Tag Archive for Kelly Hyland

Dance Moms Season 3 Episode 3: But I’m A National Champion!

The new dancers arrive at the studio to warm up. Abby states “Even though we came in second, I would much rather work with these kids. Pretty soon those old moms will just be a distant memory.” I think Abby would like that. There is quite a bit of animosity going on. Christi arrives and says the REAL dance moms are here. Kelly is back because her kids want to dance, but she doesn’t want to be. Abby phones Shelly looking for Ally. They went back to New Orleans. Shelly did not want to be around all the harsh comments and negativity of the new dance moms. Ally cried all the way home on the plane. Here we go again.

“Jealousy is an ugly disease. You can ask Christi.” Meow Abby

She sends the girls in to warm up. She blasts Gloria and Marcia for chasing one of her dancers out. “No more Mrs. nice guy.” Really? When was that? Did I miss an episode? She tells them to leave. Now she has one member left Sophia.

The mothers are still talking in the parking lot. Abby knows she has some openings. She tells them either they come in and dance or they leave. They start heading in. She wants them to sign contracts. Christi asks where Kellys? Abby doesn’t want to give one to Kelly because she called her names. “Her kids are lazy, slugs.” Ouch. She tells them to make a decision. Jill chooses to stay. Melissa chooses to stay. Christi and Holly choose to stay. Kelly has to do this herself. She goes in to speak with Abby. They are back.

Jill assumes that Jackie won’t fit in. No pyramid. Chloe, Maddie, Nia, Mackenzie, Kendall. They are all on a straight line. They are on probation. Sophia is on the top. No pictures of Brooke and Paige. She praises Jackie. This week they are going to Ohio. The group number is Red Carpet Special.  Sophia has a solo Superstar. Chloe has a solo. She tells the moms that they have assignments as well. Christi is not pleased about this.

The moms are upstairs talking about how good Sophia is. Melissa and Christi don’t seem to comfortable. They talk about Sophia and her pirouettes. And the world record. Which you can see in another post. Jackie says all the kids here are stars. Christi thinks its fake.

Christi and Kelly think Melissa and Maddie are relieved that Maddie doesn’t have a solo this week. The moms have to clean up the costume room. Abby is doing a private acro with Sophia. Sophia is asked to help in a senior turn class. She tells Abby that she helps with the younger students at her other studio. But she can be kinda mean. Abby high fives her, she likes mean. Chloe is learning her solo right before they are suppose to get on the bus to go. Christi feels she is just being set up to fail. I don’t understand either what the reason would be to learn it the day of. Poor Chloe. Sophia is making the other girls nervous. She makes the kids audition for the group. And tells the moms they are casting it. Drama drama drama. Christi won’t watch Sophia. Abby calls her on it. Brooke is out.

They arrive in Ohio. Abby is nervous. Sophia’s solo is up first. She is good. Chloe is next. She was good. Chloe thinks she let her mom down. Abby comes in and gushes about Sophia. And hugs her. She doesn’t say anything positive to Chloe. Time for the group numbers. All the girls are having fun getting ready. Poor Mackenzie can’t get the carpet to unroll. The group was good but I have seen better from them.

Chloe wins 3rd place junior solo award.

Sophia wins 1st place junior solo award.

Chloe wins an expressive heart award.

Group wins 1st junior small group award.

Holly thinks Abby was disappointed that the group won 1st. Abby calls Chloe a hot mess. Christi and Abby get into an argument again. Christi is crying and asking “What they are doing to their kids?” Sometimes I wonder the exact same thing.

 

 

Dance Moms Season 3 Episode 2: Out with the Old, In with the New

The episode starts with all the moms having a meeting in the parking lot. They feel they need to stand up for Kelly, Paige and Brooke. As Abby sees them enter the ladies room together she knows something is going on. Let the stand off begin. They are all sitting there giving Abby the silent treatment. I don’t think she really minds. She is ready to do pyramid but there are no students in class. So she decides to start working on Ally’s solo. Shelly tells Abby that it’s the moms not the kids. Abby feels if the kids wanted to be there they would. The fact that they are children doesn’t matter, they can still be there. Abby glances outside in the parking lot and sees the moms there. She demands to know whats going on. Abby then phones the police and asks them to come deal with the trespassers.

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.

 

Dance Moms Season 3 Episode 1: The Beginning of the End

The dancers arrive back for a new competition season. Paige and Brooke are not there. Abby enters the studio furious before it even starts. She is angry that Kelly’s kids aren’t there. She is angry that her students did not attend dance class over the summer. She is not doing a pyramid. She takes Brooke and Paige’s pictures down, and tosses them in the garbage can. And then throws the rest of the pictures away. She is holding an open audition to replace them. The girls are heading to Denver, Colorado for their competition.

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

 

 

 

 

Skipping CD’s, Paranoia and Probation Highlight The Episode This Week

Melissa talks to AbbyTensions were building last night on Dance Moms as Kelly and Christi continue to work on Melissa to join their side in a crusade against Abby Lee. The big drama revolved around cdskip-gate last week where the moms convinced Melissa that Abby set that up purposely as a cheap way to make Maddy win.  For those who didn’t understand the situation, judges tend to favorably view a dancer who can continue to perform when things don’t go smooth.  If done purposely, that’s about as low as it gets and is looked down very harshly.

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?

Dance Moms Is Back!

dance moms is backAhh the weather is warming up, and the regular Dance Moms is back on TV. Things just feel normal again, especially after watching Dance Moms: Miami.  Look, I don’t want to bash that show, it is entertaining to watch, but it’s just not Dance Moms. It almost has the feel of some art school students who made a parody show to try and mock the original. Sadly, the moms outrageous behavior mask the great dancing and sweet kids who are trying to avoid the drama.

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 dance

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.

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