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..