World of Dance is one of the most popular dance competitions in the US out there. Around the globe, videos from various episodes and seasons of the show have been viewed over 1 billion times!
It’s not easy to triumph in the competition.
World of Dance winners must endure great pain and overcome many challenges to become champions. They must display great technical skills and be creative and original with their performances.
If you’re a fan of dancing, watching their performances will surely be a great treat!
And if you’re looking for inspiration or idols to look up to, the World of Dance competition winners here can be exactly that!
Table of Contents
World of Dance Winners All Seasons
Les Twins – World of Dance Winner Season 1 (2017)
Surviving the final rounds of the first season of World of Dance is the Les Twins. Hailing from Paris, France, the dance group Les Twins consists of Laurent and Larry Nicolas Bourgeois.
They took home $1,000,000 in prize money after winning against Swing Latino (a dance group from Colombia) and Eva Igo, an American dancer.
Throughout the competition, Les Twins consistently put out excellent performances by dancing with a level of synchronization that’s almost unnatural.
Combined with their beautiful choreography and vibrant personality, it wasn’t surprising that the twins managed to advance to the final round.
In the final rounds, the three finalists must compete head-on to claim the final reward and the championship. They must perform two separate performances.
Then, the scores of the two performances are added and averaged to decide the final winner.
All three groups have “mentors,” being the judges. Les Twins was mentored by Jennifer Lopez. While the other two, Swing Latino and Eva Igo, were mentored by Derek Hough and Ne-Yo.
During the final acts, Les Twins danced to the famous house beat of Stole the Show by Kygo and Parson James. Their second act is danced on top of the popular song Alive by Sia.
The aggregated score of the two performances was 93.8, just 0.1 points shy of Eva Igo’s record of 93.7. Swing Latino lagged at 93.2.
All the dancers gave their best, and their performances were striking in our eyes. But Les Twins’ bombastic performances were on another level altogether … and Laurent, one of the twins, was dancing in a wheelchair!
Before the Divisional Final, Laurent suffered from a leg injury, which set the group at a significant disadvantage. That didn’t stop them from giving it their best, and it paid off.
Check more: Red Bull Dance Your Style Winners List
The Labs – World of Dance Winner Season 2 (2018)
The Labs was one of the groups that participated in the first season of World of Dance. However, they were eliminated during the third round, aptly named “The Cut.”
During this stage, the competitors from previous rounds must outdo one another using their dance skills to claim one among the six (or twelve) spots in the Division Final. The Labs failed and had to stop at this stage, unfortunately.
But with experience under their belt, they came back the next year in the second season a lot stronger!
Ultimately, they came first during the World Final and claimed the grand prize, along with the title of World of Dance season 2 champion.
They started their final performances with a number of Missy Elliot while wearing bright neon costumes. For the second performance, they danced on top of Waiting on the World to Change by John Mayer.
In terms of choreography, the hip-hop-esque dance is perfect for the high-energy mood of the night. Their charismatic dance moves did a wonderful job rousing the audience and the judges.
The Lab ended up with 97.5 points in total. Their closest competitor, Michael Dameski, was 1.5 points behind at a total of 96.
King United – World of Dance Winner Season 3 (2019)
In the third season of World of Dance, the final winner was King United.
Coming from India, it was the first time the group participated in the competition. But they gained the championship nonetheless in one fell swoop!
Throughout the show, the group, consisting of 14 members, consistently ranked high on leaderboards with their stunts and tricks. Taking on one competitor after another, in 12 weeks, the group left with the $1 million prize money.
But the fantastic thing about this group is that, for the first time in World of Dance’s history, a group gained a perfect score in the final rounds. Both of their performances were given 100 points by all three judges.
They beat their closest competitor, Unity LA, by a fair distance of 4.3 points (Unity LA only received 95.7 points for their performances.)
And watching The Kings’ shows, it’s not surprising that the judges were so enamored. Their synchronized flips and high-energy moves were nothing short of amazing to watch.
MDC 3 – World of Dance Winner Season 4 (2020)
MDC 3 is the first Junior Division team to win World of Dance. The group consists of three members: Madison (Madi) Smith, Diego Pasillas, and Emma Mather.
Despite being younger than most participants in the competition, their dancing talents were undeniable, especially after they won the fourth season and came home with $1 million.
The members of MDC 3 had faced three seasons of rejection. They participated in all of the previous seasons of World of Dance, only to triumph in the fourth (and, as of now, the last) season of the competition.
Due to the impact of the pandemic, every World Finalist’s performance was recorded without a studio audience. F
or MDC 3, they performed a dance number to the music of “I Surrender” by Celine Dion. The trio played hard into their strongest ability: story-telling.
Throughout the season, their shows were expressive and rich in stories. It’s the reason they got so far in the competition and, eventually, it’s also the reason for their surprising winning!
World of Dance Rule Explanation
World of Dance is an international competition that welcomes dancers worldwide. Participants are divided into categories to compete for the grand prize: $1 million.
The competition has undergone many changes throughout the numerous seasons it aired.
During the first season, there were only three dance categories:
- Junior (17 and younger)
- Upper (18 and older)
- Team (18 and older with dance groups consisting of five or more members)
From season two onward, the categorizing system was changed.
The Team segment was removed, leaving only the Junior and Upper categories. These two categories are further split into two smaller groups.
- Regular Groups: include one (solo) or dance groups of up to four members.
- Team Groups: these are the teams with five or more members.
But besides the new categorization system, the overall rules remain the same.
The dancers must impress the judges in five rounds to win the competition.
The judges will watch and score their performances based on five criteria: performance, technique, choreography, creativity, and presentation. Each standard can have a maximum of 20 points, adding up to 100 points.
There are three judges: Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo, and Derek Hough. The judges score performances independently. Then, the total score for each performance is calculated by averaging the three judges’ scores.
Round 1: The Qualifiers
The first round is the qualifying round. The aim is simple for all participants: gain a ticket to the next round.
To qualify, the competitors must have an overall performance score of 85 and above.
Round 2: Duels
Qualified teams and dancers will move to the next round, called “Duels.” As the name suggests, they have to dance against other competitors in their respective categories.
The ones with the highest scores in the qualifying round will get the opportunity to perform first. Then, they can choose who they want to “duel” against.
The scores from the judges are revealed after the two parties of the duel have performed. The side with the most points will advance to the next round.
Within one week of the first one-to-one dance battle, there will be another session with three acts against one another.
Round 3: The Cut
This is the semi-final round. All of the survivors of the Duels will compete against one another to gain one of the six/twelve spots in the Divisional Final.
In season one, there are two spots for each category (division.) From season two onward, there are three spots.
Each team is ranked on a leatherboard. There will be a red line within. Any team that falls underneath the red line is disqualified, while those above will gain the privilege to move on to the Finals.
Round 4: Finals
The fourth and last round is separated into two parts: the Division Final and the World Final.
The Division Final will decide the winner of each division.
Meanwhile, in the World Final, all of the winners from each division are pitched against one another to determine the sole, final winner of the competition.
The last team or dancer standing will win the $1,000,000 prize.
Why Don’t World Of Dance Come Back For The Fifth?
Unfortunately, after the fourth season, NBC refused to renew World of Dance for a fifth season.
This is due to the low rating of Season 4, which only managed to pick up around 4 million viewers. In contrast, the show had about 7.7 million viewers during the first season.
The rating wasn’t the only issue that World of Dance was facing.
Due to the impact of the pandemic, production was difficult and expensive. It was hard to produce each episode and challenging for crews to invite and record competitors’ performances in the pandemic era.
So, it seems like the fourth season is the last airing of World of Dance. But if you turn out to love the show, have hope!
It’s not unheard of for television shows to go on hiatus for a while before being revived. There’s still a chance that you may see the World of Dance winner in season 5!
Final Words
World of Dance is a great show with beautiful performances and high production value.
It’s a worthy TV program to watch on the weekend for any dance buff out there looking for something nice to watch or searching for a competition to practice. Who knows?
After reading this World of Dance championship winners list and watching their shows, you may find the motivation to practice and one day enter a world-class dance competition on your own!