Recently I went to see the World of Dance LIVE matinee performance in Vancouver at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, as a part of a birthday gift from my parents. I was really excited to see it, after watching last year's performance (Note: you can also read my review for last year's World of Dance Vancouver LIVE 2018) and also from watching the show. Also as a disclaimer, I wasn't paid/sponsored to see the show or write a review. My thoughts and information written below are completely from my own experiences. This is purely written from a dancer/ dance enthusiast's point of view, and as someone who just loves watching dance performances in general. Now on with the review :)
To start the show, they showed a montage of some of the best clips from the show on the two main screens. The stage then went to black before the main acts showed up: The Kings, Unity L.A., and Luka and Jenalyn, and performed a group dance and introduced themselves. All of the acts then alternated in performing, with three dances done by The Kings, three dances by Luka and Jenalyn, and two dances from Unity L.A for the first half of the show. The second half of the show after intermission included two dances by The Kings, four dances by Luka and Jenalyn, and four dances by Unity L.A.
The Kings dances were primarily their dances from the show. They performed their World Finals Gladiator routine to “O Fortuna” and “Aadevadenna Eedevadanna”. They also performed their lion/jungle routine “Yeh Raat” from the Divisional Finals and their dance from the Qualifiers in red and blue outfits. After intermission they performed their robot-like dance from The Cut “Tattad Tattad” and their “Malhari” routine in red and black outfits from The Duels. I think my favourite routine from them was probably their robot routine, as their flips and mechanics of their routine was epic in this dance.
One thing to keep note of was that there were only nine of their dancers there, which I think was a bit less than those on the show but I think this could have been for a variety of reasons. I also noticed that there was only six of Unity L.A.’s group there performing as well, which could have been due to prior commitments, etc. However, I don’t think this took away from their performances too much, as the only thing that really changed was their blocking of the dances. I think my overall impression of the show, also may have been shaped by the fact that I was in the balcony. However, I still found the show to be really impressive and exciting to watch.
Unity L.A.’s dances from the first half of the show included the performance “Hurts” from The Duels in shiny silver outfits, along with their “Indestructible” routine from the Qualifiers. After intermission, they performed a duet by two of their dancers involving a lamp. Along with their World Finals dance “Pretty Wings”, where they all wore sparkly gold outfits. Along with their “Ribs” routine from The Cut where they used canes as a prop and their dance to Kelly Clarkson’s song, “Piece by Piece” where they made use of a moving door. Out of all of their routines, my favourite was their “Piece by Piece” routine tied with their “Ribs” routine, as the message was relatable from a dancer’s point of view.
As for Luka and Jenalyn, they performed some of their dances from both World of Dance and World of Dance Philippines, as I found out later that they also competed on that show. This would explain why most of their dances I hadn’t seen before and they had greatly improved from the show. For their act, I couldn’t quite remember the order of the dances that they performed but I do remember most of the dances that they did perform. They performed their Grand Finale dance from World of Dance Philippines to the song “Akin Ka Na Lang”, where they danced with a rose as a prop. They also performed their Divisional Finals dance from World of Dance Philippines (WODP) to the Imagine Dragons song, “Natural”. Along with their “Unsteady” performance from The Cut and their “Love Someone” dance from The Duels from WODP. They also performed a dance from World of Dance Season 1, their Duels performance “Don’t Let Me Down” where Luka spins Jenalyn on his head, and their Season 2 Qualifier performance “Down”, which was a bit of a tango and acrobatic routine.
My favourite performance from them was their dance to Lady Gaga’s song “Shallow” from “A Star is Born”, which was from their Finale dance in World of Dance Philippines. It was absolutely incredible! I definitely recommend seeing it in person if you get a chance to or viewing it online, as the amount of flips they did near the end of the dance were breathtaking. Also, they did this really cool lift that ended in Jenalyn holding a boat pose (yoga pose: holding your ankles with your hands behind your back) and coming down horizontally like a donut ring through Luka. I’m not sure if I explained this quite right, but if you look it up on their Instagram or Youtube, you’ll get a better idea. I think overall that was my favourite performance of the show.
Along with the dances, before intermission there was also an audience member selected to participate in a dance move with the dancers. This involved The Kings attempting to teach one of their flips but was then stopped by one of the Unity L.A. dancers who taught the crowd to do a jump with a flick of the arm to the left instead. Eventually, the audience member performed a leg lift as taught by Luka and Jenalyn. There were also some videos shown in between the dances that acted as transitions such as a video on the dancers travels, a Q&A video on “How does dance make you feel? /Why do you dance?” from the dancers, and a “What do you do to prepare yourself for a performance?” video by Derek Hough (a judge on the show).
There were also some group dances where all three acts danced together. For instance, at the start of the show they had a dance to introduce themselves and before intermission they did a group dance on the theme of climate change/climate strike. After intermission they all performed a group dance to the song “Rescue Me” by One Republic and ended the show with a finale group dance to the music and similar choreography to the one used on the Finale episode of Season 3.
In terms of logistics, the show in total was about 1-½ hours long with a 15-minute intermission. Before the show I was surprised to see that there were no programs, signs, or posters in the lobby. However, they did sell hats and T-shirts that were either black or white with the logo “World of Dance” on them in the lobby at the end of the show.
Overall, I would say that it was a good show and I would see next years show if they come in town again. However, I would say that this would also depend on the acts from the show, as they change per season. One thing I would also say, is that watching dances in person are always so much more exciting than on television majority of the time, as you can see their expressions and the experience is so much different. Since last time I was fortunate enough to get a seat on the floor, I would say that if you are able to, the closer you are the better the experience. However, this time around the closer tickets sold out fairly fast and were a bit more expensive than last time. There were also meet and greet packages this time as well, as you can see from my review last year, but they also went up in price. In conclusion, I hope you enjoyed this review and thank you to those of you who read all the way to the end! Until next time, happy dancing! :)
Note: I couldn't find a poster/sign/program inside to take a picture with, so I had to wait until the rotation the signs said "World of Dance" to get a picture. Also, a thank you to my dad for patiently waiting to help me take the photo (*waves)! :)
Here is the link to the website to see if they're visiting a city near you: worldofdance.com
All photos are taken by Lauren Tang for (c) 2019 Dance News BC
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