Stage Fighter (2024)

More episodes were needed to conclude properly

This dance survival show from Mnet features dancers specialized in either Contemporary Dance, Ballet or Korean traditional Dance, all three genres rarely showcased in that kind of competitive program.

The beginning with the auditions and ranking of the participants, each showcasing specific techniques from their respective genre, was really enthralling. Even if I wish there would have been more focus on relationship and personnality, I still was able to discover enough of the participants to get some favorites dancers I rooted for during the competition and I found super interesting how the techniques were evaluated by the various judges.

Despite having a quite good cast with the dancers, the bad pacing of the various arcs of the competition, as well as the way the format evolved to reach a very anticlimactic conclusion, really undermined my enthusiasm for the series and made it difficult for me to want to finish it. The last challenges felt short compared to the beginning ones and I got almost the feeling that the show was cut short. Instead of spending so much time on survival annoucement, I wish the storytelling would have focus more on the relationships, team work and practice.

I would recommend this to people that are looking for a dance survival program featuring rarely seen genres. Despite the bad pacing, boring announcement episodes and the anticlimactic finale, there are some beautiful performances that are worth a watch.

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