Dance Moms on Lifetime

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Originally Posted by Critical

I agree that Abby favors Maddie, but it would be hard not to. She is far above any of the other girls, including Chloe. Chloe is a good dancer, but she doesn't have the star quality Maddie does. She just doesn't. The amount of talent, polish and charisma that Maddie has at 8 years old is astonishing.

They didn't overtly state it, but one of the reasons Abby couldn't leave LA to be with her mother had to be that she was in charge of Maddie and Mackenzie. I wouldn't trust any of those other mothers - well, maybe Holly - to watch the girls. Obviously Abby was very conflicted about staying in LA.

I have to believe that the reason these girls are in a performing group together is their mothers agreed to be on the show. Why else would a 13-year old be in a group - as an equal - with an 8 year old or a child even younger?

I find Cathy so grating that I have to mute her. She reminds me of a Catherine O'Hara character from a Christopher Guest movie...only more over-the-top.

Kelly is so incredibly immature. Yes, her girls may not be getting the perks and special attention that others are getting, but to scream and cry and swear about it in front of her daughters and the other girls is just out of bounds. It's like she's still in the same mindset in her relationship with Abby as she was when she was Abby's student.

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Not to be overly cynical here, but if it weren't Maddie and Mackenzie Abby was supposed to be supervising, if it had been kids that Abby depended on less to make her reputation, and/or if she wasn't being taped for a television show, I wonder how conflicted Abby would have been about staying with the kids as opposed to going to see her mother. And, again, I'm not entirely clear on this, because I missed about the first ten minutes of the show, but where were they when Abby found out about her mom? I thought they were still at the studio in Pittsburgh. If so, couldn't another teacher have been sent with the girls or couldn't she have contacted Maddie and Mackenzie's mom and told her she couldn't supervise them and someone else would have to be found, because she had a family emergency? They'd portrayed Abby as being fairly close to her mother before--when the troupe was in Florida, her mother entertained them at her home. But now Mom's in the hospital and yet another dance competition is more important? I have a hard time swallowing that.

And yes, Maddie is very talented, but she gets favored in ways that are extremely unfortunate. When she places second, it's not her fault and she's encouraged to believe that second is okay. When Chloe (I think it was Chloe) finishes fourth, Abby makes a point of saying in front of everyone else, students and mothers, that fourth isn't good enough--especially not for Chloe's mother, which seemed to honestly astonish Chloe's mother, who'd said nothing of the sort. If Chloe's given a solo on a week that Maddie isn't, and she doesn't win, she's failed in her one chance to prove how good she is. It's just not a good way to treat students--or anyone for that matter. Chloe may not be as good as Maddie, but she's not a bad dancer either, and if her mother (or any other mother) decided to switch her child to another studio, because of Abby's obvious preference for Maddie, then Abby's going to lose out financially too. If her studio is struggling financially, it doesn't make sense for her to put all her eggs in Maddie's basket, no matter how good she is, because while her success might draw new students to Abby's studio, they also might not stick around once they find out that not everyone gets the treatment Maddie does. Abby seems to be living through Maddie's success to a degree that's not good for either one of them.

I completely agree that the group of students performing together seems forced, particularly since the groups they've performing against don't seem to have such a significant age range in their dancers. It also just heightens Brooke's feeling that she'd rather be doing something else--what thirteen year old wants to spend a huge chunk of her free time with nine year olds as opposed to girls her own age, even if they do have dance in common?

I wonder sometimes if Kelly's issues about her daughters may have something to do with unresolved issues between her and Abby dating back to when she was her student. Abby's already made it clear that she thinks that Kelly sold out somehow, because she got married and had kids and decided on a life that didn't include a dance career, that she threw away her talent. Kelly may or may not feel that way, but now Abby's suggesting the same thing about Brooke, because Brooke's becoming less enchanted with dance (and her body's breaking down due to its demands). For that matter, since Abby's said she realized early on that her talents better served dance behind the scenes, so to speak, maybe she's even holding onto some resentments that Kelly had a chance she didn't have in terms of pursuing being a dancer longer than Abby could or did and made a different choice. That whole relationship just seems so volatile that I think everyone would be better off if Kelly's daughters studied elsewhere (and maybe if Brooke were allowed to switch to gymnastics or cheerleading, which seems to be what she wants to do).

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Originally Posted by Tilden

And, again, I'm not entirely clear on this, because I missed about the first ten minutes of the show, but where were they when Abby found out about her mom? I thought they were still at the studio in Pittsburgh. If so, couldn't another teacher have been sent with the girls or couldn't she have contacted Maddie and Mackenzie's mom and told her she couldn't supervise them and someone else would have to be found, because she had a family emergency?

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I'm not positive, but I got the feeling that they did not go back to PA. They went from Vegas to LA in a week, so I think they just went to LA to rehearse for the next competition. That wasn't their usual studio that we saw them in and the choreographer Paige worked with was in LA. That would mean that Abby was not home when she found out about her mom.

I think they left PA for Vegas and don't plan on going back until after Nationals in Tahoe.

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Originally Posted by Critical

I'm not positive, but I got the feeling that they did not go back to PA. They went from Vegas to LA in a week, so I think they just went to LA to rehearse for the next competition. That wasn't their usual studio that we saw them in and the choreographer Paige worked with was in LA. That would mean that Abby was not home when she found out about her mom.

I think they left PA for Vegas and don't plan on going back until after Nationals in Tahoe.

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What confused me about that was that Abby appeared to be asking someone from her studio to check into flight plans to Orlando for her, only then she never did go to Orlando to see her mom. Unless they just didn't show her doing that, which I guess is possible.

I think she probably thought she would go, but then realized that she couldn't. I have a feeling that the deciding factor may have been that Melissa wasn't there to take care of her daughters. Of course, I could be way off base and Abby wouldn't have gone anyway....

There is no way this show is real. No parent I know would let anyone be as abusive to their kids as well as the parents as this instructor is and I honestly don't know how this woman stays in business.

They stood in LA & were practicing in the studio Britney Spears & Lady Gaga uses. I think Abby at first did want to fly to Florida but she initially forgot she was in charge of Melissa's daughters. Melissa works Abby so I could understand why she trusted her daughetrs with Abby.

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Originally Posted by Bearcata

There is no way this show is real. No parent I know would let anyone be as abusive to their kids as well as the parents as this instructor is and I honestly don't know how this woman stays in business.

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It wouldn't surprise me if the show was heavily scripted, but there are, sadly, all kinds of accounts of kids being turned over to coaches that have turned out champions without a lot of concern as to how the coaches have done so. For example, Bela Karolyi turned out a lot of gold medalists in women's gymnastics, but there are also a lot of people now questioning his methods in doing so--but when he was churning out those gold medalists, parents were still turning their daughters over to him, even when they saw what it was doing to some of them. Some parents want that gold medal or that Broadway performer so badly that it allows them to look past the abuse or see it for something else--discipline, hard work etc.

My dvr guide doesn't have a new episode this week ... am I missing something?

The schedule I looked at shows a new episode airing this Wednesday at 10.

That's strange. I show a repeat too. That also happened a few weeks ago with another show. Comcast showed a repeat, but a new episode was actually on.