WoD Week 4 Recap and VOTE – Who Got Robbed?? (Poll)

Dang, the duels are usually crushing and this week was no exception. The Upper Division went head to head and a bunch of them went home. 🙁 Question is, 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):

The Upper Division – Who Was Eliminated?
Loser Score Winner  Score
Briar Nolet 90.3 All Ready 92.3
DD Flection 89 Poppin’ John 91.3
Denise & Josh 90 Jonathan Y Jorge 90.7
Derek Piquette 89.3 Derion & Madison 90
EzTwins 87.3 D’Angelo Brothers 89.7
Briar Nolet Redemption

This was an interesting grouping in that, when they are separated into winners and losers, I don’t have any real disagreement with the results. At all. Very rare. I was annoyed by the EzTwins – mainly because their attitude cost them a slot. By contrast, the D’Angelo Brothers upbeat and happy attitudes won me over easily.  But surely there are some folks out there pissed that their favorite didn’t make the cut.  Let’s take a look at the losing dances – stay tuned for tomorrow, when I post all the winners and ask you to vote on your top 3. 🙂 Read more..

March 20, 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 Season 4, Week 4 PART 2 – The Duels

Part 2!! Saw lots of outrage on twitter last night, so I’m anxious to see what that’s all about and if I’m in agreement or not with said outrage. I left off when we were a little more than one hour into last night’s show…

The next duel is contemporary dancers Derion and Madison, who were picked by Derek Piquette. Clearly, since he’s third on the leader board, this isn’t playing out in order it was taped…which means he’s not totally aware of how all other pickers were eliminated by the pick-ees. 🙂

I like the respect the two competitors show each other. That’s what I would like to see all the time. Wow…Derion and Madison are off to a crazy good start. And I love an upbeat contemporary…rough transition there in the middle. Perfectly in sync though.

Jennifer says it looked even more difficult and asked who picked who. Jennifer says she’s never seen some of their stuff before, which is high praise – I agree. Derek says he saw the preparation for that one big move – agree with that as well. That’s what I called the rough transition. Ne-Yo liked the tribal grit and, as a nod to last week, said it didn’t need a narrative. Jennifer’s nit pick (her words) was that they need to remember that a routine has to go somewhere.

Derek is doing your typical angsty contemporary, with all the standard moves – although done with exceptional artistry and flexibility. He’s incredibly strong and flexible – that’s what I notice more than any faux emotion.

Jennifer thought it was really strong with good emotion (bah). Derek Hough says that in a duel in that situation he commends him for it. Derek H. says the emotional part wasn’t there for him (agreed). Derek H. also gets annoyed with Ne-yo for his comments about copying the move.

A word about that before the scores: IF Ne-Yo had made the comment that it was “copying” the way I saw many people portray it on twitter, I would have said he was full of crap and that Derek was right…and I think Derek H. thought that was where Ne-Yo was going which is why he objected. Fact is, you can’t copyright a “move” – there are only so many available moves in dance and I commend someone when I see something new (like Derion and Madison). There is no copying – there is more to dance than just moves: it’s how you put the moves together with other moves and how you attach them to the music, how you perform them etc. BUT, that’s not what Ne-Yo was saying – he was saying that Michael Dameski did the same move….and performed it better. That’s a whole different story – if, for example, two different dancers do a jive you’re going to see many of the same moves from each couple. There is a syllabus after all. You can’t yell at one couple for copying the moves – because there’s a syllabus. 🙂 But you CAN say that one couple performed the moves better than the other. Anyway…

Derek Piquette: 89.3
Derion & Madison: 90 – they move on to the Cut.

Derek and Jennifer reassure Derek P. not to give up, there is still redemption.

DD Flection gets the bump, due to Derek’s score. Shocking.

Last two performances left are All Ready and Briar Nolet, both of whom had scores in the upper 80’s.

This is a tough one – I really liked both in the Qualifier round. I’m leaning toward All Ready due to their ballroom background.

All Ready is up first. They’re calling out Briar. Awesome start, definitely going the hip hop route this time…and just as I say that they go into a latin ballroom section which is excellent. Derek seems excited by it. 🙂

Derek loves them. Jennifer says she really enjoyed the routine, calls them cheeky and great performers. Derek loves their charisma, and it brings joy to the room. Jennifer says they’re funny and strong. Derek’s nit pick is on the latin elements (he would know) and tells them not to do pivots next time. 🙂 Ne-Yo doesn’t like the song choice, but their routine made the song better.

Briar Nolet is up. And instantly I understand the gymnastics comments I saw on twitter. I don’t consider it a compliment. While Briar was very good, I vastly preferred All Ready.

Derek calls it an Olympic floor routine, very strong. Jennifer says it was super impressive and asks about the story…and then gets all emotional. Jennifer, come on. Derek is the same, he felt it. He felt the power of her intension. Ne-Yo says it was incredible, win, lose or draw – he says it wasn’t a duel piece, but a show piece. Agreed.

Briar Nolet: 90.3
All Ready: 92.3

All Ready moves to The Cut, and Briar Nolet knocks Derek Piquette out of the Redemption Round. I feel bad for Derek, I do…but I think the right people are in the Redemption round. Maybe. 🙂

Redemption Round is Briar Nolet versus Denise & Josh. Derek the competitor is nervous. 🙂 He’s been there. Denise & Josh go first. Pretty good routine. Now with the same music, Briar is up. I suspect Briar won that one and I wouldn’t disagree with that…even though I originally preferred Denise & Josh.

Denise & Josh or Briar Nolet??? Judges do a simple majority vote to decide that Briar Nolet wins the redemption round. Yeah, I think that was the stronger performance.

March 18, 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 Season 4, Week 4 – The Duels

Sorry I’m late, folks. Had a dinner that I went to tonight. So, you’ll have to settle for a not-live recap as I watch the show. It’s time for the duels…a part of the show that is almost always guaranteed to piss me off. 🙂

So looking at my spreadsheet, it seems there were only four acts that we didn’t actually see on the show this season – a major improvement over previous seasons. Might even be three because I feel like I missed one of the quick looks from week 2.

We’re going with the upper division first and the EzTwins play it safe and go for the D’Angelo Brothers who are at the bottom of the leader board. Cop out.

The D’Angelo brothers are going hard core, breaking noses and fingers. I’m rooting for them…I think the twins copped out.

Eztwins going first. They did a great job, I just can’t root for them and their attitude. They giving a BS answer to the judges, saying they were inspired. Ne-Yo calls it exactly right. YES JENNIFER!! She didn’t like that they tried to burn the tappers with simple tap. Derek says there wasn’t a wow moment. These guys may win, but it won’t be in walk.

D’Angelo Brothers up next. The seems like a very difficult routine and the judges seemed into it. Ne-Yo is happy they took his notes. Jennifer got goodies. She really loved it.

Twins: 87.3
Brothers: 89.7

Hahahahaha…so much for tappers not making it past the duels. Jennifer gave them a low 83 – and I think that was a hoisting them on their own petard for being arrogant. She commented on it on their comments.

Next up is Denise and Josh who chose Jonathan Y Jorge. I guess we’re not going in order. Jonathan is right – I don’t know why Denise and Josh picked them – it’s an odd choice, contemporary versus salsa.

J&J are going first. Started slow before busting out the Salsa. Crazy lifts. OMG…I loved the snap at the end. LOL. They really killed it. Stepped up from last time.

Derek is very impressed, but he thinks there needs to be a bit more refinement. Ne-Yo seems to agree. These guys do crack me up. Jennifer is very impressed with them today, they cleaned it up a lot.

Denise & Josh up next!! I’m not really feeling these two tonight. They don’t give me the same excitement as the other two. Derek doesn’t think it’s duel worthy – agreed. Jennifer disagrees, but she’s biased toward faux emotion. I wasn’t big it. Ne-Yo says it was beautiful and it had a narrative, but he isn’t sure it was duel worthy either. Jennifer is too easy, IMO.

J&J: 90.7
Denise & Josh: 90

J&J are going through. Denise & Josh are at the top of the losers. Entwines need to hold their breaths.

DD Flection chose Poppin’ John – their idol. Umkay. The number two in the division went to the bottom of the leader board. I don’t like it. I understand it, but I don’t like it. They do seem to idolize him, and are not denigrating him, so that makes it easier to take.

DD Flection is going first. They are very unusual, their routine is very odd and unusual for contemporary…which is why I like them. 🙂

Ne-Yo loved the bit where he was holding her by her feet. Jennifer says it was very interesting – that’s what I would say too. Derek says he didn’t connect to it emotionally like he would have liked to. I can’t disagree with that either. While very interesting and cool, it didn’t have that emotional element. But then, most contemporary falls short in that area for me.

Poppin’ John is up next!! While I really respect his style and his routine, it’s seems to low energy, low key for me. the judges seemed to love it. Jennifer says he was talking throughout the routine. Derek doesn’t speak popping’. Jennifer loved the musicality, Ne-Yo loved the isolations, but after a while he felt he was freestylin’. Derek says it was solid, every move was intentional.

DD Flection: 89
Poppin’ John: 91.3

Can’t say I agree with that outcome at all. I wonder if they’re trying to load the redemption round, because they can easily keep everything else below DD Flections 89, thereby keeping both the popper they liked and the champion contemporary duo.

Okay, that’s it for me tonight. I’ll be back tomorrow with part 2.

March 17, 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 Reveals the Dancers Competing on Season 3!!

I’m super tied up with family stuff, but I will try to do profiles of contestants over the coming days. For now, check out Hype Magazine for a list of all the competitors. Do you know any of them??

NBC’s hit dance competition series “World of Dance” announced its 54 acts across multiple genres, ages and dance styles for Season 3 today. This season the competition is fiercer than ever with a new group of world-class competitors ready to showcase their talents to win a life-altering grand prize of $1 million (one of the highest prize amounts ever for a reality competition series).

——

Season 3 will highlight some of the most talented dancers and dance teams in the world including:

Julian & Charlize – This hip-hop junior duo has danced alongside some of the biggest names in the industry. Charlize performed at the Super Bowl halftime show with Missy Elliott while Julian performed on “Saturday Night Live” with Pharrell Williams.

Radiance – This all-female contemporary powerhouse team is choreographed by one of Jennifer Lopez’s dancers, Rudy Abreu.

Kayla Mak – This contemporary ballet dancer has racked up some impressive accolades including being a finalist at the Youth America Grand Prix, the largest and most prestigious ballet competition, and starring as Clara in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

Siudy Flamenco – This renowned Flamenco team has graced many of the world’s biggest stages, such as the Latin Grammy Awards, the L.A. Philharmonic and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Poppin John – Well-known and respected across the dance community for his popping animation, he has amassed over 200 million views across his many videos on YouTube.

The Kings – This upper team has won almost every competition India has to offer, including “India’s Got Talent” and boasts some of the most sought after choreographers in Bollywood.

All of the competitors are listed at the link!!

January 24, 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. :-)