#wod1

You probably know the outcome by now.

Round 1: judges pick the song

Les Twins (mentored by Jennifer) - Okay so whichever got injured feels good enough to be on his feet. Their first dance with red costumes - JLo gives them the song “Stole the show” by I don’t know who. I don’t get the last part with the rotating platform or the final shape they made. I thought this dance was nice to watch, but because they were standing so close to each other most of the time on that tiny rotating platform, it really exposed how terribly they match each other. They don’t lift their legs at the same angle, don’t tilt their arms at the same inclination, and sometimes one twin’s timing will be a little off the other’s. Score 1 = 93

Swing Latino (mentored by Derek) - Derek does some salsa with one of the ladies. One of their members twists his ankle too close to show and they have to perform without him. Derek chooses the song “Conga” by Gloria Estefan for them. Some of the transitions between formations, up and down the stage very messy, like they had to dedicate a few bars just to running around. Not their tightest number. Tricks were more lowkey, but still pretty surprising. There’s one of Derek’s favourite leapfrog crotch grab jumps thing except whoever is jumping goes for length instead of height (which makes the jump less impressive, although I guess the ‘wow’ part is the fact that he clears the entire troupe of other people. Good enough to get Derek yelling and jumping to his feet). Score 1 - 91.7

Eva Igo (mentored by Ne-Yo) - Ne-Yo gives her Phil Collin’s “In the Air Tonight” (or what sounds like a cover version of it) and wants her to show more emotion/vulnarability instead of just being straight out fierce. Not sure she brought that, but the dance had less emphasis on strength and angry angsty power moves. It was more smooth and subtle. Like the series of turns at the end. Score 1 - 91

Round 2: to their own song of choice

So because Eva is in third after round 1 she has to go first. Huh.

Eva - yo who comes up with the production design and sets for Eva’s dances? She has some of the best sets. The production? The banners? The glass breaking at the end as she jumps off the stage? Damn! Admittedly not her best dance IMO. Jennifer said the choreo in her first dance was lacking but this one was better, but I feel it was the other way round. There was a lot of random stomping and jumping and punching the air. The start of the chorus was a bit underwhelming as it was just her running from point to point then screaming. She’s also a pretty smart girl to recognise that dance isn’t a cheap hobby at 14. Score 2 = 96.3

Swing Latino - they really love those pink pants. A lot better than their first dance. The biggest problem was at one point there were two ladies up on the table and they were way out of sync. The ending kind of fizzled out though. Like, they had one girl stand in front and ruffle her skirt for a while, then she just turned around and walked back to join everyone else in a final pose. Score 2 = 94.7 Why did Eva have to come out again? Why can’t they just wait till the end to reveal everyone’s scores all together instead of prematurely announcing that Swing Latino is already out of the running?

Someone should compile all of Derek’s reactions to tricks and score reveals and turn them all into memes.

Les Twins - hey, I actually enjoyed this dance. Kinda a shame that the opening and the mirrors was the best part. They still have sync issues when they dance side by side, and for some reason it becomes more and more apparent as the competition progresses (instead of the other way round), but this dance had more complementary choreo than side-by-side/direct opposition so at least there wasn’t that much chances for them to not match each other. Still, I really liked their energy in this performance and it was the first time I really connected and reacted to their performance instead of being just like “well, okay.” Score 2 = 94.7

Derek. Reactions. Judge Derek is a living meme.

Averages: Eva=93.7 Swing Latino=93.2 Les Twins=93.8

The winner is Les Twins. And there’s hardly any time for them to make a speech or for Jenna to commend all the other contestants or give the show a proper wrap up, so we just kinda cut off.

General thoughts of WOD’s first season: The biggest problem is the format and the editing. I guess a large part of the editing is to compact loads of content into a mere 45 minutes. First off, it seems like Jenna does a lot of stuff backstage but because everything is so highly edited, to the average TV viewer, she seems rather obsolete. Next, the lousy editing and truncating/montaging of specific acts makes the TV show very predictable.

I actually forgot there was WOD today until I got home after a long day out and saw people’s reactions on Twitter. Pretty much spoiled myself.

At least with only six acts remaining, the editing is sliiightly better, only because they have less to deal with.

I think I already said this: funny how the junior and senior division ended up with solo v solo and duo v duo, and family duos at that.

This pre-recorded format really doesn’t give Jenna a lot to do. I believe they are pushing for live shows in their season 2, so that should let us see more of her.

Scores are recorded as NeYo, Jennifer, Derek, Average

TEAM DIVISION

Jennifer talks to the teams, who both have really cool training jackets.

Kinjaz - dedicated to their parents, so it’s emotional. Everyone has to do one emotional dance at some point huh. It’s back to their old style after last week’s slight detour. Beautiful staging as always with the dojo courtyard setting. I saw one or two hands out of sync a few times, yikes! I have such high expectations of them that I am nitpicking on HANDS. 91-91-95 A=92.3

Swing Latino - Wow! My favourite of them yet! They brought back the sparkles. They come out with the flags of all the Latin American countries and also featured a few other ballroom styles beyond salsa. 95-95-94 A=94.7

Interestingly, both Jennifer and Ne-Yo gave the same score for each act.

Well, I thought Kinjaz were the clear winners of this round before watching the episode, but after seeing both dances, I shouldn’t have underestimated Swing Latino. They fought really hard in this round.

UPPER DIVISION

They talk to NeYo.

Keone and Mari - My favourite thing about these pair is how every dance they’ve done has a different look and staging. This time they painted themselves grey and wore monochrome clothing to look like an old movie. And an old movie they were, and they still did their unique style but had old-school broadway-ey elements in it. 100-90-95 A=95 First perfect score of the season! That sounds so DWTS haha.

Les Twins - One of them (Laurent, if I heard correctly) hurt their ankle during rehearsals. Ouch, that’s such bad timing. I thought what they did given one of them not being able to use one leg was pretty good, although the entire first half felt more like theatrics than actual dancing. I liked the breakdown section at the end, pity it was so short. 99-99-95 A=97.7

I think K&M had better choreography and dancing, even if Les Twins are disadvantaged. I don’t see how they could only lose one point from across all five categories.

JUNIOR DIVISION

Derek mentoring.

Diana Pombo - Fun and edgy?? At the same time?? I don’t get it... Her costume and the sets were so happy and childish, but the heavy song and her angst expressions didn’t match that. Maybe it’s just me. Why does she always have to do at least one standing developpé side leg lift...I was sick of that move way back in the duels round. That said, this dance was better choreographed than her previous dances and Diana’s transitions were better. But she did fall/hop out of one turn towards the end. 90-89-89 A=89.3

Eva Igo - Wow, that blew me away. Seeing her have so much fun during mentoring with Derek, I wasn’t expecting such an intense routine. I love what she did on the jungle-gym thingy. I enjoyed her ferocity thoroughly. Btw, I’ve never heard this remix of Ready Or Not Here I Come before. I love it. 96-97-97 A=96.7

So it’s ‘The Cut’ and not the cuts, which sounds a whole lot more imposing without the s. Basically, we will go from 5 acts to 2 in each division. All acts will perform, and the two highest scorers will go through. Misty Copeland will also guest judge this round. The judges will also speak to each act in an appointed division and comment on their rehearsals. (What does Jenna do now though?)

JUNIOR DIVISION - mentored by JLo

Diana - I like how she changed out her usual routines of leg lifts and technical jumps and did some smaller movements. Still, she showed her flexibility, like the helicopter chinstand move. Some of the transitions could have been better choreographed (who choreographs her dances? I’d like to know) but this is my favourite routine of hers so far. Average: 92

Immabeast - we barely saw these kids in the last two rounds. They are a hip hop group and perform some burglary-themed number which is heavily edited (read: truncated. This show needs to hire a new editing team.) They are not as sharp as the Lab, you can tell. Average: 84.2

The Mihacevich Sisters - They bring a couch into their routine and danced on/around it consistently. JLo told them in mentoring that she wanted to see more connection. I think when you bring such a domestic prop into a dance, you need to have some compelling story-telling in your dance, and I’m not sure they had that. It was kind of just like the sisters chilling at home and decide to dance. I agree with Derek though that it’s refreshing to see a happy, joyous contemporary act. Average: 85.5

The Lab - They call JLo an “older era artist”. Haha. They come out in this silvery sci-fi-ish suits with some spinldy sets as well. It’s really entertaining. One or two members were out of sync doing the flips at the end. Mini Cameron Boyce cannonballs out right in front of the judges. Average: 86. I liked them more than Diana though. Even if you really think she is better than The Lab (which is debatable) I don’t think their scores should be thaaaaat far apart. JLo literally scored them ten points below Diana. I feel like JLo is subconsciously partial towards Diana.

Eva - she’s using a cloak in her dance to represent her insecurities. JLo helped her connect to the emotions she wants to deal with in her routine. She comes out of some projection trees looking like little purple riding hood. I don’t know if this was intended or a coincidence, but she had a gold costume and a purple cloak, and these colors together have a regal connotation. I was hoping only one of Eva or Diana would progress to the divisional finals along with the Lab, but halfway through this dance I had to accept that Eva would definitely knock the Lab out of second and possibly Diana out of first. This is my favourite of her dances too, and in general her routines are far more well choreographed than Diana’s. The connections and transitions are better - there is almost no arbitrary running across stage. And Eva performs with a lot of strength and power. Average: 92.5

TEAM DIVISION - mentored by NeYo

Swing Latino - They have casual party costumes instead of the sparkle spam this time. I found the beginning and end a bit all over the place, not in technique but in the sense that there was a lot going on and everyone was doing something different. But the middle where they were all dancing together was enjoyable as always. Average: 92.5 I didn’t think it would be that high. Are they just overscoring the first acts or something?

Super Cr3w - They are trying to bring emotion into this dance and dedicate it to various loved ones who they have lost. I think some members were better at showing the vulnerability and emotion than others. Their movements less hard hitting than usual to go with the idea and the song (which is James Bay’s Let it Go, like, did you ever expect to see a b-boy number to such a song??). There was a lightness to their dancing. I like how they switched things up from their usual style. Some parts weren’t very cohesive though. Like towards the end, they all broke into groups and started doing their own things. Also, the smoke was super arbitrary. Average: 88.8

We will see the rest of the teams plus the Uppers next week. I predict Kinjaz will overtake at least Super Cr3w, but I doubt Team With The Incredibly Long And Cheesy Name aka Ian Eastwood and the Young Lions (phew!) will progress to the next round unless they come up with something reeeeeaaaaaally creative, which I don’t see them doing. I can’t remember who the last team is. For the uppers, some of the promo seemed to suggest Fik-Shun underperforms (yikes) but this is the same show that edited their promo to suggest tapper Kyle would beat the Twins so...here’s hoping.

Alright, we’re starting to see more of Jenna. She spoke to all the contestants about their artistic choices and also gave her input.

How the duels work

The highest scorer in each category will pick who they want to face in the duels. The one who chooses dances first and is scored first, then the second dancer performs and is scored. Both scores are revealed together and whoever has the highest score goes through to the next round and the loser is eliminated.

The rankings for Upper category after the qualifying round are:

1. Les Twins 2. Fik-shun 3. Pasion* 4. Nick Daniels 5. Luka and Jennalyn 6. Quick Style 7. DNA 8. Keone and Mari 9. Kyle Van Newkirk* 10. Kings Unite*

For Team Category:

1. Kinjaz 2. Swing Latino 3. Chapkis Dance Family* 4. Super Cr3w 5. Jabbawockeez 6. Ian Eastwood & the Young Lions 7. Royal Flux* 8. Rouge* 9. Miami All Stars 10. Stroll Groove* 11. Rhythmatic*

In Junior category:

1. The Lab 2. Diana Pombo 3. D’Angelo and Amanda 4. Eva Igo 5. Mihacevich Sisters 6. Kyntay* 7. The Posse* 8. Immabeast* 9. Boys of Tenecula* 10. Mini Request*

(contestants marked * are those whose full qualifier dances were not shown)

Got that? Here we go...

Fik-shun vs Nick They skipped over Les Twins this week so we move on to Fik-shun first. Fik-shun picked Nick so they would go soloist against soloist. They also both have a thing for tattered shirts. I just noticed that Nick has really prominent double eyelids that make him look sleepy sometimes. I think Nick has a more immediate “wow” factor because of his flexibility and the acrobatics, but his routine was more similar to his qualifying one, except with more tricks. Also, he always lifts his left leg. And Wicked Games is a nice song but ever since Amy and Travis’ SYTYCD routine it’s been overused in contemporaries. I do like this female version though. Fik-shun’s dance was a little more compact but was very interesting, like when he arched his back on the floor and like used his hand as a lever to shift his body around, and how the last few bars of the routine mirrored the first a bit. Nick - 87.7, Fik-shun - 90.7

Swing Latino vs Miami All Stars Again skipping the #1 team, we pit latin team against latin team. Holy crap! These two teams pulled all the stops. Swing Latino was like a cheerleading team with latin background on steroids. I expected tricks, but NOT LIKE THAT. WHAT DID I EVEN SEE? THAT LAST TRICK??? WHAT?? Miami All Stars went with a swing style item and had really cute costumes. I loved this dance so much more than their qualifier one. I think they matched Swing Latino’s energy, where Swing Latino had every dancer moving all the times, a lot of Miami All Stars’ choreo was 1-2 dancers doing tricks in the front while everyone else was like an ensemble doing simpler group movements at the back. Derek covers his eyes before the scores haha. I get the feel, man. Swing Latino - 91.7, Miami All Stars - [88.3]

Eva Igo vs Kyntay For some reason, Kyntay go first even though Eva picked them...idk. They sound so cute when they say “thank you” together. Anyway, Kyntay are these two girls who are really popular on social media and have performed with Janet Jackson. They’re outfits look amazing! Where can I get one of those tops? I think Eva had a greater frequency of wow moments in her item. That said, I think Kyntay’s dance was choreographed to show more musicality whereas Eva had lots of tricks but I didn’t always felt like they were well connected. The leg lifts got a bit repetitive, but I like how her style doesn’t evolve a lot of wrought angst expressions and throwing limbs around. Kyntay - 82.7, Eva - 89. I don’t think they were THAT far apart.

Quick Style vs Keone and Mari They were the last ones who weren’t picked yet so they were left to duel with each other. These two groups are friends and Keone and Mari were Quick Style’s teachers. Now that they mention that, you can see some similarities - the cleanliness, the sharpness of movement. I dunno how they decided who would go first, but Keone and Mari do. The choreo was really smart, showing disconnect between two people even though they are dancing together. It’s slower but more emotional and deep than their qualifier. They have a smart game plan to up their story telling through each round of competition and I think that’s smart. Quick Style is apparently the “dopest boyband [Derek has] ever seen”. They had a lot precision in this dance, lots of simple but fast moves that created interesting visual effects. I think they have better clenliness and precision than K+M’s qualifying dance because while it was fast, there’s wasn’t too much going on. Keone and Mari - 91.3, Quick Style - 89.3. I’m gonna miss Quick Style, but I agree that K+M had better artistic choices here.

Team Division (continued)

As of last week, Swing Latino are currently in first place with Super Cr3w a few points behind.

Kinjaz - They want to show that Asian Americans can be sexy. I won’t say this routine was sexy, but it was suave. A little different from what they usually do, music and setting wise, but still with all the intricacies and cleanliness that makes them great. Average=93.5. They take first place and eliminate Super Cr3w. I’m not surprised.

Chapkis Dance Family - They’ve only gotten montage shots so far and I still don’t really know what their “thing” is. Seems to be hip hop and jazz funk. They danced to Britney Spear’s Work Bitch and that song is one of my guilty pleasures so I wish they at least showed us their full routine. They tore off their suits halfway through to reveal braided hair, white T-shirts and shorts. I think it was meant to be funny but the judges didn’t respond well. Average=85.8

Ian Eastwood and the Young Lions - They are wearing loose white shirts and light-coloured plain pants so you know it’s gonna be at least somewhat emotional. Ian says it’s about his journey through dance and life in general. Ne-Yo makes a very good point about how the story must be comprehensible by the audience. Technically this was a relatively simple dance, but visually it was effective. Better use of the smoke machine, some floating umbrellas. Ne-Yo had some doubts, and JLo says their dance style is kinda repetitive and needs to change. I don’t think it’s thaaaat repetitive. Average=89. Not enough to make the cut. I didn’t expect them to make it but it was a valiant effort on their part, and as a new group, they’ve gotten their name out there.

Upper Division - mentored by Derek

Luka and Jenalyn - Having ballroom backgrounds, they were thrilled to meet Derek. JLo still wants more dancing and I agree. Misty says Jenalyn is connecting to the audience more than Luka, which is a bit unfair to him since he is kinda a prop for Jenalyn. Derek says they need to work on connecting to each other, and Luka says something like “yeah, maybe it’s because we’re too busy doing tricks, we don’t really have time to interact with each other.” By the way, their costumes look like they are made of duct tape. Average=80.5. It wasn’t that bad. I don’t think they made any progress from their last dance but it’s not like this dance was a huge step backward for them.

Fik-shun - The fact that he is going second has me nervous for him. He is using a bench and an umbrella. Lucky for him, Derek LOVES dancing with furniture (so much that I complain about it when I talk about DWTS). Ne-Yo said it was a bit safe, not his best, and he could have incorporated the props better and Derek gives a "Whaaaaat??” expression on the spot. I must say I like how his actions were linked to the lyrics of the song (even though I don’t really like this song). And when he rolled under the bench and folded his arms...that moment just sticks out to me. Like, I could see him making his character ‘age’ throughout the dance but that part just hit me. I’m happy he did a more lighthearted routine after two angsty dances without losing the emotion in the dance. Average=84.2. I thought he deserved a bit more.

Pasion - The flamenco troupe. Why couldn’t we see Derek talking to them why??? Another group that’s only been shown in montages so far. I don’t think Livin the Vida Loca was the best song choice given their style. Hardly any of their dance is shown, so I can’t really judge though. Average=78.8.

Les Twins - They looked very very tame in the rehearsal, but ultimately came out with more dynamism. I saw them go out of sync a lot of times throughout the whole dance which is unlike them. The judges raved but I personally wasn’t wowed. It was quite underwhelming. Like, their first routine had some emotion, and their second one had some vague story going on plus an impactful ending, but this dance was average. Average=93.5 I don’t think they should have been scored THAT high. I would have scored it around the same as Fik-shun, and no way were they equal to Kinjaz.

Keone and Mari - They don’t want to just be known as the happy couple so this dance was about challenges in relationships. I was quite thrown by the song change and the screaming. I thought they used the band really well, but I don’t understand the point of the streamers falling at the end. That aside, this dance was very well-thought out and I thought it was the best dance in the division for this round. Average=93.2. Very very close to beating out Les Twins.

I’m gonna miss you Fik-shun! Good thing I still get to see you on SYTYCD.

Funny how the two Upper finalists are both duos...

What did you think of the Cut round in general. Was the outcome what you wanted/thought it should be? My inbox is always open.

So next week will be the divisional finals. It’s Diana vs Eva, Swing Latino vs Kinjaz, and Les Twins vs Keone and Mari. I think the Team division has the most predictable outcome. Swing Latino may be fast, but they lack the cleanliness, precision and cohesiveness of Kinjaz. That said, I’m still looking forward to see what they bring. Between Diana and Eva, I feel like Diana will make it through just because JLo loves her so much, but I think Eva is a stronger and more mature dancer (not to mention she has a better choreographer behind her, whoever that might be. Or are both girls choreographing their own dances?) I’m personally rooting for Eva.

In case you haven’t noticed, all my posts this week are late. I’ve been forgetful.

Kinjaz vs Stroll Groove: Kinjaz were the top group division scorers and picked on tenth place stepping group Stroll Groove. Stroll’s audition wasn’t shown, so going into this round one could already guess what would happen. Honestly I feel like Kinjaz could have taken on someone higher. They probably wouldn’t have gone against Jabbawockeez but I feel like they could have beaten Super Cr3w if they tried. Not only are Kinjaz very clean and very tight, they make really good creative choices, from their music choice to their props. The screens are such a simple item but they way they used it to create the effect of the dojo and the illusion of several compartments/layers was mesmerising. Stroll Groove was constantly shifting in their formations, which also kept things interesting, and you can see how much they enjoy performing. I think their music overpowered the sounds they were creating though. Kinjaz - 91.3; Stroll Groove - 81.3.

Luka and Jenalyn vs DNA: One of the rare somewhat equally matched duels. Luka and Jenalyn were full of tricks as per usual. The head turn trick is even harder than you think it is - the laws of physics dictate that Jenalyn would be spinning at a different speed that Luka is turning, so they have to be super careful. I think their qualifier routine had a bit more transitional dancing though. Like how the last move looks like a rule-63 rerun of their earlier moves. Luka has a weird angst face. Denys of DNA botched up a turning jump at the start of their dance and I think that kind of threw him off, but otherwise, this dance was a routine I would love to do (if I could actually dance at that level). It looks a bit like this other routine they’ve done before. I loved the side-by-side section. DNA - 80.3; Luka and Jenalyn - 88.7.

And a montage of battles because they don’t have enough episodes to show everyone in detail:

Immabeast vs Mini Request (Junior division) - two hip hop kids crews. Immabeast 86; Mini Request 85.7

Pasion vs Kings Unite (Upper division) - Pasion is the briefly shown flamenco troupe from the qualifiers. Kings Unite we’ve never seen - they seem to be a four-man hip hop group. So both groups have four people. I guess that’s the basis of this duel. Pasion - 87.3; Kings Unite - 83.7

Chapkis Dance Family vs Rhythmatic (Team division) - Chapkis is that group which had the crazy trick where some guy handstands on top of everyone else while the whole group just tilts to the side with one woman whipping her hair in the front. Rhythmatic was the lowest scoring team from qualifiers and are a tapping group. Chapkis - 88.7; Rhythmatic - 86.3

D’Angelo and Amanda vs The Mihacevich Sisters (Junior division) - Another weird pair-up...I’m hoping D’Angelo and Amanda (who could also be called DNA, haha) thought they could hit a little higher than Kyntay (the only other duo in the division who qualified) and went for the trio of the Mihacevich sisters. Didn’t see much of their routine, but I saw one or two connections that could have been smoother. I like how the Mihacevich sisters really changed up their hair and costumes. They looked like three pink TInkerbells. Their routine looked a little simple in the truncated edit. I’ll have to find the full version on youtube. D’Angelo and Amanda - 78.7; Mihacevich sisters - 81. Very close.

And the anticipated three-way battle goes to Team division leftovers Jabbawockeez, The Young Lions, and Rouge: Rouge didn’t appear in the qualifying episodes, so really though, you’d expect the main battle to be between Jabbawockeez and the Young Lions (which I still think is a cheesy name. Come on Ian, you need to come up with something better). I’m not surprised no one wanted to pick Jabbawockeez. I think no one knew what to make of the Lions. Anyway, Rouge is a all-women hip hop group. They started off with a nice cheerleader-like formation. I agree with JLo - the choreo could have been better. There was a lot of strutting in between moves. Also, their formations were messy. The lines weren’t straight, the gaps in between each member were inconsistent. Jabbawockeez were more hard-hitting in this number. I like how they made it look like the routine was done, then came back with these small but entertaining moves. I think Ian Eastwood and the Young Lions (gosh that is such a pain to write out in full) are still disadvantaged cos of their style, but this performance was really more dynamic. I feel like the song choice was a rather huge factor, having a slightly faster tempo than ‘Chunky’. They kept moving. They had bigger movements without over-doing it or throwing their limbs around - they managed to still keep it tight and simple. The jacket remove at the end was pretty smooth. Rouge - 80; Jabbawockeez - 84.7; The Young Lions - 85.7. Everyone backstage has gathered round a small television set and they all scream. I suppose Jabbawockeez’s own standards have been their undoing, while the Young Lions are still fresh so it’s easier for them to ‘wow’. No matter, I’m sure this won’t be the last we hear of Jabbawockeez, but I myself an pretty surprised too.