Melissa Ziegler

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

June 20, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms

Tensions 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?

12 comments Abby Lee, Brooke Hyland, Chloe Lukasiak, Christi Lukasiak, dance moms, Episode Recaps, Holly Frazier, Kelly Hyland, Mackenzie Ziegler, Maddie Ziegler, Melissa Ziegler, Nia Frazier, Paige Hyland

Dance Moms Is Back!

June 8, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms

Ahh 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 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.

2 comments Abby Lee, Chloe Lukasiak, Christi Lukasiak, dance moms, Episode Recaps, Holly Frazier, Kelly Hyland, Mackenzie Ziegler, Maddie Ziegler, Melissa Ziegler

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 Finale – Abby Makes It About Herself, Of Course

April 4, 2012 sabrina Dance Moms

I can't believe my season is over! Who am I going to yell at next week?

I know this recap is a bit late, but I wasn’t home during Dance Moms last night, so I wasn’t able to live tweet or give an instant recap. That also goes the same for Dance Moms: Miami, which is sad considering I was looking forward to that. Luckily with the magic of DVR, I was able to watch Dance Moms today, and will watch Miami tonight.

The girls were still preparing for their audition to the Joffrey Ballet School this week, while Abby decided to bite off more than she could chew (no pun intended) by also attending the Starbound Dance Competition. Why not, right? I mean it’s normal to have 9-10 year olds memorize three completely new dances a week… nothing could go wrong!

Before Starbound, the crew made it to NY for the Joffrey audition, and no episode would be complete without Cathy making her appearance. I understand the show needs drama to keep people watching, but I think the Cathy aspect is getting a little old. The only redeeming quality of showing Candy Apples is that Kendall still makes appearances (until she re-joins Abby Lee, which I believe happened at some point after this season ended).

At the Joffrey audition, it basically went like this:

Cathy shows up, decides to act younger than any dancer on the show and start nagging Abby within minutes.
The judges were not at all impressed by the “tricks” the girls can do. It’s understandable, I’m sure no ballet school cares about hand stands and flips. Just different styles. Needless to say, that immediately eliminated all the girls except Chloe and Maddie.
Candy Apples also auditioned, and I did get a kick out of the judge asking why the girl had on so much makeup for an audition. I thought I was the only one who noticed how much makeup those girls pack on.
All the mothers, Abby Lee, and Cathy completely embarrassed both dance studios and themselves by arguing in the hall right outside the audition. One of the judges had to come outside to tell them to stop. Completely disgraceful and selfish, they should be ashamed after re-watching how foolish they looked.

After all that drama, it came down to one person receiving a summer scholarship to Joffrey, and that is…

Chloe!

A huge congrats to Chloe, and hopefully she has a fantastic summer.

Naturally that didn’t sit well with the usually poised Maddie, who threw a little tantrum inside the Starbound rehearsals. This resulted in Melissa taking away her phone for 10 days, and Mackenzie cracking up over it.

Of course, Christi probably could have taken the call in private, let alone put it on speaker so the entire room can be disappointed. I know she was excited, but minutes before a competition is probably not the greatest time to crush the dreams of all the girls in the room. This probably hurt Maddie the most because she felt she had a really good chance at also getting a scholarship, and it clearly had an effect on her solo routine.

It's always painful to see one of the dancers upset

Right in the middle of her routine, Maddie forgot what she was doing, turned around and ran off stage. Right away she knew she messed up and begged to go back on, but unlike the competition in Florida with Nia, she was not allowed to do-over, and it’s precisely the message Abby was trying to drill into the girls.

Abby then decided to clearly show her favoritism by crying non stop over this, which really upset the mothers. She didn’t congratulate Chloe on her first place finish, or the scholarship (that we seen), and just sat there in silence as the mothers drilled into her about being a hypocrite and showing favoritism. Then, Abby decided to take her ball and go home. At the end of the episode, we were left to believe that Abby was done teaching and the girls were left on their own. Hint: They’re not. Abby was just being an attention w**re and wanted everything focused on her. Whatever. It was a good season finale, and I will be announcing a Dance Moms season 3 as soon as I hear about it!

Follow my facebook or twitter as it will be announced there first!

7 comments Abby Lee, Chloe Lukasiak, dance moms, Mackenzie Ziegler, Maddie Ziegler, Melissa Ziegler, Nia Frazier

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