World Of Dance - General Discussion

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Confessionals:

Silver Beat:

Royal Flux:

[realdancemom]

I remember Rudy, the guy who knew Jennifer, from SYTYCD.  He was partnered with Tanisha.  On SYTYCD, it was funny when both he and his teacher said that he was terrible when he started.  His technique wasn't that great.  I think he was trying to be the type of dancer that Michael, the Australian SYTYCD winner that's on this WOD season, was trying to be.  It was really evident when Michael made a guest appearance on the same season.  I gave a link on the WOD episode thread where Michael was on.  So it's nice that even though Rudy wasn't that great of a dancer technique wise, he's improved and currently has a good dance career.

Royal Flux was good last year.  I think they looked messy since the girl was injured so they could have made last minute changes to accommodate that.  Then, the judges gave them a break for that reason.

I agree with what everyone was saying about Marissa and the Heartbreakers.  Too much hairography and stripper moves.

[nx74defiant]

On 6/27/2018 at 10:20 PM, GaT said:

I think the reason they made it was because the girl fractured her foot. How would the judges look if they didn't pass them through to the next round? They would definitely look bad.

If they want me to view this as a serious competition (remember Eva and the Olympics statements) an injury would not give you a free pass!

[kitcloudkicker]

8 hours ago, realdancemom said:

 

I remember Rudy, the guy who knew Jennifer, from SYTYCD.  He was partnered with Tanisha.  On SYTYCD, it was funny when both he and his teacher said that he was terrible when he started.  His technique wasn't that great.  I think he was trying to be the type of dancer that Michael, the Australian SYTYCD winner that's on this WOD season, was trying to be.  It was really evident when Michael made a guest appearance on the same season.  I gave a link on the WOD episode thread where Michael was on.  So it's nice that even though Rudy wasn't that great of a dancer technique wise, he's improved and currently has a good dance career.

 

Rudy was also on a Move tour with the Houghs, and choreographed on one of Derek’s “personal project” YouTube videos he put out (last year, I think?) I missed the intro of his group, so I don’t know if that was mentioned.

The connecting thread through all them is NappyTabs, who have been behind the Move Tours, WOD, and the JLo Vegas show — so if there’s a lesson from SYTYCD it seems to be be nice to and keep in touch with your choreographers, so they remember you when they start casting all the things.

Edited June 30, 2018 by kitcloudkicker

[RomanKat]

17 hours ago, kitcloudkicker said:

if there’s a lesson from SYTYCD it seems to be be nice to and keep in touch with your choreographers, so they remember you when they start casting all the things.

 

There may also be connections between WOD and AGT.  Here's a link to Daniel Novikov auditioning with his mom Alla in Season 11.  They made it to the quarterfinals.

Edited June 30, 2018 by RomanKat

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Front row: Embodiment

Marissa and the Heartbreakers rehearsal:

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Move of the week with Marissa and the Heartbreakers:

Derek's master class: jive (pretzel turn):

[luvthepros]

Was there a show on July 3rd? My DVR didn't record the show.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

1 hour ago, luvthepros said:

Was there a show on July 3rd? My DVR didn't record the show.

Nope. 

[luvthepros]

17 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Nope. 

Thanks.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The qualifying rounds continue.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Jenna dances her way through the 80s for Harper's Bazaar:

[CelticBlackCat]

The only Heartbreakers I would want to see are the ones who were with Tom Petty (RIP) :(  Marissa & Co. did indeed look like strippers who were missing their poles.  Woman power?  Accept who you are no matter what you look like?  What kind of fertilizer were they laying out, and a bit thick?  I believe Ne-Yo broached the subject delicately with a warning, which JLo shut down, about looking too sexy and provocative.  Ne-Yo was right on.

Madison Brown is the Black Eva Igo to me.  Same deal, and it will be interesting to see what transpires with their performances and the judges' decisions if/when they go head to head.

I really think there should be a provision for acts who have injuries to be taken off the competition and come back next year or rescheduled for the same season if the healing is cleared by a qualified sports injury doctor.  Of course that would lead to dancers and other performers hiding their injuries, which would not be a sob story grab, but still would be duplicitous.  I think this "the show must go on" is sending the wrong message when permanent damage can be the result of dancing or performing with a bad strain, sprain, fracture or actual break.  I'm not involved in the wonderful world of dance though, so I may be completely wrong in my opinion.

Edited July 10, 2018 by CelticBlackCat
too not to.

[saber5055]

On 6/27/2018 at 1:36 PM, SnarkyTart said:

Marissa and the Heartbreakers confused me.  It seemed they were saying that dancing almost as good as other crews, but while wearing high heels, is what made their group exceptional. 

All female ballroom dancers wear heels. So why make a big deal about this stripper group wearing them? Oh, right. Because they had nothing else going for them.

Thanks for the dance links, ElectricBoogaloo. I could watch all the performances in less than five minutes! I liked the Front Row video too. No cut to judges, something I hate.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

7 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I liked the Front Row video too. No cut to judges, something I hate.

I wish they would do that for every dance. I don’t need extreme close ups or swoopy cameras. I just want to see the actual dancing! I don’t mind a quick overhead shot to show a cool formation but other than that, I’d rather have a stationary shot of the front for the majority of the routine. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

...and the tally is now up to 36 total acts advancing out of the 40 we've seen so far.

[GaT]

They can move on to the next round any time now, I am so bored by the qualifiers that I'm FFing past the dances too.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This week's performers:

st kingz - Upper (79+78+80=79) ELIMINATED

 

DNA - Upper (85+89+89=87.7)

Brotherhood - Upper Team (81+75+85=80.3)

The Rock Company - Junior Team (97+97+96=96.7)

 

The Untouchables - Junior Team (87+89+90=88.7)

Vvian Ruiz - Junior (83+84+82=83)

 

Ashley & Zack - Upper (84+84+87=85)

Edited August 2, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The qualifying rounds continue.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

st. kingz was fun to watch and a great example of how dance can tell a story without a million tricks. Of course, the judges don't want that. They want 60 seconds of frantic nonstop tricks. The longer I watch this show, the more I think FUCK THE JUDGES. At least I was entertained and had no urge to fast forward through their routine which is more than I can say for most of the other dances in this episode.

DNA was fine, but I didn't think they were the best ballroom dancers I've ever seen. Their routine was clean but their tricks weren't unique or out of the ordinary. And were they better than st. kingz? I want to know why none of the judges gave them the critique that st. kingz got which was that it took too long to get to the actual dancing. At least st. kingz were doing stuff at the beginning of their routine. DNA was just walking for like 30 seconds.

Brotherhood was clean and sharp. I also liked that their costumes were simple but very effective (red and black is always a good combination on stage). Demerits for using a Chris Brown song though. The judges continue to confuse/annoy me with their nonsensical reactions. A front tuck at the beginning gets no response but a back tuck at the end gets a WOOO from Derek? I'm normally not a fan of using props but I thought that they were used well (and not overused - I hate when a routine centers around their props long after they've served their purpose), and it was a cute nod to being Canadian. Jennifer can STFU. Not all hip hop needs to be dirty and gritty. Same goes for Ne-Yo's comments about their happy facial expressions. Some people are happy when they dance. They don't need to put on fake stank faces.

The Rock Company was typical kiddie competition contemporary. Why didn't they get criticized for taking too long to get to the actual dancing too? No, I'm not going to let go of that comment to st. kingz because if you're going to use that as a negative against one group then you should apply it to all the competitors. Doing a long ass roll off and then having one girl run to the front and flail her arms followed by another long ass roll off and one girl walking is a waste of time. There was no actual dancing aside from a solo pirouette here or there until about the last 15 seconds of the routine. The rest was posing, running around, more posing. But of course Jennifer was moved to tears and had to run onstage to hug them. Gawd. I had to roll my eyes when the judges pretended they didn't know that these kids are from Las Vegas and that their dance was about the shooting.

I give the Untouchables points for their high energy but, like some of the salsa and samba groups we've seen, it got a bit frantic and sloppy. I knew they would get through which just made it all the more annoying that LD Dance didn't get through in week 3. I didn't even love LD Dance but there was nothing wrong with them and since the judges are putting through just about everyone to the next round, I don't get why they cut groups like LD, st kingz, and Hilty & Bosch.

Vivan Ruiz was just a full minute of HMV.

Ashley and Zacks routine was 95% partner tricks with a short break to roll around on the floor.

[Corgi-ears]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

[H]aving one girl run to the front and flail her arms

But imagine there's no epilepsy. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

[saber5055]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

st. kingz was fun to watch and a great example of how dance can tell a story without a million tricks. Of course, the judges don't want that. They want 60 seconds of frantic nonstop tricks. The longer I watch this show, the more I think FUCK THE JUDGES. At least I was entertained and had no urge to fast forward through their routine which is more than I can say for most of the other dances in this episode.

I came here to say the same thing. By that, I mean eff the judges. St. Kingz was my favorite of the night, I actually stopped what I was doing and watched them, and they made me happy. I expected them to get scores close to 100, they were so different and fun and excellent. Then ... WTH? They get canned?

This show only wants hip hop groups that aren't even dancing IMO, they are doing gymnastic tricks in between stomping and jumping around and waving their arms. Every time I watch one of those (very average) groups, I think hey, I could do that. And I'm no dancer.

I've decided I don't give a care about this show or what the judges say. I'm just going to watch for the dances. I'll rewatch ElectricBoogaloo's links here (thank you again!) to see if I missed anything while being bored last night.

And so much yes to HMV. I wish they would tell Eva Igo to not do any HMV and then let's see if she wins this thing.

Oh, you mean she will anyway? Okay then.

Edited July 11, 2018 by saber5055

[atlantaloves]

Well, that happened. 

[PhD-Purgatory15]

This show is becoming more and more ridiculous.

The Hip Hop guys from Vancouver, were in sync, clean...and had a nice homage to their home country of Canada with the hockey stick props, and they barely get through with an 80? On the nose? and JLo gives them a 75...literally the lowest single score any act has received the entire season? And Ne-Yo criticizes their smiles? WTAF.

If I'm a group that wants to use humor in their act, WoD is not the venue. If I'm a group from Japan (and only Japan for some reason), WoD does not seem to be the place either. And if I'm a Japanese group who wants to use humor, lol....no chance.

The whirling dervish nature that the judges seem to be begging for....makes so many of these larger group acts kind of all blend together. I'm really ready for some duels to weed this down to a more manageable number.

[luvthepros]

Zack auditioned as a tapper on SYTYCD and made it to top 4 a few seasons ago. Here is one of his tap performances.......

Zack tap performance

[Rahul]

I never agree with the judge's scores. I've learned that if there's a Latin group, they'll score 10-15 points above what they deserve because of Jennifer's bias. Frik and Frak follow suit with the inflated scores so she doesn't appear to be as biased as she is. F this show.

[jewel21]

These qualifying rounds are taking so long to get through. And I'm so tired of the judges and Jenna wearing the same outfits week after week. 

I really enjoyed watching ST Kingz. They made me smile and I was disappointed they didn't make it through, but not really surprised. I didn't agree with any of the judges decisions last year, either. 

The Canadian team was awesome, too. I'm pissed they scored so low. I really thought the judges would have liked the routine more. Oh, well. 

[saber5055]

I rewatched all the performances. DNA didn't start dancing until 20 seconds into their routine, yet St Kingz got ranked on for "not dancing" during the first part of their routine. Yet they were doing Broadway 'things" in time together whereas DNA was just walking for 20 seconds. Go figure.

St Kingz routine also was 20 seconds shorter than the other dances. What's up with that?

[CelticBlackCat]

3 hours ago, Rahul said:

I never agree with the judge's scores. I've learned that if there's a Latin group, they'll score 10-15 points above what they deserve because of Jennifer's bias. Frik and Frak follow suit with the inflated scores so she doesn't appear to be as biased as she is. F this show.

LOL!  Plus they don't want the condescending remarks from JLo on the judge's stage or the backstage beat down she probably gives them--verbally I mean ;)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Confessionals:

DNA

Ashley & Zack

[CelticBlackCat]

The Rock Company was so annoying to me.  I don't want to see a bunch of little girls crying on stage.  All they did was pose, run, flail arms, and do a couple of pirouettes during the entire routine.  Then cry about it.  I wonder if they would have been rated as high by the judges if they hadn't used the story about the tragedy in Las Vegas being the inspiration/tribute for the routine.

Ashley & Zach were my favorite of the night.

[Whimsy]

On 7/11/2018 at 6:03 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Vivan Ruiz was just a full minute of HMV.

It's so ridiculous that either every contestant feels they need a sob story or the producers make them come up with one.  Her boyfriend broke up with her?  Her teenage boyfriend that she was probably dating for a very short time broke up with her is the sob story?  Not to be cruel, because I do remember feeling like my world ended when that happened to me at 16, but I've lived a lot of life and that's NOT a sob story.  She'll learn, she'll grow emotionally and she'll have other boyfriends.  If she was the one who trotted that out, the producers should've shut it down real quick. 

3 hours ago, CelticBlackCat said:

The Rock Company was so annoying to me.  I don't want to see a bunch of little girls crying on stage.  All they did was pose, run, flail arms, and do a couple of pirouettes during the entire routine.  Then cry about it.  I wonder if they would have been rated as high by the judges if they hadn't used the story about the tragedy in Las Vegas being the inspiration/tribute for the routine.

I agree.  If they hadn't brought the LV shooting into it, this would've been mediocre.  I mean, it was still mediocre but when someone says their dance is about a mass shooting it's hard to be mean about it afterwards.  I also want to know, honestly and truthfully, how many of these girls were REALLY affected by it?  I'm really not trying to be cruel, but I do think that some of these girls were faking the emotional impact.  Yes, it was scary and yes it was horrendous.  If any of those girls knew someone there (or, the girl who couldn't get a hold of her dad during the shooting), I would expect it was harder for them.  But, I just felt their level of everyone crying, etc, was a bit overdone. 

[WhineandCheez]

Quote

 

Vivan Ruiz was just a full minute of HMV.

And so much yes to HMV. I wish they would tell Eva Igo to not do any HMV and then let's see if she wins this thing.

 

I was just coming here to ask if anyone knows how to make a "NO HMV" sign with a line crossed through it.  Even that young boy in the Vegas group was working it. Ok this sounds terribly jaded, but the VEgas group is crying partially because one of the girl's Dad was working in the area?  Not at Mandalay Bay but in the area?? And Vivian Ruiz, a 16 year old boy broke up with her via text and this is the inspiration for the angst?  At least on SYTYCD they have actual tragedies most of the time.

(Whimsy, you and I were being jaded at the exact same time!)

Edited July 12, 2018 by WhineandCheez

[jcbrown]

My friend is a West Coast Swing dancer. Her comment on the salsa pair: "their career-ending injury is going to be spectacular."

[crowceilidh]

I loved Denys Drozdyuk the year he won SYTYCda.  He'w definitely been wearing off ever since.  A lot of it is because I can't stand his wife and her voice.  She seems to be strengthening up as a dancer at least but she's still irritating as all get-out.  It's interesting because I remember feeling that he had a great business sense about his chosen field when he was competing on SYTYCda but now I feel it has been more dumb luck than smart planning.  I still don't know what I think about him turning down Nigel in season 12 - his stated reasons had validity, but I always felt it was the horrible wife who pressured him into dropping because she didn't make it.

[Rahul]

27 minutes ago, crowceilidh said:

I loved Denys Drozdyuk the year he won SYTYCda.  He'w definitely been wearing off ever since.  A lot of it is because I can't stand his wife and her voice.  She seems to be strengthening up as a dancer at least but she's still irritating as all get-out.  It's interesting because I remember feeling that he had a great business sense about his chosen field when he was competing on SYTYCda but now I feel it has been more dumb luck than smart planning.  I still don't know what I think about him turning down Nigel in season 12 - his stated reasons had validity, but I always felt it was the horrible wife who pressured him into dropping because she didn't make it.

I was ticked when Denys decided to forego the competition when Antonina did not make it to the green mile on SYTYCD, but Anonina has improved by leaps and bounds. However, I still cannot stand her little mouse voice. I'm a little tired of them appearing all over the place though. What's next, AGT?

[Caseyh1981]

On 7/11/2018 at 6:03 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 

Vivan Ruiz was just a full minute of HMV.

 

On 7/11/2018 at 1:15 PM, saber5055 said:

 

And so much yes to HMV. I wish they would tell Eva Igo to not do any HMV and then let's see if she wins this thing.

Oh, you mean she will anyway? Okay then.

 

What is HMV?

Edited July 15, 2018 by Caseyh1981

[saber5055]

7 minutes ago, Caseyh1981 said:

What is HMV?

It's the non-embarrassing short-cut way to say "Here's my vagina" when the dancer sticks one leg up in the air for an extended period of time. I think it got started over on the SYTYCD thread.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4 hours ago, saber5055 said:

It's the non-embarrassing short-cut way to say "Here's my vagina" when the dancer sticks one leg up in the air for an extended period of time. I think it got started over on the SYTYCD thread.

It dates back to S1 of SYTYCD on TWoP. It was in reference to Melody. 

[realdancemom]

I guess JLo just wants hip-hop to have stank face.  I agree with the comments that I enjoyed St Kingz.  They were a hip-hop group that looked like they were happy and having fun.  Brotherhood just barely made it.  They didn't waste a lot of time and I did like how they used the hockey sticks as a tribute of Canadian hockey.   But neither one had stank face so it was a big no-no for JLo.

[PhD-Purgatory15]

We just missed another Oprah episode. Only the Gentlemen (former AGT contestants iirc) couldn't get to the 80 points threshold. I think that brings us up to 43 out of 48 that we've seen advance. If next week we get a similar ratio, then that means there are probably about 16 or so acts we won't see dance at all :-(

Enjoyed the Hip Hop Duo from Estonia. I was totally feeling a Keone/Mari vibe, so I was glad the judges panel noted that at least.

Glad the Dragon House trio (a couple of SYTYCD and AGT alums in the guys, not sure the background of the girl) squeaked into the duels but unless they do way better they are going to be toast that round.

The Quad Squad was like HMVception. It's like, you want HMV? We've got 7 or 8 different flavors of HMV for your viewing pleasure lol.

Tap guys were ok, better than the one solo tapper we saw a few weeks ago....but still, give me just the tap rhythms and I'm good. More often than not, the music seems to muddy or camouflage what's happening. The little hip hop girls were too, too much for me (ymmv of course) and I could've done with a few less pantomimed fighting moves from the guy-guy contemporary duo. Other than that they were fine though.

Edited July 18, 2018 by PhD-Purgatory15

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quad Squad - Junior Team (91+86+90=89)

The JaM Project - Upper Team (82+83+84=83)

The Gentlemen - Junior (81+79+79=79.7) ELIMINATED

 

Alisa & Joseph - Upper (92+94+86=90.7)

Dragon House - Upper (81+80+79=80)

 

marInspired - Upper (88+96+90=91.3)

Luka & Jenalyn - Upper (88+86+87=87)

Cubcakes Dance Crew - Junior Team (84+85+80=83)

Edited August 2, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Front row: Ashley & Zack

Rehearsal: The Untouchables

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Move of the week with Vivian Ruiz:

Contemporary with Derek: contractions and arms

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The final qualifying round.

Edited July 18, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[GaT]

I don't understand why there are so many failed dancers from last year back in the competition, the show has only been on one previous season, why can't they have all new dancers?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quad Squad was like a dance routine with rhythmic gymnastics tricks thrown in. I wish that their dancing had been as impressive as their HMV variations. Props to the girl who did a pirouette with seven or eight rotations. The other girl that Derek singled out for the scale turn - that is totally a rhythmic gymnastics skill. On a shallow note, even though they were doing rhythmic gymnastics tricks, I liked that the girls looked more muscular than typical rhythmic gymnasts.

The JaM Project reminded me of when I saw Tap Dogs a million years ago. I actually prefer group tap to solo tap because when it's good, it's really good. The judges' criticism about wanting to hear the tapping more made me think well maybe if you didn't crank the volume of the music up to 11 in the studio, you'd be able to hear it better. Another option: let the tappers have floor microphones (as they have done on other shows). J Lo's critique was nonsensical. You have to bring the legacy of what tap is into it? What the fuck does that even mean?

The Gentlemen were fun. It's nice to see a duo that isn't boy/girl. What sucks isn't just how close their score was (79.7) but that the judges gave the almost no feedback and what little they gave was not very useful.

All I could think about during Alisa & Joseph's routine was that it took them 20 seconds to actually start dancing and how the judges bitched about st kingz doing that last week. I get the Keone and Mari vibe that the judges mentioned, but to me their styles are very different some I'm fine with it. We don't see a lot of male/female hip hop duos on the show so I think the comparison was inevitable.

Dragon House was lackluster to me. Their choreography was okay but not great. Their energy level seemed lacking. They weren't bad or anything, but they just weren't great. Definitely one of the routines I would forget by the end of the show because it wasn't memorable enough in any way. Honestly, the most memorable thing about them was their yellow outfits.

I wanted to like marInspired more than I did. We almost never get to see a male/male contemporary duo and I love that one of the guys was a little bigger (in the commercial dance world, you almost never see any dancers like that because the ones who get hired are almost always very thin - I have known several dancers who were bigger and they had great technique and flexibility but it was obvious that they were never going to be able to pursue professional dance careers because of their body shapes). But the choreography was just okay so I was a bit let down. I know the judges were swayed by the story of the dance, but I wasn't. The story is important, but to me the dance is always more important because duh, it's a dance competition. I'm not a fan of flailing contemporary and this was just flailing contemporary with two guys. If one of them had done it as a solo, I doubt the judges would have been falling all over themselves to gush about it.

Luka and Jenalyn just seemed like a mishmash of partner stunts that were executed adequately but overall the routine was just there.

The Cubcakes were everything I loathe about children's competition dance groups - the constant overexaggrated OH MY faces, the sloppy tricks, having a million kids in the group, and obviously being coached that bigger is better in every move.

[saber5055]

I'll have to watch ElectricBoogaloo's links again since I barely remember seeing some of these routines. I guess that's my critique of them: Forgettable.

I did like Alisa & Joseph, maybe my favorite of the night. I also stopped to watch marInspired and decided I liked them too ... kinda sorta. It was almost like a comedy, then serious routine, I couldn't decide which. I could tell they were trained, but it's sort of like they were making fun of being trained. Then it got serious. Still, it wasn't two guy pretending to be dancers and making a joke like one would see on AGT. So they got a plus one for that.

I didn't like Quad Squad and I did not like The Gentlemen. Sorry kids. (Not really.)

Was Dragon House part of THE Dragon House? Because if so, they weren't very good. I remember Dragon House guys being top notch.

Luka and Jenalyn were interesting, but LOL at Ne-Yo telling Luka to stop with the ugly faces. Speaking of ugly faces, WTH Cubcakes. I don't remember your routine but I do remember the mugging and OTT everything. Just no to you.

[cryptaknight]

It's Dragon House without Cyrus and some of the other guys that auditioned for SYTYCD, other than BluPrint, so... Dragon House minus some of the best dancers, imo. It was weird to only see three of them.

[marykat71702]

I am so ready for the qualifiers to be over, since it seems like just about everybody makes it through anyways.

I really liked The JaM Project, but I wish we could hear the actual tapping better. Like someone else said, can they put in some floor mics or something?

Just no to the Cubcakes. That was annoying.

Happy to see that Luka and Jenalyn listened to what the judges said last year and added more dance moves to their routine.

Enjoyed Alisa and Joseph. They reminded me of Keone and Mari, who I liked, as well. On that note, I also enjoyed St. Kingz last week and was kind of sad they didn't make it.