This week, was the fourth and final round of The Duels on NBC’s World of Dance. The final contestants in the Junior Division went head to head and battled it out for their spot in the Semi-Finals while losers of previous duels hoped tWitch would choose them for Redemption. “I’ve got crazy decisions to make,” tWitch said at the start of this episode.
James and Harris vs. Bailey and Kida
The first acts to duel this week were James and Harris and Bailey and Kida. James and Harris are amateur dancers up-against Bailey and Kida’s industry experience, but the judges adore their chemistry as a contemporary duo. Meanwhile, since their Qualifiers performance, the judges hoped to see that Bailey and Kida would amp up their performance chemistry.
Bailey and Kida were first to perform, and it was clear from the start that they were bringing it to another level with tutting, isolations, and a lot more interaction throughout the piece. “Every movement,” Derek said, “[was] just so intentional and executed to perfection.” JLo even got the goosies.
JLo thought that James and Harris complimented each other beautifully in their performance. “There’s just such a great dance duo here,” she said after their performance ended on a ferocious note. Ne-Yo didn’t think they were pushing it enough, though. “You’re not dancing as strong as you are,” he said, and tWitch agreed, encouraging them to take more risks.
Ne-Yo was first to vote, choosing Bailey and Kida. JLo followed with a vote for James and Harris, leaving Derek to break the tie. He chose Bailey and Kida, sending James and Harris into the pool of Redemption hopefuls.
Keagan Capps vs. Maddy Penney
In the Qualifiers, Keagan wowed the judges with her ability to incorporate contortion into her dance while Maddy Penney showed off her pointe skills and incredible technique. It’s no wonder the judges put these two performance powerhouses against one another for the last of the Junior Division duels.
Maddy took advantage of her lines and technique in her performance, playing up her grace as a dancer. JLo thought it was a good routine, but overall she and the other judges weren’t wowed. Ne-Yo was happy to see that this performance let them see more of Maddy’s personality, though, which she was missing in her previous performance.
The judges were happy to have an emotional connection with Keagan during her performance, too. Even though, her performance featured a lot of space between moves, the judges were excited by the emotion she packed into it and pushed her to include more dance between pictures and contortion moves in the future.
The judges voted unanimously to send Keagan on to the next round after this duel.
Redemption
After Keagan and Maddy performed, it was time for tWitch to make his crazy decisions. Like his Upper Division picks, he chose one act from each half of the duels, putting recent losers James and Harris up against The Young Cast who lost to Grvmnt last week. The Young Cast performed first, convincing JLo that they have “a bag of tricks we don’t know about yet.” James and Harris followed their performance with a duet with a lot of fluidity.
While the judges thought that James and Harris continue to do a great job and bring something different to the competition, they voted unanimously to send The Young Cast on to the next round. The Young Cast joins Keagan Capps, Bailey and Kida, Grvmnt, Savannah Manzel, and MDC3 in the Junior Division Semi-Finalists.
