We were a tad trepidatious going into the second round of Duels on NBC's "World of Dance." Last week's Upper Division showdown saw all four of the highest-scoring teams from the Qualifiers eliminated. (Derek Piquette, 😭😭😭!) Were some of our Junior faves about to face the chopping block, too? Would one of them find salvation during the last-minute redemption round? We weren't sure our stomachs, or hearts, were ready for another roller-coaster ride.
But here we are, hearts and stomachs relatively intact, on the other side. Who survived the twists and turns? Read on for our episode highlights.
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First up was VPeepz vs. Battle Droids, a baby b-boy brawl. We honestly didn't know which way the judges were going to go here, given how similar the crews' movement styles and even costume choices were (sports team-inspired looks are apparently very hot right now). But ultimately, VPeepz's stronger transitions gave them the edge.
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Speaking of evenly matched acts: Dancetown Divas and JDC received the exact same score in the Qualifiers round—and their Duel was the highest-scoring of all last night. We were v into JDC's intense paso doble vibe. While the Divas edged them out by a point with their powerful storytelling, nobody was surprised when we discovered JDC had earned a spot in the redemption round.
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The Crazy 8's vs. West Springfield Dance face-off was on the other end of the spectrum: The former earned the highest score in the Qualifiers, the latter the lowest. So the 8's victory last night—thanks to yet another super-clean, fantastically technical routine—was far from shocking. But bonus points (figuratively speaking, at least) to West Springfield for creativity. We were genuinely terrified/fascinated by their "Twilight Zone"-themed hip-hop horror show. (Was anybody else reminded of this little "SYTYCD" gem?)
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In the redemption round, we had the aforementioned Dancetown Divas vs. hip-hop crew MKAM. The Divas' Latin flair earned a standing O from J.Lo, and though MKAM pulled out some impressively intricate choreo, its boys couldn't best the ladies from Miami.