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An Open Letter To Kids Who Pick On Male Dancers

May 17, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms: Miami

On the episode of Dance Moms: Miami this week, the show very briefly touched on a major thing in dance, and I’m kind of disappointed they spent such little time on the issue. For those who missed it, after Lucas was done practicing, he approached Victor and told him he’s being made fun of at school for dancing. He’s being called gay by the other kids, and it’s hurting him. Victor showed disappointment, but that was it. The scene was over and it wasn’t touched on again.

While Lucas said he isn’t gay, that point is completely irrelevant to my post because it really doesn’t matter if he is or isn’t. Someone shouldn’t be made fun of for something they like to do, and it frustrates me to no end to see kids deal with that. There have been so many gender breakthroughs over the course of history, yet dancers (and cheerleaders) and still stuck with the stigma that if you do that, you’re gay.

Here is what I want to say to any boy who makes fun of other boys this age doing these things…

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Look, I know you’re young, generally don’t understand a lot about life, and how you’ll be when you’re older. In a few years, the girls you’re calling gross now are going to be very attractive, and you’re going to want to be around them. I’m sure society will still tell you that in order to do that, you need to do “macho” things like play football, join wrestling or do MMA fighting.

Here are some things to consider, however…

While you’re in a locker room full of guys, the same person you made fun of will be hanging around with cute girls in skimpy outfits as they practice dance or cheerleading.
While you’re rolling around on the wrestling floor with a guy in spandex, that same kid is going to have his hands all over the girls you wish you could get.
While you’re celebrating a touchdown by giving a bunch of guys hugs, that same boy is getting hugged by beautiful women for completing a dance routine.

So tell me, how does what you’re doing sound straight while dancing sounds gay?

Look, I’m not discouraging people from enjoying any activity whether it’s football, wresting, dancing or cheerleading. I’m also certainly not calling football or wresting gay, I’m just pointing out that making fun of people for doing what they love is silly because what you’re doing could look just as bad. It’s the advice to not throw stones while living in a glass house, and it holds true here.

Next time your friends tell you to make fun of someone for doing a “girly” thing, don’t be a follower. Stand up to your friends and show them how that “girly” thing is actually not so crazy when you look at it from the big picture. If you ask any straight guy whether they’d love to spend all day with hot women or guys in tights, they’re going to say hot women 10 out of 10 times.

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Thanks for reading, and I hope people can open their mind a little when it comes to these ridiculous stereotypes.

4 comments dance moms: miami, Lucas Triana

Dance Moms: Miami – Mid Season Review

May 11, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms: Miami

I haven’t really been recapping every episode because they overlap with 16 and Pregnant, which is what I watch instead. So, I DVR the show, forget about it for a few days, then finally watch it. By then, people don’t care about my recaps because they’ve already seen the episode! Side note: Please make sure Dance Moms is back to 9pm EST. I don’t like the 10pm time slot at all.

I’m going to review the season up to this point, not an episode by episode recap, but as a whole. I’ll try not to compare to the original Dance Moms because they should be their own shows, but I know I will because it’s hard not to. Let’s start with the easy one:

The Dancers

The dancers for this show are around the same age as the original cast, which is the 9-14 or so range. That would be too young for me to criticize even if I wanted to, but I really don’t. Jessi’s little issue on week 1 aside, the dancers are fantastic with both their skill and personality.

Hannah, the one who the moms act like is a terrible dancer is actually really great, and has an even better personality.
Jessi is extraordinarily focused, driven and talented. She’s going to be a star without a doubt.
Sammy is also a great dancer, but is still treated as an ‘outcast’, but mostly by the parents.. which I’ll get to.
Lucas and Kimmy are super cute, super talented and I’m hoping in 5 years they end up dating.

The Teachers

Every week I have different feelings towards both Angel and Victor. Some weeks they’re incredible with both the way they run things, and instruct, other weeks they both sound whiny and annoying. Let’s break each one down…

Angel – He’s more of the wild card every week. Sometimes you’ll see him joking with people, other times he’ll be complaining, whining or trashing the mothers. While it’s entertaining to us for him to trash the mothers, I don’t like how he consistently does it in front of their children. I don’t find that very professional at all, no matter how frustrated he gets with them. Susan was exactly right this recent episode when she was upset that Jessi was starting to sound like Angel in the back talking. Let the parents parent, teachers teach, and students dance.
Victor – While a bit whiny at times, he’s far more consistent with the way he acts and handles himself on a weekly basis. His focus is clearly on making the children better dancers, and when he does have problems with the parents, you’ll find him in the mothers room yelling at them.

Both instructors compliment each other very well, and work great together, my only hope is that they ease up on the mother bashing in front of the kids.

The Mothers

As different as Angel and Victor are from Abby Lee, the mothers are the biggest difference between the two shows. This is probably part of the show I dislike the most, and it’s sad because on their own, the mothers seem like great ladies, but together they get really catty. If they’re not bashing one another, they will be bashing the teachers, or even worse, the children. The closest the Pittsburgh moms came to bashing the children was when Payton was in the group and Jill would bring up how she doesn’t look like she belonged with the others.

In Miami, Hannah was on the receiving end of a few shots, and based on the previews, looks like it’ll be even more next week when she’s in a trio. Debi, Abby, and Susan consistently go at each other, and it kind of gets a little old. Ani and Brigette tend to sit back and watch the other three go at it, but Brigette even gets involved on occasion, leaving Ani as the only drama free mom on the show.

Overall

While it’s clear from watching it, and the reactions I see on my fan page, Dance Moms is still heavily favored over Dance Moms: Miami, however I believe it’s mostly because the show simply isn’t Dance Moms. The two are different shows, but being a spin-off, it’s hard not to compare the two the entire time watching it. I’d still watch Dance Moms over Miami if I had to choose, but when I watch the Miami version, I do find myself entertained, even if it’s for different reasons than the original. Hopefully they’ll give it a second season so we can try to form the connection we have with the original cast.

What are your thoughts on the show so far?

One comment Angel Armas, Anicia Gutierrez, dance moms: miami, Debi Epstein, Hannah Epstein, Jessica Kennedy, Kimberly Kopke, Lucas Triana, Sammy Small, Susan Kennedy, Victor Smalley

You’re All A Bunch Of Lying Animals!

April 18, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms: Miami

What did I get myself into?

When Dance Moms: Miami began last night, you just knew the peace and tranquility between the moms was going to be short lived. It was strange watching them act all… hmm what’s the word I’m looking for…. oh, right… “nice” to each other. Aside from Susan looking like she was about to shoot laser beams at Victor and Angel when Jessi was still near the bottom of “the list”, the moms were relaxed and ready for an easy week. Right? Wrong.

Out of nowhere, the moms started to pile on Abby (Sammy’s mom), and I don’t mean that in a Cinemax after-dark type of way. This was bordering crazy, unless there is a side to Abby that we’ve yet to see because of editing. So far, DMM has portrayed Abby as a drama free Jill, someone who just wants what’s best for her daughter by coming to a new school. That’s entirely possible, but to see the way the moms have been treating her either means there is some “behind the scenes” stuff we’re not seeing, or competitive dancing is named more for the moms than the dancers.

Debi (Hannah’s mom) has had a history with Abby at a former school, and from what Susan and Brigette said, has been trying real hard to sabotage Abby and Sammy’s welcome into the studio. It sounds a little Melrose Place for me, and felt the moms were exaggerating a little, until Abby pulled Victor and Angel to the side and confronted them on the issue. Victor all but confirmed that Debi did indeed approach him on trying to sabotage Sammy’s choreography. Wild stuff. (side note, I don’t believe, nor does Abby, that Victor or Angel would actually go along with that. Their reputation and careers are on the line, and not going to sacrifice that for some petty issues)

I thought it was pretty ruthless when Melissa took the guy out to lunch in L.A. to try and secure a better spot in the music video for Maddy, but if Debi is really trying to sabotage another dancers future, she should be ashamed and hopefully learns from this. I’m in the camp that you do what you have to in order to push your child further, but not at the expense of knocking someone else back. What Melissa did was a little sneaky, but fine.. what Debi did was not so fine.

Would you like a mint?

Aside from the drama, it was actually a pretty light episode. The teachers showed compassion and a sense of humor this week by first sitting all the kids down and talking about their insecurities, and then having some fun by making them act like their moms. The funniest part was when little Kimmy acted like her mom, Ani, by offering a mint. I can totally picture Ani just sitting back trying to remain drama free by offering mints to everyone.

Lucas, Kimmy and Sammy topped the list and were rewarded with solos this week, and the team was headed back to L.A. to Starbound to compete against more than 2x the amount of dancers as last week. Sadly, despite dancing pretty well, neither Lucas or Sammy even placed, however Kimmy managed to finish 2nd overall!

The group number fell kind of flat, as it didn’t send the message the instructors were trying to put out there. Sure, they finished 5th, but it was definitely a bit sloppy and probably could have taken 1st overall with some more work. Victor and Angel were not too happy with the results, so expect some harder training next week. Also, based on the results, I’m expecting Lucas and Sammy to fall a bit, likely allowing solos by Jessi and/or Hannah in the next episode.

No comments Abby Small, Angel Armas, Anicia Gutierrez, dance moms: miami, Debi Epstein, Hannah Epstein, Jessica Kennedy, Kimberly Kopke, Lucas Triana, Melissa Ziegler, Sammy Small, Susan Kennedy, Victor Smalley

Dance Moms: Miami – Therapy Edition

April 10, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms: Miami

Week 2 of Dance Moms: Miami is in the books, and I’m not really sure what to make of it this week. Personalities are starting to show a bit more, Angel is apparently more of a drama queen than I thought, and for some reason Hannah takes a ton of abuse.

Let’s talk about Susan first, as she was the driving force behind a lot of the drama tonight. First, at the beginning of the episode, she had a hissy fit when she saw that Jessi was pushed to the bottom of the list due to the trophy incident last week. After screaming at Debi (Hannah’s mother) for a bit, she pulled Jessi from the class and apparently in those few minutes, had a complete change of heart. In the hallway, she demanded Jessi apologize and not act like that again, which is hard to do considering she’s watching her mother act in a worse behavior.

Then, right before the group dance number at the end, she walks up to Victor and says that Jessi is the best dancer in the class (in front of everyone), and asks for a last minute solo routine. Seriously? Look, I understand you want what’s best for your child, but putting her out there to potentially embarrass herself with a improvised dance is probably not the best thing for her.

Out of nowhere, Victor’s mother, I believe her name was Myra, started making more appearances and took over where Susan left off. She kept praising Jessi and even gave Hannah a back-handed compliment by saying “.. even Hannah did well”, but didn’t understand what was wrong with that statement. I’m going to say it now, hopefully less air time for Myra the better.

On to Angel…. the first few minutes of the episode, I was actually thinking how refreshing it was to watch Angel and Victor together. Both seem very professional, and while Angel comes off as kind of mean, it’s a respectful mean. He knows what he wants, and is just blunt.. unlike Abby who knows what she wants too, but sounds awful trying to say it. Out of nowhere, Angel starts acting all crazy and threatening to pull the entire group number, and yelling at Victor about random things. He continues to talk about the “crazy moms”, but I think he may be a bit on the crazy side himself.

Finally, you have Hannah. As mentioned above, last week after the girls got the trophy for their group dance, Hannah returned back to the group to deal with Jessi pulling it away. That’s fine and all, water under the bridge. However, this week the Hannah bashing continued from really all sides. You have Abby (Sammy’s mother) taking random shots, Victor’s mother, and then even Lucas’s mother at the end. You don’t really notice the moms criticizing the girls dancing on the regular Dance Moms as you do them bashing each other (and Abby)… however, on this one, it appears nobody is off limits.

Anyway, to recap the rest of the episode…

Lucas and Kimmy were at the top of the list because of their duo last week.
Solo dances were awarded to Lucas, Sammy and Hannah. They didn’t feel Kimmy was quite ready for a solo yet.
The group number was focused around Lucas and the girls playing as backup dancers to him.
Solo awards were as followed: Sammy (1st), Lucas (2nd), Hannah (4th).
The group number finished 1st

Overall it was a good episode, I am starting to enjoy the show the more I get to know the characters, but tonight bothered me a little. It was mostly the behavior of Victor’s mother and Angel, and hopefully we’ll see less of that in the future.

What did you think of the episode?

No comments Angel Armas, dance moms: miami, Debi Epstein, Episode Recaps, Hanna Epstein, Jessica Kennedy, Kimberly Kopke, Lucas Triana, Sammy Small, Susan Kennedy, Victor Smalley

Dance Moms: Miami – In Like A Lion

April 4, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms: Miami

Like I posted in my Dance Moms finale thread, I was busy, so I know this recap on Dance Moms: Miami is super late, but it was worth it. I have to say, where Dance Moms left off, Miami picked it up. You have the talented dancers, obsessed Dance Moms, and extremely entertaining instructors. In some ways, Miami topped Pittsburgh, especially in the instructor department.

I must say, it was refreshing to see teachers who don’t treat their students like kids lucky enough to be in their presence. Don’t get me wrong, Abby Lee is a great teacher, but Victor and Angel prove you can be a great teacher while not having an ego as big as Miami’s nightlife. Angel is the more stern teacher who watches from afar, similar to Abby, but doesn’t yell at anything that walks. Victor is more of the relaxed, easy going choreographer who apparently is so dedicated, he still went to the competition despite puking before getting on a bus. I am such a baby when it comes to that. If I puke once, I’m cancelling anything I had planned for the next 2 weeks.

The mothers, let me use a word to easily describe them… FIERCE. For what is missing with Abby Lees fire, the Miami moms easily make up for it. Susan (pictured above) is super competitive Dance Mom who has her daughter Jessi working non stop to be a perfectionist. Apparently it is working because Jessi was top of the list heading into the week, and looked to stay on top with her solo at the Hollywood Vibe competition the team was headed to that weekend. (Side note: Jessi’s grandmother Bertha still has some moves too!)

Abby Small was the newcomer to the group, as I mentioned in Sammy’s bio page. Apparently, she did have a history with Hannah’s mother, Debi, who didn’t appear to be very thrilled to see Abby walking through the door. In fact, she threatened to walk out the back door if that happened, but I’m guessing they don’t have a back door because Debi wisely stayed. I’m glad she did because her daughter, Hannah, seems like a super sweet girl who is the type that has the talent, but doesn’t take it as serious, so you won’t see her freaking out over minor things.

The final two mothers are from the duo pair of Kimmy and Lucas, who were put together to do the tango. As far as the moms go, Ani (Kimmy’s mom) and Brigette (Lucas’s mom) didn’t have a very eventful episode. That’s probably a good thing after the crazy arguments on display by Debi, Victor, and Susan (not all together). The tango moms had to watch in horror as Lucas was trying to hold Kimmy up, but pretty much dropped her in practice. I think Lucas needs to start lifting the 10lb weights for next week! Seriously though, both dancers were super cute and did fantastic in the competition.

The entire episode was pretty much geared around getting to know the dancers more, featuring little segments on each one and their personal lives. That was pretty cool to see the ‘other’ side of each person. It wasn’t an episode full of yelling, swearing and lawsuits. I am looking forward to the rest of the season, and hope it lives up to the solid first episode.

Before I stop, here are the overall results from the Hollywood Vibe competition:

1st place duo – Lucas and Kimmy
2nd place teen solo – Jessi
1st place small group – All the dancers doing a Jazz / Funk routine

Well done, and I’ll hopefully be live tweeting the episode next week!