Photo credit:Andrew Eccles/NBC
World of Dance has made a huge impact this summer. Not only does it have a Season 2 pickup order from NBC, it also has brought more positive attention to the dance world. That camaraderie was felt at last Saturday’s World of Dance Tour finals in Pasadena, California.
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Dance Network spoke to many of the NBC World of Dance contestants who talked about their experience on the show. Super Cr3w, who was eliminated in the Tuesday, July 18 show, brought some insight that has been whispered about behind the scenes — altered judges’ comments from the live show this winter to the show’s airing this summer.
“Here’s a little secret: when we were there live, they didn’t say any of that to our face,” says Mike ‘Murda” Carrasco to Dance Network. “They praised us.”
In looking back on the judges’ comments from the show, Derek Hough offers nothing but praise — and a 95 score — while Misty Copeland and Ne-Yo offer some praise and some constructive feedback. Jennifer Lopez’s comments are not heard.
Since Dance Network was not in the audience on taping day, it’s hard to know how those comments differ from what aired on NBC, but Super Cr3w offered their side to the story.
“It’s kind of hard to see it on TV because it’s supposed to be for the dancers and the dance community and we love the dance community. We want everything to be legit and honest,” explains Jon “Do-Knock” Cruz. “If we go on a show and we go out [of a round], we want to go out the way it happened in real life . [The audience saw] something that was totally added to make people think we didn’t do that good. That’s not what happened and that needs to change.”
Photo credit: Trae Patton/NBC
“They gave us nothing but praise in their comments when we were there live. When we saw it on TV, it was criticism,” adds Carrasco.
Dance Network has heard about allegations of scores being changed since the taping from other contestants, but Super Cr3w confirms that their scores remained the same. Cruz thinks that shooting the show live could help keep the judging accountable.
“The scores were the same, but we think that their comments had to match the scores that were given. It wasn’t like that when it was taped,” he explains. “If the show was live, it would be fine — but the show isn’t live. Hopefully next season, they clear all that stuff up.”
Carrasco is also concerned about the lack of time and the editing of dance pieces because there are larger things at play here — Emmy nominations.
“It’s unfortunate for the dancers because as far as NBC is concerned, they probably just cut people’s performances to fit into the allotted time. That’s the way they see it, but when you’re cutting people’s artistic integrity that we took days, hours and sometimes even weeks to create and not have it presented the way it’s supposed to be presented — it stings,” he says. “On top of that, there are bigger things at risk like Emmy consideration for choreography. That’s at risk now because what we put out into the world was altered. It gets deeper than ‘we just didn’t have enough time.’ “
While Super Cr3w is speaking out about some elements of the show that they think need improving, they are also grateful for the experience and the way the show is moving dance forward.
“We were just honored to be on a show like that. We are not taking anything away from what this show is — giving the opportunity to highlight dance in general for the dance community is something that is only getting better,” says Cruz. “It’s not perfect, but it’s getting better from ABDC [America’s Best Dance Crew] and from when I was on Star Search. It’s a different beast now, but it’s still going in a positive way.”
Photo credit: Trae Patton/NBC
Cruz acknowledges that the crew has been in the dance community for a long time, so to be included in such incredible company is a gift.
“Even with all of the behind the scenes of what we deal with, we’re still inspiring new generations and all of the little kids that just want to see us dance. That’s one of the reasons we do it in the first place and we continue to do it,” he shares. “We are considered the vets of television because we’ve been doing it for a long time. We are thankful that we still get the opportunity and we still get to do it.”
Cruz and Carrasco also know they took a big risk in The Cut round, but they still think it paid off in the end.
“Everyone knows Super Cr3w and everyone knows what we’re capable of, but I think strategically for us, we wanted to be seen in a different light. Dance is universal. Break dance is universal and break dancing in a certain way can be done contemporary,” sums up Cruz. “That’s what we tried to do. We knew the song was going to be hard for us, but we put energy into that to see what we could create. We dedicated it to our families and everyone can relate who has lost somebody. We wanted to show people that breaking can be beautiful and that’s what we did.”
Don’t miss Dance Network and Popcorn Talk’s episode of ‘To The Pointe With Kristyn Burtt’ featuring ‘World of Dance’ crew, The Lab:
Article originally written for Dance Network.