#kendall vertes

[dancemoms]

via Jill Vertes

[tumblydovereviews]

The Rise, Fall, and Rise (?) Again of Dance Moms

What comes to your mind when you think of dancing? Do you recall jamming out to a Taylor Swift song? Do you think of the seventeen Dancing Queen, popularized by ABBA? Or, are you reminded of the reign of Abby Lee Miller and the tyrannical show that is Dance Moms?

Dance Moms has become one of, if not the most influential reality television show of all time. The show focuses on Abby Lee Miller, a tough and demanding dance instructor who owns her own dance studio in Pennsylvania, aptly titled the Abby Lee Dance Company. The show initially started as a limited aeries documentary focusing on one typical season at the dance studio, and introducing us to iconic figures such as:

Cathy Nesbitt-Stein, owner of the ALDC's rival studio Candy Apples Dance Center whose daughter Vivi-Anne was once an ALDC dancer.

the Zeigler family, Abby's 'favorites', including Melissa and her two daughters Maddie and Mackenzie,

Kelly, Brooke, and Paige Hyland, longtime clients of Abby,

Nia and Holly Frazier, other longtime clients of Abby.

Christi and Chloe Lukasiak, constantly at odds with Abby's favoritism and cruelty.

All of the above cast, with the exception of the Fraziers, would eventually leave the show before the seventh and final season of its initial run. However, there's no mistaking that their close relationships, during both the good times and the bad, is what solidified Dance Moms. Even during times when she team was divided, the moms and the girls always came back to each other (at least at the start)

Each week, the elite team would travel to competitions, where each week, Abby would expect that they win first prize- nothing more, nothing less. Obviously, this created a sense of tension that impacted everyone and led to many fights, arguments, and disagreements between the mothers and Abby. Most of the time, the girls prevailed, even despite the stress. But, on the rare occasion when they didn't win first place, Abby waged hell.

Initially, the relationships the girls had formed prior to the series were too strong to be broken over reality TV drama. As the series grew, new moms and new dancers came and went, but the manufactured nature of the show prevented viewers from truly getting to recognize these relationships as being genuine until the show came to an end.

After the success of the first season, additional seasons were ordered, and Dance Moms became a full-fledged series, racking up a myriad of views and acclaim from critics and fans alike who cherished the drama the show brought and the great dances that were performed by the girls. However, the show wasn't without its controversy. A Season 2 episode featuring a dance depicting the girls as naked and only wearing fans to cover their bodies was promptly banned from circulation. Dances focused on subjects such as racism, veganism, car accidents, and even suicide.

Even despite the controversy of the show, Dance Moms still managed to reign on as an icon in the TV world until finally coming to an end in 2017 when the current members of the ALDC quit the team over fears of Abby possibly going to jail over bankruptcy fraud. Abby would end up being incarcerated for 8 and a half months before being released on strict supervision. In April of 2018, Abby would be diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that, while would eventually go into remission, would eventually lead to her using a power wheelchair for mobility.

In December of 2018, Abby Lee Miller announced that she and Lifetime would be collaborating to work on a brand-new season of Dance Moms, initially titled Resurrection and featuring an all-new cast of moms and dancers. Season 8 would make its official debut in June of 2019 with 18 episodes. The series, while initially not a total flop, would never achieve the same level of popularity as the original series did. The lack of genuine relationships between the cast members, the more somber colors, and the general negative aftertaste the episodes gave out all lead to a final product that, while not awful, simply didn't live up the original.

In May of 2020, Black Lives Matter protests erupted after the murder or George Floyd. The following month, Abby would post a black square on her Instagram in honor of Blackout Tuesday and acknowledging the murder. In response, Adriana, a Season 8 mom, would take to Instagram and describe her experience on the show and the racism she and her daughter Kamryn were forced to endeavor. The following day, Camille, another Black former ALDC member, shared her own experience with racism on the show, along with her own daughter Camryn. Lifetime would promptly cease any partnerships with Abby, and the show would once again be cancelled, this time seemingly never coming back.

Until 2024.

Between this time, the Dance Moms world hadn't died at all- if anything, it had grown. From new podcasts hosted by former cast members, including Back to the Barre, Bceuase Mom Said So, and Leave it on the Dance Floor, to on and off rumors of new seasons being worked on, no new official Dance Moms content was released until May of the prior-mentioned year. Select Dance Moms cast members, including Chloe, Brooke and Paige, Kalani, and JoJo Siwa, along with their moms, reunited to discuss the show and how it had impacted their lives both in the past and the present.

And, after the success of the reunion, Dance Moms: A New Era was officially announced in July of the same year. This time, the series would not be focusing on the iconic ALDC and instead place emphasis on Studio Bleu, another rival studio the ALDC competed against. The reboot officially debuted on August 9th, 2024, to mixed reviews, and Season 2 debuting the following year in December.

And... that's it. The second 'rise' of Dance Moms was a total failure.

A New Era has little to no clout around it. The binge-watch style of the show and the long hiatuses between its two seasons have ruined any hype for new content. Abby Lee Miller's attempt to return with two new shows- Mad House and Abby Lee: Dance with Me- both flopped.

Meanwhile, original cast members such as Nia have thrived, with Nia releasing a memoir retelling her life on the set of Dance Moms. The reunion brought the series back into the public eye for a few months, but this enthusiasm has since died down. The world has come to realize just how abusive it is to subject kids to such harrowing environments. Now, rather than force a second generation to endure this chaos, healing and connection is the priority instead as it should be.

Dance Moms, as a franchise, is dying. And maybe that's a good thing.

[rainagainstthewindowatnight]

favorite reality dance shows :

dance moms ( 2011 - 2017 ), creator jeff collins

[lilypotter6457]

I got this thought earlier that was really funny

Imagine if, back when dance moms was huge in the mid 2010s, if the Penguins had done a collab with the ALDC and like Sidney Crosby or whoever was forced to take an Abby Lee Miller dance class

Idk, I just found the image of Crosby being forced to dance some Maddie Ziegler style lyrical routine as Abby yelled corrections at him to lowkey be so funny

Should I write this into a fic?

[daniellerules]

Nothings changed♥️

[emmadance555]

Kendall Vertes meets Facetune

[zmaddiez]

[someonecomegettheirchild]

Rewatching Dance Moms for the first time in a decade and I have thoughts

(Disclaimer: I’m aware that this is a heavily produced reality tv show and there’s a lot more factors in play then these moms just being straight up menaces so just assume that I’m talking about these real people like they’re fictional characters in a tv show. Okay? Okay! )

I’ve realised that Jill and Melissa are two different sides of the same crazy dance mom coin in that both of them will do absolutely anything to get their kids ahead and honestly I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, use your resources if you got em ya know. The difference is that Jill will stand behind her actions and be like “yeah of course I did this to get my kid ahead” and will always be honest and not sneaky about it whereas Mellisa will swear up and down that she didn’t do any of that even though she’s being filmed and THEY CAUGHT HER ASS IN 4K!!!!

Also, Jill will stand in solidarity with the other moms and their kids if she deems it important enough while Mellissa will throw everyone under the bus 100% of the time and then call them jealous of her 9-year-old daughter when everyone gets JUSTIFIABLY upset about it.

Anyways.... stan Jill Vertes