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We are coming down to the wire in the competition to determine which of the remaining five Houses will be crowned the Legendary Superior House. The five remaining Houses — Balmain, Ninja, Lanvin, Gorgeous Gucci and Escada — are all fierce competitors but The Intergalactic Ball will bring one House crashing back down to Earth. And this week’s guest judge was rapper Taylor Bennett, the little brother of Chance the Rapper.
Category is: Rise of the Fembots (Robotic Vogue Throwdown)
The style for this category is ‘Vogue Fem’ and according to House icon Leiomy Maldonado it is the most feminine of the dance styles, regardless of gender, that tells a story with the hands and consists of the five elements of Vogue, with the performer projecting confidence and personality. This again was a single House member competition with the best voguers who can do ‘the robot’ taking the floor:
- Jamari for Balmain
- Deshon for Gorgeous Gucci
- Zay Zay for Lanvin
- Shyanne for Escada
- Chise for Ninja
With only five Houses left in the game, this round is getting tougher and tougher. The House Mothers/Fathers played it right this time with their choices as no one was chopped. Each performer served the five elements and included the appropriate robotic moves. So with five still competing, it came down to the head-to-head matches. Jamari faced off against Chise and slayed, while Zay Zay, Deshon and Shyanne went into a three-way battle, leaving Shyanne victorious and facing off against Jamari. Before the competition started, Jamari told us backstage that he was going to be the most femme of them all and take this crown, and he was right. The first round goes to the House of Balmain, which puts them in a good place to be this week’s Superior House.
Category is: Take Me To Your Leader
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This group competition was all about the avant garde, in costumes and dance but still retaining the elements of vogue within the choreography.
Up first was Gorgeous Gucci which did a performance inspired by The Fifth Element. I have to say the costumes and make-up were spot on, from the tight, white dress Milla Jovovivh wore to the blue opera singing Diva. Visually it was stunning. I didn’t think it was their best performance, but judge Law Roach said they did what needed to be done (twice), and the look was spot on. Megan Thee Stallion complimented the House for their growth over the course of the competition and also said their look was the bomb. Taylor loved the costumes and how they incorporated the dancing, making their own environment. Leiomy was a little more direct, telling the House they obviously worked hard but clocked them on their sour facial expressions that drew her attention away from Jeter as the Diva. With mostly positive praise, Gucci seems safe to advance but anything can happen.
Balmain was up next and the concept was that four of the House members would form pieces of a living dress. I thought it was an interesting concept and it did look pretty cool as they all advanced down the runway in unison, but not everyone was impressed. Taylor said there was a lot going on and the performance could have been better. Law pulled out his ‘fashion expert’ credentials and slammed them for the look being too Japanese and flat out said he was ‘fucking bored’ by the performance. That cause Leiomy to snap because she loved it and said she didn’t need Law’s resumé (even though she is always reminding us of hers) as the two got very heated over the fashion and the performance. The argument led Jameela Jamil to ask Law if he was on his period. With such a split decision, Balmain could be in the bottom this week.
Lanvin’s concept was an alien hatching from a giant egg and … it was remarkable. You’ve never seen someone do backflips and jumps and kicks in stiletto boots until you’ve seen this performance. If the judges wanted some ‘wow factor’, Lanvin delivered. Law praised them for all looking as if they belonged to the same tribe even as they demonstrated their own individual superpowers. He loved the performance and the look. Jameela simply said it was her favorite performance of the night so far. Leiomy said they served her favorite look so far and the performance was really strong. Taylor said they were amazing and did something he’d never seen before.
Ninja’s concept was to have the House come out like some sort of intergalactic caterpillar which had one member leading the rest of the group who were covered by a green train. They used most of their time just coming down the runway before they even got into the main part of the performance. For me it was underwhelming. Taylor loved the performance and commended them for staying in character. Leiomy said they looked amazing and she loved the storyline but … she didn’t like the performance and it took too long for them to actually start dancing, adding that they really need to push themselves. Jameela called back to the last ball where Ninja slayed and said this performance was a complete anti-climax because they didn’t bring originality or story to the performance. These reviews seem to definitely put Ninja in the bottom two.
Last up was Escada which did a bizarre flower theme. I thought, visually, they were amazing. The flower costumes were huge and looked good while they were moving about the runway but those costumes were also problematic for the judges. But unlike the facial expressions of Gucci which drew attention away from Jeter, these flower costumes did not distract anyone from London. Law said Escada was 100% on the way to winning the competition and he could not keep his eyes off of London. Jameela agreed with Law, saying London carried the performance. Leiomy also said that if it wasn’t for London, they would have been chopped because the flower outfits of the other four House members interfered with the performance. Megan also complimented London, saying he looked ‘real good and sexy.’ But was one member alone enough to keep the House out of the bottom?
With this round completed, the judges had no choice but to award the Superior House trophy to the House of Lanvin. They certainly gave the most electrifying performance of the night and the harsh disagreement between Law and Leiomy did not help first round winner Balmain. Lanvin’s win, their third over all, put the four remaining Houses up for elimination with Ninja and Escada in the bottom to battle for their lives in the competition. Ninja selected Sharron to go against Shyanne from Escada, obviously the House’s best voguer since she competed in the first round.
I don’t think there really was any competition between the two. Shyanne was clearly the better voguer and she single-handedly sent Ninja packing. But before they exited the ballroom, MC Dashaun said that for a House consisting of five cis gender women to come and do what they did and lasting this long in the competition, they should be very proud. And Leiomy yelled as they left the runway that their House founder Willie Ninja would be so proud of them.
So one more House has fallen leaving four heading into the semi-finals. Which House will conquer them all?
Legendary streams new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.
What did you think of this episode? Who are you rooting for? Tell us in the comments section below!
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