Now we find ourselves at Candy Apples dance company. Jill stops by to visit Cathy and let her know what was going on at ALDC. Cathy and Jill get into an argument.

At ALDC, the new dancers arrive. Abby is excited as she feels everyone is replaceable. She now has Ally, Bella, Kaeli, and one more on the way.

Christi has a nice house. The moms are planning a performance with the girls on their own to show Abby they don’t need her. The girls will choreograph their own performance.

Abby gets a call from Yvette. Her and her daughter, Hadley were on Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition. She says she is looking forward to seeing them at the competition. Hadley is having a hard time moving past the comments made about her by Abby. Abby called her roadkill. Which made a great soundbite for the show. In my opinion, was to harsh of a comment to make to a child. But I am not a dance teacher.

Sophia is the next to arrive. She is a child dance prodigy. When she asks Abby for clarification on the steps, Abby cannot believe what she is hearing. She tells Sophia ” That voice is killing me. Minnie Mouse already has a job.”

They are travelling to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Sophia has a solo. The group number is called cry.

Kelly’s house is where the group is rehearsing for their performance sans Abby. They will be performing at the mall. The girls are excited. They are performing at Century III Mall in Pittsburgh, PA. The moms are concerned because there is nobody at the mall. Their post Abby career may be over before it begins.

Gloria, Kaeli’s mother, goes behind Abby’s back and puts in a solo for her daughter. Ally is first up with her solo, Forever and a day. She was good. Hadley’s turn is next with, More. She is good also. Sophia is next with her solo. This child’s turns are incredible.

Backstage Bella is upset that she is the only one without a solo. This is news to Abby. Abby says that anyone who goes behind her back is off the team. She is not taking anymore crap from the moms. A fight ensues between the new moms Gloria and Marcia. Time for the group performances. The girls did really well. But this to me feels like something Cathy would have done.

Ally won 2nd place in the teen solo division.

Sophia won 1st place in the junior solo division.

Group won 2nd place junior small group division.

Abby lost to Yvette’s small group. But Abby congratulates her. Abby is not impressed with 2nd place. As she likes to tell everyone, 2nd is the first loser.

The girls perform at the mall. The place is packed. They are good but not amazing. Christi thinks they were amazing. Holly thinks they need their dance teacher.

The day of the open audition there were dancers lined up around the studio and down the block. They came from all over the country for their shot. The new moms wanted their 15 minutes of fame, and made sure to start insulting each other quickly. But Abby picked her finalists.

Kelly has a beautiful house.

Kendall gets to do a solo, It Girl. Jill is thrilled and thinks its Christmas. Abby first compliments Kendall, saying she was there everyday. Then almost in the same breath, how there are dancers a thousand times better than her. And the kid runs away in tears. Abby has no patience for tears. The moms are concerned with Abby’s swelling ego.

The new moms arrive. Christi wonders if they should sharpen their cat claws. Meow. There are two girls Abby is deciding between. Ally and Ava. She picked Ally who is 13.

Flash to Cathy and Vivi. Her team has fallen apart. Justice is not coming back. They think their best chance of winning is with an all boy team.

Abby tells Ally that she can now have Chloe’s feature part in the group number. And to be prepared for Christi to hate her. Seems like Abby is trying to stir up trouble between the moms, but her reason does make sense. If its true. Poor Shelly, Ally’s mom. She won’t know what coming. Melissa and Holly can see whats going on. Jill catches on right away. Christi is really not impressed. And if looks could kill.

Chloe does get a solo, Nobody’s perfect. Maddie gets a solo as well. Mackenzie has a solo. Abby reminds her “remember you were just a dumb little kid. With an amazing older sister.” Seriously? What kind of thing is that to say to a kid. Give your head a shake woman. She tells the dancers that they better get it together. If they don’t she will have Ally do the number as a solo. This infuriates the mothers.

Since Shelly hasn’t had a chance to get settled yet, Abby shows her around Pittsburgh. She asks what she thinks of the other mothers. She replies they are nice and honest. I wonder how long she will think that.

Competition day. Abby still doesn’t know whats going on with the group number. Nia may not dance. They have a lot to say about Shelly and the situation.

Maddie dances. Don’t leave me. She does really well. Chloe dances, Nobody’s perfect. Chloe starts stressing out because she forgot a couple of steps. And Abby noticed and calls her on it.

Abby has a guest. Its a guy from high school. Well the guy that Kelly said she stole from Abby. He claims he doesn’t remember Kelly. Ouch. That is harsh. Christi said he does remember. Abby tried to slash his tires over the incident. Wow.

Kendall is up next, It Girl. Very cute. Then the group number, Angels and demons. And they were great.  Mackenzie is up next. The whole group is afraid she will forget and run off. And poor thing forgot a bit of her performance.

Award time.

Mackenzie won 1st place mini solo award

Kendall won 5th place junior solo award

Chloe won 2nd place junior solo award

Maddie won 1st place junior solo award

Group won 1st place junior small group

I was surprised at Abby’s comments about Holly quitting her job and now she is just a dance mom. Abby repeatedly told her she needed to be at the studio and not at work. The woman takes the time off work and Abby still has something to say about it. Maybe it because that was the only bad thing she really could say about Holly. She appears to be a very level headed nice person.

Love the segment with Christi and Abby. Always, always entertaining. And funny. I don’t think that Abby hates Chloe, like Christi says she does. Abby I believe hates Christi, but that I am sure works both ways. I didn’t know Christi and Melissa had a line together. Glitzy Girl, its cute. The focus does seem to be shifting from dance.

Kelly and Abby’s wounds run deep. I really like Brooke and Paige. Abby may have a point when she said Brooke should give up her spot. Brooke is getting to be quite a bit bigger and older than the rest of the girls. But I think she is talented enough to do something on her own or start seeing about Cirque du Soliel. I guess we will have to see this season.

Chloe danced and was really good as she normally is.

Melissa is out next and there isn’t much fighting there. Just praise for Maddie. Which in my opinion the child earned and deserves. Why any of them try and take that away from her, is puzzling.

Nia danced and was fierce. She is a mini Beyonce in the making. The theme of the dance may be questionable for a child. But she brought it.

Jill came on and looks like she really enjoys being in the hot seat. Loved her comment about botox.

“She is Known as the Sue Sylvester of the dance world.” hahaha

Abby seems very confident that Cathy will be eating her dust again this season. We will see. Cathy bothers me.

Maddie is out to dance and does a wonderful job.

Abby and Cathy can agree on their dislike of Christi.

Mackenzie is just too cute.

Next is a group dance My Last Text. This is a chilling, amazing performance.

Looks like it is going to be a crazy, entertaining season on Dance Moms. Can’t wait.

Obviously Melissa wants to protect her daughters reputation, so she confronted Abby about the rumors, but naturally they were denied.  We’ll never know the truth because as bad as it looks for Maddie, it looks 100x worse for Abby Lee to cheat for her students.  She’ll never admit it even if it was on purpose, her studio would lose all credibility right away.  Do I think it was done purposely?  The reality show fanatic in me originally felt it was, but logic set in and I don’t think so.  Maddie is a fantastic dancer and doesn’t need any help getting back on top, especially at the risk of Abby’s precious reputation.

With that aside, it was time to do Abby’s apparently new favorite thing, the pyramid (I say new because she’s on record saying the pyramid is a Dance Moms thing).  Just like last week when Maddie skipped a chance to dance, Brooke and Paige were both at the very bottom.  The difference was Maddie didn’t have a big ‘PROBATION’ written on her picture.  Kind of unfair to Brooke and Paige, but that’s Abby being Abby.. there is more than enough evidence of some type of favoritism, and it was even on display again last night.

During the group number, Paige came out with the only unique dress and was instantly forced to give it up to Chloe.  This meant Chloe ended up wearing a dress too tight, and Paige’s was too large.  The funny part is, the 11 year old dancers were the ones acting mature about it all.. Chloe wanted Paige to be the unique one, and Paige also handled it well by simply going along with it all.  Was it favoritism, or do you believe Abby’s excuse that Chloe should have had a unique dress because of her role in the dance?

As far as the rest of the dancers, Maddie and Chloe had a duo and looked phenomenal, but still only ended up in 2nd place in their category.

Nia, Maddie and Mackenzie also had solo’s, and only one of them won first place in their category.  Can you guess which one?   I’ll give you a hint, it’s not Maddie, and it’s also not Nia. That’s right, Mackenzie finally remembered  her entire solo and rocked it on stage.  She won 1st in the petite category, while Nia won 9th and Maddie 4th in their categories.

The group number ended up looking very cute and well done, but in the end, it wasn’t good enough because they finished 2nd.  That wasn’t good enough for Abby who went off on the group after that.  Again, feeling embarrassed and ashamed and taking it out on the kids.  This is the part I don’t understand.  She has a bunch of pre-teen dancers, some (Maddie) has to learn *3* dances in a matter of days, yet gets worked up they only finished 2nd?  It just blows my mind that she gets upset at 2nd place with that short of prep time.  Maybe it’s normal in the competitive dance world, but it just seems like a lot to place on kids.

What are your thoughts on the episode last night?

This isn’t a post on Miami though, it’s about the return of Abby and company, and it felt good watching it!  Before I talk about the episode, did anyone watch the “OMG Moments” with Abby beforehand?  Kind of weird. It was fun watching the highlights, but Abby’s commentary between was kind of cringe-worthy, bashing the moms who aren’t even being filmed to defend themselves.  Just very strange and would have been better off doing one of those terrible VH1 shows where they hire “comedians” to try and joke between clips.

Anyway, enough of that.  The episode picked up where last season ended with Abby having a mini breakdown and storming out of a competition.  Apparently the moms haven’t heard from her in weeks(?) yet walk into the room with the pyramid all set up ready to go.  Right.  Do us a favor Lifetime, don’t try to stage moments because it’s very transparent.  The moms probably did stand there for 30 minutes waiting for her, but it was clearly set like that for drama purposes to continue from last season.

Once that little quirk was out of the way, things were back to normal in the ALDC with the Abby yelling at everyone, the moms yelling back at her, and the poor kids just caught in the middle trying to dance.  I guess in that sense it’s not too different from Miami, but the biggest difference is how the moms interact with each other, and it’s totally refreshing.  Christi and Kelly are hilarious, Holly is the calming influence, and Melissa is generally caught in the middle of the moms and her friendship with Abby.

Maddie watching the trio for mistakes

What bothered me was sometime in the middle of the episode, Abby was trying to get the girls to criticize each other, and having Maddie act as a choreographer which was totally out of character for the girls, the show and even Abby.  You can see a genuine friendship with all the girls, and the last thing I want to watch would be the dancers turning on each other for drama purposes.  I don’t know if this was a one time thing, but I hope it is. The girls looked very uncomfortable doing it, and it was uncomfortable to watch.

Despite a little bit of drama through the episode, the team still went out to L.A. to compete, and the rust from some time off was pretty evident.  Mackenzie had a solo, and did very well until she slipped and hurt herself, but still ended up finishing 10th.  Chloe also had a solo, and performed well as did the group number, but both only finished 5th place.  The trio was the highest performing number with a 3rd place finish.

The results didn’t please Abby and in the dressing room after awards, she had it out with Kelly which was again more reminiscent of Miami than what we’re used to.  It seemed that show loved to put drama right at the end, and this week was no different.

While it was a good episode, and refreshing to see them back on the air, I just hope future episodes have more of a regular Dance Moms feel and not some cross between Dance Moms and Dance Moms: Miami.

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…

—

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.

—

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

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?

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.