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It’s the third week of competition in the Legendary ballroom, and in addition to the regular panel of judges, this week saw the arrival of an extra special guest judge (emphasis on the extra) with self-described ballroom icon (more of an icon than resident judge Leiomy Maldonado?) Dominique Jackson, better known to TV viewers as Mother Elektra on Pose. I’ve seen Dominique’s posts on social media and she seems like a nice person but here she is bringing out Mother to the max. (And whoever picked out the just a bit too small top for her needs to be reprimanded, Elektra style … maybe that’s why she was in such a bad mood?)
This week’s episode takes us back to the same style of competition from the premiere in which each House competes one time as a group. Category is: Circus Bezercus. Each performance must include some elements of the circus and everyone pretty much took the ‘bezercus’ part as far as they could, with their circus themes leaning more to horror than frivolity.
For this round of competition in addition to the costume and makeup consultations, each House also worked with performance coach Tanisha Scott who consulted with the groups on their concepts for the performances. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but after the very first dance of the very first episode, Leiomy jumped on the first House to perform because they were ‘too choreographed’ — and then let the others slide. This week, each dance is pretty much choreographed which, to me, defeats the whole purpose of the ballroom setting. It’s more World of Dance this week with some, but very little, voguing included in the dances.
One House, however, did SLAY their performance and included the five elements of voguing: duckwalk, catwalk, hands, floorwork, and spins and dips. Whereas all of the other teams, for the most part, did their performances as a group with very little solo work, the House of Escada was very thoughtful in their approach to the performance, giving each of the five members one of the elements of vogue to perform solo before coming together as a group and giving the judges and the ballroom itself an electrifying finish, garnering a Standing O from Dominique.
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She was not so forgiving to the House of St. Laurent. While the other judges gave their not so positive critiques, Ms. Jackson pretended to do her nails. Leimoy gave them credit for including vogue in the performance but said it wasn’t strong enough. When it came time for her to speak, Dominique called the performance ‘regular’. And took things a step further saying it was phenomenal for the ‘regular’ people (gesturing to the audience), but she was not impressed. No one was impressed by the House of Ninja’s performance either with the judges commenting that they’re basically doing the same thing each performance.
The House of Gorgeous Gucci also got on Dominique’s bad side, even after facing their own behind-the-scenes issues between two members which led to the exit of one, leaving the House with just four performers. Leiomy and Law Roach both said the House was stunning and Dominique chimed in that they weren’t that stunning. Even Jameela got a bit heated and defended Gucci, and all hell broke loose when one of the members said Dominique was not that stunning (probably referring to that ill-fitting bustier she was wearing that barely contained her assets). Dominique approached the House and told them they didn’t have the power to address an icon like her, and a visibly shaken Law reprimanded the House for speaking to an icon like that in this house because she is a guest. Before things escalated, MC Dashaun quickly whisked St. Laurent off the stage while the other Houses watched the action backstage in stunned silence.
But in the end, the rightful team took home the trophy this week for their brilliant and well-thought-out performance: The House of Escada. That left St. Laurent and Ninja in the bottom to battle it out with their best voguers going head-to-head. From what the home viewers saw, it seemed like a very close call but for the judges it was no contest. The House of Ninja managed to survive and the House of St. Laurent was sent packing. But lemme tell you, Ninja better BRING. IT. next week.
Legendary streams new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.
What did you think of this episode? Tell us in the comments section below!
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