Kumari Shreya
There are few dance forms as engaging as street dancing, and Netflix’s ‘Dance 100’ certainly proves that to be true. The show allows aspiring choreographers to train 100 of the world’s best dancers and make them move according to their groove. The number of performers for each routine keeps on increasing in each round, and the contestants have to make sure that they can progress to the next level in order to get closer to the title of the winner and the $100,000 cash prize.
Featuring Ally Love as the charming and lovable host, there are a few things that the show does not give its viewers when it comes to entertainment. Nevertheless, there are a few people who cannot help but wonder just how authentic the competition is. Is the show as legitimate as it portrays itself to be, or are its events scripted somehow? Let’s explore it all together and find the answer to the same!
Is Dance 100 Scripted?
We do not believe that ‘Dance 100’ is scripted. When it comes to reality TV, it might take a lot of work to ascertain how the results are decided and the reasons behind the same. However, this particular Netflix series has a voting pattern that is as transparent as it can be for a televised competition. Though the format of the competition is genuinely pre-determined and helps the show move along, the results themselves do not seem to have been fabricated.
To understand more about the voting process of ‘Dance 100,’ we must note what makes this particular show different from most of the competitions within the same genre. Most dance fans might be familiar with the concept of weekly episodes for a reality TV competition where viewers can vote from home to determine who is eliminated the following week. However, the Netflix show is filmed way before the premiere season episode airs, with the final results being decided before the general public even knows who is participating.
While such a format means that viewer participation is less, it also means that favoritism is not really based on the entertainment factor. In the case of ‘Dance 100,’ the results are decided by a crew of 100 dancers who not only get to perform the choreographies created by the participants but also see the dance routines up close. This means they are familiar with how each contestant works on and off the stage.
After each round, the 100 dancers stand behind their choreographer of choice, and the person with the fewest votes gets eliminated. Given that the voting takes place in front of a live audience with easy evidence of who bagged the least supporters, it’s hard to call the process illegitimate. Furthermore, we have also seen many dancers voting for contestants they did not perform with, but thought had a better routine. Such dedication toward fairness and talent certainly gives us hope that the show’s results are indeed valid.
That is not to say that everything we see in the show is improvised. The format itself is pre-decided with set rules of how the eliminations will occur and how many dancers will perform in each round. Additionally, the songs the participants have to create a choreography for are decided mainly by the showrunners and given to all the contestants at about the same time. This certainly helps create a more even field and makes the show more about choreography and adaptability.
Considering the various elements that make the show what it is, it is easy to see why we do not believe ‘Dance 100’ to be a scripted series. The attempted transparency in the voting process, the presence of a live audience, the fixed rules for every participant, and the emphasis on fairness give the show a level of legitimacy that few enjoy.
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