Coming Tomorrow on World of Dance Season 3 – THE CUT (Includes Poll Results)

Looks like we’re going to see the Upper Division and the Junior Team Division. From @NBCWorldofDance:

So, twelve dances in two hours. At the time that these competitors were in the duels, I asked you who were the top three in each division. The results were, for the Junior Team Division:

1. The Crazy 8s

2. Vpeepz

3. JDC

The results for the Upper Division were….

1. Briar Nolet

2. Derion and Madison

3. All Ready

These were your votes…let’s see if the judges agree tomorrow night!!

April 13, 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. :-)

WoD Week 6 Recap and VOTE – Who Should Win the Junior Division?? (Poll)

I think there is a fairly clear winner of this Division so far. Let’s refresh our memories and we’ll see if I hold to my same opinion as we rewatch the dancers who made it through to the Cut. First, here our the duel winners for this division:

Juniors – Advancing to the Cut
Ellie & Ava 91.7
Funkenometry 91.7
Moving Forward 90.3
Julian and Charlize 95.3
Lauren Yakima 96
Kayla Mak Redemption

Kayla Mak was our redemption winner. Very good dancer, but too close to Lauren Yakima (who got a 96!!) to likely survive much longer. But I think she was the rightful redemption winner as much as I love me some tap.

Yeah, there’s no way that Kayla wasn’t going to win this particular match up. I did love House of Tap’s first number of the night, though. After Kayla, Moving Forward is the low scorer of those moving forward to the next round.

I really loved these guys. What they’re going to have to do is clean up their sync some. That’s the advantage that Kayla and Lauren have – they don’t have to worry about being in sync with anyone else. But this is also what makes a group like Moving Forward so visually appealing. Loved it.

Next up is a tie between Ellie & Ava and Funkenometry with 91.7 – not that this score matters any longer. First, Ellie & Eva:

They are obviously excellent dancers. But I find them falling into the same stuff that other contemporary dancers do – the emotion seems forced or put on to me. I appreciate much more a group like Moving 4ward who don’t try to force it and let the dancing speak. I’ve seen too many dancers actually crying when a routine is over to buy the faux emotion in your average contemporary routine.

I can’t actually find Funkenometry’s duel! What’s up with that?? So we’ll move on to Julian and Charlize…

I actually thought these two needed to tighten up when they first got started. Charlize seemed to be lagging a bit behind Julian. But by 1/3 of the way in, they were on fire. I think the burns gave them life – and those were some pretty funny burns, I must say. πŸ™‚

And that brings us to Lauren Yakima. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m not a big contemporary fan. It has to be REALLY well done. Like Travis Wall (or Derek Hough) or Allison Holker well done. Or Lauren Yakima well done. πŸ™‚

Why do I like Lauren?? Well, she doesn’t seem to default to weepy emotion. She’s strong, confident and tough…or at least, that’s how she dances. She just kills this routine…and she may just kill the whole competition. πŸ™‚ I keep thinking Game of Thrones when I watch her dance. πŸ™‚ P.S. JLo is full of CRAP. She is one of the reasons that contemporary seems fake weepy 90% of the time. There is NO reason why Lauren’s way can’t be THE way.

So, Lauren is my winner…who is yours??

April 4, 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. :-)

WoD Week 5 Recap and VOTE – Who Should Win the Junior Team Division?? (Poll)

So, now we know the standings for the Junior Team Division – and I’m not sure it’s as strong as some in the past. It includes:

Here’s a reminder of who the competitors are. First, it was JDC – as I said yesterday, I preferred Dancetown Divas in this round and I got lucky because they won the redemption round. And their duel score would have put them in second place behind JDC so I’m giving them second place here. πŸ™‚ Seriously, the school yard pick way of doing it makes the show interesting, but on what planet should a team like Dancetown Divas get shut out while a team who scores a full 7 points below them gets to move on. Annoying. Which is why I’m grateful for the redemption round. πŸ™‚ Actually, the only duel video available is one that shows both teams, so here they are…

In re-watching JDC, I really did love this dance. I just get annoyed when contemporary is given so much more weight by people like Jennifer who respond to that emotion, real or not. It seemed more real here than it has from other contemporary dancers on this show, so good job.

Next up are the Crazy 8’s – I admit, I love these kids. But I liked their first routine better than this one. They picked wisely, but they need to make sure they don’t repeat themselves in the Cut.

VPeepz are next – looking at the total youtube views from last week is interesting. You have to keep in mind that the qualifiers took place over three weeks, so some videos have been up longer than others, but they have 2.4 million views which seems to be pretty darn good. Them, the Kings, the Crazy 8’s and Poppin’ John seem to be killing it with the repeat viewers. And in rewatching this performance, I can see why they have so many views. Great dance, even with the slight fumbles. Clean it up for next time, kids!!

Took WoD a bit to get Electro Crew up on their youtube channel other wise I would have posted this yesterday!! I liked this routine – not too much Thriller, pretty unique, creepy ending. Watching it a second time I liked it even better than I did on Sunday night.

Get Down District are the group that reminded me of cheerleaders…

And here is the redemption round, where the Dancetown Divas were victorious over MKAM – good call, in my opinion.

So, who are your top 3 acts from the Junior Division?? You can pick three below. If you want to tell me who got robbed from this division, you can head over to my previous post by clicking the link. πŸ™‚ If you’re still fuming from the Upper Division eliminations, you can vote on that too. πŸ˜‰

March 25, 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. :-)

WoD Week 5 Recap and VOTE – Who Got Robbed?? (Junior Team Division Poll)

Another crushing week of duels – with some very feisty duelers!! The Junior Team Division is NO joke. I saw quite a bit of commentary on Twitter about how the teams were behaving toward each other; comments about poor sportsmanship and how that shouldn’t be reinforced in children. I totally get that point, and at first I felt the same way. But that’s what dance duels are about. As long as they are using that behavior in a way to hype themselves up in the moment AND the good sportsmanship comes in after the dancing is done, then I think I can let it slide. And it certainly seems, from watching the BTS clips, that they do congratulate each other backstage and there is none of that behavior when the dancing is done and the battle is over. Agree?? Or do you still think it was too much??

So, did you agree with the judges or did someone get seriously robbed of their rightful spot in The Cut?? Here’s a reminder of the losers (and the Winners):

 

Since there were only two or three teams who really thrilled me to begin with, I might not be the best person to make this call. πŸ™‚ That’s why I have a poll. Anyway, Battle Droids Crew – the boys from Belgium – were the first ones to be eliminated. Seriously, if you’re going to throw that much shade in your routine, you have to back it up. And I don’t feel like they really did – not as polished as their competition.

Next we have Intention – this one makes me a bit sad. They only lost by a point and it was likely due to Jennifer’s not feeling like the music was a good choice. I disagree. I thought Get Down District was too much like a group of high school cheerleaders, while Intention has beautiful roll ups and more…character? Not sure how to describe why I preferred them. Another side note, in the comments on this video someone pointed out that the trick right at the beginning is shown twice – obvious editing mistake. While the commenter adds a nefarious intention to it, I tend to think it’s an honest mistake. I don’t think WoD needs to work hard to get the audience on this side of the judges – there is no gain to doing that. What is the advantage?? The show is giving away a million dollars and, unlike season 1 where it seemed like Jennifer had something to gain with who won, I don’t see to much of that since then. All of the dancers get great exposure – hell, half the people who lost last season are being employed by Derek. πŸ™‚ It’s not like they need to make the audience like Get Down District more because the editors already know they won the whole thing – I find that to be highly doubtful, based on what we’ve seen so far.

MKAM is our next eliminated group. I appreciate their honesty, but ya gotta be careful looking at someone who’s made it to the duels as someone easily beaten. As they found out the hard way. In any case, I really liked this dance a lot more the second time around. Were they robbed?? Eh, no, I don’t think so. They chose Electro Crew, and they only lost by 0.3 – very, very close. That’s the way it goes sometimes.

In the final duel of the night, Dancetown Divas face off against JDC…and lose?? Madness. It’s colossal duels like this one that make me wonder of the judges know they want both teams to go through and they only way they can try to make that happen is to score both teams high. But here’s my big gripe – I personally thought that Dancetown Divas were easily the better squad. By a lot. But if you make Jennifer cry tears with your contemporary routine you’re a shoe in, even if the competition is technically more difficult and superior (the audience gets sucked in by this a lot as well). This has been my gripe with contemporary dancers for a long time now, not just JDC – they work really hard to tug at the heartstrings and less is shown in the choreography and the technique…especially when compared to latin/ballroom. Add in that a world champion, trained ballroom dancer is one of the judges and the latin/ballroom folks just have a tougher roe to hoe. Derek is slightly harder on those folks and they tend to have amazing technique with out working hard to make you weep. Luckily, Dancetown Divas easily won the redemption round, so they get to stick around. πŸ™‚ I’ll show their video tomorrow in the “who should win” the division post. πŸ™‚

ETA: Ooops…completely left out West Springfield Dance Crew getting beaten by the Crazy 8’s. While I’m sad for them, I did think the Crazy 8’s were the better team. And Clowns ARE scary. πŸ™‚ They did a good job, but the Crazy 8’s (the tiny little nuggets) did pick someone they were pretty sure they could beat. I suspect that they have more time to devote to dancing than a high school team does – and it shows. I did like this routine though.

So, who got robbed?? You only get one choice, so pick wisely or tell me in the comments if they all were. I did add a No One to the poll this time, Linz. πŸ˜‰

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 Season 3, Week 3 – LIVE BLOG!!

Wow, we’re into week three already, and the qualifiers apparently end tonight. Interestingly, there are relatively few of the acts listed that haven’t made it though with the new, “tougher” qualifiers score of 85. The talent is incredible, but I don’t know that it’s that much better than last season. I guess we’ll see tonight if they have even more to offer!! I do appreciate that they’ve gone to two hours, which means there are fewer acts that just get hosed on screen time. πŸ™‚

MKAM appears to be up first, they’re a large high school team from California. That green hair with the purple jackets is eye catching. WTF with the commercial ALREADY??? Without even seeing a dance?? Perhaps we should cut some of the recap from last week and the teasing for tonight because that was ridiculous.

Anyway…wow, this team is tight, and you can do a lot with all those people, including throwing each other around. That was really good – it might have been edited though because it seemed short.

Ne-Yo thought it lost steam towards the end? Nah. JLo seems to love them, says they were so clean. Ne-Yo says the choreography might be too simple – that I might agree with. He does add that because there’s so many of them that it makes them look more intricate. Derek says it was fire, and mathematical – oddly I know what he means. πŸ™‚

Scores: 88, 89, 92 for an average of 89.7 – through to the duels easily.

Love the judges playing with each other tonight. πŸ™‚

Denise and Josh are contemporary dancers from Canada – and Denise is studying. Girl. πŸ™‚

Anyway, they choreographed their own stuff – that impresses me more than some of the acts. Anyway, they are in the Upper Division, I believe. And her we go…

Most of you who know me know I’m burnt out on contemporary dancing – but I really loved that routine. It wasn’t TOO clean and it had emotion – so many of them are empty feeling. Agreeing with Derek’s comment’s wholeheartedly. And a cute bit with Jlo there. πŸ™‚ Ne-Yo summed it up – rehearsed emotion versus real emotion – theirs was real. Jennifer loves it as well.

Scores: 90, 91, 92 (Ne-Yo, Derek, Jennifer) for an average of 91!!

The Main Guys are from Oslo, Norway – and they’re not the stereotype. πŸ™‚ But first we see Invictus – a young ballroom couple – miss the mark with 82. Then we see a very colorful group The Rookies (an Upper Team) get told they’re too elementary. They also don’t make it through.

Back to the Main Guys. πŸ™‚ This is kinda crazy looking…boneless. Loving it. Great sync. Love the choreo and they have a bit of a story through line, to me.

Derek says they crushed it. Love their outfits as well – the jewel tone jackets/sweaters. Derek talking about their precision movements. Ne-Yo imitating Derek is hilarious. Ne-Yo says they are more than just hip hop, JLo agrees and calls them swaggy.

Scores: 89, 89, 91 for an average of 89.7. I think these guys might be one of my favorites. Very cool.

Oh yay, Zack is back!! Zack and Ashley. πŸ™‚ And the little flamenco girl joined Kosmic Edge – she was SO awesome last season. KE up first. They’re having some sync issues right off the bat. And their transitions aren’t great. I was not impressed with that routine.

Ne-Yo points out the flamenco soloist – he was not pleased with the whole team. JLo says it wasn’t intricate enough, didn’t have he seasoning of a group that’s been together for a while

They only score an 83, so they are out. Sad to say I saw that one coming.

Zack and Ashley are back with Unity LA – I really liked them together. Note: They’ve both danced with Derek on tour before. Zack is a particular favorite of mine. So cute. THAT WAS FANTASTIC!! They might be might be my favorites. I don’t even know what to say!! It wasn’t true contemporary, it wasn’t hip hop, it was cool, edgy different. Excellent.

Jennifer loved it and said the musicality was great, an amazing performance. Ne-Yo says they were clean and sharp with no beats. Derek says he’s dying to talk, says the routine was everything and more, it was so dynamic and so artistic. They are a force to be reckoned with.

Scores: 95, 94, 97 (Derek, Jennifer Ne-Yo) for an average of 95.3. YAY!! My new favorites!! Ne-Yo standing up and clapping is a fairly rare thing… πŸ™‚

Love the all girl team swooning over the all boy team. How Cute. The girl team is from a very small town in Oklahoma. The boys are Battle Droids Crew from Belgium – and they think American girls are amazing. But they’re here to win. πŸ™‚ But first in a very confusing jump cut, we see Str8jackets – who JLo criticizes. And they don’t make it through.

Battle Droids Crew is up for real this time and they are very excited. πŸ™‚ And they actually drop someone right in the opening moment. Can they redeem themselves? they aren’t very sharp after that. Not sure why one guy is in white. Is he a mad scientist? They definitely pick it up toward the end, and Derek loves the no hands head spin.

Jennifer says there were a couple things that were really good. But she thinks they have a bit of work to do. Derek is feeling that they didn’t nail the move. Derek has them show us how it was supposed to go. Ne-Yo appreciated that they kept going.

Scores: 85, 87, 89 for an average of 87 – they just made it and the girls are happy. πŸ™‚

The girls, “Intention,” are up next. A junior team from Oklahoma. After all that showmance I hope they make it.

Wow, super cool opening moves. This is bizarro contemporary and it’s great. Wow, I really loved that. Hope the judges did.

Jennifer says it was subtle and touching, loved the roll offs in the beginning. Derek says they’re likable, the routine was perfectly together. Ne-Yo says it was crystal clear and it was very in sync.

Scores: 87, 88, 88 for an average of 87.7…and the boys are happy. πŸ™‚

Nice little aside from Derek, to set up Derek Piquette, the guy who needs a double hip replacement. He’s a Cirque dancer!! Derek, you’ll still be able to dance, you’ll just have to do it differently. He’s only 21 – that extreme flexibility may go, but there are other forms of dance, dude, don’t give up.

In the meantime, a ballet couple don’t make it through, didn’t catch their names. So now it’s his turn.

Back to Derek P. – he’s an extraordinary contemporary dancers, but the moves don’t seem new or different. It’s contemporary. He does seem authentic though.

Derek the judge says it was stunning and effortless, he made it look simple. Derek asks him why WoD and he explains that he has to have a double hip replacement. Ne-yo loved it all but the very end. πŸ™‚ Jennifer tells him to push the creativity.

Scores: 90, 91, 93 for an average of 91.3. And he’s on to the duels.

I do love seeing all the dancers get along so well. Whoa, tappers who are goooood.

Mia and Audrey are up next – a Krump duo!! Wow, really good!! It’s more fascinating because they don’t look like a Krump duo. Great sync, hitting it hard.

Derek loves it, Jennifer says they look like the Disney channel. Ne-Yo needs more intensity. they get an 86.3, so they will be on to the next round. the editing doesn’t bode well for them though.

House of Tap are up next…I don’t think these two are who I profiled early on!! Two young girls, awesome. They were rivals, and now they’re partners.

They have a bit of contemporary movement in the opening seconds before they go into hard core tap. They slow it down a bit toward the end. Don’t know how that’s going to fly.

Ne-Yo loves the personality and sync – but his problem with tap is that there’s too much music. I would agree. He says it’s quality work though. Derek agrees with him, but he says they are very strong tap duo. Jennifer agrees and says they have a stylized upper body – yep.

Scores: 86, 86, 85 for an average of 85.7 – so they make it through. I do wonder if they will listen to the critiques??

DD Flection won WoD Thailand so I expect them to do well here. They are an upper, contemporary duo. Wow, very good. Great opening bars. Great tricks too! That was very good. I loved that.

Ne-Yo loved it, asked where they are from. Derek now says there’s an expectation, but he loves the partnership, the fluidity, the chemistry. Derek wants to see even more the next round. Ne-yo talking AGAIN – how many turns does he need? Jennifer says it was a very difficult routine, but they made it look easy.

Scores: 90, 91, 95 (Ne-yo, Derek, Jennifer) for an average of 92. Excellent.

Ah, they showed one of Derek’s routine from his tour – one of the best. Yum. He started dancing to be part of a team.

And we have more male teams flirting with the female teams. Style and Grace is an all hip hop team from Vancouver. Love their outfits. Break for Siudy Flamenco a female team – they get good comments, but the editing is not a good sign. They make it through, but I don’t think they’ll beat the duels.

Next up is Apprentice – also edited – all female group. They don’t quite make it through. That leads back to Style and Grace – an upper team, by the way. Still love the outfits. πŸ™‚

They have a fall in the opening but beyond that they are quite awesome. They need to bring up the intensity. They are recovering nicely though from their mistake. I ended up really liking that in spite of the fall. Ne-yo likes that they kept going. Jennifer raves – she thinks they have potential. Ne-Yo talking AGAIN…dude, please. He wants more intensity. Derek felt a bit of nerves in the performance.

Scores: 85, 83, 87 for an average of 85 – they just make it. I hope they step it up for the next round. Derek was the low score, surprisingly.

Radiance is a girl team from California…I think they are an Upper Team. Love the outfits – harem pants?? Not sure. This is their first performance as a team?? Not a good sign, I don’t think.

Wow…that was really lovely. I enjoyed it very much. Ne-Yo loves the name, wants to know the narrative. They have their own stories. Jennifer loves the large group of strong women. She wants to know what the lift is about, wants the story. Derek respects that they told her that. Jennifer is confusing story with audience impact – I think Derek is more right than Jennifer. I think Jennifer is flat wrong, actually. Ne-yo always talks twice. Why?

Did Jennifer just diss ballroom??? Beyotch. Who is the trained, champion dancer? That would be Derek.

Scores: 87, 87, 90 for an average of 88. Yay!! Good for them.

March 10, 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. :-)