CakeLeigh

Do you think we will ever see Maddie taking 2nd behind Mac? Or 3rd overall? Or a scratched solo? I wonder how that will play out in those episodes.

Not an attorney, but studying to be a paralegal... In most states the statute of limitations for sexual abuse/rape doesn't start until the victim is aware of the abuse. So, in the cases of children who were abused and didn't realize or remember until they are adults , the statute of limitations starts at the time of that realization. (Does that make sense?) So in the Duggar case, the victims knew and reported to their parents right away.

I think they went to a friend's house to swim. Was that clip from several years ago? Seems like I remember them swimming at a friend's...

The vaporettos are pretty expensive too compared to other transport in Europe. We spent a ton of $$ in Venice on transportation. They do have gondolas that cross the canal pretty inexpensively though. In general, I thought Venice was way more expensive than any other place we've been to in Europe.

It looked like they were out in St. Peter's square at one point, so hopefully they were able to take a Vatican tour. They probably weren't allowed to film inside though. I know that still pix aren't even allowed in the Sistine Chapel.

Interesting that when they announced the "overall" placings for the small group dance, they said MDP placed third in the overall. But when they announced ALDC, they said "First Place in junior small group". I bet MDP's dance was in the teen group and could have actually placed higher in the "overall" than ALDC. But who would know... it's all a set up. There was probably only one or two other teams present. A typical competition would have had 20+ teams and no "overall" placings except within the respective age divisions. My daughter is a 8 year dance competition veteran... I've seen it all. LOL Competition dance really has changed in recent years. Way less jazz and "traditional" type dances and a whole lot of what my late mother used to call "faint and fall" dances. There are some competitions that will place jazz, tap, and musical theatre in their top placings, but most these days go for the lyrical and contemporary dances. Depends on which coast the judges are from.

It's an air permit application and air permit. Not sure why he would list that address for the burner... Isn't that Jill and Derrick's house? And wonder what JD is doing with the burner? Doesn't he have a towing business? Edited: It's to clear wood debris on the property. But why would it be registered to JD? Doesn't the house belong to JB? Edited again: As a former air pollution control engineer, I'm really impressed that the Duggars filed for the permit in the first place... I bet a lot of people wouldn't even realize they would need an air permit in that situation.

What bugged me about it is that none of the moms blamed Abby for the music not working. As the dance team coach, It is her responsibility to provide a working copy of the music to the sound people at the competition. If it was a mistake on the part of the sound people, they would have let them have a re-do.

Nope. My daughter has competed for eight years and I've never seen that happen. They might give an overall top score for the weekend, but that is typically broken into age groups as well. Most of the stuff that happens on the show with regards to competitions isn't typical.

I can guarantee you no "official" nationals would use a high school as a venue. They are usually held at large hotel convention centers and are never invitationals. "Nationals" typically last 5 or more days and involve 30 or more studios.

I'm not sure about copyrights on music... my daughter has competed for 8 seasons and we've never had issues with copyrighted music, even with solos. I think that choreographers can use any music that they purchase. (ie: from iTunes or a CD). They can't obviously rip stuff off youtube or whatever. I do think there are competitions that allow entries on the day of... these are money making ventures. If you are going to enter a dance with say, 10 girls at $40 a girl, the competition is making $400 and will probably not turn you away. Same with a solo at $110/dance. It's easy enough to add a 2.5 min dance into the program. It's not common either, so it's not like most competitions are adding a lot of dances at the last minute. You might see one or two dances added for the whole day.

I think it depends on the competition. I noticed that Maddie's solo was numbered "11A" which leads me to believe it was truly entered at the last moment. I've been to competitions where there were last minute entries that don't show up in the printed program (most competitions have a program you can purchase). They are typically added in their particular category like Maddie's was with a number and letter combination whereas entries that were admitted prior to the deadline are labeled with numbers only. (Does that make sense?) Convention competitions (like Jump or NYCDA or Nuvo) don't usually allow last minute entries, because they limit how many numbers per studio can enter and have a limited amount of time set aside for competition dances.

I also wanted to say... rainsunmoonshine... there are some awesome dancers and dance competitions in Australia!!! My daughter has competed against several Australian dance schools at national competitions and they are fierce competition! A friend of my daughter's has gone to Australia to compete a couple of times as well.

Hi! My 16yo daughter is going into her 8th season as a competitive dancer. First of all, there are close to 50 different dance competition/dance convention companies out there that tour the US throughout the dance season (October-May) with Regional competitions. Each of those companies has at least two "Nationals" during the summer months. Dance teams must compete in a Regional competition to be able to compete at "Nationals"... although, in some cases, the competition might allow a dance to be sent in by video or have a provisional competition directly prior to the national competition starting. Technically, each dance that competes in "Nationals" has to have scored a certain score at Regionals. I have NEVER heard of a dance not making "Nationals"... the scoring threshhold is very low. Basically, if you pay the money to compete, you can be there. Typically, at the competitions I've been to (I'm in the Midwest), there are between 20 and 30 dance schools competing. In the Junior competition level, there are typically 50-100 solos and probably 20-30 small groups competing at a Regional competition. Dance convention/competitions are a bit different... the kids take classes all weekend from "star" choreographers and have a small competition on Saturday evening... the competitive pieces are limited per school so they can get through all dances in a few hours (still can be 100+ dances total). Competitions without conventions usually run all day Friday/Saturday/Sunday from 7am to Midnight or after. The competition a particular school faces totally depends on what other schools show up. National competitions naturally have a wider range of schools that they are pulling in (in some cases even international teams) so the competition there can be different from what a school is used to in their region. At any given competition, you will see many many "Maddies" and several that are even better. Most competitions are pretty uniform across the industry in how they score... there are a few exceptions... depends on where they pull their judges from. If the judges are mostly from NYC and LA, they might favor certain styles of dance over others. If the judges have more of a Broadway-type background, they have might have a different take. Some competitions are very strict on costume and dance movement age appropriateness and others don't seem to mind. But mostly, they are uniform. From what I've seen on the show and what I've read... a lot of the "big" competitions and conventions will have nothing to do with Dance Moms filming them. If you look at the awards ceremonies, they are sparsely attended and looks like there are maybe two-three teams present. They are also taking place at high schools/middle schools and solos/duets/group numbers are all competed and awarded at the same time. This leads me to believe that the competitions they are filming, while are "real" competition companies, are setting up special competitions for the show. Most competitions will be at large conventions centers/performing arts centers and are jam packed with kids and parents, especially at awards time. Solos are not typically competed at the same time as groups (although there are exceptions). Another tidbit... The Dance Moms and kids are getting primo dressing room space. Dressing room space is typically behind a pipe & drape system on a cold concrete floor at a convention center... space is first come, first serve. I've also seen a lot of rolling racks and fancy duffel bags for costumes, but never seen anyone bring a lighted makeup mirror set-up. Also... I've never heard of a school learning a new dance every week of the competition season. They learn their dances at the beginning of the season and compete with them all year. I could go into how the awards are set up and the inconsistencies in the show, but I've probably bored you enough already! ;o)

My understanding in what I've been taught in the Catholic church, both through doctrine and directly from priests is as follows: Each human soul... all of mankind... will appear in judgement before Christ at the time of death. There will also be a day of final judgement. Again... for all mankind. Not just Catholics. For those souls who do not know Christ but who, with a sincere heart, seek God may achieve eternal salvation. As with any religion, it is complicated and open to interpretation. I do think that the Catholic religion is often misunderstood.