With another performance ahead of him, Jaxon Willard is all about practice, practice, practice in this EXCLUSIVE preview of the Sept. 5 episode of World of Dance. He performs for host and mentor Jenna Dewan, who gives him some advice two days before he performs again. On the morning of his performance, he hits the stage with mentor Ciara watching in the audience. “I still can’t wrap my head around the idea that he is only 16 years old,” she says. “He can tap into such, like, great emotion, and you can really feel it when you’re watching him.”
In the middle of his performance, Jaxon begins to have trouble breathing. He walks off the stage, and Ciara tells him to take his time returning to the stage. Jaxon says he can’t catch his breath. She holds his hand as he receives oxygen. “I’m having some breathing problems, and it’s like athletic-induced asthma, and so it definitely like worries me because I don’t want to be dancing in this round and just all of a sudden stop because I can’t breathe,” Jaxon admits. “But I’m just going to have to power through.”
Ciara is really impressed at Jaxon’s determination. “It was amazing to see him will through,” she says. “He’s a trooper, he’s a warrior, and I’m really proud of him. He has what it takes.”
It’s down to the wire on World of Dance. The acts that win their Divisions in the Sept. 5 episode, which airs at 9 p.m. on NBC, will compete in the world final. The world final of season 2 will air Sept. 12. The act that prevails in the end will win the grand prize of $1 million and the title of best dancers in the world.