'World of Dance' contestant Maddy Penney admits Derek Hough's dismissal of ballet routine was 'hard to hear'
'World of Dance' fans love Derek Hough. He is one of the fan-favorite judges who fans can't get enough of. However, in an earlier episode, we saw Derek receiving backlash from fans after he said "no" to one of the dancers during the qualifiers round. 16-year-old ballerina Madison Penney aka Maddy Penney appeared on the show to showcase her incredible contemporary ballet routine.
After watching her routine, Jennifer Lopez immediately gave a green light to the performance, while Ne-Yo seemed to be on the fence, and asked Maddie to come for a callback performance, whereas Derek said a "no" to Maddy. Although later Ne-Yo changed his decision to yes and Maddy managed to make her way to the duels round, fans weren't impressed with Derek's decision.
In an exclusive chat with MEA WorldWide, Maddy discussed her experience of taking part in 'World of Dance', and her thoughts on Derek's feedback. We were curious to know why the two-time winner Youth America Grand Prix was keen on participating in the show. Maddy says, "I thought I've been to so many places in the world in my own little bubble of ballet. And I do really well in that type of theme, winning competitions and getting to performing many different places. But again, I'm in that bubble and it's just kind of ballet. I wanted to show the world more of me and get out there and show my talents and not just the ballet world, but the whole world."
Maddy describes the experience of taking part in the reality show as "different". She explains, "It was very different. Something I've never done before. There's a lot of fun and it was overall a great experience, but it was just super different and that's really cool to see how they put together that show and to see all the other acts. It was a lot of fun though." Dancing before J. Lo, Ne-Yo, and Derek can be nerve-wracking, it was no different for Maddy.
Maddy revealed to MEAWW that she was "nervous" before the auditions. "I was very nervous because I'm a ballerina and usually on the show, they don't have very many of them or if they do, they don't make it that far. Um, I just told myself no matter what happens, I just want to show the world what I can do. No matter if I get kicked out that day or if I stay, I just really wanted to show my talent to the world. So I was just nervous because I didn't know how to use react, but I was just excited to get my name out there," expressed the ballerina.
Hearing Derek's "no" must have definitely been hard for Maddy. So, we asked Maddy how she felt about Derek's feedback. "I knew I have a strong feeling that it was either going to be all of them saying no. Or, uh, all of them saying, yes. I never would've thought that like one person would say, yeah, it's one person would say, no one person would say call back. Um, it was kind of like hard for me to hear that," shared Maddy. She added, "So the, no, like I said a little bit, but he was saying I did understand and what he was trying to say, but it's hard hearing that." The judges especially Derek tried pointing out to Maddy that she was "playing safe", but Maddy believes she took a big risk and wishes that the judges looked at it differently. We can't wait to see Maddy's performance in duels.
'World of Dance' Season 4 airs every Tuesday at 10/9c only on ABC.