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. 🙂 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. 🙂 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. 🙂 If you’re still fuming from the Upper Division eliminations, you can vote on that too. 😉

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. 🙂 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. 🙂 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. 🙂 I’ll show their video tomorrow in the “who should win” the division post. 🙂

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. 🙂 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. 😉

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 5 – The Duels

This week? Junior Teams!! This tends to be my favorite division. 🙂

Going out of order, again – the VPeepz choose the Battle Droids Crew. Interesting. Battle Droids Crew talking smack – makes me wonder if we’re being set up. After all, last week all the performers who picked, lost.

VPeepz are up first. Little stumble of the first trick, but their sync is incredible. and very effective in these outfits. A little sloppy on that leg raise thing, but again their sync is incredible. Whole lotta smack talk.

Ne-yo comments on the sync. Jennifer agrees, and says they were hitting it hard. Derek comments on the wobble, but says they did their thing overall.

Now for Battle Droids. Their tricks are all right, but they aren’t as hard hitting as VPeepz. Goops also a stumble on the landing of the trick. Just not as clean, IMO.

Jennifer comments on their lack of traditional technique makes them raw. Ne-Yo says the dancing needs to be a bit better. Jennifer comments on the in between moments. I agree with both of them. Derek says he loves them. Funny comment on little blond dude being a mini-Derek. Read more..

March 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. :-)

WoD Season 3 Contestant Profiles – VPeepz

The VPeepz actually debuted on WoD last night and made quite the impression! I loved them for many reasons, not the least of which was the excellent dancing and great story. Totally agreed with JLo and her comments regarding kids like them and the future. Their local media reported on their accomplishment last night:

The Philippines’ VPeepz junior dance crew showcased their amazing moves on NBC’s World of Dance (WOD) stage in the second part of the competition’s season premiere on March 3, Sunday (March 4 Manila Time).

The 13-member hip hop group from Manila went into the Qualifiers needing a score of 85 to get through to the next round of Duels. VPeepz received the following judge votes: 89 from NeYo, 89 from Jennifer Lopez, and 93 from Derek Hough.

With an average score of 90.3, VPeepz earned a spot to proceed to the next round of the competition.

To Derek Hough’s question as to why the team traveled all the way from the Philippines to America to join WOD, VPeepz said “I guess we just want to show the world that even though we’re all different, I can say that there’s really unity and diversity.

This same outlet, Good News Pilipinas, did some of the profiling work for me a while ago, when they wrote about their kids appearing on the show:

VPeepz achievements include:

-defended Regional and National title at the Hip-Hop International Philippines two times since 2016
-awarded the Philippines’ state recognition for the prestigious Ani ng Dangal (Harvest of Honors) for three straight years
-becoming a household name in the Philippines dance community
-setting the standards for excellence for junior teams in the country

VPeepz Profile:

Hometown: Manila, Philippines
Members: 13
Ages: 12-17
Style: Hip-Hop
Division: Junior Team
Social: @vpeepzofficial / @charles.leppard / @darloemman / @jaye.felicity / @gerardnicolas / @heartuy88.official / @jeloamorin / @julian_ville / @mendoza_liam / @coolmicolitz / @penelope.reeve / @og_sean26 / @sophiaamercado_

Here is there excellent routine from last night!

I think this might be more awesome than what they did last night…

March 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. :-)