World of Dance (TV series)

Format changes

While the format for season 2 remained relatively unchanged, there were a few slight alterations. Season 2 received a 16-episode order,^[2] six more than the ten-episode first season. Additionally, this season, a fourth category, Junior Team, was added for acts under 18 with 5 or more members. The qualifier rounds are cut down from a two minutes to an one-minute routine. The Duels are cut down from two minutes to a ´80 seconds´-routine. The top three highest-scoring acts in The Cut from each division will move on to the Divisional Final, in last season it was just the top two.

Show concept

In preparation for season two, handpicked competitors, being talented in any styles of dancing, from qualifying events around the nation and thousands of online submissions, are divided into four divisions: Junior (groups of 1-4, under 18), Upper (groups of 1-4, 18 and older), Junior Team (groups of 5+, under 18) and Upper Team (groups of 5+, 18 and older). In some cases dancers who didn't apply were directly contacted by the producers or their agents.

The elimination process of the contestants are in four rounds:

1. The Qualifiers - The contestants have to qualify with at least 80 points to make it to The Duels.
2. The Duels - The contestants choose their opponent starting with the highest scorer from the qualifiers. If the number of contestants in a division is uneven, the last duel will be competed by the three remaining opponents that were unpicked previously. The winner of the duel is the contestant/s with the highest score who then move on to The Cut.
3. The Cut - Mentors are assigned to each division to prepare the contestants for their performances. The top three scoring acts in each division move on to The Division Finals.
4. The Division Finals - The mentors still support the contestants from each division. The top scoring act in each division will become division champion and move on to The World Final. ^[3]

In The World Final all four division champions will compete for the $1,000,000 USD grand prize. It is expected that the concept of last season is copied; every contestant will perform twice in two separate rounds. The average score of both rounds by each contestant will make their final score. The contestant(s) with the highest final score will be crowned World of Dance champion 2018 and will win the $1,000,000 USD grand prize.

Scoring

The judges are scoring in 5 categories. Each category is worth 20 points, with a perfect score of 100:

• Performance (20 points):
  • Effort: How many different elements put into the routine. What is the whole effort to dance the performance by the act.
  • Personality: How characters and personality put into the performance, in the sense of acting to stimulate emotions by the audience, telling a story or framing pictures.
• Technique (20 points):
  • Transitions: How smooth and elegant the transitions from move to move were without lacking a performance moment.
  • Cleanness: How synchronized, ordered by a pattern, precise and committed the movements were within the act.
  • Execution: How flawless the execution of the performance by the act was to the performance song.
• Choreography (20 points):
  • Difficulty: How difficult it was to perform the figures and movements by the act from judges point of view.
  • Musicality: How well pictures, figures and movements were choreographed to the sound and beat of the performance song.
  • Tricks: Are unexpected show elements included by properties, clothing or the bodies of the dancers and how well was it done.
• Creativity (20 points):
  • Originality: How unique and interesting was the performance.
  • Artistic Choices: What styles of dancing were shown and merged. How well was it done regarding basic dance styles and style culture, e.g. costumes, shoes. The performance song is an artistic choice as well. How well did it fit to the performance.
  • Dynamics: How energizing and powerful the performance was and how much action was on stage.
• Presentation (20 points):
  • Crowd Appeal: How the crowd around the show stage reacted to the performance.
  • Impact: How memorable and worth talking about it later the performance was.

Development

Jennifer Lopez, who serves as both executive producer and judge, felt that the series would be a return to her roots; Lopez had achieved early fame as a member of In Living Color's dance crew, The Fly Girls. She explained that dance had been her "first form of artistic expression", and that the series "reminded me of all the reasons why I love dance and why I wanted to do this in the first place".^[1]

The series premiere was originally scheduled for May 8, 2017 (as a lead-out for The Voice), but was pushed back to May 30, 2017 to serve as a lead-out for the season premiere of America's Got Talent.^[4][5] On June 29, 2017, NBC renewed the series for a second season,^[6] which will premiere on May 29, 2018—once again complimenting the next season of America's Got Talent.^[7] In May 2018, prior to its season 2 premiere, World of Dance was renewed for a third season.^[8]