Billed as the Olympics of Dance, Superstars of Dance continues with a new episode tonight in its new timeslot at 8pm on NBC.  The show, which features dance routines from eight different countries around the world, is hosted by Michael Flatley, and co-hosted by Susie Castillo, and is created by executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, who is the producer of another dance program, So You Think You Can Dance.

In last night's two-hour premiere, the eight countries competing came together and introduced their dance teams.  Dance genres performed included the monks from Shaolin: Wheel of Life (China), Irish step dancers (Ireland), Tango dancers (Argentina), a pop/lock dancer (United States) and Bollywood dancers (India) just to name a few.

The Irish team kicked off the competition, followed by Team U.S.A.'s Robert Muraine, who executed a popping routine.  Then there's Carolina Cerisola of Team Argentina who performed a sensual cabaret and Team Russia's duo, Pasha Kovalev and Anya Garnis, who performed a sexy modern type of ballroom dance.  Team India's Nishi Munshi and Sangita Sanyal, on the other hand, performed an Indian Bollywood dance but didn't live up quite well with the judges' expectations. Furthermore, there's Team Australia's Sean Robinson, who danced a tap number, Team China's traditional Chinese ribbon dancer Bei Zheng and Team South Africa's rocking performance of a Gumboot and the fire.

But that was just the first half of the two-hour opener.  Contestants performed more dance numbers, which either pulled down or put their countries back in the running.  All in all, there were a total of 16 performances last night, which earned the following scores:

Argentina 123
Ireland 123
China 117
Australia 114
Russia 114
United States 114
India 113
South Africa 112

Get to know the contestants and the coaches through the trials and tribulations, both behind the scenes and on the stage on Superstars of Dance, which airs through January 19 on NBC.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: NBC, RealityTVmagazine
(Image courtesy of NBC)