NextIteration

I always thought a better show, for us actual dance fans - would have been to feature studios all around the country on the competition circuit to see how they work and get along, but there would be no drama if they didn't just focus on one and of course the mothers are definitely always where the drama starts.

My DVR is now recording FOUR "new" shows a week. Ack! I haven't watched much of these mom and daughter ones but I did watch part of Jill and Kendall's - Kendall is a brat too! I think they would probably be just fine, but that's not really the West Coast style, so I could be wrong. West Coast is much more about power and less about petite allegro balletic movement. They almost always do their pirouettes jazz style and not ballet style in lyrical which isn't wrong, it's just not balletic. For the record, Lyrical was first mostly referred to as Lyrical Jazz, so there is definitely more than one style in which to perform it. (Some is balletic, some is jazzy and some is more modern influenced.) MDP definitely features the right leg developpé into turns, without question - it's probably their "trademark" move.

The problem with Cruz's gubmint shutdown is that the GOP really hasn't suffered any consequences. The last election allowed the GOP to take the Senate due to the class that was up for re-election, this isn't true this time around so that's good for us? (progressives) because this class is full of GOPers.

It would have been cool if Abby wasn't too chicken to bring her girls to TDA in Vegas so we could have seen what real judges thought about the ALDC against MDP.

The choreography that Nia was given was worthy of a nine year old; the costume sucked as well. No surprise that Nia was given jazz compared to Kalani's contemporary in an effort to rig the outcome. Though I know it was producer driven it was funny to see Abby outdone. MDP only lost due to the fall, they must have been within 10ths of points, there was no synchronicity with the umbrellas. Those (ALDC's) were supposed to be "fantastic" costumes? Not so much. Melissa and Jill's behavior as always, was abhorrent towards Nia (Holly) along with Abby's predictable nonsense. Maddie, Mack, Kalani and Nia should all get solos, hell give each one of them a solo, like most studios do if they are going to the trouble of competing at "Nationals" - that way you have more of a chance of having a "winner" in at least one age division. Show me a studio/choreographer that doesn't recycle moves please. Almost everything out there has been done 1000s of times before.

I think it's pretty rare for employer provided insurance to cover them anymore and it's illegal for any insurance under the ACA to cover them. Mostly they are paid for out of pocket. It's completely illegal for them to be covered by Federal funds under Medicaid as well - the Hyde Amendment is in effect for both ACA and Medicaid coverage. The Republicans are also actively trying to chip away at the exceptions (rape, incest, the health of the mother) that are in effect under the Hyde Amendment where abortions are covered.

So, Sen. McCaskill asks the most salient question, if you are pro-life, why in the world would you jeopardize birth control for millions of women. The GOP is now talking about shuffling funds to community clinics from Planned Parenthood, what established those sparkly new facilities you ask? Obamacare, which they want to repeal. I just can't with these assholes.

Trump never answers a direct question, all he does is filibuster until the topic changes.

Oh for crying out loud. Don't bust something patting yourselves on the back about Trump. Excuse me, Joe? You are conflating babies with fetuses. There is no such thing as an "unborn" child, it's a fetus. Apparently you missed Biology 101 whilst cheering "Roll Tide"? Senator Warren was awesome of the Senate floor. Keep on going GOP, you will lose every.single.Millennial.vote and I will cheer you on every step of the way. Why don't they ever discuss the advances made with research done with fetal tissue at the same time they express the horror of inhumanity of harvesting the means to do the research?

How lovely Seashell Lover, that is absolutely wonderful for your boys, so happy for all of you!

Have you seen MJ lately? It's a three hour show with roughly the first 30 minutes repeated at the top of the third hour, anyways, it's 1/3 Trump love, 1/3 Hillary hate and the other 1/3 a repeat and some news and entertainment. Nicolle comes by it honestly beyond being a Republican.

{{{{{Sew Sumi}}}}} I'm so sorry for your loss.

Not sure, could be a number of things, though my guess is the appeal to emotion. I always felt like a lot can be hidden technically in a pretty emotional lyrical with stunning costumes, I'm not sure that's true, but I sort of always thought so.

Quite often they do if the difference in dance ability is marginal. It's a valid complaint. As is being "stuck" with jazz instead of lyrical or contemporary. It shouldn't but it does, which is why you hear the moms saying things about it being risky to do musical theatre - there are judging panels that don't judge it as high as lyrical/contemporary ever. It depends on the competition and judging panel on a given day. Just when you think there is a hard and fast "rule" across competitions you come across one that surprises you. But in general, costumes do count, and lyrical/contemporary pieces do better than musical theater, tap, jazz or ballet. At any rate, the dancers that regularly get the elaborate solo costuming and make up on Dance Moms have been Maddie, Chloe and Kalani, with a few exceptions for Kendall and Nia.

I think this is the piece about Abby being gross.

The excessive use of makeup ages most of them with the exception of Holly and Jess. It gets into any wrinkle that they have and highlights it on camera, I wonder if they use their own makeup as opposed to the specialty make up for HD. Maddie is by far the better dancer between she and Kendall, that's why it makes the baloney of costume, props and choreography even more egregious, she starts 3 steps behind and Abby widens it by another 3 with her favoritism. It's so blatant and predictable, it's almost reached drinking game status.

I didn't keep it so no playback, I take your word for it. Service animals have become the norm, for good reason - but if this is a case of a privileged person taking advantage I say BOO. She does always make a point that they travel with their animals. I don't think there has any been any indication that Liam? has issues that would require a service dog.

I thought that Nicolle said "my friend's therapy dog".

Huge trigger warning, far too graphic.

Anyone else think that Babs needs mommy juice watching this farse?

And actively in the damn STATE DEPARTMENT server! Now, do I think the Clinton's like money and want to en mass as much as they can? Sure! And why not? But in all the "how is this a coincidence" - no logical discussion about the rise of the Clinton Foundation over time (which would account for higher donations), nor the possible rise in demand for a speech from Clinton because of the prestige that the CGI has brought him which would account for speech fees. Logic need not apply when heads can and will explode about the influence that the Clintons have. For Joe it's obvious, he's so pea green with envy that he doesn't command those fees, and Deutsch who apparently is besties with and loves Trump - thinks that money is a zero sum game apparently - the Clintons are taking pieces from his pie I suppose.

What's worse was there was zero balance, Mika was tut-tutting and expressing her discomfort all the way through. She doesn't give two fucks about low and moderate income women that get most of their healthcare from Planned Parenthood. Of course the topic might cause some discomfort, but it's legal and it's happening and will continue to happen, better that all of it is thrown in the trash and none of it goes to something worthwhile? That's the discomfort that candidate Clinton expressed, we are only human when we express it. It doesn't mean that the practice is bad, it's just uncomfortable to think about. ...and here's Fournier and more Clinton bashing!

Mika's disdain for the Clintons is deep and evident most of the time. I think it stems from family "disdain" for them as successful upstarts, from outside the realm of the established beltway class. Which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, since Carter, whom her father served was the same. But it reeks of all the shit that DC and much of the media has always served up about the Clintons. It's a weird phenomena and combined with the right wing's insanity about the Clintons (or any Democrat that has the audacity to win the White House) it can be fun watching heads explode if you look at it from the right perspective. Da phuque? Media bias about Planned Parenthood? Those videos are bullshit, the only thing that is TRUE AND REAL, Mr. Steele is that fetal body parts are are given away for research with a small fee for shipping and handling, and that fetal tissue and organs are sometimes preserved in that effort. It's not offensive to me, it makes sense.* Taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood needn't fucking be in a damn silo, it's clear and easy - PLANNED PARENTHOOD DOES NOT GIVE AWAY FREE ABORTIONS TO ANYONE. But let's take away the money for cancer screening, birth control and STD screening because that's a good thing, assholes. *I need to add that as long as it presents the patient no further discomfort in the procedure and they give some sort of informed consent, but it's my understanding that many women want to donate the tissue and organs.

My assumption was that the family was bought a fast food meal as compensation for the interview. Everyone deserves compassion and the right not to be food insecure, and there are a multitude of reasons why families may become temporarily or permanently food insecure. There are a couple of useful websites that give you the "actual" use by dates for most things. Milk is usually a week past the use by date, one in particular is also helpful with prepared food leftovers dates. I have a hard time getting my spouse to understand that you can trim the bad bits off fruits and veggies and render them perfectly edible - he freaks out at a speck of mold.

Jill and Gianna looked ridiculous at that competition. Not a lot to say, so predictable, Jill's not wrong even though I don't like Kendall's performances, the costume difference and the prop were beyond obvious.