Funkanometry — the hip hop duo of Duncan’s Carlow Rush and Nanaimo’s Jacksun Fryer — were eliminated from NBC TV’s World of Dance on April 16 after an impressive run.
The teenage dancers had held their own through the qualifier stage and then won their duel but the judges — Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo, and Derek Hough — decided they were over-matched Sunday night, giving them a combined score of only 91.3. Others in their category eliminated included Lauren Yakima (91.7), and Moving 4ward (90.3) while Julian and Charlize 93.0), Kayla Mak (93.7) and Ellia and Ava (95.3) moved on to the divisional finals.
For their final event, all the juniors were mentored by Lopez, who urged them to give her “a little bit more dynamics” when they came to their final number.
Fryer teased Rush about his obvious crush on JLo.
“I’m obsessed,” he said.
Their dance was to ‘After Hours: BTEK and the Blacksmiths’ and unlike anyone else, they first appeared behind the judges before taking the stage itself. As always, Funkanometry took the risk of presenting a humorous routine: it was their specialty and they’d pleased the judges with it in the past, so why not?
“You guys are kind of becoming a favourite of mine,” Ne-Yo said, adding, “You earn the funny,” in acknowledgement that not everyone can carry off a comedic routine.
Unfortunately, Hough was unimpressed, only scoring the duo at 88, and saying he thought their presentation was more about the costumes than the dancing.
World of Dance continues next week with the divisional finals in Junior, Junior Team, Upper, and Upper Team categories.
