World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 9

Well, only one more week of this season of World of Dance and our finalists are Eva Igo, Les Twins and Swing Latino.  I had a few problems with this episode as you may have gathered if you read my post on what could be fixed for next season of World of Dance. 🙂  Specifically, Jennifer’s score disparity between Les Twins and Keone and Mari, not to mention her comments to Ne-Yo when he gave Keone and Mari a 100.  I find that exchange to be both telling and disturbing.

In any case, let’s take a look at how the scoring broke down.

Read more..

August 6, 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. :-)

NBC’s World of Dance – Looking Forward to Season TWO, What Would YOU Fix?

It’s funny. I have a twitter search for World of Dance so every week I see people claiming it’s “rigged” or “fixed” or the “judges suck”.  It’s always fans of people or groups who were eliminated.  Is this what our society has come to: when things don’t go your way, it’s all fixed or rigged? I guess when you look at the White House…well, that mentality trickles down into everyone after a while, unless you keep your brain engaged and really THINK about the issues that surround the country. That mentality is VERY immature. But I’m not here to debate politics, only a silly dance show.  And the squeaky wheels on twitter are often mental midgets in any case. 😉

Is World of Dance “fixed”??  No, I don’t believe so – not in the real definition of that word in this context: meaning that when the show was cast, they already knew who the winner was going to be. THAT would be “fixed”. Is it produced and manipulated? Of course – it’s TELEVISION. If you go into watching a show like this and don’t expect some sort of manipulation then you’re just being naïve.  The editors and producers job is to make a TV show that people want to watch and for that there needs to be a bit of drama and suspense – they’ve learned that from other dance shows.  It has to be entertaining! And honestly, righteous indignation over your favorite being eliminated shows you CARED. That you’re invested. Mission accomplished.

Do the judges have favorites which may make them biased in one direction or another?? Probably. They’re human beings. That’s how human beings work. Don’t YOU have a favorite?  I have several. Otherwise, what the hell’s the point? People have favorites. Judges are people too. This is not hard to figure out.  Does one judge pick people she wants to work with in the future and score them better than others? Well, seems likely – but that’s all part of them being her “favorites”.  Is it crappy? Yep.  Of course. That’s why there are three of them.  To get your way, you have to be obvious – and take the heat. 😉 Read more..

August 4, 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. :-)

NBC’s World of Dance, Season 1, Week NINE – LIVE Blog

So, does anyone reading tonight follow Nappytabs on twitter?? If you do, (even if you don’t) go read their twitter feed from today and the last few days. And last week at this time as well.  Tell me what you think.   All I will say is this – I was under the impression from Derek’s feed that all this (with the possible exception of the finale) was all taped quite some time ago. So what’s the deal?  I’ll wait here for your thoughts….

Sorry, Nappytabs was there, but it was @NBCWorldOfDance twitter feed. I’ll be more specific. This is the tweet that had me raise an eyebrow.

Okay, so we’ve heard stories on twitter and youtube about the tapings from people who were there…and NO ONE ever mentioned a Les Twins injury. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Here we go…Eva, Kinjaz and Keone/Mari, that’s who I’m rooting for, although I really like Swing Latino.

I LOVE Jenna’s dress!! So cute.

Team Division is going first. Eeep!!

Not a fan of Jennifer’s track suit. Jennifer points out that the Kinjaz can’t “out energy” Swing Latino so they need to make an impact in another way. And they’re wearing another cool jacket in the rehearsals.

Sharp white suits for the performance. Oooo…love the staging and the voice over. That’s a lot of people in perfect sync. Great song choice. Live the story of the struggle for the sword…or life.

All in all, I think I have other routines of theirs that I liked better. I sort of agree with Ne-Yo when he said there was no “Kinjaz moment” but I also agree with Derek when he says that the synchronicity is the moment.

Their score is a 92.3. Derek gave them a 95 while Jennifer and Ne-yo both gave them 91. Seems that Ne-Yo doesn’t care for the quieter routines – he’s shown that over and over. Conversely, Derek is always going to score something higher that touches his heart and it seems he related to the struggle for the sword in that dance.

I think that shows they picked good judges for this show….each have their preferences. Makes the scoring interesting at times. But since my taste runs similar to Derek’s, Ne-Yo can annoy me. 🙂

Swing Latino is just ungodly fast. It’s hard to believe. Even backstage with Jennifer. Amazing

Derek will be happy with the sparkles. 😀

Oooo..love the flags. Very patriotic. There are just so many of them but I think they’ve improved in how they present their dances…it’s not so overwhelming now.

Whoa, crazy ass trick there towards the end. Great routine. This is actually a tough call.

Hmmm…it looked pretty clean to me, Derek. :::shrug::: He’s an expert. 🙂 But I suspect they’re not going to beat the 92.3. Now they’re getting the sympathy talk from Jennifer. Aw, making me sad.

And their score is….Holy….Crap!!! Swing Latio takes it with a 94.7. Ne-Yo and Jennifer gave them a 25 and Derek gave them a 94. Okay, I’m not mad at that! Love the Kinjaz, but damn Swing Latino is awesome as well.

It also shows that the spoilers were WRONG about the final match up.

Upper Division is next – Keone and Mari versus Les Twins. Team that went first in the last round was eliminated. Boo – KM going first in this round.

Let’s kill it, K/M!! Cool costumes. OMG…I love this song. This should REALLY appeal to Derek. It looks so much like something he would do. OMG, I adore this dance. Gorgeous.

They make Derek feel good…which is what Derek’s choreo does for me and this was in his vein. Derek critiqued the lift. I might have to smack him. 🙂

Score is HOLY CRAP – Ne-Yo gave them a perfect score and he gets a head rub from Derek. And Les Twins are shocked. Derek gave a 95 and Jennifer a 90 for an average of 95.

Well, what are they going to do with Les Twins? Is the one with the cool hair going to dance by himself. Yes, I don’t know which one is Larry and which is Laurent. Sorry. 🙂

Ne-yo talking some crap about connections. I suspect we’re being set up for a Les Twins win here. Tugging heart strings.

Very cool concept though, I must say. This might be their best work this season and it came to of adversity. Not a huge fan, but that was a damn good dance.

Score – 95 from Derek and grrrrrrr commercial. I think Les Twins are going to take it. I’ve been manipulated by reality TV before and these editors have shown they’re no better than any others. Although…why wasn’t this the last duo of the night??

Will Jennifer’s underscoring of K/M come back to haunt them??

Score – damn it. I knew it. 99, 99, 95. Agree with Derek – I feel sick too. 97.7. Thanks a lot, Jennifer. Very stingy score to K/M did them in.

Finally…the Juniors.

Derek with kids is like the best thing ever. 🙂

Diana Pombo up first with an Alice in Wonderland theme. Cute dress. Diana has been hanging out with Les Twins, eh? Pretty sharp movements there. She gets flailing there towards the middle and end. Good dance though. Not my favorite of the night for sure.

Jennifer is loving all over her as is Derek. Ne-Yo calls her fantastic and points out that she did a lot more dancing this time. He also correctly points out the angsty face in what is theoretically a happy routine.

Score: 89.3 – 90 from Ne-Yo and 89 from both Jennifer and Derek. That’s not going to be nearly enough. Even if she were to beat Eva that wouldn’t hold up against Les Twins or Swing Latino.

Where’d ya get that jacket Derek?? 😉

I’m with Derek when it comes to Eva’s faces. Hilarious. Eva has really grown on me over the last few weeks.

Is this a jungle gym out of Les Miz?? 🙂 This kid is tough. I don’t know what to make of this dance though. It was kinda weird. I liked it better than Diana and this kid gives great face. And I love the big smile at the end. But the dance was just strange.

Score: 96, 97, 97 for a 96.7 so Eva takes it handily. Expected. Both good kids. Their style of contemporary is usually not my favorite – too angsty – but I think both girls will grow into having much greater range and amazing dancers.

So, two of my three picks are out of the competition. I kinda feel like it’s being set up for Les Twins and this was the first week I feel like they deserved it. I would not be upset to see Eva or Swing Latino take it.

You?

August 1, 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. :-)

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 8

Well, the last of the cuts tonight and then it gets even harder.  I’m quite sure, at this point, that my favorite won’t win, but I’m going to try to not let that spoil the show. 🙂

As always, you’ll have to bear with me as my view of the show usually changes over the course of the week and rewatching….

But that didn’t happen with the Kinjaz – they are freakin’ amazing!! I love them. And I want a jacket too. 😉 But I have to say it broke my heart to see the looks on SuperCr3w’s  faces as Kinjaz got their scores. Very sad. Anyway, The Kinjaz end up with a 93.2 with two great scores from Derek and Misty (95 and 96, respectively) and kinda ridiculously low scores from Ne-Yo and Jennifer. I’ll be curious to look closer at the scoring of all four once the season ends.

Chapkis Dance Family has been doomed from the start, unfortunately, due to the need for time. Their routine looks pretty cool up until that last big turn at the end. Of course we don’t actually know if it was at the end because it was so shortened. For that matter, we don’t really know if it made sense because of the editing- there could have been a really strong story there. Read more..

July 30, 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. :-)

NBC’s World of Dance, Season 1, Week EIGHT – LIVE Blog

We’re seeing some of my ultimate favorites tonight!! Ian Eastwood, Keone and Mari, The Kinjaz…I can’t wait!! Very excited. I have one wish…that Les Twins don’t go through. Bound to not get my wish. I want Kinjaz and K&M. Doubt I get what I want.

I’m scared for tonight. Not afraid to admit it.

First up tonight – The Kinjaz. Damn. I hope that’s not a bad sign.

FYI – I can name several sexy Asian Americans. Just sayin’. 🙂 Read more..

July 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. :-)

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 7

Before we get started on the Cuts, let me point out to the still whining Jabbawockeez fans that the ratings didn’t crater in the least as you were predicting. They’re holding pretty steady and are, in fact, damn good ratings for a summer show. Guess you all don’t have the impact that you thought. I should point out that many of you whining on twitter whined about it so far after the fact that it was clear you didn’t watch the show as it aired or even within the following 24-48 hours. Why does this matter? Well, it means YOU DON’T COUNT in the ratings, dearies. If you can’t be bothered to watch the show for your favorite as it airs or shortly thereafter, you are not a significant part of the audience because you don’t impact the ratings. Sorry. 🙂

Anyway, welcome to the Cuts. The first week that the judges actually got it wrong at least once. It was bound to happen. We lost my beloved Lab and we have TWO contemporary dancers at the top of the junior division. This is a crime, IMO. Eva is great…so is Diana…but man. Come on. Eva at least changed up her routine. But young girls doing contemporary doesn’t move me. It doesn’t excite me. And RARELY is it compelling anymore – they all tend toward the same ticks and moves.

Diana is the first out of the gate of the Junior Division and does a perfectly nice dance, but it feels like I’ve seen it before – and her score (92) is ridiculously high and is the kiss of death.  I think it was Courtney (and others) who said that maybe the other divisions are too heavy in Hip Hop and I say that’s probably what they were trying to avoid….but I say so what if it is heavy in hip hop?? The Lab are amazing. Part of me wonders if the judges are just too susceptible to the youngsters being all heart wrenching. Read more..

July 24, 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. :-)

NBC’s World of Dance, Season 1, Week SEVEN – LIVE Blog

Hopefully, all of our site issues are fixed and we won’t have the problems we had last week. Fingers crossed!!

And here we go!!

We’re at the Cut.  Two spots in each division. How will they do it??  Well, the judges are mentoring. And Misty Copeland is here – love her.

Two weeks of cuts. Starting now.

Love Jenna’s dress.

Each division gets a leaderboard of judges scores. Top two acts go through. Jennifer mentoring the junior division.

Diana Pombo is up first.  And Jennifer is going to be a mess by the time this show is over. 🙂

Derek looks stunning in that suit. Got a bit distracted. 😉

Anyway, I love Diana but this is so standard contemporary. Angsty and flaily. She did it very well, but…

Great critique from Misty about the feet. The judges as a whole didn’t really seem to rave.

Diana gets a 92 from the judges. Very high, IMO. Not sure I agree with that, considering who is yet to come.

Immabeast gets an 84.2 – not long for the show since that is the first we’ve really seen of them and they were heavily edited. Loved the costumes, loved the attitude.

Now the M Sisters – hopefully they get away from the angsty failing contemporary that I’m so tired of. Love their dresses.

Okay, that was happy flailing. 🙂 It was good. But I have yet to be amazed. Or moved.

Okay, now someone will be eliminated depending on how they score…

And the M Sisters make it to the top 2 thanks in large part to Derek.  They would have made it if he had only scored an 84.

And now for one of my very favorites – The Lab.

Don’t meddle with my Lab, Jennifer. Wonder who their choreographer is.

I love these kids. And that dance was INCREDIBLE!! Those faces. Go Derek! Go Derek!

Their energy is just amazing. If they aren’t in the final it might be a crime.

They better be number 1…

Okay, that’s a damn crime. An 86? Are they setting it up so that Eva and Diana both go through? That’s just wrong.

If Eva bumps The Lab, I will be Jabbawockeez Fan Level pissed….although I won’t hold on to it forever like they are. 🙂

Eva is not quite as flailing – and I like her edge. Derek emotional is not a good sign for my Lab.  I might be mad at him for a few minutes.

I feel like the Lab (and other non-contemporary) are hindered by the non-tear jerking nature of their routines.

I’m officially pissed.  Seriously?? Two contemporary dancers at the top of the division?? Over The Lab.  SUCKS. They should be in the running to win the whole thing.

Now for the Teams being mentored by Ne-Yo.

Swing Latino is up first. And their first discussion is costumes? Okay.

I would be shocked if they make it through, just based on who else is in the Division.

When they’re not all in unison there is too much going on. But when they are it’s quite amazing. Although there were a few glitches I think.

LOL Derek.  I think they’ve made a name for themselves, regardless.

Swing Latino gets a massive 92.5. Wow….that’s shocking but it makes me happy.  Who are they trying to knock out?

SuperCr3w is up next.  And they’re going “risky” for a B-boy.

That was very different. I was mesmerized the whole time. Maybe they saw that they have to beat the little contemporary girls.

Misty and Ne-Yo competing to see who can be the toughest. And they get an 88.5 thanks in large part to Derek. The key to Derek is his heart. Something his fans have known forever, but it’s really clear here.

So, it’s over already?? The sign of a good show is that it is over before you blink.

What did you all think?? I’m still miffed about the Lab but I’ll get over it. I doubt very much that’s the last we’ll see of them where as contemporary is kind of a dime a dozen.

July 18, 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. :-)

World of Dance, By the Numbers – Week 6

Can I just say that I am SO sick and tired of the whining from the Jabbawockeez fans?? Look, I was a fan. I am a fan. But to claim they were cheated out of a win, or it was a “mistake” or that the show is “over” because they lost?? Get real. GROW UP! They are not the only great dancers in the competition. And they just weren’t bringing it – not for me, not for lots of people.  And, as you will see from the numbers below, they were NOT on track to win the show. Not even close. Neither is Ian Eastwood, who I much preferred. But I skip ahead…

Below is a table showing all of the dancers/teams who made it past the qualifiers and their qualifying scores. To recap, the highest scoring dancers from each category pick first who to duel against. Then the next highest and so on. Read more..

July 17, 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. :-)

‘World Of Dance’ Season 1, Week Six – The Performance Videos

We’re posting the performance videos for World Of Dance Week Six courtesy of @Idolxfactor1 and WOD Official You Tube as soon as we can in the space below! Keep checking back….

ETA: Below are more of the performances. Sorry for the delay! We had some site issues last night.

The videos above work internationally! Below are you tubes from the official site…. Read more..

July 11, 2017 I Written By

Just a music and dancing fan here ....and a lover of life, nature, animals, and spending as much time as possible camping all over in our travel trailer. Favorite Quote at the moment: "Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching, and live like it's heaven on earth." ~ William Purkey. Follow me at: Voguerista Twitter & Voguerista Soundcloud. To view my photography site, see Lisa Kay Photography.

NBC’s World of Dance, Season 1, Week SIX – LIVE Blog

So has anyone else been paying attention to the promo on twitter for tonight’s show? I think/hope/pray we might be in for a surprise. 😉

And hey, I’ve only cried twice at AGT so far. I still have 10 minutes, I guess…

…and they hit me with the big one. Geez. A contestant was killed in a car accident and they’re airing his audition at the request of his family. So young. :::sob::: Unbelievably talented. He made it to the next round. :::sob:::

First up on World of Dance is Stroll Groove versus The Kinjaz….we never saw Stroll Groove in the Qualifiers, so I think we have a good idea who’s going to win. They barely got through with an 80.3. Again, Goliath picks David to dance against. I have to say I have little respect for that.

Kinjaz up first. Love the screens. The visuals are amazing. I can hear Derek yelling. 🙂

That was freaking amazing – like magic at the end. So clean, so perfect. And Derek reads my mind with the “masters of illusion”. 🙂 Agree – a million dollar routine.

Stroll Groove obviously edited down but great routine also. I liked the way this crew entered the stage – rewind if you missed it.

Ne-Yo points out that their stepping after the routine was more dynamic. I don’t know about that – it was DIFFERENT.

Kinjaz win it with 91.3 over 81.3. Ten whole points. Yeah, agreed. But I have to ask again – the great dancers aren’t afraid to take on the best. I’ll have to go look and see what pick they had.

Next up is Luka and Jenalyn versus DNA…hmmm, tough call on this one. I think I prefer DNA, but at least this one is a fair fight.

Luka and Jenalyn don’t really appeal to me for some reason but I can see how extraordinarily difficult that routine is – quite amazing actually.

Derek loved it, as did Ne-Yo and Jennifer. I do think they stepped it up from their last routine. I really appreciate Jennifer’s point that they aren’t acrobats but dancers and they shouldn’t forget that. I agree.

DNA blows a relatively simple move. Bad news. After their qualifier they are unlikely to make it. Now they feel too rushed. Much better when they slowed it down.

Luka pumping the audience – good sport. They went to the Derek school of not admitting a mistake. Derek very kind because he knows the absurd difficulty of that routine.

Winner is Luka and Jenalyn with 88.7 versus 80.3.

We then proceed to blow through several routines.

Immabeast and

Kings Unite versus Pasion – Pasion wins

Rhythmatic versus Chapkis Dance Family and the Chapkis wins it.

Oh boy…The M sisters versus D’Angelo and Amanda.

This is what sucks about DWTS – Ballroom versus Contemporary.

D’Angelo and Amanda – with a boo boo in the spins.

The M Sisters seemed pretty good, but their routine was also very chopped up. I sure hope that they get two hours next season because both routines were severely shortened. Anyway, Jennifer finally says what I always say about contemporary – the same thing over and over if you’re not careful.

The M Sisters win it by a hair.

Now the big one: Rouge versus Jabbawockeez versus Ian Eastwood. We already know who isn’t winning – the ones who didn’t get seen during the Qualifiers.

Come on, Ian!! 😉

First up, Rouge. Great start!! Okay, started great but started to look like a college dance team after that. Agree with Jennifer on the choreography. Also agree with Derek on the sloppiness.

Next…Jabbawockeez. It was great but….the Kinjaz were better, IMO. The slo-mo part was good, but really nothing special there. Especially compared to Kinjaz.

First two routines were also obviously edited, which is disappointing.

Now, Ian Eastwood. Loved this routine – not as much as I loved his first one, but it was awesome. Very fresh.

And Ian squeaks out a win by one point – well deserved IMO. I’ve always loved the Jabbawockeez, but I’ve not been impressed by their routines on this show. Someone on twitter said, “Jabbawockeez have nothing to prove, they’ve set the bar.” Absolutely right. And no shame in getting beaten by a point by a new young crew. There was much argument when the show started if Jabbawockeez should even be on, considering their extensive professional career. Well, as long as it’s not Les Twins, someone newer has a shot. I’m betting on Keone/Mari or Kinjaz.

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. :-)