‘Dance’ back into summer
J.Lo and company are ready for Season 2.
LOS ANGELES – The judges on NBC’s World of Dance knew they had a hit last summer when they were scorned by angry fans on Twitter.
The first big reaction on social media happened when judges Jennifer Lopez (also an executive producer), Grammywinning singer and dancer Ne-Yo and choreographer and Dancing With the Stars pro Derek Hough voted the popular group Jabbawockeez off the competition series. Another huge eruption was sparked by the judges’ decision to give French duo Les Twins the $1 million grand prize over dancer Eva Igo.
“I gotta admit, I was a little worried when I was reading Twitter (last July). I thought initially, ‘Oh my God, (the viewers) are gonna kill us,’ ” Ne-Yo tells USA TODAY on the Dance set during a break in taping Season 2, due Tuesday (10 ET/ PT). He says Lopez had to talk him down and convince him that negative feedback was a positive thing.
“Here’s what I did love about Twitter: that people were tweeting about it” at all, Lopez says. “That means they care.”
Indeed, viewers showed they care about a series that pits dancers, in groups and solo, head to head. Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance (returning June 4, 8 ET/PT) and Dancing With the Stars have seen ratings decline, but World of Dance’s first season averaged more than 10 million viewers, jumpstarted by its lead-in, top summer hit America’s Got Talent. Hough credits the show’s success to its production value: “It’s capturing the dynamism, the colors, the vibrancy.”
The series, which runs for 16 weeks, has already been renewed for a third season.
Though Lopez insists that Twitter support wouldn’t sway her vote, Hough concedes viewers had a point when they trolled him online.
“There were some acts that last season I watched (and thought), ‘This was incredible, this was on fire’ that didn’t seem so special when he watched them on TV, Hough says. “But we asked to have monitors at our judging desk, so we’re able to see it live and also, if we need to, on the monitor, so we have the perspective of what the audience will see.” (Unlike most competition series, World of Dance is taped in advance.)
Another change: More dancers ages 17 and younger take center stage.
“People loved the juniors last year,” Lopez says. “It was really a surprise to most of us that the juniors could compete with the adults.” So half the acts will be kids and teens facing off against the “uppers.”
Other changes? “There’s a lot more locking, hip-hop, Latin and waacking on display,” Hough says, describing the style launched in LGBT clubs that employs fast arm movements.
“You can’t be a one-trick pony here anymore,” Ne-Yo adds.
Fresh fusion styles and fancy sets aside, Lopez says the show has only “slight tweaks” from Season 1.
“People love the show the way it was last year,” says Lopez, who got her start as a dancer. “Its appeal is about dancers: They have such a passion and they’re so dedicated and committed.
“This was my dream: to make a platform where they were the stars. Where they weren’t in the background anymore. Where they could make some real money. Not where they were getting the lowest of anybody on the crew.”