World of Dance

:

Season 1
  • Network: NBC
  • Series Premiere Date: May 30, 2017
Season #: 4, 3, 2, 1
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 1 Critic Review

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1

Critic Reviews

  1. Boston Herald
    Reviewed by: Mark A. Perigard
    May 30, 2017
    50
    World of Dance has stars, style and spunk. It’s also wildly over­produced and seems a bit out of step.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 68 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 68
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 68
  3. Negative: 13 out of 68
  1. Megamegoh
    Jul 15, 2017
    2
    I was really excited for this show since it was supposed to be the best of the best competing against each other. I've made it through theI was really excited for this show since it was supposed to be the best of the best competing against each other. I've made it through the first 5 episodes and have decided to stop wasting my time. While I am a sucker for a sad but inspirational story, it seems that those groups and individuals with the saddest stories are the ones that get the highest scores regardless of how well they actually dance. I am a classically trained dancer and while I love me a good hip hop routine, I would like to see more classically trained dancers as well. Jennifer Lopez is not a classically trained dancer and neither is Ne-yo. In fact, the only judge on this show with any real credentials is Derek Hough. Why in the world they have Jenna Dewan-Tatum hosting and not judging still baffles me. She is by far the most experienced in every form of dance!

    If you enjoy shows with self absorbed celebrities telling contestents whether they have talent or not, this show is for you. If you want to see actual dancers in all genres, I would move on from this one. The focus is more on hip-hop and the contortionist dancers, not on those that have been classically trained.    … Full Review »
  2. Colokat5
    Jun 28, 2017
    4
    I had such high hopes for this show! That said, I'm extremely disappointed. Much of what I've seen so far is NOT dance! It's moreI had such high hopes for this show! That said, I'm extremely disappointed. Much of what I've seen so far is NOT dance! It's more contortionism mixed with various forms of street dance. World of Dance the title, certainly makes it seem that there will be various Forms of Dance. The true "dancers" rather than the contortionists score very low, while the crazy contortionistic "dancers" all score high. I will stick it out for the season, but as a classically trained dancer, this show should NOT be called "World of Dance". Jennifer Lopez should find other endeavors to put her "talents" to. All the reviews that score it 10 are not classically trained dancers obviously, but lean toward the street dancer variety.… Full Review »
  3. JennetP
    Jun 14, 2017
    3
    Spoiler Alert: This review has a few ideas in it. If you liked the show, you won't like them, so just downvote the review and move on becauseSpoiler Alert: This review has a few ideas in it. If you liked the show, you won't like them, so just downvote the review and move on because you'll never get back the 5-50 minutes you spend reading the rest. For those still here, World of Dance is not actually a show about dance. How do I know? Well I just finished watching the first 3 episodes, and I swear they skipped more dancing than they showed. By "skipped" I mean showed for 5 seconds then flashed the score to leave more time for the important stuff.

    The important stuff: the celebrity judges, the moral lessons, and the feeeeeeeelings. The judges on the show are no worse than celebrities on any other show. They have some talent, though nothing commensurate with the worship they receive from the crowd and the performers, not to mention the air time they eat up. I like dance, so I would rather watch my grandmother do the twist after a few too many sherries than watch Jennifer Lopez grab the hands of her male co-stars and feign rapture, and I certainly don't want the camera to cut away from GOOD dancing to show me this beatitude, but it does. There's also plenty of time for one judge or another to hop up on stage and demonstrate a move, whereupon the actual contestants drop to the ground in reverence as though Thor has just promised them Sweden AND Denmark. The message is clear: celebrities matter so much that every little self-aggrandizing gesture is worth preempting dance for. Watch them, adore them, let them distract you.

    The moral lessons are the usual ones. For example, this show loves underdog dance troupes. I mean who doesn't? Folks who "come from nowhere," get together to share a common passion and become like family chasing their big break, and we get to watch as they either make it or fall heart-wrenchingly short. This is just the latest version of the Horatio Alger myth, and it's supposed to convince you that any kid with a dream can reach the big time. If you actually look at the entertainment industry, however, you can't miss the fact that the normal route to stardom these days is nepotism and/or big money. It is eight million times better to be mildly talented and have a relative in the business than it is to be massively talented and know nobody. In other words, this moral lesson, while it may FEEL inspirational, is designed to keep you from looking too closely at how the world actually works.

    Speaking of feelings. Ugh, the show never shuts up about them. The one "truth" it flogs mercilessly is that the greatest dancers have to feel the feelings they're dancing in the moment in order to convey those feelings to the audience. Using this logic, whoever has the most backstage feelings will give the most successful performance, so the show has to devote lots of time to showing us those backstage feelings, which are generally in the love area with extra points for undeserved suffering. The problem is that the show has the feelings thing all wrong. Yes, a great performance has a strong emotional impact, but strong feeling on the part of the dancer during the dance is more likely to get in the way of that impact than make it happen. Thom Yorke once said that singers who try to feel their feelings while they're singing about them, rather than think about the feelings of the audience are being self-indulgent. But TV reveres feeling above all else because . . . oh, come on, you can guess, right? If you can't, well, I guess shows like World of Dance have done their job.

    A final note: my score is 3 because the show does have some impressive dancing.    … Full Review »
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