NBC’s ‘World of Dance’ has been one of the summer television season’s greatest hits with its number of viewers soaring through the roof every week. I mean, how could viewers not tune into this wonderful show filled with some of the greatest dance talents of the world. From the contemporary stylings of young Eva Igo to insane hip hop routines from the Kinjaz , this show brought so many talented performers to the public eye that would not have been recognized otherwise.

This was one of my favorite television programs of the season. I’m not just saying that because I am a dancer and obviously love watching dance-related shows on television. It was so exciting for everyone in my family to watch amazing dancers take the stage and fight for the million-dollar prize. These dancers are world-renowned in their own fields, so it is exciting to see the best of the best battle it out. It was almost like a dance version of the Olympic Games, and all of the nationally famous dancers were competing for a gold medal.

Despite my adoration of this show, I believe that there could be some improvements for the seasons to come, and others agree with me. After the season finale aired on Tuesday night, hundreds of angry fans took to social media to voice their opinions of the show and who should’ve won.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the show’s winner, the hip-hop duo known as Les Twins. Since the beginning of the series, fans claim to have seen some blatant favoritism from the judges towards this pair of professional dancers, leaving audiences to believe that the judges scoring isn’t legitimate and is swayed by the emotional relationships that the judges have with the contestants. These assumptions especially became prominent during the sections of the show known as “The Cut” and “The Divisional Finals,” as Les Twins barely managed to scrape by with their scores, beating Fik-Shun and Keone and Mari .

The level of outrage snowballed out of control after the finale when Les Twins were declared the winners with only two-tenths of a point separating their average score with 14-year-old Eva Igo’s. Given that Eva scored considerably higher than Les Twins in the second round of dancing that night, the scores came down to their first performances, with Eva being given a lower score because the judges claimed that Eva’s choreography wasn’t up to par. From my experience with competitive dancing, I know it had to be that choreography score that lowered her score in the first round, ultimately giving Les Twins the higher score. While Les Twins had about a 1.5 point difference between the scores of each performance during the finale, Eva Igo had around a 5.5 difference due to first round score.

That being said, do I believe that Eva Igo should have won? Yes.

Don’t get me wrong; Laurent and Larry from Les Twins are super talented. There is no way I could execute their style of hip-hop the way that they do it. Their technique is impeccable. On the other hand, Eva Igo’s technique is also impeccable, and there is no way I am flexible, strong, or graceful enough to execute a performance the way she does. To be honest, every competitor in this competition has amazing technique; otherwise, they wouldn’t be there in the first place.

While Les Twins technique does deserve a high score, I don’t think that their performance quality was there. When I watched Eva Igo, Keone and Mari, Fik-Shun, Diana Pombo , and Ian Eastwood and the Young Lions for example, I felt something. I was emotionally drawn into their performance and was living on stage right beside them. Eva Igo especially always drew me into her performances right from the first beat and kept me captivated the whole time. However, I didn’t get that kind of connection with Les Twins; the emotional quality of their performance wasn’t there, and it felt closed off. I lost interest after 20 seconds. While their performances could be something that you have to experience in person to really “get” so to speak, the viewers don’t get that privilege, leaving them confused as to why the Les Twins score so high.

To be honest, I don’t believe that the Les Twins should have gone on as far as they did. Their first two performances were mind-blowing, but their performances during “The Cut” and “The Divisional Final” weren’t that spectacular. I know that it was cool to see them incorporate an injury into the performance instead of seeing them drop out of the competition, but that performance especially fell flat to me compared to the Old-Hollywood inspired stylings of Keone and Mari. What was infuriating to viewers like me was that Derek Hough and Ne-Yo’s scoring for each routine was around the same for both, but Jennifer Lopez’s scores with a difference of 9 points are what sent Keone and Mari packing. Jennifer Lopez even made comments condoning Neyo for giving Keone and Mari a perfect 100.

One judge should not be swaying the opinions of other judges.

There is a lot I could complain about, but I don’t really have the right to because dance is subjective. Each judge is going to see the dances differently, as dance is meant to be interpreted in different ways. When scoring performances, judges look for different things in terms of good technique and stage presence, so obviously the judge will have vastly different scores. There isn’t a set rubric for dance, as it is an ever-changing art form. For instance, if I was judging this show, I could have thought that Eva Igo’s facials were on point and really sold the story she was telling, but my fellow judge could have thought that they were too much. That is just how dance is.

While there are obviously issues with judging dance in general, there are some ways in which this show can improve itself for the future and not cause any more drama about the judges playing favorites and manipulating the scoring.

The judges’ scoring breakdown should be shown to both the dancers and the viewers at home.

Sometimes it does get hard to realize why a judge would give vastly different scores compared to the other judges. If the rubric that they grade on is shown, and how many points were given to the performers in each category, we could see each score broken down, making it clear as to why a dancer scored higher than another. If this were to happen, we could also see why each dancer scored the way they did, eliminating speculations of judges scoring dancers higher because of silly things like their ethnicity.

The judges also shouldn’t score on the choreography itself.

While the dancers do get a say in the choreography sometimes, a lot of the dances performed on the show (for the Juniors especially) were created by outside choreographers. The young dancer did not create the choreography herself, so she should not get penalized for it. Really in dance, the choreography should not matter; it is how the dancer executes it. One duet could have a lot of technically intricate moves in their routine that are executed mediocrely, while a soloist could execute a simple leap with so much grace and power. Should the dancer who executed the simple movement beautifully win, or should the dancer who executed difficult movement mediocrely win? I say the dancer who executed the choreography given magnificently should.

Lastly, the judges shouldn’t confer with each other when scoring.

Judging needs to be an individual activity where each judge gives their unbiased opinion on the performance they saw. I’m not going to lie; people can get bullied into things very easily. When judges ask each other about how they scored certain performers, that can put pressure on the other judges to change their scores accordingly. I’ve been in this situation, and it is intimidating. These judges should almost have voting booths, like the ones at elections, so they can be free to form their own opinions without their colleagues breathing down their necks.

While this television series is a joy to watch, I believe that there could be a lot to improve upon. I think once we get some changes in the formatting of the show and the judging process, I think this show will be fair and fun for all to enjoy. Also, maybe the true winner will win this time.