Show Review: Dance Moms

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Dance Moms on the Lifetime App

Lucy Billotte, Staff Writer

For the past ten years, the show Dance Moms has been trending amongst many teenagers and adults. In the show, there is a group of girls no older than sixteen years old that compete in dance competitions every weekend. Their instructor, Abby Lee Miller, expects perfection out of her dancers. Due to such high standards, arguments can be caused amongst the mothers. Although the show involves much chaos, the girls’ hard work is motivating, and the overall show is intriguing. With that being said, the following information provides opinions and explanations of seasons one through seven of Dance Moms.

Season One (2011):

The first season starred the leading dancers Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Chloe Lukasiak, Vivi-Anne, and Nia Sioux. At the time, Abby Lee Miller had the girls more on an equal playing, and they were not winning as many competitions. However, by the end of the season, they won the big national title. This season is entertaining, and it is interesting to see how determined the girls were at such young ages.

Season Two (2012):

The second season starred the leading dancers Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Chloe Lukasiak, Kendall Vertes, Nia Sioux, and Payton Ackerman. Again, it is fun to watch the girls at such young ages dance so well. In this season, more drama begins to unfold and the dancers win more important titles. Maddie Ziegler starts to pull ahead, and Abby Lee Miller uses her as a prime example of hard work paying off.

Season Three (2013):

The third season starred the leading dancers Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Chloe Lukasiak, Kendall Vertes, Nia Sioux, Asia Monet Ray, and Payton Ackerman. Unfortunately, throughout the season the drama, again, intensifies. All of the girls and their mothers protest, so Abby Lee brings in another team. The dancers on this team were Sophia Lucia, Ally Serigne, Kaeli Ware, and Bella Hoffheins. The girls do not win, but thankfully the original members return to compete for a national title, which they win.

Season Four (2014):

The fourth season starred the leading dancers Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler, Brooke and Paige Hyland, Chloe Lukasiak, Kendall Vertes, Nia Sioux, Kalani Hilliker, and Payton Ackerman. Instead of bringing in a team to replace the original members like season three, Abby Lee brought in a team to go up against them. On Abby’s new team was Tea’ Adamson, Jade Cloud, Kamryn Beck, Ava Cota, Sarah Hunt, and Sarah Reasons. Each girl on the new team had a competitor on the old team that they were to beat. Abby’s new team beat the original Junior Elite competition team three times; however, at nationals the original team won. This was a huge win for the Junior Elite competition team, so Abby Lee got rid of the new members. In addition to the new team leaving, three significant original members left: Chloe Lukasiak and Brooke and Paige Hyland

Season Five (2015):

The fifth season starred the leading dancers Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler, Kendall Vertes, Nia Sioux, Kalani Hilliker, and Payton Ackerman. During season five, there were also additional dancers throughout the episodes who tried out for the team, including Brynn Rumfallo and JoJo Siwa. This is certainly one of my favorite seasons. The girls’ dances are incredible and Abby Lee’s choreography is beautiful. The team really begins to finally dance as one and their connection gets stronger. Unfortunately, it had a bad ending because they lost the national competition. It was the first national loss ever on the show.

Season Six (2016):

The sixth season starred the leading dancers Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler, Kendall Vertes, Nia Sioux, Kalani Hilliker, Brynn Rumfallo, and JoJo Siwa. This is where the seasons took a turn because Abby Lee’s two favorite dancers, Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler, left the show. This really effected Abby and the girls because Maddie was the leader of the team, and Abby always had a soft spot for Mackenzie. JoJo Siwa also left this season because she refused to compete in a ballet duet. In continuation, Abby decided to form a new mini group which caused a lot of tension amongst the Elite moms. Since there were so many changes in this season, the girls ended up not competing in the national competition on the show.

Season Seven (2017):

The seventh season starred the leading dancers Kendall Vertes, Nia Sioux, Kalani Hilliker, Brynn Rumfallo, Camryn Bridges, Elliana Walmsley, Lilliana Ketchman, Maesi Caes, and Daviana Fletcher. Season seven was very chaotic and all over the place. Without Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler, Abby Lee was checked out. By the end of the season, the girls did end up winning nationals, but after the competition the girls left Abby and decided to dance on another team with Chloe Lukasiak from the earlier seasons. They brought in random choreographers which varied each week. However, Maesi Caes, Lilliana Ketchman, Elliana Walmsley, and Brynn Rumfallo decided to stay and compete with Abby. The season ended abruptly without Abby Lee, but those who left ended up winning another national title.

Summary:

Overall, I recommend watching this show! I have watched it over and over again and will continue too. Even if you are not a dancer, it may still interest you. It is very entertaining, and every season brings something new. Again, if you have nothing to watch, I insist on you watching Dance Moms!