We knew this was going to be a possibility when we found out that Jennifer Lopez was producing a new dance competition show, but now it looks official. Lopez will, in fact, appear as a judge on her new show World of Dance.
The new NBC dance competition got the green light from the network in July for a 10 episode first season, with Jennifer Lopez serving as executive producer on the series. Now, Variety is reporting that the singer, actress and dancer will also appear on camera to judge the artists who compete on the show. Lopez has, of course, served as a reality show judge before. She helped critique contestants on American Idol for five seasons in all, including the final season of that show, which ended earlier this year. She also served as a judge on her Latin American talent competition show Q'Viva in 2012.
World of Dance will be different from other dancing competitions, like So You Think You Can Dance, in that there will be no age limits placed on competitors, and people can compete as singles, duos or groups of different numbers. There is a Junior category for those under the age of 16, while anyone 16 or over will be sorted into the Upper category for groups of 1 - 4 dancers, or the Team category for groups of 5 or more competitors.
The dancers can also compete using any style of dance to show off their talents to the world. Specialties such as clogging, hip hop, ballet, tap, ballroom, break dancing, popping and more all have the opportunity to be featured on the show. Dancers will compete in qualifying events around the country, as well as through online submissions to get a chance to appear on the show. There, the competitors will face off in dance duels to determine who should move forward on a weekly basis. Judges will use a precision point system to rank each act on routine, presentation, execution, and crowd appeal as a means of figuring out which dancer will eventually land the $1 million prize and the title "Best in the World."
Jennifer Lopez is the perfect person to help guide dancers by working as a judge on a reality show. She got her first taste of stardom while dancing as one of the Fly Girls on In Living Color in the early 1990s. That platform helped launch her acting career, which, in turn, helped her to become a singer with several hits to her name. Seeing as how Lopez started her career as a dancer, her live shows are filled with heavily choreographed numbers that accompany each song, and she understands what it's like to live for the art form.
There's no word right now when World of Dance will air, but you can catch Jennifer Lopez on NBC in her cop drama Shades of Blue when Season 2 debuts in early 2017.
