Another day, another million dramas, Dance Moms nation.
We start out back on the set of the MattyB video, where Abby is still stewing about Melissa not recognizing that Mackenzie is just this side of Ariana Grande and refusing to sign her on in a second fiddle role. Abby says the papers that Melissa did sign say that Mack will appear, but keep her golden little pipes to herself. If she sings, she gets top billing. Even though MattyB’s people are paying for this thing, so, uh, there.
Blake talks the sudden hitch in the giddy up with Melissa, who admits she just signed what was in front of her because, you know, ’cause. Blake says he can live with Mack performing without singing. No big whoop.
Says you, buster! It’s a big whoop to someone, who is once again apparently on the phone with the Forces of What’s Right in the Universe who will strike MattyB to damnation if his work sullies her client. Mack is not appearing. At all. Mleah!
Fine, says Blake. If she could just get back to him with who will appearing and will not be appearing when she makes up her egomaniacal mind, that’s be swell. No skin off his kid’s billion-YouTube-views nose.
Abby continues to gesticulate with her phone to her ear, but not say a single word. The mothers wonder what is up with her, anyway. They get that Mack is an entertainment entity unto herself, but what about the rest of the girls? Why should they be punished for that? Because the sun came up this morning, ladies. That’s why.
Returning to the group, Abby informs the mothers that if Mack isn’t performing, the rest of the girls are out, too. Because they are a team, that’s why. She is mad, mad, mad, so she’s taking all her toys and going home. It just so happens that her toys are their kids.
But what has changed for the girls who are just dancers in the shoot, Holly wants to know. This contract business does not affect them. The other mothers weigh in. They just thought it was a fun little side project. No affront to Abby … who clued them in to the gig in the first place. Just a chance for nice girls to dance with a cute boy and maybe get a little internet famous-er in the process. What’s the harm?
Melissa is says she is not going to cross the picket line. Jill either. Holly sees it differently. L.A. is a small town and this is a big opportunity. She’d rather make Abby mad than walk away from it. There is no legal basis to Abby’s ire. Holly says they are teaching their kids to be professionals and keeping your word is part of it. Then she and Ashlee head off to let Blake know that their kids are still in. Tracey and Jessalyn do, too.
Abby drives off in a huff.
The yanked girls protest mightily, but their moms hold firm. Jill says she’s sorry the team is divided again, but that’s the way it goes. With the new moms and kids breathing down their necks, now is not the time to cross Abby.
Holly asks Nia if she’s sure she wants to do the video, even though Abby’s going to torture her for it. Jo Jo sees it this way.
And they do.
Looks like Kalani and Kira stayed, too. Of course they did. Abby is temporary, but Kira’s rivalry with Ashlee and Tracey is fo’evah!
On the drive to the studio the next day, Holly explains to Nia that Abby’s expectations of them might be higher because they are original team members, but Nia can’t let her ire distract her from what she’s there to do. Which is dance. Positivity rules. Deal? Deal.
Gee. I wonder who is going to be bottom of the pyramid? There’s no pyramid. We didn’t actually dance last week.
Abby says she can’t even bear to look at Holly. Then she pouts about the mothers who went against her at the video shoot.
Allow me one more opportunity to point out that it was Abby who hosted the audition for the shoot. It is Abby who is proclaiming her managerial prowess — or at least her dictatorship — at every turn. It is Abby who should have held any contracts involved in this project in her hands first and then placed them in the hands of the mothers. If you have ouchie feelings now, sister, it’s your own damned fault. <steps off of soapbox>
<steps back up for a sec to add this: HURR!>
Next Abby says that the only reason she is letting the traitors even dance in tomorrow’s competition is because it’s tomorrow’s competition — plus it’s their last week in L.A. — and she’s out of options. And why should the girls who stayed true (read: “were dragged off by their mothers”) have to work harder because the other ones disobeyed.
Time to practice Mack and Jo Jo’s Lucy and Ethel duet. Ethel is adding steps. Or reinventing them. Or forgetting them. Or something. Let’s yell at Jessalyn. Then let’s tell Jo Jo she has to watch Lucy or else. She already did. The one about the bread. The bread that kept expanding and expanding … just like Jo Jo’s story about it.
Kalani and Sarah’s “Tonya and Nancy” duet isn’t faring much better. They’re not feeling their roles. But if they want a lesson in brutal feuding, just take a long look at their mamas.
Speaking of which, let’s send them back to the mom room to make for some dramatic TV. Really dramatic TV. Like, wave Kira’s dirty laundry about the place like a hankie, dramatic. Ashleee howls that Tracey helped raise Kalani while Kira gallivanted all over the place with her man. Her own son doesn’t even live with her because he was so mad that his mama and Kalani were gone for four months to do the show. Abby made similar accusations in the Season 4 finale.
Holly says it’s hitting below the belt. Kira says Ashlee is a bitch. Ashlee says, well, so is karma. Fun!
Let’s take a look-see at the group dances, shall we? Everyone is smitten with the Sad Clowns. Moulin Rouge, not so much. The Moulin Moms say it’s abundantly clear that Abby stacked the deck for her sad-clown faves.
And we’re off to Fallbrook. Maddie’s here, too, following her “extraordinary experience” on Austin and Ally. This is why they should follow lockstep with their leader, says Abby. So they can have exceptional experiences, too.
Taking the bait, Jessalyn asks what Abby has in the cards for Jo Jo, since she’s not out here to dance with the team … oh .. never mind. Abby, who has apprently been listening to Hozier, doesn’t really know. One minute she could eat her up; the next, Jo Jo’s a giggle at a funeral.
She’s just got humor, Abby. She knows everybody’s disapproval. But you should have worshipped her sooner.
Abby says Jo Jo, Sarah and Brynn are like her apprentices. And after this competition, one of them is staying behind. Tracey says Sarah considers Abby the ultimate dance teacher so she will do whatever it takes to keep her kid in the woman’s good graces. Except skip out on a MattyB vid. That’s different.
Not learning from Jess’s mistake, she gives ‘er a go. What about Sarah, who is a very, very good girl? Indeed. But next to Kalani, she’s not a very, very technical dancer. Tracey says she’ll never say a bad word about Kalani — but Kira is another matter entirely. Doing her best to remember how Irate Dance Mom should look, Tracey hollers that Kira — and therefore Kalani — abandoned the team when Abby needed them. So much manipulation. So many lies.
So not your business, says Kira. And you’re not exactly an angel, yourself, there, lady. Kira knows stuff.
And it’s back to the dirty laundry pile. Tracey knows about Kira’s credit card fraud and she’s not afraid to say so.
Oh no she di’int!
Oh yes she did! Ashlee wore this dress to a children’s dance competition.
Oh, and Tracey did say that about Kira.
Kira starts dialing, even though Abby warns her to chill. Trust her, cookie, Lawsuits ain’t fun.
Jess has her phone, too. Yep. Trial. Says right here.
When we come back from commercial, the storm has mysteriously blown over and we’re back to marveling how it’s our last week in L.A. This season’s resident spokesperson Jill says she just hopes the girls can overcome all the mama drama and dance like they mean it. They’ve been doing it for four seasons, Jill. Why should now be any different?
Gaaaaahhhhh! What the hell is this about?
Walking Dead Lucy and Ethel? Post-Krakatoa Lucy and Ethel? I mean, I get that the show was in black and white, but this is just … creepy.
Kalani and Sarah fare better with their Kerrigan/Harding replicas. The girls hug it out, exchange love-yous (teach your parents well, children) and dance first.
Whose idea was it to put Kira and Tracey next to each other in the audience? Good one!
<chortle>
The dance is pretty and powerful and the girls are expressive. Kira says Kalani is here to stay.
Thankfully, there is a pinkish cast to the stage-lighting which makes Mack and Jo Jo look a tad less dead. Their music, on the other hand — dead as a doornail after a single stanza. The girls must do their peppy, spunky little dance without their peppy, spunky little music, but there’s personality to spare on the stage. Even after Jo Jo blows the ending.
Back in the get-ready, Abby says Sarah and Kalani were pretty but she wasn’t blown away. Jo Jo and Mack did good by dancing through their music issue, but Jo Jo blew the ending. Jess says Jo Jo did good, period. Abby says Jess is a dance teacher and should know better than to coddle an error. Even if it’s only two beats long.
Not even Jo Jo thinks she did perfect.
Let’s go to the groups. Make or break time.
The girls in the Sad Clown Dance are dressed in white ruffles and not an iota as scary as Lucy and Ethel. The choreography is pretty and haunting and the girls are beautifully in sync. But is it L.A. good or just Abby good?
Afterward, Mackenzie sprints to change into her Moulin Rouge costume and the girls give it their all. But we’ve seen this sort of thing before, and I’m sure the L.A. judges have seen it a million times. And years ago. Years and years.
Results time … and a harsh West Coast kiss goodbye for the ALDC.
Lucy and Ethel get fourth. Jess says the no-music thing was a bum deal.
Kalani and Sarah’s duet doesn’t even place. Ouch. Like a club to the knee.
The sad clowns get fourth.
Moulin Rouge doesn’t place.
“Well that was interesting,” says Holly on the way back to the get-ready. “I don’t think you are ready to compete in L.A.,” Abby tells the girls when they return.
Brynn gets a pass to Pittsburgh. So does Jo Jo. And Kalani — but she better start winning.
Fourteen-year-old Sarah is declared too old for the team. She’ll be going back to Arizona. Tracey beats a quick path to the door. Sarah says she feels defeated..You win, Sarah. Trust me.
Then Abby reminds the mothers that there will be consequences for the video debacle. She doesn’t like sneaky stuff. (Except for the part where they weren’t sneaky. Abby got them there. Then she tried to yank away the opportunity when an too-late attempt to hard-ball Mack into being the star of MattyB’s video didn’t work. There was sneaky. But it wasn’t on the moms.)
Abby also doesn’t like behind-the-back-stuff. (Except she was sitting there when they elected to stay.)
Then we get the pièce de résistance de Miller. Abby says they were humiliated here in L.A. — and she blames the mothers.
Right.
Because the mothers brought a group of hopeful young dancers out to the West Coast without so much as a studio to house them. Wait, that was Abby.
Because the mothers assembled a different group of dancers nearly every week and expected them to gel. Wait, that was Abby, too.
Because the mothers walked out on some practices, didn’t bother to show up for others and spent a healthy dose of time chowing down in the car. Oh … uh.
Because the mothers arranged for two outside opportunities, then sabotaged both when favorites weren’t favored. I give up.
How about a coup de grâce to go with our pièce de résistance? Abby’s final warning is this: Don’t do to your kid what Christi did to hers. Yes. Because this looks terrible.
Now let’s go home and sleep in our own beds, Dance Moms nation, for the Candy Apples await.
So what say you? Was Abby’s reasoning for pulling everyone off the video shoot reasonable? Were the moms in the right to let their girls appear in it? Did Abby show favoritism with the group dances? Were you surprised at their poor showing? And is that the dancers’ fault? Or the choreographers? Sound off in the comments section below.
New episodes of Dance Moms premiere Tuesday nights at 9/8CT on Lifetime.
I think that Abby is finding out just how much clout she does not have. She had a brief period around the time when the AUDC first was on that she got invited to do a few things that she would never get now. Like I mentioned last week, the guest judging on shows and stuff. All those things happened before her head grew 3 sizes (that day..ha ha) and she began to believe that she was the greatest dance teacher that ever lived. If you ever look back on the first couple of seasons when there was still an inkling of a dance teacher/student relationship with the girls and Abby would take them on special outings and they would all gather around her and hug her and she would look happy and smile and act like she really liked all the girls. Then when all the ugliness with her starting to bad mouth Brooke and Paige (about the time that Kelly wouldn’t let Abby be in charge of Brooke’s singing career), it was all of the sudden that Kelly was the anti-mother and because Christi was her best friend and often backed Kelly, Abby transferred her hatred to Christi. All Kelly or Christi were ever guilty of was trying to fight against the horrible way that their kids were being treated. One of the worse things she ever did was to send the ALDC girls minus Brooke, Paige and Chloe off to some dance show while Abby brought Brooke, Paige and Chloe to New York to be ‘helpers’ while Abby was gathering her specialty team (to take their places as Abby said behind the scenes). The girls were supposed to demonstrate the choreography to the auditioning girls, but Abby meanly never showed them the choreography so that they were having to wing it along with the girls auditioning. Then when Chloe was wearing her ALDC gear, Abby told her to take it off and told Brooke and Paige that they couldn’t wear ALDC gear either. Chloe never got one of those pretty pink coats that the girls wore that season. She would always have one of her own coats on those days. It was so mean. The beginning of the end for those girls. Abby wanted them out. The team has never recovered after those girls left and the final blow was when Chloe left. The team has been disjointed ever since, and Abby bringing new girls in and continuing to insist on teaching the dances to the girls with never more than 3 days for preparation. L.A. was a big joke from day one…unfortunately it was a bad joke perpetrated on those poor girls by a megalomaniac woman who thinks she is has all this power that she never really had. She was gifted with those few opportunities that she had and after the horrible way she treated Chloe last season and set her up to fail again and again and actually going to the judges to try to take wins away from her several times, I don’t believe that there is a legitimate show out there that would have Abby as a guest again. Hurray for Chloe and her success! I loved the video and I hope she gets all the opportunities that Maddie got from her video. As irritated as I am with the Maddie worship on the show, I admit that Maddie did a great job on the Sia video and deserves the good stuff that has happened to her. Abby actually took away the chance for Mackenzie to have a similar thing happen to her by yanking her from the video shoot. Kendall, too. Hurray for the moms that let their daughters take part in it despite Abby. Abby’s belief that ‘Mack-Z’ would ever be as successful on her own as she might have been by taking part in that video. Cute as she is, she doesn’t have the singing chops, otherwise they wouldn’t have to auto-tune her songs. People over the age of 12 don’t want to listen to some kid sing an auto-tuned song. She might have done her own vocals on the awful song they did on one of their chat-fests where she was singing about always being in Maddie’s shadow. I knew that Abby had to have written the lyrics to that. I don’t think there is any way that Mackenzie would want to immortalize Abby’s opinion that all Mackenzie wants is to be as good a dancer or as good a kid or as good a ‘whatever’ as Maddie. It is what Abby truly believes. She is the one that always wants Mackenzie to live up to Maddie. She is a good little dancer in her own right and has kept up with the bigger kids all these years and improved so that she no longer stands out in the negative way she used to, but blends in and holds her own.
I think that the CA judges weren’t fooled by Abby putting Mackenzie into both of those group numbers to bring the average age down so that they could be in the juniors catagory instead of the teens. Holly wondered why Nia couldn’t be in both numbers when Mackenzie was. The truth was Abby believing that the girls need to compete in the junior level to win. You can bet that next week we will hear about how if Maddie had been dancing, they would have won. Gah! I mean…GAH!!! The previews showed Abby picking on Kalani. It would be sad for the group to lose Kalani. She has been with them long enough to be able to mesh well with them now whereas JoJo will never mesh. With all her losses, there is no way that JoJo would ever still be in the picture if she didn’t have a contract with Lifetime. I think that Lifetime brought her in to try to breathe life into the dead horse that this show has become. The fact that Abby looks on the verge of tears all the time now points to the fact that she still has no clue that she has been the problem all along. Not Kelly, or Christi, or Brooke or Paige or Chloe. Abby’s true colors have shone through and they have proved to be as ugly as the make-up she had those two young girls wear for that horrid Lucy, Ethel number.
This weeks dances had zero thought or meaning put into them! The duos were lackluster at best, the sad clowns was slow moving, repetitive and not in sync, and the Moulin Rouge was more Moulin Blah, with oversized costumes and wigs paired with bad execution of hard hitting technique. From now on I am taking it upon myself to attach other dancers under these recaps, to share what proper dancing looks like when time is spent on the technique and choreography instead of music videos and fighting… as there was two duets this weeks, that’s what I will attach. First Jaycee Wilkins and Brynn Rumfallo (yes, from this weeks show) doing their duo, “My Conscience”.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzKVEEuNfY4&w=560&h=315%5D
This link worked for me too, both of them are freaking AMAZING!!!
Argh, I’m trying to get the video to play here like Michelle did last week for me, but can’t seem to do it… Michelle, if you read this, please let me know how you did it!
Anyway, a second duet, as promised. Brady Farrar and Ashley Vallejo, Stars Dance Company, who are both a couple of years younger than JoJo and Kenzie..
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k0bOBPLuyo&w=560&h=315%5D
all I did was copy and paste the link, not sure why it’s not working for you….I’ll search them and try to post them as well
the above link worked for me Kenny 🙂
Wow! Both those dances were amazing! Especially the second one! Those two danced years beyond their ages and made you really almost hold your breath. And Abby actually wonders why her crappy choreography doesn’t win anymore. There are so many out there that are so much better. We all have to remember that the only reason that these Mom’s (especially Brynn’s Mom) let there kids be subjected to Abby is so that their daughter’s can be on TV. There isn’t another show out there right now where they showcase young dance talent. It is sad that because of that, these Mom’s do allow Abby to abuse their kids. It is just abuse, clear and simple. One day Abby will have to pay. It is already starting to happen and I believe that is why Abby seems on the verge of tears every time the Mom’s are in the room with her. I actually think that Holly’s tirade really shocked her, too. It was so out of character for Holly to screech like that. I still believe that a lot of that was because her father had just died, too and that on top of Abby’s treatment of Nia was just the last straw for Holly. If the show does continue, I hope that Nia is the next to go. I think that she, too would benefit a lot more from a new studio. It’s too late for the Maddie, Mackenzie and Kendall. Their moms have sold not only their souls to Abby, but their kid’s souls as well. Kenny, you are absolutely right about every thing you said about this week’s numbers. Abby keeps recycling the same old numbers to different music week after week. Small changes aren’t enough. How many times have we watched first Brooke, and then Mackenzie do that move where they do backward cartwheels in a circle. The first time Brooke did it, it was amazing, but then it was in every one of her numbers and then Mackenzie inherited it. Abby knows that the judges don’t award first places to acro numbers very often. Brooke had some more incredible moves so she would win first sometimes, but every acro number that the older girls have done since then has lost first place. I think Mackenzie has won first a couple of times with partial acro numbers, but it seems like Abby didn’t want the girls to win this week. I can predict next weeks pyramid. All the girls who were in the video will be at the bottom starting with Nia on the very bottom. Then Kalani, then Kendall, then Mackenzie and finally Maddie. I think that the new picture will be ‘actress Maddie’, but we will see. Maybe she is bringing in yet another new kid so that she has the excuse to pull Kalani from the group number, although I bet the real reason she pulls her is because she is the oldest kid and with the addition of the new kid she would pull the group up into the teen division so has to go. That is another ‘we will see’. Anyway, thanks again for attaching these great dances. Abby better wake up and smell the fact that 3 days of preparation isn’t going to be enough now that she has lost almost half of the team that worked so well together and had the ability to pick up the choreography so quickly (that is probably why they were selected for the show in the first place…not to mention the fact that they had all danced together for most of their lives). Every time she brings in new kids, it makes it harder for them all to gel.
It was Holly’s father in law that passed away, but other than that I completely agree with you as usual :).
Oops…thanks. I really thought it was her father. Well…I still think that Holly just had way too much on her plate and Abby sabatoging Nia and then denying it was just the last straw for her. I don’t blame her a bit for striking out on her own. Abby making big waves about that and insisting that she is Nia’s manager. What kind of manager sabatoges her charge? What kind of dance teacher goes to the jugdges and tries to take away their wins (like she did to Chloe so many times)? Abby has lost touch with reality and L.A. was a big smack in her face. Too bad she blames everyone else and doesn’t see the writing on her own wall.
What I don’t understand is why she just didn’t let the other opportunities play themselves out, Nia could very well have gotten that role she auditioned for, and ALL the girls would have been great in the video. Why does she have to be so freakin difficult to work with, she’s crazy if she thinks this isn’t going to come back and bite her in the butt and her girls are going to be dubbed as “difficult to work with” because of her. As humiliating as it was for the girls, I was thrilled beyond belief that LA was such a disaster for her, after how many years of her pumping them up and bragging how loved and respected she was, this was a huge slap in the face; and she deserved it.
I also love that common sense Holly is back. Angry Holly did not seem authentic. Chloe has always been my favorite, because she was as good or better than Maddie, and did that without the obvious favortism. Don’t forget it was Chloe that won both the first video, and the scholarship to the summer program at Julliard. In fact, that was the last time that Flabby has a legit compilation for the girls. She could not control the outcome, so she has stopped. Chloe has garnered her sucess by still attending school, doing normal activities, and thank goodness that she is no longer exposed to toxic Flabby. what I don’t understand, is why these parents PAY Flabby to do this. She is a paid coach, and quite frankly, she cannot be the only one in Philly. I would love to know what her reputation is in the dancing world. Also, with each succeeding season, she is more and more obnoxious. I have always thought, what came first, obnoxious Flabby, or the moms. For the most part, the moms who raised a stink, only did it to defend their child. I also want to get back to the beautiful dancing, with Maddie being gone so much, and the loss of Chlor, Paigr, and Brooke, the original talent level is not there. Sad
Melody, I agree with everything you said! Chloe outdid Maddie in those 2 important instances you mentioned (when Abby couldn’t control the outcome), and Abby must have totally lost what was left of her mind. Just one teensy little thing, tho, Abby is in Pittsburgh, not Philly. As a Pittsburgh native, I just had to point that out, not that Abby makes me proud of it. 🙁
I actually don’t mind when Holly gets angry, it’s her reasoning behind it in the prior episodes that left me shaking my head in disbelief. The fact that she was so appalled at Christie for leaving with Chloe, for “deserting the team” blew me away. Of all people, SHE, as an educator, should have been the first one to tell Abby NO, LOOK AT WHAT YOU’RE DOING TO THESE KIDS!!!! But what does she do, defend that POS and state that she won’t be “another Christie” and leave when the going gets tough, she’d stick it out, no matter what kind of abuse her kid takes.
IN CARS
Here in my car
I eat safest of all
I can eat gummy bears
It’s the only way to live
In cars
Here in my car
I eat what I please
I can’t listen to you
It keeps me stable for hours
In cars
Here in my car
Where I really chow down
Will you not bug me please
I’m eating some more
In cars
Here in my car
I don’t have to think
About starving tonight
Sour Patch binging seems right
In cars
Love it, John Linen!! 🙂 (love that song, too!)
Thanks G K. If Lori can stand it, I can stand it too.
I had difficulty with the concept of a billion views for an 11 year old white rapper. So I did some math:
All you need is 25,000 girls each of age 8,9,10 and 11. If each of those girls views MattieB’s video 28 times per day for 365 days…presto! you get over 1 billion views.
I can’t stand actually watching the show anymore, I’ve been relying on the recaps.
Love the song. Love the math. Thanks, John Linen, for the laugh.
Thanks Lori, nice words to hear from the most hilarious columnist ever! I especially enjoy your new soapbox segment. I hope this will be a weekly feature.
PS. I’m not boycotting the show, I do still DVR the show and skip to the bits that Lori describes as must see TV, e.g. squirting blood, power binging in car…stuff like that. Plus, the group dance is often enjoyable to watch – as long as nobody dies.
PPS. Does that sceen cap show Mack flipping off the audiance?
Hey Lori, you have connections, I would LOVE to see what Debbie Allen’s opinion is of Abby since they’re both dance teachers/choreographers with dancers working in the business……yes that’s a (tic) comment comparing the two, but I think Debbie would have some interesting insight. Thoughts?
Well, I’ll be darned. I knew she was a dancer, but I had no idea she had an academy. Interesting idea ….
oh yeah, she has a huge one in LA of all places
http://debbieallendanceacademy.com/
Honestly I think Nia would fit in with Debbie Allens dancers, and no not just because she’s black but her build fits in with the common frame of Debbie’s dancers, Alvin Ailey as well, they have stronger muscular tone and Nia has that, she looks strong when she dances but graceful as well.
Oh yeah Debbie would be perfect for Nia and I think she and Holly would get along great. Personally I think Debbie has a lot better reputation than Abby could ever hope to have, and she didn’t have to scream at the kids to get their respect. Now I’m not saying she’s a pushover, far from it, but she makes those kids WANT to do well and doesn’t use scare tactics to get the best out of them.
P.S. I thought the group dances were good but ALL of them felt like they weren’t quite as in sync as they normally are. And I love me some MackZ she’s adorbs, but was it just me or was that costume WAYYYYYY to big on her? Looked like it was swallowing her and for a sassy number she was smiling a lot, and I’m sure the bun in her hair didn’t help either. I know Abs wants to blame the moms for a lackluster trip in LA but with the dances she brought, she has no one to blame but her self, the most hard hitting jazz funk/hip-hop numbers or ridiculously beautiful meaningful lyrical dances. I mean it’s like they went into the battleground of dances with a rubber band and a paper clip, and they are no MacGyver!
LOL
LOL I just got a visual of Abby trying to dismantle a bomb with the bumpit she’s always sporting….
LOL. But seriously, the bumpit is there to keep her afloat whenever she starts drowning in the sea of self-pitying tears she sheds.
Nice!!! LOL
Is it just me or is this whole MUSIC STOPPING thing just happening a little more often than it should be? What the heck is going on? Either Abby and Gia don’t know how to properly burn a CD (taking it out when it say 86% done DO NOT EJECT) or the people backstage are in some sort of electrical wire JUNGLE and they keep stumbling over it JUST when the DM girls are the stage, I mean seriously are they rocking a BETA stereo back there or something, let’s fix these dang issues, we’re in season 5 and these competitions have been going on for a minute…they can do better!
I’ve been attending dance competitions for 20 plus years and music ALWAYS screws up at some point, even at major ones. What usually happens though is the adjudicator stops the number and the dancers are allowed to redo the dances, to give them all a fair chance.
I agree with Marilyn about how insightful your recap was (and always is), Lori. I also agree with Annika and Michelle that your recaps are more entertaining than the show, and would be even if you were making crap up! But it would be had to make this crap up. Watching Abby always trying to make everything everyone else’s fault and refusing to take any responsibility on herself is just pathetic.
Also, I used to bristle at anything and everything JoJo said or did, but now I like her enthusiasm and refusal to let Abby break her spirit. I hope that JoJo grows up without too much damage from her Mom’s “Jojo can do no wrong” attitude, and Abby’s “JoJo can do nothing right” attitude. I loved JoJo’s delightful recap of the Lucy Bread Episode, and how it annoyed Abby.
Oh, and thanks for splainin’ that the make-up was to replicate Lucy & Ethel being shown in Black & White. I was completely mystified by the Walking Dead look!!
Sorry…I meant to say it would be HARD to make this crap up! 😉 Also, I was hoping to see a screen shot of Jesslyn’s zebra pants. Is she taking fashion advice from Jill now??
Thanks, G.K. As long as we’re all in this together, I’ll screen-capture on.
I feel bad for the girls for having to deal with Abby every week. At least we get a break when the season’s over.
“Don’t do to your kid what Christi did to hers”…the BEST thing she did for her kid was get her away from Abby. You can tell just by watching Chloe’s videos on her YouTube channel that she’s so much happier. She has always been a beautiful dancer, but she has improved so much since leaving the ALDC. She’s at a studio now that wants to see her thrive and succeed, not one that sets her up to fail. Abby is just pissed that Chloe is doing so well and that she clearly doesn’t need Abby to be successful in the dance world. I agree with Michelle, I could most definitely see Abby taking credit for Chloe’s success. I’m surprised she didn’t try to take credit for the success of the first Sia video. Or maybe she did and I didn’t hear about it. It’s definitely something she would do.
Oh yeah she definitely took credit for the first Sia video, she claims that Sia and she are “friends” and Sia contacted Abby to have Maddie dance for her, even Melissa denies that.
Chloe looking less and less replaceable.
Here is my question – What opportunities has Abby, acting as their manager, actually gotten for any of the girls….Ziegler girls inclued? It appears to me that all the opportunities that the girls have gotten are due to the TV show and Lifetime…not Abby going out representing the girls. The TV show itself was not even initiated by Abby.
Maddie got the Sia video becuase Sia saw her dancing on the show and Sia contacted her directly. All the other stuff she has done was a direct result of the video…grammys, talk shows, Austin and Ally, Elle photoshoot, Fashion Week, etc. Abby did not get her those opportunities but she definintely tries to take the credit.
Personally, I doubt Maddie would have made it through an open casting for the original Sia video. Maddie is a good dancer but there are others out there that are significantly better and would have beat her out in an open casting. Kendall and MackZ music careers are thanks to the show and Collins Prod.
I have not heard or seen anything that suggests that Abby has in any way contributed to the opportunities that these girls have received. Hopefully this is all an act and these girls have proper representation…someone who is actually looking out for them and their best interests.
I was thinking the same thing, but of course we’ll never hear anything but Abby is the sole responsible reason for the girls’ successes. Just watch, she’ll start claiming responsibility for Chloe’s success too, I wouldn’t put it past her.
I enjoyed your recap..very insightful.
Because this was filmed sometime ago, do we know if Abby has since realized how outrageous and unfair and unbelievably contradictory her own behavior is? Is she so delusional that she still believes herself to be wronged, when she clearly was wrong…there was no “behind my back” behavior…there was no real attempt on her part to truly represent the non-Ziegler’s in the dance troop?
I keep waiting for one of the Dance Moms to toss back “Everyone is replaceable…even YOU Abby!”
No way will Abby ever admit to any wrong-d0ing, never happen, hell will freeze over. There’s more of a chance of Abby issuing an apology to Kelly than there is her admitting she may be in the wrong.
I’d kind of like Lifetime to say it, myself. And thanks for reading, Marilyn.
Hated it!!!! This was a very poor effort on everyone’s part. Let’s start with the main story line I.E. Abby wants to pull the girls from the MattyB video. So in part one Abby get the call about the video and her voice over says that she will get the details when MattyB’s team arrives. Of course MattyB’s team does not talk to Abby but wants to make the assignments at the shoot the next day. The next day all the moms and dancer including Maddie make the shoot and hear the assignments. And of course the next step is to sign the contract. Poor Melissa was setup as the dumb bunny that doesn’t know the “business protocols”. Than after the shoot starts M. calls Abby whose is now giving directions as to not sign anything? So we are to believe that all this conversation could not be hold at the dance studio and that as the ‘girls manager’ Ms. Abby did not inform the moms as to the mechanics of signing a contract AND Abby does not know the shooting start and even if she knew she was not there.
So now the audience (US) is watching six bumps on a log chatter on about what is going on, Abby is not focused on getting everything in line for “her dancers” to actually dance, and the poor MattyB crew with contracts in hand is wondering how they even got involved with this bumpkin (Abby). If all of that was not enough we get one of the most outrageous moments in the shows history. Jill, YES JILL, volunteers to pull Kendall from the dance to show her loyalty to Aby. Is this the same Jill that tried to get Kendall to get the part of Rosa Parks? (REAL LIFE – Kendall was in the same spot as Mack Z as she has a music contract and her songs/videos will be released in early March)
A bright stop in all this dark drama was Nia and Holly. I was glad to see the angry, yelling Holly was back to the calm logical and supportive lady she is. Who knew that she would provide the biggest contrast in this episode – more on that later. Nia is a well-grounded teenager who takes responsibility for her decisions and continues to move forward in her career. The conversation in the car between Holly and Nia was the most real thing in this episode.
Now we have to cross the line of decency. Tracey and Ashlee decide it’s time to attach Kira. So dirt flies back and forth and Kira is charged with everything from being a criminal to not raising Kalani or her younger brother Jack. I had to block this out as it was very inappropriate and not relevant. You only get to know the girls/moms though the lens of a camera but I have liked Kira as she would not participate in throwing dirt unless she was directly involved. I did like the comment of Holly that all of this was given her and Nia cover so that Abby did not focus on them.
The dances were mediocre. I liked the sad clown dance. As for dancers I was very impressed with Mack Z. She did three numbers and had to switch emotions in each one. Dancing with the legs girls (Kalani, Sarah, and the future star Brynn) she held her own and then had to rush to get ready to just the sassy girls (Jojo, Nia, and Kendall) in the Moulin Rouge dance where she was just as sassy. I liked the spinning top Kendall in the dance.
Hey producers – less Abby knows everything and everyone, less mom drama, more shots of the dancers talking/rehearsing and WAY less music problems.
P.S. I loved Jojo telling the Lucy story about the bread and Abby trying to move on.
I have said it before and will say it again. Chloe is every bit as good a dancer as Maddie. Very talented and graceful and so much emotion. Its just that Abby had Maddie as her chosen one.
I personally would rather watch Chloe when it comes to emotion. Chloe is genuine and real, while Maddie looks like she’s just mugging for the camera most of the time. I mean how many versions of the “Maddie face” can one kid do?
I feel like Maddie only has two versions of her “Maddie Face”…one that is happy and the other looks like she’s in pain. Neither seem real or genuine. They seem very forced and sometimes she goes a little overboard. That’s just my opinion.
Yup, I agree completely.
Why would Abby even bring up Kristi/Chloe. My goodness they are not bothering her and actually Chloe leaving was NOT a mistake. We have kept up with what is going on with her & so, SO happy to see she is working on a Music Video with singing Artist Jess.
Nope. Chloe is talented & really doesn’t need the ALDC. So GLAD Abby went home with her “Tail tucked between her legs!”
AWESOME to hear! ;0)
That video was released today. It is beautiful and so much better than we’ve seen anything Abby has anything to do with:
“Fool Me Once” by Jess Godwin (featuring Chloe Lukasiak):
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82SG2KIwNYU?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360%5D
Ack, that was supposed to post the video itself, not just the link. One more try (if it doesn’t work, just click on the link [sigh]):
“Fool Me Once” by Jess Godwin (featuring Chloe Lukasiak):
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82SG2KIwNYU&w=560&h=315%5D
Amazing, thanks for posting the video. The best thing to ever happen to Chloe was leaving that studio, I’m very proud of her.
Great recap, Lori! Can’t decide if I want to watch the show or just go with your killer take on it!
But how will you know that I’m not making crap up if you don’t watch, Annika? 🙂 Either way, keep reading…. and thanks for doing so.
LOL–it sounds too unbelievable to be made up! I’ll cut my fingernails before I watch so that I don’t scratch my own eyes out. Thanks for the warning!
LOL You’re take on it is MUCH more entertaining than the show itself Lori, made up or not 🙂
Thank you for sticking around so long, Michelle!
LOL you’re welcome Lori, I have to admit it’s my guilty pleasure…..kinda like driving by a car wreck and having a sick fascination in not wanting to look but not being able to turn away….kinda like Carrie…..oh wait lol.