World of Dance is perfect summer television. It won’t tax your brain, you’ll smile the whole time, and it will remind you that the human body can do amazing things.
Watch it with your kids, your husband, your grandma who’s open-minded about “that rap music.”
I’m a sucker for a dance show, but this is the first one I’ve ever made time for weekly (or learned to make gifs for). Unlike Dancing with the Stars, nobody sucks. Unlike So You Think You Can Dance, they’re not filling time with endless sob story packages. Unlike Bunheads, you don’t have to pretend to care about the plot (Bunheads! Why weren’t you amazing?!? I wanted you to be amazing so much!). It’s just, as they love to tell you, “The Olympics of Dance.” And this could hold me over until 2020.
All the contestants are amazing. There’s no William Hung nonsense. You’ll find yourself in a YouTube vortex devouring all their previous work. You won’t even injure yourself trying out their moves because you’ll know you can’t without making any ill-fated attempts.
And, like The Great British Bake-Off (or whatever PBS has renamed it thanks to Pillsbury’s trademark lawyers), eliminations are handled fairly, quickly and tastefully and the contestants handle them well. No Lucas/Blake scenes here.
The judges are… fine. Well qualified, well spoken, constructive with criticism, not unkind… and totally overshadowed by the dancing, to the point where I’m always a little irritated when we cut away to them during a number. Next year I need picture-in-picture for their reaction shots. The dancing, you guys, it’s so good it overshadows JLo.
I’m not sure yet why Jenna Dewan Tatum is hosting… she’d be totally qualified to judge, and supposedly she’ll be mentoring more later in the season, but she hasn’t done much yet. Also, her extensions are inferior to JLo’s (obviously). I’m still hoping filming intersected with Bring Your Husband to Work Day.
Best of all for a cord-cutter like me, World of Dance is available to everybody on the NBC app and website right after it airs. No waiting a week so I’ve read the recap before I see the show (looking at you Bachelorette). And if you just want to see the performances without the added entertainment of Derek Hough swiveling his hips, they all go up as individual clips.
So go! Watch! Be happy! And come back and tell me who you’re rooting for. I haven’t made up my mind, but my kiddo’s pulling hard for Keone and Mari.
Written By Bea
Bea loves life in the Pacific Northwest, rereading old novels and weird varieties of pickles. She can dive deep on Harry Potter, Twilight, 90’s CCM, celeb fashion or foreign policy. She’s trying to figure out what to do when the little one goes to kindergarten, what to make for dinner and how to be a feminist who can’t pass up a princess book.
Feature Image courtesy of NBC
