vogueing, waaking, some b-boying); but there did seem to be some slow sections that made me disengage a bit.  Like Pasha & Daniela, they might need to work on giving more content.  I’m already predicting a 3-way duel between Poreotics, Elektro Botz, & Dragon House.

Shy Kid By Day, Monster On The Stage: Lucas Marinetto. So we basically have this season’s answer to Kyle Van Newkirk – and I will say that I think he may actually be a bit better than Kyle 🙂 Something about the way this kid goes from somewhat shy and awkward when he’s not onstage, to absolute beast mode when he’s dancing is appealing – you can tell that dancing is where he truly feels like he can be himself, and it’s joyous.  I appreciated that he has great musicality – he did not waste a single beat of that music, although I do agree with Derek a little bit that it would have been nice to have a section of him dancing without music so we could really appreciate what he was doing. I just hope they don’t pit this poor, smol bebe up against someone like Eva Igo in the duels, a la Kyle vs. Les Twins last season – that was just painful.

Thoughts?

June 20, 2018 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 2, Week 4 (Qualifiers) – 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.

“Born Ready” by Zayde Wolf (intro)
“The Middle” by Maren Morris (judges intro)
“The Devil You Know” by X Ambassadors (Jonas & Ruby intro)
“Legend” by The Score (Jonas & Ruby performance)
“Brand New” by Ben Rector (Jonas & Ruby scores)
“Roots” by Imagine Dragons (The Bradas intro)
“I Mean It (Remix)” by G-Eazy feat. Rick Ross & Remo (The Bradas performance)
“Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton (The Bradas scores)
“Believer” by American Authors (Lucas Marinetto intro)
“Stand In The Light” by Jordan Smith (Lucas Marinetto intro)
“Levels (Alex Ghenea Extended Remix)” by Nick Jonas (Lucas Marinetto performance)
“Hold Back The River” by James Bay (Lucas Marinetto scores)
“Something In The Water” by Carrie Underwood (Expressenz performance & scores)
“Where Are Ãœ Now” by Skrillex & Diplo with Justin Bieber (Poreotics intro)
“Trndsttr (Lucian Remix)” by Black Coast feat. M. Maggie (Poreotics performance)
“Five More Hours” by Chris Brown & Deorro (Poreotics scores)
“Burn” by Ellie Goulding (Eva Igo intro)
“I Ran (So Far Away; Epic Trailer Version)” by Hidden Citizens (Eva Igo performance)
“Stargazing” by Kygo feat. Justin Jesso (Eva Igo scores)

June 19, 2018 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 2, Week Four Qualifiers – The Performance Videos

If you missed episode four of World Of Dance, here are the performances that qualified. Eva Igo was my fave of the night! I just love her expressions and how we can feel her heart and soul in every move.

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.

World of Dance Season 2! WEEK 4 Live Blog!!

Heidi’s currently eating gumbo in New Orleans, so you guys get me (Court) tonight.  Bear with me as I blog, I’m used to being able to move a bit slow and just focus on the music on first viewing – so I might be a bit behind the live broadcast.  And I reserve the right to change my mind upon a 2nd viewing of these acts – there’s already been acts that I wasn’t wild about at first, but warmed up to later (Desi Hoppers) and acts I like initially but didn’t stand up to the test of time (Hilty & Bosch).

Pre-show thoughts: I’m excited to see Jonas & Ruby, who are apparently in this qualifier.  In a lot of ways, I think Ruby’s star shines a bit brighter than big brother D’Angelo’s anymore – sometimes, I think being a younger sibling that lives in the shadow of a popular older sibling can motivate kids to really push hard. I’m less enthused that Eva Igo is back – aside from my aforementioned disdain for flaily contemporary, I’m going to be pretty bored if she makes the finals again, unless she’s really taken this past year as an opportunity to grow and expand her repertoire.

First up is Jonas & Ruby.  Yasssssss 🙂

Jonas looks so much like my ex. And his name is nearly identical.

My god Ruby is such a little firecracker.   And Jonas has really come into his own.  Both of them have GREAT feet.

I kinda see what Derek is talking about with the costumes – especially the cloth on Ruby’s costume.  Kept waiting for Jonas to rip & off and do something big with it and…nothing. Chekov’s gun of dancing – don’t show me an extraneous skirt at the beginning of the dance if you aren’t going to use it by the end.

They get 85, 87, & 82 (Ne-Yo, J-Lo, Derek) for an average of 84.7 and we’ll see them in the duels.  Derek of course mentions “a ballroom couple we had last year that came out strong in the qualifier but kinda fell flat in the duels” and of course he’s referring to D’Angelo & Amanda, which Ruby points out.  Luckily, at this point, I think she’s so used to being compared to him that she shakes it off and promises to come back stronger. And I think they likely will fare better than her brother & Amanda 😉

Next up is Bradas – a hip-hop crew from New Zealand. “Brada” is kiwi slang for “brother”.  Hopefully they’re more organized than the crew from last week from the Netherlands…Ragged?

Holy crap these guys are good – so many moving parts to this routine.  They’re flipping, they’re sliding, and they’ve got this cool bank robber narrative going. They were everything that crew from last week wanted to be, but fell short on. Contender alert!

They get 85, 92, 86 for average of 87.7 and they’re headed to the duels.  I could see them getting pitted against The Ruggeds (they’ll probably spin it as an international battle) and just SLAYING.

Now we’ve got Lucas Marinetto, who is a 14-year-old tap dancer from New Orleans. (I think…I don’t know how Heidi does this, so many details to remember!) Lucas’ dad apparently didn’t always approve off his dancing, which created a rift between them that looks like it only recently healed.  Awwww.

Errr, oops – he’s from Leesburg, VA.  My bad. And he’s incredibly charismatic and dancing his ass off.  Great musicality.  He might be a bit better than Kyle from last season, even.

J-Lo is right – he really is a showman.  Poor kid seems so reserved & shy when he’s just talking, but he comes ALIVE onstage.

He gets 82, 84, & 82, for an average of 82.7.  Ne-Yo says “You’re going to the duels, you know what a duel is, right? SOMEBODY IS TRYING TO TAKE YOUR MONEY!” Lucas: “So just like school, then.” I like this kid 😉

Next up is contemporary group Expressenz from my hometown of Indianapolis. They train with weights on their legs.  HARD CORE.

Those were quite possibly the most synchronized turning sections I’ve ever seen.  It was like watching 8 clones dancing, that in-sync.

I can see what Ne-Yo & Derek are saying – the routine did feel a bit “studio recital-y”, but I agree with J-Lo that there is still room for those feel-good, pretty dances in this competition.

84, 90, 87 – they’re headed through.  I hope their choreographer can pull out something edgy – I have a gut feeling we’ll see them pitted against the Fabulous Sisters.

Now we’ve got Poreotics, who won ABDC several years ago.  And some of them stop dancing and got “real jobs”, but saw Jabbawockeez dancing last season so they decided to get the band back together again to try out.

They are doing their usual robotics, and it’s humorous and very animated – then they threw in a vogueing and waacking section and I fell in love.

Derek & Ne-Yo are kinda going in a bit hard on them –  I actually found the whole thing was pretty inventive and detailed, but Derek & Ne-Yo seemed a tad bored by it.  Luckily J-Lo is on my side with this one and loved it.

87, 90, 87 – Derek & Ne-Yo kind of sharing a brain tonight. I could see Poreotics ending up in a 3-way duel with Elektro Botz & Dragon House (another group of animators that we haven’t seen yet).

I see that they’ve saved Eva Igo for last…*sigh* *shaking head*

She’s wearing a shredded dress perfect for angsty contemporary, and doing a bunch of flexibility tricks backstage.  I’m not optimistic.

She’s flipping.  She’s pulling her leg over her head.  She’s flailing.  There she goes pulling her leg up again.  Angsty face.  Angsty face. Another acrobatic trick. Sorry….really not feeling this.  It’s nothing new or different.

But the judges are gushing and I have a feeling we may see the first perfect 100 average of WOD.  God I hope they aren’t setting this up to be “Eva’s season”.

96, 95, 94 – average of 95.  She isn’t able to best Karen y Ricardo’s score, but it’s close. Ugh.

Oh boy – they’re billing next week as “a very special episode”.  Dare I ask…?

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

New “World of Dance” Season 2 Promo – Eva Igo is BACK!

Sure looks like runner up Eva Igo is back to give it another go. Take a look and see if there are any other familiar faces!

April 17, 2018 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. :-)

Jennifer Lopez Releases New “Amor, Amor, Amor” Video, Includes Dancers From World Of Dance

Have you seen Jennifer Lopez’s new video for “Amor, Amor, Amor”? If not, be sure to see it below. The new video, directed by Jessy Terrero, has Jennifer Lopez going back her to her roots in New York city. Also, it includes dancers from World of Dance Eva Igo, Diana Pombo, The Lab, Ian Eastwood, and the Power Peralta twins. Nice…

November 15, 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.

Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 10 (Finale) – Power Rankings

So ends the inaugural season of World of Dance – can’t say I was entirely surprised with the result, given the song-and-dance we’ve seen from the judges all season long. That sadly made last night’s show a bit of a snooze for me, although I did thoroughly enjoy both of Swing Latino’s performances, one of Eva’s, and one of Les Twins’.

Aside from the general predictability of it all, I think the thing that bugged me most about Les Twins winning was that they were neither humble about it, nor did they really need it. Say what you will about them wanting to send their mom on a permanent vacation, but I go back to “You were touring with Beyonce and modeling for Jean-Paul Gautier before all this.” I sincerely doubt they were too bad off before WOD. On the other hand, Swing Latino members talked about family back in Colombia that they could really help if they won the million dollars, and Eva tearfully admitted that money had been tight in her family in the past year and that she’d like to at least be able to cover her own dance expenses. I thought the million would have genuinely been “life-changing”, as Derek put it, for those two – whereas it just seemed like a nice bonus for Les Twins, which they acted almost entitled to. I’ve really come to question their sincerity when it comes to their backstory, so this is just kind of another thing I’m having a hard time swallowing with regards to them. I only take solace in knowing that – to our knowledge – they can’t come back and win again next season 🙂

Thankfully, it’s sounding like next season is getting a longer time slot, so hopefully things won’t be so hurried and disorganized; I’m also hoping it’s less predictable, given that the show is established now and doesn’t have to try so hard to grab an audience. So there’s that to look forward to 🙂 I am still toying with how I’m going to do the power rankings next season, so feel free to offer up suggestions – we’re still just rolling with it here at PWoD, and things could change a bit next season.  I just ranked last night’s performances in terms of my own enjoyment once again…

1.) Swing Latino, first performance – This was the performance of the night for me – I just felt like they went above and beyond when it came to coming up with new tricks and staging for their dance, and they had my jaw on the floor multiple times.  I really came to appreciate that they were the last act standing that made an honest, conscious effort week after week to up their game and bring something new to the table – too many acts skated by doing the same things over and over, so they have a tremendous amount of respect from me.  Perhaps a bit messy in spots, as Derek pointed out, but considering that Columbian salsa is so fast, I generally cut them a bit more slack on messiness. I don’t really care when they’re tossing women 20 feet in the air 🙂

2.) Eva Igo, second performance – Thank god for this, otherwise I think Eva may not have been able to hope for better than 3rd place after her first, lackluster performance.  Not sure that it really had much in the way of a cohesive storyline, but I liked that she returned to the displays of athleticism that got her to the finale to begin with – much more impressive than the aimlessness of her first performance.

3.) Les Twins, second performance – Probably my favorite performance they did all season, for the simple reason that it was DIFFERENT. Thought the mirrors were a nice touch, and the storyline seemed to sum up their season well. Ambitious song choice, but I feel like it paid off.

4.) Swing Latino, second performance – Not quite as glossy and impressive for me as their first performance, but perhaps cleaner, and still a solid effort. Seemed like a nice ending to the season for them.  Only thing I disliked were the ladies’ costumes…the gold ruffle was kinda distracting.

5.) Les Twins, first performance – Anyone else get the impression while watching this that they were really just kinda running out of ideas? The turntable felt like a bit of an afterthought – like, “Crap, throw in a turntable or something, I dunno, just make it different!” And then the part where one brother was dancing while the other just kinda ran around hyping up the crowd? That bordered on arrogant complacence for me, as if they were saying “Look, we don’t even really have to dance, we can just run around and still win this thing!!!!”

6.) Eva Igo, first performance – She didn’t screw up royally, per se, but I was just shocked at how completely underwhelming the choreography was – it was as if she ditched all the impressive shows of athleticism and just stuck with some vague flailing. I have to wonder if she was either using a different choreographer, or this was just a failed attempt at doing “something different” and kinda running out of ideas.

So those are my final thoughts – what are yours? Did the right act win? ?

August 9, 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 Derek Hough And Les Twins Talk And Dance On The Tonight Show

Below is Derek on The Tonight Show last night! He talks on Julianne’s wedding, World of Dance with Les Twins, and even dances OFF BEAT (and Jimmy Fallon joins in! Hilarious!!!) Great great stuff!

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.

Pure World of Dance Season 1, Week 10 (Finale) – 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.

“Let’s Dance” by David Bowie (opening montage)

“All Night” by The Vamps & Matoma feat. Astrid S (Les Twins first intro)

“Stole The Show” by Kygo feat. Parson James (Les Twins first performance) )

“Give Me Your Love (Extended Mix)” by Sigala feat. John Newman & Nile Rodgers (Les Twins scoring)

“Giants” by Lights (Swing Latino first intro)

“Conga” by Gloria Estefan (Swing Latino first performance)

“It Ain’t Me” by Kygo feat. Selena Gomez (Swing Latino scoring)

“False Alarm” by Matoma feat. Becky Hill (Eva Igo first intro)

“Solo Dance” by Martin Jensen (Eva Igo first intro)

“In The Air Tonight” by Natalie Taylor (Eva Igo first performance)

“The Way I Are (Dance With Somebody)” by Bebe Rexha (Eva Igo scoring)

“Alive” by Sia (Eva Igo second performance)

“Most Girls” by Hailee Steinfeld (Eva Igo second score)

“Magdelena, Mi Amor (Quimbara)” by DLG (Dark Latin Groove) (Swing Latino second performance)

“Good Times” by All Time Low (Swing Latino second score/elimination)

“B.I.G.” by X Ambassadors (Les Twins second intro)

“Scream” by Michael Jackson (Les Twins second performance)

“The Greatest” by Sia (Les Twins second score; winner announced)

August 8, 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