Dance Moms - Anyone watching?

[Georgia3Rom]

I started watching DM over the Christmas break and now I'm halfway through season 3, last episode Maddie and Chloe did the same routine, Chloe won, Abby ran to the judges, they realised they made a mistake and it was in fact Maddie who won, also Asia beat Mackenzie, The Hyland sisters and Nia were pretty background dancers.

This show is tv trash but I'm addicted, I hate how Abby favours Maddy over all the kids, how she refers to Paige as just a pretty face and how she would rather pull her own teeth out then ever praise Chloe.

The Moms are all insane, except Holly, Jill and Melissa are on another level, and Christie and Kelly who I know have left the show, are gluttons for punishment, they should have walked out years ago, heck I would have taken Chloe to Cathy's as soon as she started hiring guest choreographers.

[Groovee]

You should watch the latest series! Holly looses it!

[Georgia3Rom]

@Groovee No Way!! I can't imagine Holly actually losing her temper, she does get angry and rightfully so as Nia's always put in a stereotypical box but she's far saner then the other mothers. I'll certainly keep watching, I want a dancer better than Maddie to come along, I adored Sophia but I sadly doubt it. I adore Jill though, the woman will do anything for her child and she'll do it to your face instead of behind your back like Mellisa

[SleepIsForTheWeakAnyway]

I'm addicted too.

I can't stand Jill. When she does the whole 'us from the original team' makes me rage. How can she so confidently forget how she took her kid and fucked off to cathys and competed against the aldc. So glad Cathy isn't going to be in the new series.

Love Holly and Nia. They are so dignified in the face of Abby's crap. I also miss Chloe and Christy but I was only surprised they didn't leave sooner.

[SleepIsForTheWeakAnyway]

Confidently? Meant conveniently

That's how much Jill makes me rage

[otterlylovely]

Chloe's dancing blossoms in series 3 and 4. You really see her 'dancers body.'

I love watching chloe dance. I also love watching Brooke. Something about the fluidity of her movements.

[Georgia3Rom]

@sleepisfortheweakanyway, Jill is so brazen, she shocks me, she acts like Kendall has danced with ALDC since the beginning and will go on about the 'team' if it benefits her kid but the second it doesn't, it's every mother for themselves 😂.

Holly and Nia are such a wonderful pairing, I would have been screaming and raging at Abby if I was crazy enough to deal with her but they always come out looking dignified and sane which honestly seems a hard thing to do around Abby and the Dance Moms.

Chloe is my favourite dancer, which is why I can't stand how Abby never acknowledges her, the child is wonderful, but she belittles her every chance she gets, Christy did her best to protect Chloe in those situations but honestly she should have walked away sooner, Abby is utterly horrible to that poor child, she's called her a sneak and a liar to her face and at one point didn't even use her damn name! And when Chloe actually beats Maddie, she goes running to double check the scores

@Otterlylovely Brooke is a wonderful dancer but Abby will never accept those girls because she hates Kelly, what kind of teacher punishes the kids for the moms behaviour Abby makes me so mad and yet I can't stop watching

[otterlylovely]

Kelly can be pretty vicious to Abby herself, mind.

I do think it's 'six of one, half a dozen of the other'! Abby is a bizarre figure and sometimes wonderful and other times monstrous. From what I have read, she used to favour Brooke over the other students (as she now does Maddie) but as Brooke got older, this diminished.

I'm fond of Christie and was sad when she and chloe left, but there were occasions where my sympathy waned. Season 1 particularly, Christie's behaviour was dreadful.

I don't think Holly had a personality transplant between 4 and 5, more likely the producers needed a 'crazy mom' after Kelly and Christie left and editing put the emphasis on Holly's craziness.

I have a soft spot for Mackenzie but that single she released is terrible

[Groovee]

Paige was suing Abbie at one point after the Kelly assault on Abbie which had them chucked out.

[potoftea]

I love it too but feel uncomfortable at times as it seems like child abuse at times. There is nothing that would make me subject my dd to what Abby dishes out.
The last series showed some disturbing coverage of Abby when she seemed to be having a breakdown. So overall I find it disturbing, but still watch it.

[TheFairyCaravan]

Season 6 starts tonight at 9pm. I can't wait. It's my guilty pleasure!

[ohdearlord]

Is it actually necessary for kids to go through this kind of thing to "make it" in dance in the US? I always find myself in a sort of shock watching it, wondering why in the world any parent would let their child be put through this!

[Georgia3Rom]

I don't think it's necessary, I've heard that lots of top dance studios don't even participate in competitions, so there's plenty of top non abusive studios with reasonable hours for kids to go to. I personally would never ever let my kids anywhere near Abby, I don't care how brilliant she is or how famous she could make them, nothing makes up for that kind of treatment, sometimes Melissa just astounds me, Mackenzie's an absolute sweetheart and she lets Abby talk to her in such an awful way and she's always comparing the poor kid to her sister.

Ohhh Season 6, I've heard that Maddie is leaving, which I'm afraid to say, makes me glad because it would be nice if Abby realised she had 6 kids instead of 1.

Out of all the kids, (from season 3) Maddie, Mackenzie and Chloe seem to be the only ones active in Hollywood, I was so sure it was going to be Paige with her modelling that would make an impact.

[ohdearlord]

Was it Chloe who got in to Joffrey's summer intensive? I always hoped that would be her, sane, way out!

[VertigoNun]

ALM is an abomination. Who would put their child through that?

[NoncommittalToSparkleMotion]

I love and hate this show, because I used to dance and these girls are so talented, but never suffered such flagrant abuse as these poor kids. I often wonder why the hell these parents didn't leave sooner. Poor Paige had a full on anxiety attack...and she still stayed.

I watched this way too much when pregnant DD may or may not be named after one of the dancers

[InQuiteAChristmasPickle]

I love Dance Moms but it's starting to become a parody of itself.

I'm starting to prefer Dance Mums.

[ohdearlord]

Are they any saner InQuite?

[bruffin]

It is all staged, there is most definitely an element of what drama can we manufacture this week. I trnd to fast forward through the rows and just watch the dance at the end.

[otterlylovely]

I don't mind Melissa. I do rather admire the absolute devotion she has to her daughters, although I feel it's very misplaced sometimes.

Christi is her own worst enemy. I can't help but like her, but there are so many times she makes problems when one didn't really exist and makes situations worse. Again, though, I admire the obvious adoration she has for chloe.

Kelly - I think Abby is right when she says Kelly is spoiled.

I like Holly, and I don't mind Jill.

[Georgia3Rom]

Kelly just makes me laugh, she seems super spoilt and she crosses the line with Abby a number of times, but her heart always seems to be in the right place, like when Abby threw the chair during Paige's solo practice and the poor kid burst into tears.

Melissa is utterly devoted to her children's careers, if they do make it really big in Hollywood, she deserves a heck of a lot of credit for it, she'd run anyone over to get them a step up, although I'm sure they play up that part of her for the show.

Christy just hangs herself again and again and again but her side comments are to die for.

Jill is a little madam and I adore her for it, she'll flip if anyone remotely looks at Kendall the wrong way.

I think most of the parents have stuck around to get their kids names out there, the show takes their talent and beams it into homes all over the world, it allows them to meet agents and audition for things they normally wouldn't have access to so easily and I'm sure Maddie dancing in the Sia video only reinforced that point, but in my opinion Chrisy and Kelly should have got those kids out by the end of Season 2, the way Abby treats them in S3 is hard to stomach, Brooke's quite lucky that she gets forgotten about most of the time.

I read somewhere that Abby wanted to ditch Chloe at the beginning of S3 but she was a fan and a producer favourite, so even when she left the ALDC, she still got to be on the show.

[otterlylovely]

They couldn't just leave as they'd signed contracts. There was a school of thought that said Kelly went for Abby intentionally to get out of the show and I don't think she did - she was genuinely raging. However, Brooke and Paige weren't attending ALDC 'properly' at that point.

[VertigoNun]

Wrong thread

[InQuiteAChristmasPickle]

OhDearLord, um...not really . Although, it's a lot more down to earth, I think. There are a few of the mums that have screaming matches because they get jealous that their DD hasn't been given a solo etc. Jennifer Ellison seems much nicer than Abby Lee Miller and I tend to agree with her over the mums whereas with Dance Moms Abby treats some of the children appallingly. I think Jennifer genuinely cares about the kids.