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Voodoo PreChallenge WOD 1! Here in this boys and girls!! Check out all the details on our website voodoofitnessfest.com Registration still open! Link in bio. #voodoo2018 #voodooprechallenge #voodoofitnessfestival #wod1 (at Voodoo Fitness Festival)

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#desafiobetterthanever 2017 #crossfitmarilia #wod1-3 (em Crossfit Marília)

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World of Dance FINALS

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.

Favourite dancers/groups: Kinjaz, Ian Eastwood and His Group Of Dancers With The Long And Cheesy Name aka the Young Lions, QUICK STYLE (gosh I am still not over them), Royal Flux and Kyle Van Newkirk.

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World of Dance divisional finals

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 our final finalists are Swing Latino, Eva and the twins. Do you agree with the judges? Who do you think will take home the 1 million?

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World of Dance - the Cut pt 2

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.

I’m don’t know how to feel about the Upper division. Neither pairs were my favourites to begin with (RIP Quick Style, I’m still not over you). The judges seem completely enamoured by Les Twins, but I think Keone and Mari put more thought into their routines and have more artistry as both choreographers and performers. K&M’s routines are also some of the most memorable throughout this competition. I guess personally I want K&M to win, but I probably care the least about this division.

[dwtspd]

World of Dance: The Cut pt 1

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.

What are your thoughts about the Cut so far? I think The Lab should have made it instead of Diana, but Eva deserved her place. Feel free to drop your thoughts into my inbox, and I’ll see you all next week.

[dwtspd]

World of Dance: the duels #3

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.

What did you think of the duels? If you have anything you are DYING to say, feel free to drop into my inbox. Also, I believe the next round is called ‘the cuts’. See you all next week!

[dwtspd]

World of Dance: Qualifiers part 3

Before we start this week’s informal review, I just wanna share something I learnt from reading other WOD reviews. It seems like there is only one latin ballroom school in Miami owned by the Castro Patriach (I think his name is Manny???) over at Dance Town Miami, which is where D’Angelo and Amanda and the Miami All-stars come from. Also, I was right about D’Angelo being the brother of Ruby Castro from SYTYCD last year. Apparent they’ve all competed on AGT before. In other words, I should watch AGT. Hmm.

Okay. Moving on to the actual show.

Do they have to yak on about their scoring system every single episode? I think we’ve got it by now.

My favourite this week was DNA - Dennis N Antoinette (did I spell her name right?). They are a married couple from Ukraine who had a very cheesy love story. That was one of the most passionate vwaltzes I’ve seen. A bit too much throwing limbs around, but a ton of memorable tricks.

Jabbawockeez were probably the most hyped group in the competition. I don’t think they were as tight as they’ve been before, but it was still an interesting number. The use of the top-down camera angle was a good touch.

There was a montage of people who got through - I wish they showed the tap number because it’s a style not seen on WOD yet, even if the guy barely made it through.

The Colombian group, Swing Latino, were soo so fast, sometimes too fast for me to follow. I personally found the full-sparkly outfits a bit too much. But they were very entertaining.

Ian Eastwood and the Young Lions - cheesy name aside, I really enjoyed this performance! I love their style, though I can see what Derek means by it looks like a backup number for a singer. They tried to scare us into thinking they wouldn’t get through, but they did by a decently safe margin, although I feel the each of the judges all thought “oh, I think the other judges will be harsh on them, so I’ll be a bit lenient”.

Finally, Eva Igo, who was also very hyped up prior to this episode. I’m already sick of this song being used for dances. When the first two episodes ended with a contemporary number I brushed it off as coincidence, but now I’m not so sure. As for her dance, there were too many leg lifts (on the same leg too) for me. There were also these random moments where she would just walk from one end of the stage while smiling or making funny faces that I feel didn’t really fit in with the mood of the item in general. All in all, I thought it was an underwhelming end to the show.