This World of Dance Same-Gender Duo Just Made History During the Season 3 Premiere

From Oprah Magazine

We’ll be honest: we first turned on season 3 of the reality dance competition, World of Dance, because of Jennifer Lopez.

Fresh off the heels of a gorgeous Oscars 2019 arrival with boyfriend Alex Rodriguez-plus a buzzy Motown tribute at the Grammys-J.Lo joined fellow judges Ne-Yo and Derek Hough to kick off the first round of high-wattage performances. Notably, seasons 1 and 2 host Jenna Dewan was missing (she did say she may return as a mentor), and newly-minted host Scott Evans led us through the night.

But aside from the familiar faces, audiences have already fallen in love with some of the 54 dancers selected for the premiere night. Specifically, Mumbai-based dance group the Kings, competing in the Upper group, earned the top total score of 97.7. As of this season, dancers must earn a score of 85 to stay in the competition.

And they were followed closely by Lauren Yakima, a 17-year-old on-stage star from Detroit that gave Lopez goosebumps with her dance to Hidden Citizen’s “I (Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight” in the Junior division. “Oh, I got goosies!” Lopez said during the show. “You played with the music, you played with your emotions. I loved it.” She earned a final score of 95.7 and will also move on to the next round.

And while other performers nailed it in their journey toward the $1 million grand prize, our eyes immediately turned to Jonathan y Jorge, a dynamic duo we think will make it far into season 3. What’s so special about the two men? While they are, of course, talented, they officially made TV history as the first-ever same-gender dance duo to compete on World of Dance.

Dressed in sparkly sheer long-sleeve tops with matching white pants, the salsa cabaret Upper duo brought it for the cameras and gave a nod to J.Lo by dancing to her hit song, “El Anillo.”

“That was really, really good,” Ne-Yo told them. Lopez added, “The tricks were really, really good-outstanding,” saying, “Jorge was living his best life.” She told the pair they needed to work on their actual salsa moves, but they progressed to earn a score of 88.7 and will move on to the Duels round.

Derek Hough specifically called out the fact that they’re a duo of the same gender, celebrating the first-time appearance. “In the dance world, when you’re doing partnership dancing, we no longer say the male part and the female part, we say the follower and the leader for exact reasons like this because it doesn’t matter!” he told them, joining them on stage to practice his own moves.

Jonathan y Jorge, who are from Orlando and Lima, Peru, respectively, previously spoke to Out about what they hope to accomplish. “We want to bring awareness to the same-gender dance community,” they said. “We want everyone to see that same-gender dancing can be just as strong and impactful as traditional dancing. We want people to see us and like or dislike us as dancers and not simply because we're two men dancing together. We just wanna dance.”

While we can’t predict who will make it to the very end, we can say that season 3 so far is proving to be one of the most inclusive yet.

World of Dance returns on Sunday, March 3 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

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