#sdc is SO wholesome sometimes i dont even care that half of it probably isnt real

[sanstropfremir]

below are the dance crew missions (Prowdmon and YGX's videos are the only ones mnet uploaded re. full fancams; Want's video is uploaded by a fan who edited the rehearsal + final performance together. I couldn't find a video for their crew that was a stand alone). but also like, supposedly if u use a vpn and set ur location to korea, u can find all the full fancams on mnet's channel. they didn't open it to the united states which is why i couldn't find any of it.

ranked from highest to lowest in terms of judges' scores:

1. Prowdmon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvVzDMBjDyg&t=13s&ab_channel=MnetTV

2. Hook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G370lUiaruY&ab_channel=DyaRana

3. Holybang/Coca n Butter (same scores): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkoNTW2kN_s&ab_channel=DyaRana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi9_ij9Z_IE&ab_channel=DyaRana

5. YGX/La Chica (same scores):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2UZTtkE_Ec&ab_channel=MnetTV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-JAX5DE5hI&ab_channel=Ainahrose

7. Want:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyBZRo6g508&ab_channel=PRIDECHAEYEON

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some notable comments from judges: (1) felt like YGX, La Chica and Want's dance routines were very familiar to the original song and artist (e.g. La Chica took pieces from Beyonce's performance and rearranged it accordingly rather than making it their own; felt like Chr*s Br*wn and his song was too strong that their choreo was overall very lacking and plain); (2) praised Holybang and Coca n Butter because they were able to finally show their strength as female hip-hop crews. also sharing that they did really well with dance formations; (3) praised Prowdmon and loved their formations because it seemed like pictures but shared that one lacking aspect was it focused too much on Monika; and (4) shared how they liked Hook's formation and that despite having a guest performer (snsd sooyoung), they were able to bring the spotlight back onto the crew.

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at the end, with all the final scores (including fan votes/video view count), la chica was last. they chose want to battle against and won, meaning want was eliminated from the show. in my opinion, i personally really liked prowdmon, holybang, and coca n butter.

also would like to know, what are ur thoughts on some crews having idols included? i know u mentioned before that idol dancers are different from professional dancers in the way they are trained. but do u think it's okay for them to be included in this show that is originally designed to put the spotlight on professional dancers? when the crews saw that want and hook had idols in their performances, they shared their discontent because it felt like they were using them to easily gain fan votes. also sharing that they didn't feel like they were on the same level to be judged with them (which is kind of confusing and ironic because the judges for the show are idols. and the third judge is a sm dance director who works w nct, shinee, and red velvet). the next mission they have is to choreo jessi's new song and that received a lot of criticism because again, these dancers are being pushed to the back and putting the main focus on the idol. i think the dancers' discontent is valid? like, they havent gotten public attention like this before until recently (dancers from the show are now getting their own fancams when they perform w idols and have much higher views than the idols themselves - e.g. want's emma ping pong (hyuna) fancam). but also, like i think idols being included in this conversation drives the public's views and getting that mainstream attention. i'm not on one side or the other but i think it's more of mnet's fault for trying to stir drama and setting the show up to be formatted in this way that does not truly respect the dancers.

i am in fact, going to fly to korea and break into mnet's studios and destroy that goddamn fucking boom crane. all these routines are choreographed for eye level or like maybe 1-2ft higher literally why do you keep filming from like 25ft in the air.

ok lemme do a quick rundown of my thoughts on each routine and whether i agree with the judges and then i'll get to your other question after!

1. prowdmon

i agree this is the best routine of the lot. i really like it; i don't mind at all that it was focused on monika because obviously something is more resonant when there's a recognizable face attached, and also i don't think it was that focused on her? the choreography uses her as a framing device which i think is a smart way to do it, because it gives a bit of structure to the routine without having to add a narrative. plus i think they didn't lose sight of the crew and the formations were the best and most well thought out, with no awkward transitions. also props to them/their creative director for actually getting mnet to use their steadicam with intention, and they put the most thought into where the eye of the camera and the audience was.

2. hook

i never thought i would say this about a female crew routine but cool it with the tricks, netflix's cheer! i don't know that i would give this routine second, since i don't like it very much, but i do agree with what the judges on that they managed to keep the focus on the crew even though they have much larger numbers and a guest performer. i have the same observations about this choreo as i do about the other hook choreo, because it doesn't really look like anything's changed: they're still making very interesting single formations and using unique gimmicks, but there's very little thought in stitching those pictures together into a unified piece. it also means that there's a lot of places where there's dancers scuttling out of the way like sand crabs. like this choreo just feels like a bunch of fun ideas slapped together (this is not helped by the fact they used four(?) songs???), including the guest dancer. i think the reason sooyoung doesn't feel particularly out of place is because she's just the climax gimmick of an increasing series of gimmicks, and she doesn't actually do anything other than be snsd's sooyoung. also she's not old because she's like what, 30? but she feels too old for this routine and this crew. like this was not the crew i would have expected to have brought her in, nor is she the snsd member i would have picked? it must have been a connections thing, because hyoyeon is right there, she would have been a way better fit.

3.1. holybang

i like their music choice the most out of everyone but dear lord they kneecapped themselves with their costume choices. i don't think mnet has actually hired a stylist or (god forbid) an actual costume designer that knows how to design for dance because this just sad. i went scoping around and unfortunately couldn't find this stage in any higher resolution which is a shame but it also proves my point, which is that whatever the dancers are wearing has to serve the purpose of the dance. there is a difference between wearing something that 'feels/looks cool' versus wearing something that emphasizes and accentuates the choreography. these costumes no doubt look cool, but there's a big problem with contrast and how stark it is. this particular choreo is really heavy on fluid arm movements, so somebody had the right idea by putting gloves on them, but there are two problems here; firstly, the wing curtains and backdrop are black and/or dark, so any time there's hands in the air they're immediately lost, and second, the gloves don't cover the whole arm. the fact that the rest of the costume is skintone on white on beige on white floor means that the lights wash the rest of the body into the floor and there's no definition on the limbs accept on the ends, with the gloves and the boots. so what ends up happening is that there are a lot of black points flailing around the central waist mass (because of the corsets), and it's very difficult to follow the choreo. obviously this would be a little bit easier to distinguish if this video did not have eight total pixels but that doesn't matter, because as a designer you need to be looking at the bigger picture, which means at the farthest sightline and the closest one. these are the mega crews, there's a lot of dancers and they're meant to be spectacle stages, which means you need to be extra conscious of what shapes are being made in the whole mass, because the audience isn't going to be able to see every detail. dance costume design is it's own category within costume design because it has a unique set of requirements. it's a shame mnet didn't bother to get a dance designer but also really good dance designers are hard to come by.

3.2. coca n butter

i think my biggest issue with this choreo is that it isn't structured as well as it could be. there's a couple of formation transitions that were not as clean as they could have been and some of them were just downright awkward. i'm also confused by the lack of a solid ending. like were they just a whole measure off??? why was there a whole five seconds of silence while they got into an ending pose?? did it just get cut off in that video?? they also haven't put very much thought into where in the space the focal points are. there was a lot of sudden switching between the front and back of the space, which only worked because they had the boom crane to do fast zooms, because there was little warning or transition. you can use a more upstage (farther back) emphasis if you're doing something like traveling, but that kind of sudden focal point switching is confusing to the audience if you do it too often because it doesn't follow a logical line of sight. used well and only once or twice it's an effect technique, but there were at least three or four here and they didn't feel very well thought out.

5.1. ygx

i agree with the judges for these last three; although ygx's is the best of the bunch, it's not a particularly outstanding choreo to watch. it's mostly well executed and interesting, but it feels very typical for them and even though the phone light gimmick was a good idea, the stage is too bright for it to work well. i actually kinda had trouble figuring out what was going on at first. as much as i hated that skz 100sec stage on kingdom, they executed that light effect really well, and for small scale prop lighting like that you really do need it to be dark (or for the lights to be really powerful) for it to work.

5.2. lachica

i don't.......like this routine. i get the impetus behind it, especially for this show, and it's nice that they included all the crews' flags but also.....this is SO on the nose. like way too on the nose. like beyonce already did this ten years ago you don't need to do it again don't disrespect the queen like this on the nose. if you wanna do run the world you gotta at least put a new spin on it somehow. also i don't know how i feel about them predominantly using a dance style that was invented in ballroom culture for this. i don't think anyone would really be that upset about it, but it doesn't sit right with me. i don't think their formations were that interesting and there was a lot of crab scuttling. personally i think the want routine was worse than this so i don't agree that this should have been last, but since want got eliminated anyways i guess that means i still agree regardless?

7. want

i managed to find a different version that had the full routine, so no worries there, but yea, too much chr*s br*wn, choreo not very strong or interesting, and same focal point issues as coca n butter but worse. their transistions were messy and several of their formations were offcentre or skewed. i like that they had that lil headphone gimmick at the beginning but it wasn't enough to save it.

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as far as having idols on the show....hmm. frankly with the way mnet has set the show up, yea i think it's fine that there's idols on the show. a lot of these dancers work with and for idols anyways, the two industries are very closely intertwined in korea whether the dancers like it or not. i do think it's usually going to set whatever crew has the idol on it up for failure (technically and artistically, not in voting or results) though, because there's really only a handful of idols that can actually keep up with a career dancer anyways. HOWEVER. do i think mnet should have set the show up this way? no. they could have very easily done the same thing that sdc did where the idols are brought in as judges and team captains only and not as actual competitors, because that equalizes the playing field. they got half of it right with boa and taeyong as judges, because those are two idols that are going to be fairly well qualified, as i said before. but as we all know mnet likes drama, so by adding idols into the ranks as competitors it drives the stakes more and ignites the same debates that people have been having (mostly quietly, before this) about idols vs dancers, which is driving engagement. you're very right, it's unfair to the dancers and they're absolutely correct in being discontent about it, because ostensibly, the show should be about them, not the idols. but i don't actually think mnet designed the show to put the spotlight on professional dancers. i think mnet saw the massive success of another dance based competition show that was planning on going more 'global' and thought they could cash in on the hype/compete with it in the only way they could, which was using idols in a more significant capacity. it does not strike me as a coincidence that swf and sdc are airing at exactly the same time. and mnet is deliberately angling the show to be aggressive, competitive, and combative (even if the dancers don't actually give a shit), versus sdc where the show slogan is literally like, 'love and peace' or some shit, and although it does retain a lot of competitive elements, the dancers and the production staff care more about the quality of the work than anything else. like there was a fairly large fuckup in a routine in i think episode four or five and they just cut the whole thing from broadcast. the editors left enough in to tell what had happened but that was it. whole routine and segment gone. so honestly? i don't think mnet is doing this for the benefit of the dancers at the base of it. i am very glad that the dancers are getting recognition for it, because they deserve all of the credit, but that was probably more of a fringe benefit from mnet's point of view. from what i've seen the show is not respectful to the dancers and that's a shame because i think they could be producing something a lot more interesting and fun if they gave up on this whole aggressive competition thing.