After weeks of incredible performances, The Lab was crowned the winning group of World of Dance season 2 on Sept. 12. The hip-hop style junior team from West Covina, Califoria, came back to the show after getting cut last season. The 15-member group, aged 9 to 17, returned with their eyes on the prize, and their hard work paid off.
HollywoodLife spoke EXCLUSIVELY with two of the group’s members, Logan “Logistx” Edra, 15,and Kea Peahu, 10, following their epic win. They revealed their planning to create scholarships with a portion of their $1 million prize to “give back to the next generation.” They also talked about the “opportunities” ahead of them, and their plan to keep on “inspiring others.” Check out our full Q&A below!
What are you guys going to do with the $1 million?
Kea Peahu: So a big part of the million dollars, we definitely want to spend it for scholarships for not only kids but just people all around the world, all ages, to just inspire them and make them happy and give them the love and support that they’ve given us.
Logan “Logistx” Edra: We feel like the reason why we are able to do what we do is because we have our supporters, we have our parents, we have our creative team, directors, choreographers, who all invest their time, energy, and love because they genuinely want us succeed, and they want our dreams to come true. So, because we have won this TV show and now we’re on such a great platform, we want to use it for good and use it to give back to the next generation, just like how our supporters supported us.
Was there any point in the finals when you thought that you had it before you guys were announced?
Logan “Logistx” Edra: We did our Missy Elliott set first, and that was such a quick turnaround. We made that set in like two days. That was stressful. Once we performed our Missy Elliott set, I feel like after that we were kind of like, not like we knew we had the win, but more, we didn’t have to worry anymore because the second set, whatever we did on that stage, as long as it was out of love and out of passion and out of just genuine love for each other and love for dancing and love for everything, we knew it would hit every single time. We didn’t have to worry about, ‘Oh, is this going to hit, is this trick going to hit, is this pass going to go there.’ And we worried about that in practice, but that’s why we drilled it over and over and over, so that by the time we hit the stage all we had to do was just be in the moment. So I’d say we weren’t really focused on that we were going to win, it was more like let’s just give this our absolute best, and whatever happens, happens. Then, it doesn’t really matter if we win, as long as we give our absolute best, and that is a win to us.
What was going through your minds when you were backstage watching the other competitors perform?
Logan “Logistx” Edra: So, backstage when we were about to go on, and all the other competitors were performing and they were on the big screen backstage, we were always told to not focus on the other teams just because we have to stay focused on our performance. And that helps a lot because once we get zoned out that kind of messes up the energy and the vibe that we need for our performance. We tried to stay focus on our own stuff. We kind of go over it in our head and go over as a group and still drill it backstage before we go on. We try not to even watch the other groups.
Why did you guys decide to take that risk and go with something totally different in your last performance than what you’ve sort of been doing all season long? Take me through that a little bit.
Logan “Logistx” Edra: Going into season two, we had to have a better strategy than we did in season one. So we wanted to start strong with our first set, but not too strong, so that as the weeks went by we had to escalate and we had to get better and better each round. So, by week four, that was a crazy set and that was our desk piece, which was super, just high, very energetic, lots of big moments. And for the finals, the reason we wanted to go a different route was because what means more to us is not really impressing or putting out the big moments that The Lab is known for, we wanted to focus on changing the viewers’ lives that are watching, or just changing lives in general. That was our main focus, especially for our John Mayer set. So we went into the last round a little bit different just so it escalated and didn’t look the same as the other sets, but also because our focus was essentially just wanting to inspire others.
Last season when you were cut, what was the main thing you wanted to practice to get better in before you returned, and when did you exactly decide that you wanted to come back and try again?
Kea Peahu: We feel like we definitely wanted to get just better in general at our capabilities, and we actually added five new members to the team. The first season there was only 10 members and the second season, which is the season that we currently just won, we added five more members, so it was 15 members. We felt like 10 members was good, but with five new members, they all have their individual own talents so it could be for the better. The talent that they have, each person on the team has different talents, so we felt like adding more talents would make us even stronger.
Logan “Logistx” Edra: We not only added five more members just to make us stronger, but we also went into season two with a more bold intention. We just wanted to go in planning to win the show rather than just trying to make it a certain amount of rounds. We just went in with a winning mindset, which is different from season one.
Your group is full of all ages. Do the older ones have plans for college? How are you guys gonna keep the group together?
Logan “Logistx” Edra: So we do have members of all different ages. Our oldest is 17, so it does make sense for some to go to college. But our main goal is to really stay together and keep growing together. As humans, not even just as dancers, as humans we’re like one family. We don’t even consider ourselves just a dance team or dance competition team, we consider ourselves a family. So no matter what, we always know we’re gonna have each others’ backs, we’re always gonna support each other and whatever we want to do in life. And so we we just wanna try to stay together and grow together.
You do have some younger members on the team. How do you learn such complicated routines so quickly?
Logan “Logistx” Edra: Well, I’m 15, I’m one of the older ones, so I’ve been practicing in choreo[graphy] for a little while, so choreo retention is something familiar to me. But I can actually say the same about the little ones. They have been training. Even though they’re younger, they’ve still been training in what they do, some of them even the same amount of years as the older people have because I feel like some of the older ones started late, and then the little ones may have started early, which makes sense. So their skill level is just as good as the older ones.
Have you guys gotten any advice from season 1 winners Les Twins or the judges on how to take the next step in your career now that you’ve won?
Logan “Logistx” Edra: So throughout the show, we were mentored by every single judge, and Jenna [Dewan] and Savion Glover. So, we were able to get a lot of really, really good feedback and just wise words from all of them as mentors. I remember after we performed once J-Lo was really emphasizing on how art can heal and can really make the world a better place. When we performed in front of Savion and JLo, they really emphasized on how we just have to keep doing what we’re doing, which is using art to heal and using it to make the world a better place. Our bond definitely saved us, our bond helped us, but also dance and art has definitely saved us as well. And we want to present it in a way where it can save other people as well.
What do you guys have planned next and what are your goals?
Logan “Logistx” Edra: We’ve been getting crazy opportunities from interviews to short performances. And as these opportunities are coming at us, we just want to be prepared and make sure we’re always training. We’re so grateful for these opportunities. We couldn’t have done all of this, we couldn’t have accomplished all of this, and we couldn’t have gotten all these opportunities without the people who are supporting us. So with these opportunities that we’re being given we want to really just keep that same intention of doing the same for others, inspiring others, so their dreams can also come true and just keep that circle of inspiration going.