Tasya

Some people (adults) who have had nothing good to say about JoJo and have often mentioned how much of a brat she is are so outraged that KIDS who are working directly with her are annoyed by her. If any of them were my kid, would they get talked to? Yes, and sternly as well. However it's not as if they committed some heinous act. Maddie did her floppy impression of her energy but at least she didn't keep talking about her; at one point she even tried to take the mic from Mac.

The actual dance wasn't done to Anaconda; it was done to a song called "Girl's night out". Someone made that one that has Anaconda. Also the choreography on this is by Molly Long. Here's a hidden secret about the ALDC routines, a lot of their really good group choreography is done by others during their bootie camp.

Kalani, Kendall and Maddie competed in the Teen division at Jump with ALDC and they did well. Nia is not there and is never going to be there. She's a mediocre dancer that would never be on a high level competition team at most studios. JoJo probably will get there at some point based solely on the fact that she can perform like all get out. Mack sadly is not going to be competition team material for very much longer. That cutesy mini stuff she does is already getting old. Whenever I see Mack dance all I can do is compare her to Maddie and Chloe at the same age. While it's unfair to her it's a good yardstick because they have had the same training. Just think about the fact that Mackenzie is 11...that's three years older than Maddie when the show started and two years older than Chloe. Now look back at the solos that they were doing at that time. There simply is no comparison. Although Abby will never say it, Mack is more of a Nia than a Maddie. Next week is the competition with Brynn; I was at that competition and it was a great one. I'm curious to see how it's portrayed on the show and what you all think about the dancing.

The problem I've always had with Chloe's dancing, that is showcased again here in this video is that it just seems so dance by the numbers. I just don't feel anything when she dances. I think Chloe is a fine dancer, but I don't think that at most studios she would be a featured dancer past the Mini division. When I see the videos from her new studio, even though they are deliberately showcasing Chloe, her dancing is still not anywhere near as captivating as several other dancers. Sadly, she bores me.

I think Vanya's score totally invalidated Katherine's dad's point. Vanya took the exact same amount of time on the card question; except unlike Katherine she didn't even get it right! In addition Vanya answered all of the questions that we saw Katherine struggle with and still bested her score. I've participated in these sorts of competitions throughout my childhood. What we all would do is to take the number of question and divide by the amount of time allotted. We kept sort of a mental stopwatch going. So with 25 questions and 5 minutes they should have given themselves about 12.5 seconds per question unless they were really sure that they would be able to get the answer. Katherine did not use her time wisely. For the second season of the show, I would really like them to go away from this being a memorization contest. I want them to have more logic areas and then just general knowledge of the subjects. Tell the kids the rounds but don't give them specific material to study. That guarantees that the kids that are truly gifted and able to learn and retain this material rather than memorizing it will continue on.

Mackenzie recreated a solo Maddie did at 8 when she was 10 and did not do it as well. Like I said I blame Abby and Melissa for not realizing that Maddie's style of dance is not Mackenzie's style. Mackenzie probably needs to be pushed more into Jazz, Tap and maybe Hip-Hop classes as lyrical/contemporary just do not work for her. She doesn't have what it takes to really excel in the genre and not focusing on or addressing it is not doing her any favors.

And it's guaranteed she will do that silly little revolving flip acrobat thing she does. At jump a girl that was 7 or 8 beat Mackenzie in the mini division with a much more mature solo. It's really going to come to a head here soon because this is the last competition season that Mackenzie can compete as a mini. They talk about being worried about Maddie and Kendall moving up to Teen, but they can handle it. Mack moving up to Junior should be there real concern because she's going to be another Nia. Rarely placing in the top 5 unless it's some sort of "speciality" routine.

Mackenzie is a normal kid and there's nothing wrong with that. She doesn't have the "it" that Melissa and Abby keep trying to pull out of her. They keep trying to force her along the same path that Maddie is taking and I just don't think it's fair. With Maddie, I believe that she genuinely has a desire to be deeply involved in dance and now the other things that are happening. With Mackenzie I think you have a child who would gladly have taken dance classes but could have passed on the competition team completely. The thing that bothers me about how Abby treats Mackenzie is that she's not helping her to develop in any way by ignoring who the child really is. For instance, at the age that Mackenzie is now (nearly 11), Maddie was much more advanced dance wise. Why hasn't Melissa complained about the technical skills that her child is clearly not receiving? Or if Mackenzie is receiving those classes, it's time for Abby and Melissa to face the music especially in regards to calling out others for the technique. Mack is noticeably off or behind for many of the group routines and her solos are always these uber cutesy numbers because she can't pull off the more mature routines. Abby is quick to comment on Nia's and even JoJo and Kendall's skills but Mack is the one that can not keep up more and more. Of course because of her relationship with Melissa and Maddie; Abby never mentions this.

Maddie was not there though.

ALDC got plenty of the top awards for solos and groups in mini & junior; a few in teen and almost none in senior.

Maddie is away during the time that this video is cast and shot. She was doing Austin and Ally and the Elle shoot. She also did not perform with the group at all.

ALDC competed at NYCDA last weekend. Their Seniors won Critics Choice and Sarah won a mini or junior outstanding solo award. This weekend they are going to JUMP and their live broadcasts are always great. I believe all of the girls except Kalani (who will likely do JUMP with her real studio) have solos.

Maddie has three "real" solos this year that I have had the chance to see competed. I'm pretty sure that one of those three will be performed next week at Jump. There's also a competition later this season in which she goes against one of the girls mentioned in this thread (I'm not sure what constitutes a spoiler since it's freely available information) that I had the pleasure to see in person. Really good stuff.

Studio 19s girls (all teenagers) look good in comparison to ALDC's Junior team which contains kids as young as 9/10. You can check youtube for ALDC's older girls, there is no comparison. I had heard a rumor at one time that they would be doing a season of focusing on the older girls. I thought this would be interesting as you're much more likely to get more outspoken and truthful responses from the teens.

Oh Abby, how ridiculous you are. I found this episode to be really sad; for the kids anyway. Dragging them all the way out there for them to have to deal with that is just crazy. I also thought that this episode did a good job showing the constant pressure that Maddie is under. Yes, she's Abby's favorite and benefits from all that entails, but she's also the one that has to always, always win and be perfect. If she isn't the hammer is going to come down harder on her. I could write yet another clarification of what contests are true or staged or that the dance world is small but I think that people enjoy believing that Maddie doesn't really earn her wins so I'll leave it alone. Maddie wins not only at the filmed events but also at the likes of Vibe, Jump and NYCDA. The kid is a good dancer, I think she beat Talia because her dance had content. Talia did spins and stayed in just about the same space for her entire routine. What's interesting and what was not shown is that Kalani had a solo in this competition. In fact when the judges mention a tie for the overalls of two perfect scores it was between Maddie and Kalani. In addition the studio that they leased competed as well (the home studio for Gavin and Mckenzie from Candy Apples; who also competed). They had a lot of potential drama material for this episode that wasn't focused on. Also I think Erin Babbs was auditioning for her own show last night. I am all for supporting your dancers but stooping down to Abby's level with the antics was a bit much. We'll see if it pays off for her; it seems like Collins is holding auditions for another Dance Moms project that Abby swears she's not involved in and it isn't her team that will be accepting new dancers.

I agree Lemons, I don't think that Studio 19 showed anything impressive in either of the two videos I've seen of them. They aren't even good compared to ALDC's junior group let alone their teen group (clearly those girls are all in the teen range). I'm definitely more of a Maddie fan than a Chloe fan but I tried to view the video with an unbiased eye and I just don't see anything great there. Especially nothing to back up all of the youtube comments about how much better the choreography is there.

This competition was an invitational but there were some really good studios there (i'm being biased because my niece's studio was there). Strictly Rhythm in particular is really fantastic, they were the group to take 1st place and to have the 1st place overall dancer (Maddie won her division but was 2nd overall). I haven't watched the episode yet so I'm not sure if they showed the fact that Maddie didn't take 1st in the overalls. I've said many times that while Dance Moms does do some manipulating, it's likely not in the judges results. They just do stuff like showing overall results vs division depending on what scenario they want to tout.

I am glad that Chloe got away from Dance Moms since she always seemed so miserable. However, I think posting these videos from her new studio show that Christi and to some extent Chloe do not want to and may even seriously fear dropping out of the public eye. It would be different if this studio had posted these videos prior to Chloe coming aboard, but they did not. This entire video thing is called "Team Chloe". In the first video that they posted she was the featured dancer even though her skill level pales in comparison to some of those girls. Even in this one the video is completely on her. The first video posted also had a segment that was essentially dedicated to taking potshots at ALDC. I just think that if her mother really desires for them both to move on, and for Chloe to have a normal life, then she should stop it. It's clear to me that part of Christi's entire issue with ALDC was the lack of focus being put on her child. It must have been particularly galling to her since iirc Christi and Chloe are the ones that actually contacted the show to put the ALDC school into the running for the show.

I think in general Maddie's biggest issues are exactly what you focused on. Her turns for instance, while they have gotten better are still not the best. She sometimes steps out of them still. Also Maddie sometimes does not extend all the way through every movement.

At the competitions I have been at they are competing against other competition teams. Most competitions have strict rules against tier cheating. They put you into categories based on the number of hours you dance a week. So a recreational dancer would never be up against any of the ALDC girls. The producers don't need to cheat that badly to manufacture the results. They just have to do minimal research and pick areas that don't have any true standout team. They are many many many bad dance studios out there. It's simple enough to structure invitationals against those teams. However, let me say this. The majority of the time Abby's girls do go against teams of their own level. They are neither the best dance studio in the world or the worse. They are solidly in the middle and their results (other than for Maddie) tend to show that. As much hate as Maddie gets, and I know I said this before on TWOP, seeing her in person is worth it if you get the chance. She has a really big presence and at the competitions I have been at I was never surprised to see her win (although she has been beaten as well). If Maddie went to Club Dance or Mather or Rage or somewhere like that I believe she would be truly phenomenal. She's a kid that would likely excel at any studio.

Wow, can't believe it took me this long to register after the end of TWOP; I guess I was in denial. Anyway, on to the show! Just to clear something up about the competitions (my niece dances in the same general area). Energy, Sheer Talent, Starpower and Starbound are all real competitions. They are the only true ones that still allow Dance Moms to film so Abby should watch it with her favoritism talk. The competitions that are staged for the purposes of the show are easily tracked if you check that wikia page thing. When you see "Special Dance Moms Edition" or "Invitational" that means the competition only exists because Dance Moms wanted to film in that city for whatever storyline has been dreamed up. I don't think that the results are staged because I have been at some where the girls lose. However in my opinion what is staged is what cities and thus competitive teams they choose to visit and invite. For instance if the storyline calls for the girls to have some easy wins, they'll likely choose to go to a city where the competition is known to be light. When they are up for a challenge they go somewhere more difficult and invite the really good teams (like going to VA and inviting Studio Bleu; who they almost always lose to). I also don't believe the competitions are rigged because the dance world is just not that big. Many of the judges at these Dance Mom competitions have to make the rounds through other circuits and if they are rigging, they wouldn't be allowed. On to the actual episode. I thought that the group dance was one of their better ones. As is usually the case when it's something unique and different, it was not choreographed by either Abby or Gianna. Molly Long from Club Dance did the choreography for this one. Maddie actually placed 1st in her division and Kalani placed 2nd in hers (Ava was 2nd in Junior behind Maddie). As per usual the show broadcasts the results they want to further the storyline. Holly is ridiculous and the one that is most disappointing. She's supposed to be so highly educated and yet she keeps her child there knowing that Abby will NEVER favor Nia. I know some people chalk it up to race but I disagree; Abby likes a certain type of dancer and Nia is not it. While I don't excuse Abby's behavior, Holly should realize that Nia will never be a Kalani or Maddie; all of the teaching in the world can't give you something that you don't have. However that are studios out there that would focus on what Nia does do well and help her to move along in that area. Abby is not the person to promote Nia and if Holly is waiting for it to happen she's naive. I