realityjunkie771

There are a lot of things I don’t like about this take, but I’ll stick with this: this goes beyond a child pouting because they didn’t get something they wanted. This is a woman who had something she was clearly very qualified for taken away because she could not perform perfectly at the time due to her illness. This take not only infantilizes Hannah, infantilizes women for having feelings at all, but punishes her for speaking about about how reality tv commodifies the pain and suffering of women. The hypocrisy displayed by the team behind MTT shows how openness about mental health, especially by women, is only valued when it gives a company altruism brownie points -- that's the whole idea behind My Cause My Boots. When women actually begin to show the effects of their illness, they are punished, and yet their presence in the organization in the first place is lauded as some sort of gold star. God forbid Hannah actually try to make this fact clear, knowing that people will either not understand or willfully miss the point and attack her. And trust me, I understand how the dance industry works. I get how television and performance work. But using “this is the way it is” as an excuse is not good enough. Sure, this is the way it is. Is it right? Is it just? Do we continue to demand perfection and still capitalize on the idea of tearing women down? This season of MTT has exploited Hannah's illness for #ratings and yet she was released from the team when her illness manifested. If we can’t step back and be critical of how the industry works, we will continue to see the same exploitation. But that’s okay because it’s just the way it is, right? Let's stop punishing women for standing up for themselves, please.

The longer hair did wonders for her, I think. She looks great!

I honestly think she moves well when given choreo with more momentum, but she’s a bit awkward in the transitions IMO. Given, I’m about ten years removed from my own dance experience, so I don’t claim that my opinion amounts to much 🤷‍♀️

Sheesh... she may not have been the most powerful cheerleader, but she really does look great on stage. My heart still hurts for her.

Hahaha, jeez, I saw Rockette and assumed. Guess what they say about people who assume things is true, lol.

If you watch closely, you can catch Alora-Rose in here a few times. She seems to be a smooth dancer, but it's hard to say based on just a few seconds of footage. I think the high-impact DCC style is out of her comfort zone -- she's not the first who has been like this. Either way, I feel certain she'll go back to New York when she gets the chance.

Some things just aren't fixable in such a short timeframe, especially when leaders are responsible for their entire group. Ashley Paige's problems went deeper than a simple misunderstanding of movements and placement. Her style overall was stiff and uncomfortable, which either: A) takes months or years of classes to unlearn and adjust or, B) just isn't fixable when you're in your mid-to-late twenties. Ultimately, I think her long term in training camp in season 8 had to do with K&J deciding if her other qualities outperformed her uncomfortable style.

Yeah, that's just dancewear. But a majority of the cheerleaders are likely just smaller-chested as it is because they're probably, at least to some extent, naturally lean. Some girls just carry less fat than others.

Oh, I really only meant as a leader. I personally find Jinelle beautiful, but I understand that not everyone does. And as much as we roll our eyes at Kelli’s “world class dancers” claims, these girls really are trained to be adaptable — they have to be. I don’t think changing formations would have been an issue for more than a day. The change in leadership dynamic is the challenging thing.

I definitely think there was a big of story adjustment for the sake of time and clarity on the show. In my uneducated opinion, I think it’s just incredibly hard to recover from losing such a senior team member, especially one who has the highest leadership role. It drastically shifts the team dynamic and requires a lot of readjustment — not to mention, somebody new has to fill that role. Not that I don’t think Jinelle couldn’t have done it, because I think she was probably a great leader, but a LOT changes when you make that drastic of a decision. I think Jenna would’ve had to done something much more extreme for Kelli to justify a cut.

The cheerleaders do big, varied movements like this all the time. There’s a video of Gina as game day girl last season doing the exact same thing. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_V5u6ADA8_/?igshid=15mhs5qpbo8kf

I will say, I am involved in leadership in a different performance industry, but I imagine it's a similar scenario -- recruitment becomes incredibly difficult if you have to take a year off of bringing in new members for any reason. DCC definitely has the benefit of being a nationally-recognized brand, but they would still face problems next year if there were no auditions or new members (or TV show for that matter). I am not saying I think it was the right or wrong decision to make. I'm just saying I understand.

I can’t say I really blame her. She’s a professional dancer and the industry is completely dead right now. She was probably smart to jump on a year-long gig like DCC.

To anyone interested, here's an article I found that outlines the basics of employment and wrongful termination in Texas: https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/wrongful-termination-in-texas.html#:~:text=In Texas%2C a public employee,to perform an illegal act.&text=Texas does not recognize a,is fired for that reason. (For full transparency, I live in South Carolina, which is a right-to-work state and similarly has at-will employment. Most of my understanding of at-will employment comes from my own knowledge of my state's rules rather than a real understanding of Texas law, outside of what I have read. I'm sure if Hannah is interested in pursuing legal action, then she either is or will be in contact with an attorney who can explain to her if she has a viable case.)

In general, yes, Texas has at-will employment. I think the simple nature of the cheerleading contract -- they can be cut at any time, for any reason -- will make wrongful termination a difficult argument. There has been more attention toward consequences for asking for protection lately (I thiiiiiiink the article I read recently was the New York Times, but it could have been WaPo), so even if she can't successfully manage a lawsuit, there is potential for her story to be heard and for action to be made within the organization (if it should decide that any publicity it receives is too negative to bear -- I find Jerry Jones to be a bit too cavalier about a lot of things, and I'm sure I'm not alone). ETA: the biggest question here (in my admittedly uneducated opinion) is if someone suffering from COVID-19, someone openly asking for better protection, or someone making an internal complaint is considered in protected classes. Wrongful termination in at-will employment areas, if I understand correctly, largely protects people from being fired only if they are being fired because they fall under a protected class. Even if COVID-19 illness is protected, it would likely be easy for the organization to give another reason for termination -- i.e. candidate was late, candidate was disinterested, candidate was out of shape, candidate was outperformed, so on, blah blah blah. In Hannah's case, she has every right to file internal complaints, and she was right to do so if she felt unsafe, but it might be hard for her to prove that she was terminated for that reason. That being said, though, as Smplsimon mentioned a few pages ago, she may be able to at least get a settlement if she can get good enough information and lawyers.