World of Dance Season 3, Week 10 – Did the Right Team Win the Upper Team Division?? (Vote)

The Heima. The Kings. Unity LA. Without question – to me – the strongest division right now. All three acts are top notch, there’s not an obvious lesser team in the group. Which is why I think one of them won the Wild Card – but we’ll talk more about that later. πŸ™‚ Here’s a reminder of how they scored in their division final.

The Heima – 93.3
Unity LA – 98.7
The Kings – 99.7

And their dances…The Heima first.

I didn’t feel like this one was up to their usual standard and their score went down from the previous week as a result. Great team though. Maybe just peaked at the wrong time.

Unity LA, on the other hand, peaked at just the right time…it just wasn’t peak-y enough. πŸ™‚

This was a fantastic routine…trying to remember if Tessandra Chavez, their choreographer, also did a door piece on So You Think You Can Dance…which is where Zack is from originally (as a TAPPER??). Crazy. But I feel like there’s been many routines with doors on that show. This one is at another level – stellar.

Finally, The Kings muscling through an injury, big time.

Holy crap. Watching that again, I see it even clearer. The Kings were determined to win. They wanted it REALLY badly and you could tell in the fierce way they danced. Just fantastic. The tricks were mind blowing. Well deserved win, IMO.

So, what do you think??

May 2, 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 Season 3 Contestant Profiles – Unity LA

Love, love, love Unity LA!! They made it to the Cut on Sunday night and two of their members have been my favorites since they toured with Derek and Julianne Hough a couple years ago. Zack and Ashley, that is – the two focal points for the group. This group is also choreographed by Tessandra Chavez who also does a lot of work for Derek, and won an Emmy with Derek and Julianne…two years ago?? Fairly recently.

Anyway, Zack started out as a tapper on So You Think You Can Dance back in 2015…

Then, as all good dancers do, the morphed into a man of many styles, including contemporary dancer…a really good one. He toured with Derek and Julianne Hough in 2017, along with Ashley

Zack and Ashley apparently teamed up after that to go after the WoD Crown. Zack and Ashley on last season of WoD:

WOD Magazine says that Unity LA has been a thing since 1994 and have been lead/choreographed by Tessandra Chavez dince it’s inception. Here is Tessandra’s Emmy award winning routine she did with Derek and Julianne Hough.

The most recent thing I can find for a Unity LA dance company that is not WoD related is dated 2010.

Social Media:
Unity LA Twitter
Unity LA InstagramUnity LA Website
Tessandra Chavez Twitter
Zack Everhart Twitter
Zack Everhart Instagram
Ashley Gonzalez Instagram
Ashley Gonzales Youtube

April 9, 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 1 Contestant Profile: Eva Igo

People who have been following PureDWTS for a few years now know that a couple of us have a real problem with contemporary dance. You pretty much have to be mind blowingly amazing to impress us – and, speaking for myself, I generally don’t care for it. It all tends to look the same in dancers other than someone like Allison Holker. Angsty flailing all tends to look the same after a while and it’s…boring.

But that can NOT be said for Eva Igo. This tiny little beast is an Allison Holker in training. This girl did my kind of contemporary in the Qualifiers. She’s got an edge to her which I really appreciated, and she kept that edge a bit light. Her second dance didn’t really improve on her first one and she needs to switch it up a bit – but we have to remember that she is a true youngster and hasn’t lived enough life just yet. And life experience tends to make the contemporary dancer. As long as she doesn’t go the angsty-flailing route that many dance shows love so much (looking at you, “So you think you can dance”…:::yawn:::), she could be a favorite for a long time to come.

Eva is a 14 year old dancer from St. Paul and she dances at the Larkin Dance Studio. According to the “Kid Dancers Wiki”:

Eva did her first solo at the age of 5 and was securing national and regional titles by the age of 7.

Eva appeared in Season 3 Episode 11 of the hit reality show Dance Moms, entitled Camouflaged Maneuvers. She and her team placed 1st against the ALDC’s “Don’t Ask Just Tell” and Eva placed 1st to Maddie Ziegler as well as receiving the highest score in the competition.

The site goes on to list a surprising number of dances/competitions. I didn’t expect to find much on Eva, since she is so young, but there are quite a few competition videos out there, since youtube is as old as she is. πŸ™‚ Here’s one from age 11:

Here’s a much more recent competition “improv” video – which I assume means she’s freestyling. She’s showing a bit of that edge here that I appreciate.

Here’s a video of Eva dancing with a partner. Not bad. A bit young for this style, but I know this is how it goes.

Eva Igo Instagram
Eva Igo Twitter

June 25, 2017 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. :-)

A Second New “World of Dance” Commercial!!

And this one is all about the choreographers…pretty serious talent and all have worked with Derek Hough quite a bit!

January 13, 2017 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. :-)