Dance Moms recaps from Channel Guide Magazine

Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition recap: Cirque du No Way!

December 4, 2012 Lori Acken

And we’re down to the final four on this week’s Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition! Abby even knows who she’d pick for a winner — a dancer with Amanda’s feet, Brianna’s strength, Asia’s face and Madison’s leaps and turns. But given that no such creature exists, let’s get on with the competition. This week, the challenge is balance. The theme is The Circus. And the product placement is Paramount’s only-in-theaters 3D movie experience Cirque du Soleil’s World’s Away — which the girls are going to be the very first people to get a peek at. But this isn’t just a special treat for […]

Dance Moms Season 3 first look!

November 28, 2012 Lori Acken

All kinds of good news, Dance Moms fans! Season 3 looms near! During last night’s episode of Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition, viewers were treated to this hilarious Flashdance-inspired “video” teaser for the new season, which premieres Tuesday, January 1 at 9/8CT. The clip also served to soothe the frayed nerves of series faithful worried that some of the original moms had jumped ship — most specifically Kelly Hyland. And though all of the little dancers were disguised in matching Jennifer-Beals-do wigs, making it hard to say for sure, it does appear that Maddie, Chloe, Mackenzie, Nia, Paige, Brooke and Kendall […]

Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition recap: Flexible’s Pending

November 27, 2012 Lori Acken

Well, Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition faithful, we have just two episodes left until the Dec. 11 season finale and five dancers remain — Brianna, Amanda, Asia, Madison and Jordyn. Anyone care to make an early prediction? Will face vanquish form all the way to the end? Will Robin finally realize that we’re not actually casting the Pussycat Dolls junior troupe? Let’s find out what happens tonight. We start out with everyone expressing relief at being in the Top 5 and the realization that it will only get tougher from here. Coreen reiterates her shock at Hadley’s ouster over Asia’s. Kristie says Asia overheard Madison […]

Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition recap: Not-Fair-y Tales

November 20, 2012 Lori Acken

I’m actually on vacation this week, but it would be a crime to skip a week of togetherness in the name of Abby Miller, now wouldn’t it, Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition fans? I would miss you. Plus, since I’m on my own time, I can have TWO beers or possibly three and, even more than usual, appreciate it when… … Abby shows up right off the bat, sporting Kevin and also a princess crown. Now I’ve seen Abby sport some pretty strange stuff in her hair during the Dance Moms days, so I just assume it’s a particularly creative choice of […]

“Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition” recap: Face The Music

November 13, 2012 Lori Acken

The first thing we get to launch this week’s Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition is a spankin’ fresh Yvetteism to wash away the negativity of last week’s almost-rumble in the Los Angeles Theatre jungle. Which is, “You’re either in, or in the way!” So let’s find out who’s who. We start by dropping in on a few mother/daughter pairs in their luxury hotel rooms to listen in on their pep talks. Yvette wants Hadley to hold her high after last week’s epic dance-assigning disaster that nearly cost Yvette her teeth — or at the very least any affection she may have had for Los […]

Yvette Walts talks “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition,” her hopes for Hadley — and THAT situation with Kristie Ray

November 13, 2012 Lori Acken

Suffice it to say that no one is more surprised than Yvette Walts to discover that the primary villainess of Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition is not the notoriously starchy star of the show, Dance Mom’s Abby Lee Miller — but rather the bubbly blond Walts herself. The Evansville, Indiana, native and 28-year dance industry vet says she thought her 12-year-old daughter Hadley was vying for a spot on a new reality show called “My Kid Can Dance” and had no idea Miller would be even be involved when they hopped a plane for Los Angeles. But Abby Lee was only one […]

Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition recap: The Politics of Dancing

November 7, 2012 Lori Acken

Last night on Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition — the show about children striving to win a dance competition — we had the mother of a six-year-old physically aggressing another mother and challenging her to a sidewalk brawl for the second time, and a dance teacher turned judge telling a kid she wants to break her ankles. And you thought monitoring the election results was scary. Let’s recap. After a little fussing from a few mothers and Hadley, Abby and Kevin show up to inform the girls that, because there are only eight dancers left, well, pretty soon it’s going to feel […]

Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition recap: Dance, Off

October 30, 2012 Lori Acken

So, uh, tonight’s Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition was actually about … dance. Like, all about dance, with only the slightest sprinkling of mama drama tossed in there just in case we stubbornly forget that Yvette is a grinning meddler and Kristie enjoys being mad. Let’s recap. This week’s theme is New York, New York, and in honor of that, Abby is going to turn the 45-Minute Combo challenge into a mock Broadway audition. Each of the dancers is wearing a number; each will perform the combo over and over again, until all but one are eliminated. There’s even a live piano […]

Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition recap: Use Your Agony To Claim Sweet Victory

October 24, 2012 Lori Acken

That little gem is actually not an Yvette-ism. That’s an Abby-ism. And I may well have it tattooed on my forearm, I like it so much (no, Mom, not really).But first, let’s get to this week’s Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition recap, shall we? Speaking of Yvette, she doesn’t know why Kristie honestly thinks Asia can win. Probably because Asia thinks Asia can win and it’s pretty contagious. Meanwhile, Shayna knows Tua is on the bubble and needs to step up her confidence or else. This is not the kind of environment that is conducive to stepping up one’s confidence, so I’m […]

“Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition” recap: Put Your Big Girl Panties On and Gid’ Out

October 17, 2012 Lori Acken

Dear Abby, Richy and Robin: You may not cause Yvette to go home, because I will have to go back to thinking up my own names for these blogs and I’d rather not. Unless, of course, Yvette stops dropping Yvettisms. Then you go right ahead and do how you do whenever you do it. Sincerely, Lori OK. Now that we have that little bit of business handled, let’s get to the episode. With introductions out of the way in last week’s outing, we resume getting to the bottom of what the mothers are all about. Yvette says the $100,000 cash […]