March, 2012 | Dance Mom Junkies

Archive for March 27, 2012

Dance Moms: Miami – Hannah Epstein

March 27, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms: Miami

Hannah Epstein

Age: 11
(Twitter) | (Facebook)
Mother: Debi Epstein (twitter)

Hannah Epstein is an 11 year old who grew up in New Jersey and started dancing at 2 1/2 years old. Inspired by her older sister, Kayla, she’s been dancing ever since and ended up joining Stars Dance Studio where her dance took on a new level.

Her new teachers, Angel Armas and Victor Smalley not only lifted her dance, but taught her how to express herself as an artist through the dance. This is where her passion grew to new levels, and also how she set herself up to be a future star as part of the Dance Moms: Miami cast.

Hannah’s parents, Ian and Debi are very supportive of her, but also have a business outside of watching their daughter dance. They own Scrub & Tan spray studio, which I might say is doing pretty well itself if facebook ‘likes’ are any indication.

Like the other mothers, it’s hard to really gauge a person through what little we know of her, so it’ll be interesting to see how her personality is. With only a week to go until the Dance Moms: Miami premiere, we’ll be finding out soon enough. Look for Hannah and Debi Epstein on April 3rd!

Lifetime Removes The “Topless Showgirls” Episode

March 26, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms

Gawker – Lifetime, the TV network that “celebrates, entertains, and supports women,” has finally pushed its schadenfreude reality programming too far. After airing an extraordinarily child-sexualizing of Dance Momsonce, the network pulled the episode from rotation and scrubbed it from the internet. The episode in question? “Topless Showgirls,” in which a troop of 8- to 13-year-old girls simulate toplessness and perform a burlesque.

The episode aired once two weeks ago. A Lifetime spokesperson confirms that, after airing the episode, the network decided never to air it again and never to make it available on iTunes, Amazon, or MyLifetime.com.

When I watched the episode of Dance Moms that featured the girls in a very risque burlesque dance, I knew there was going to be some fallout from it. The theme alone was enough to raise eyebrows, but during the episode, they did do their best to push the envelope. During rehearsals, they made sure to show a lot of the girls from behind, which clearly looked very bad. Combine that with some of Abby Lee’s comments throughout the episode, the “PC Police” were definitely going to have fun with this episode.

That being said, in the end, the dance was still a bit risque, but the outfits weren’t that bad. The mothers fixed them up quite a bit, and in the end they looked no worse than swimsuits. But by then, the damage had already been done, and complaints flowed into Lifetime, enough where they have decided to pretend the episode never existed. They’re never going to air it again, and remove the option to watch it through various online streaming places.

I am not so much torn on the decision to remove it, but I am more annoyed they decided to air it like they did in the first place. Editing it and airing it like they did put the show in an even worse light than it has been. I mean you know it’s getting bad when a mother from Toddlers & Tiara’s said that Dance Moms “makes them look good”. I hope down the road they ease up a bit on the controversy and just try to make Dance Moms a fun show to watch.. of course with a little drama mixed in.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I am going to watch a Lifetime movie where a wife stabs her husband 200 times.

4 comments Abby Lee, dance moms

Dance Moms: Miami – Kimberly Kopke

March 21, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms: Miami

Kimberly Kopke

Age: 9
(Twitter) | (Facebook)
Mother: Anicia Gutierrez (twitter)

I’m not going to lie, Kimberly Kopke from Dance Moms: Miami is like an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, surrounded by a mystery. So far, I’ve been able to get all types of info, photos and even award results from other dancers on the show, but there isn’t a huge fan base for Kimberly.. yet. Like all the dancers on the show, she’s relatively anonymous except in dancing circles, but I expect that to change overnight on April 3rd when she’ll suddenly become a household name.

Kimberly Kopke is 9 years old, but will be 10 about 3 weeks after Dance Moms: Miami airs, so like the others, she’s right around the same age grouping as the original Dance Moms girls.

Her mother is named Anicia, but will likely be called Ani on the show. She has two daughters, as Natalie Kopke is her other. Natalie will not be a dancer featured on the show, and surprisingly there are no sister pairings at all, where Pittsburgh has two.

Here is a photo of Ani with Kimberly, but these are the only two I could dig up. I may try chatting with Ani to get some more info on Kimberly’s past and award history, but sadly for now this is the best I could do!

No comments Anicia Gutierrez, dance moms: miami, Kimberly Kopke

10 Rules About Being My Friend On Dance Moms

March 20, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms

I have to say, this episode of Dance Moms was a bit surprising. I feel like I’m either completely out of touch with society or Melissa Ziegler has some sneaky things going on in her life. I mean am I wrong? Is it normal to act the way she did when the girls were talking about her engagement? I mean it’s not like they were harping on her about something painful, say a divorce.. this is an engagement. People are supposed to be happy!

Sure, some may say “well, they’re just dance moms, they don’t have to get all personal with each other”, but it’s not like they’re trying to find out what kind of underwear she wears. Talking about an engagement is something you can have small talk with at a party to a complete stranger… not that the stranger probably wants to hear about your engagement, but that’s a different topic.

To serve them with papers threatening a lawsuit is serious stuff. I’m sure it had everything to do with being on camera, but why so secretive? My only guess is it had more to do with her fiancee than Melissa. Perhaps he’s a super private person, maybe he needs to keep it a secret until a certain time for whatever reason, and talking about the show will not help there.

On a side note, we did clearly see a difference in how Abby reacts to the mothers. As they pointed out on twitter, she didn’t say a word when Melissa barged in (a huge no no to Abby), lawsuits weren’t threatened when a dance was themed after the engagement, and Melissa really didn’t have to get on her knees the next day and apologize for the outburst.

Whatever, enough about that. I don’t want to get lawsuit papers in the mail tomorrow.

As far as the dancing goes. I already babbled on about the juicy stuff, I didn’t leave much for this. Nia was finally granted a spot in the trio, but they didn’t perform up to expectations. Maddie dominated her solo, and the group number finished 3rd, easily beating out Candy Apples.

(Another side note, Taylor did in fact break her ankle. That was also confirmed by the moms on twitter)

Back to Nia. I think Holly is a fantastic lady, Nia seems like a very sweet child, but I’m surprised how little Paige’s feelings are thought of with the trio. Nobody ever really mentions how Maddie and Chloe are always in it, but poor Paige has to keep getting shuffled in and out for Kendall or Nia. Or when Holly freaks out about Nia not being in, how is Paige supposed to take that? I know Holly is looking out for what’s best for Nia, but this is just one thing that bugs me whenever the trio talk is mentioned. How Paige just sits back and takes it all without saying a word. I feel bad for her.

(Final side thought, how sweet is Maddie? She’s always the first to comfort her teammates, and was even there to show her support to Taylor when she was getting carried off stage)

Overall it was a good episode, but a sloppy recap so I apologize for making you suffer through it

5 comments Abby Lee, Chloe Lukasiak, Christi Lukasiak, dance moms, Episode Recaps, Holly Frazier, Melissa Ziegler, Nia Frazier

Dance Moms: Miami – Lucas Triana

March 19, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms: Miami

Lucas Triana

Age: 10
(Twitter) | (Facebook)
Mother: Brigette Triana (twitter)

Lucas Triana has had a relatively short run as a dancer due to stopping for 3 years between the ages of 5-8 because he did not think dancing was cool for a boy. This got him on a late start compared to other dancers who have been doing it non-stop, but he came back with a fury. Since he’s returned, he’s been winning all types of competitions, including the title “Young Male Dancer of the Year”, and “Mr. Nexstar” at the national title in Myrtle Beach.

Needless to say, he’s not going to be on the show simply to lower the average age of the dancers at his studio *cough* Candy Apples. Lucas is the real deal and already has quite a decent following considering he hasn’t been on TV yet. 255 fans on twitter with about 5 posts and a few retweets show the star power for him, especially when his series – Dance Moms: Miami – airs on April 3rd.

And his mother Brigette Triana? She’s incredibly supportive of Lucas and his aspirations to become a dancer. Obviously I know little of her personality, but with the passion she expresses on twitter, we can only hope for some excitement this season Dance Moms: Miami. And to get a little peek at Brigette before the show airs…

And let me just say one final thing. If he quit dance at 5 because he went to school and was picked on, I have a very strong feeling those same kids are going to be very envious of not only his fame, but the fact that he’ll be dancing with beautiful women his whole life while they’re wrestling with other guys in tights or football equipment.. just sayin….