World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 4

I have to say, I really like the duels concept. I also appreciate that the high scoring duelers get to pick their competition in their category. And that means that for this upcoming week, Les Twins – the high scorers in the upper division – picked Kyle Van Newkirk who is the LOW scorer. That seems….unsporting, to say the least.

Of course, this is a reality show. Do we really believe that, A) Les Twins are actual competitors and not ringers brought in to bring eyes to the show (like the Jabbawockeez), and B) that the contestants REALLY picked their competition with no outside influence?? Ordinarily, I would give it more of a chance – for one thing, it needs to get as much attention as possible in order to continue to exist. And for another thing this show BENEFITS anyone who appears on it, regardless of how far they go. For that reason, I appreciate it. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that it IS a reality show. So I can’t give Les Twins too hard of a time. Yet. 🙂 Also…the matchup of Les Twins with Kyle seems tailor made to get a ton of PR, which is exactly how they’re promoting it. It seems so…set up. Contrived. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it goes down. And if Kyle REALLY wins. Despite these questions, I still LOVE the show…the dancing is first rate.

Anyway, let’s look back and the Qualifying scores in each Division:

So, if they go in order, Les Twins had the first pick in that Division and picked the low scorer, Kyle. By the same token, Eva Igo picked Kyntay…but if they really went in order, Eva had last pick and could only pick the last remaining dancer(s) in that Division – Kyntay. She would have had no choice. Swing Latino would have had second pick and they picked the last place team in their division (correction, second to last) – a somewhat logical choice in this instance, but still it seemed like David versus Goliath. It actually ended up being close.

Another duel was a heartbreaker – Keone and Mari versus Quick Style. Again, they likely had no choice. Neither team was in the top five, so they were likely the last two groups standing in that division. But in looking at the tables, I realize that the Upper and Team Divisions currently have odd numbers. It makes me wonder if some of the 45 dancers not shown so far are going to make an appearance in the duels as cannon fodder. Kinda hard to have duels with odd numbers. Based on what we know so far, Pasion has to pick either Luka/Jennalyn or DNA – and whoever is left doesn’t have a dueling partner. Hmmmm…..sure enough, watching the show again reveals that there are indeed people on the roster that we didn’t see in the qualifiers.

I also take back what I said earlier. Eva didn’t have last pick but second to last.

Anyway, let’s look at the Duel scores.

Fik-Shun was high scorer so he picked and went first. Swing Latino was higher than Miami All Stars and they also went first. Then they switched it up and had Kyntay and Keoni/Mari both go first in their duels despite being the lower scorers. Of course, we don’t know if that is the true order…it could have changed in editing.

Basically, I think the right picks were made and the right people went through. Love Quick Style and I’m bummed out that they went against Keone and Mari, who are one of my absolute favorites. That one was too close. Scores I disagree with while agreeing with the winner was Eva versus Kyntay – there was NOT that much of a difference score-wise between them, although I do think Eva won.

Some people improved on their qualifying scores and some didn’t – no idea yet if that is going to mean anything in the long run. I suspect not. Some of the difference between qualifiers and duels were very minor, like Fik-shun versus Nick Daniels. Others were quite massive – Miami All Stars gained 7 whole points while Swing Latino lost a couple points. Unfortunately for Miami All Stars it wasn’t quite enough. Kyntay also gained a few points while Eva lost one – not enough, once again. Keone and Mari gained 6 points also, while Quickstyle lost a couple.

I’m not seeing any patterns here, yet. You?

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 3

So…why are the Jabbawockeez allowed to be mellow and Ian Eastwood isn’t? Just asking. They didn’t get a significantly higher score than Ian did, but the commentary was very, very different. I think that even these judges are susceptible to star power – and make no mistake, the Jabbawockeez are already stars. Well established stars who had their own Vegas show, am I right?

So that begs the question that I’ve seen floating around the internet: is it fair to have well established dance stars compete against complete unknowns? It’s hardly the same as DWTS, where the public votes and therefore it gives the a leg up in terms of fanbase. And, unlike some other sites, I do draw a pretty hard line between Jabbawockeez and someone like Fik-shun. I don’t think Fik-shun is either well established nor a millionaire so I don’t have a problem with him competing at all. But having the Jabbawockeez compete is almost like having Derek himself compete – he’s famous and probably no longer needs the money, although it’s always nice. 🙂 So…is it “fair”? Read more..