S05.E20: Dance Moms Down Under, Part 1

[OnceSane]

The ALDC travel to Australia to perform at the ASTRA Awards, but Abby loses her passport and leaves the team stranded in Sydney without her. Meanwhile, Jess confronts the moms over a viral video in which some of the girls make fun of JoJo; and Maddie misses a crucial rehearsal when she has to do an interview in Abby's place.

[dyanad]

I didn't think Abby could gt much worse, but here you go. Seeing the way Abby goes out of her way to make it known certain kids were not invited to her events, the way Melissa told them they should not show up and the cherry on the top the kids getting caught making fun of Jojo. I can't believe Holly was the only one to say the comments the girls made were wrong and might I add was the only one to say "our girls" including them all when complimenting the group dance.

 

Sorry to say, I can see why Holly is angry and has been getting upset. Abby is no longer passively treating Nia like she is scum, but actively sabotaging her. I would be much more pissed than Holly at this point. How sad that a child acts more mature than the person who she trusts to teach and nurture her.  

[OhSnap]

Nia wouldn't have that video or be on TV at all without Abby. Really, if anyone is sabotaging Nia, it's Holly. Yeah, Holly got this faux video to go along with Nia's faux singing career, which was arranged simply to stir up trouble with Abby, NOT because Nia is actually a good singer, because she's not. In the end, Holly will find out that Nia had her 15 minutes of faux fame, and that's it. Of all the girls, I think only Maddie has a chance of making it long-term in the business. In the meantime, it'd be nice if the mothers would quit being donkey's behinds, and let their kids have fun being a part of Abby's dance company.

 

Melissa warning those two to stay away means she knows that they're all about: causing trouble. So good for her.

[LexiconDevilOne]

Nia wouldn't have that video or be on TV at all without Abby. Really, if anyone is sabotaging Nia, it's Holly. Yeah, Holly got this faux video to go along with Nia's faux singing career, which was arranged simply to stir up trouble with Abby, NOT because Nia is actually a good singer, because she's not. In the end, Holly will find out that Nia had her 15 minutes of faux fame, and that's it. Of all the girls, I think only Maddie has a chance of making it long-term in the business. In the meantime, it'd be nice if the mothers would quit being donkey's behinds, and let their kids have fun being a part of Abby's dance company.

 

Melissa warning those two to stay away means she knows that they're all about:

 

causing trouble. So good for her.U

 

UHG....

 

I broke down and watched this...nothing else was on. It was as god awful as I expected.

 

I have to ask, do you REALLY believe everything you see on TV? This show entire show, including the storylines , is "FAUX". That includes the competitions, too!

 

I'm glad Nia and Holly are leaving. There will be no one left to root for when they leave.

Edited May 20, 2015 by LexiconDevilOne

[tessa]

Nia wouldn't have that video or be on TV at all without Abby. Really, if anyone is sabotaging Nia, it's Holly. Yeah, Holly got this faux video to go along with Nia's faux singing career, which was arranged simply to stir up trouble with Abby, NOT because Nia is actually a good singer, because she's not. In the end, Holly will find out that Nia had her 15 minutes of faux fame, and that's it. Of all the girls, I think only Maddie has a chance of making it long-term in the business. In the meantime, it'd be nice if the mothers would quit being donkey's behinds, and let their kids have fun being a part of Abby's dance company.

Melissa warning those two to stay away means she knows that they're all about: causing trouble. So good for her.

Although NONE of the girls would be known if it wasn't for the show - the show was NOT meant to be about Abby but the Dance Moms. Yes, the show is scripted and edited - ex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W5dLygLUH8 - the girls did not dance to the song at the Astras the show presented but Maddie did a piece to Chandelier and then the girls danced to Titanium. Why production couldn't get the rights to show that or changed the dance music - I don't know, but there is truth behind some of what goes on here. Abby's not holding all the girls to the same standards has been a bone of contention for Kelli, Christi and Holly. Jesslyn, Kira and Jill have also commented on that at times.

I actually like Nia's singing and hope it works out for her - different stokes for diff. folks. I personally don't think Britney Spears has a good voice - but she's made more money than either you or I could imagine. Some people don't like Adam Levine because his voice is too high - it's a personal preference - just as you don't like Nia's voice. Miley Cyrus, Arianna Grande, ect.. had faux singing on their shows but turned unto professional singers - you never know what will happen in the future.

I thought it was bad that Nia and Jojo were excluded from the ALDC private events. The girls are part of the team. Don't anyone give me - Jojo isn't a full member yet - as that girl wears the ALDC jacket and at this point is part of the team and Nia was an original member. I am happy that Holly included Jojo in Nia's concert. Of all the moms - I still like Holly and think she's raised an exceptional daughter. Holly was so on the mark with Abby's - even bad news is good news comment.

I'm glad the show broached the Jojo - Ireland topic as I still think it was disrespectful. I also thought Melissa was disrespectful in her request to Holly and Jess not to show up. Holly really held her voice throughout this episode pretty much. Abby said some pretty hurtful things over the phone - especially in front of the girls and both Holly and Jess could have gone off. And as much as I don't care for Kira - both she and Jess are right - Maddie is not progressing as far as dance - in fact I think through the years - she's progressed least of all. I see dramatic changes in Mac's and Nia's dancing. I see improvement in both Kalani and Jojo's since AUDC - but being Maddie was always a perfectionist - except for a few new faces - I don't see much change.

Can't wait for next week as you can see the jealousy Jill displays about Nia's concert and how far people will go for her. Hey Jill, when you work with professionals - their going to be sure that who ever they work for does it right - unlike manager Abby - who imagines she knows everything.

Edited May 20, 2015 by OnceSane
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[Loves2Dance]

UHG....

 

I broke down and watched this...nothing else was on. It was as god awful as I expected.

 

I have to ask, do you REALLY believe everything you see on TV? This show entire show, including the storylines , is "FAUX". That includes the competitions, too!

 

I'm glad Nia and Holly are leaving. There will be no one left to root for when they leave.

Sadly, there are lots of people who actually believe this show is real...I can't, for the live of me, figure out why!

[Alison]

Ugh, Melissa was such a snide bitch last night, sitting there in the dressing room demanding Holly and Jess not bring their children to the event they weren't invited to. She is so delusional - see: her reaction to Maddie getting upset. Oh, and Kira et al are right: Maddie has plateaued.

[Absolom]

 

Nia wouldn't have that video or be on TV at all without Abby. Really, if anyone is sabotaging Nia, it's Holly. Yeah, Holly got this faux video to go along with Nia's faux singing career, which was arranged simply to stir up trouble with Abby,

Nia had the video because of Collins Productions not Abby.  Abby had zero to do with producing it.  Collins was in control of the situation and deliberately set it up to bait Abby.  

[Lemons]

UHG....

 

I broke down and watched this...nothing else was on. It was as god awful as I expected.

 

I have to ask, do you REALLY believe everything you see on TV? This show entire show, including the storylines , is "FAUX". That includes the competitions, too!

 

I'm glad Nia and Holly are leaving. There will be no one left to root for when they leave.

 

 

So why does everyone get so upset and root for these "underdogs" if it is fake?  I don't get that.  Although they do put too much fighting into the show and that's too bad, it does ruin it.

And no, other dance moms, Maddie has not plateaued.  Kalani's mother using the reasoning that her "turns" haven't changed is ridiculous.  Turns are only a very small part of dance and that's most ballet.  Maddie has the musicality and artistry that is harder to teach.  She has the stamina and work ethic that is also harder to teach.  She'll be a dancer if she wants to be. 

 

Kalani's mother needs to worry about Kalani.  She's the one who is dancing with much younger students.  Kalani needs to be dancing with advanced teens if she wants to improve.  If Maddie's mother wanted to get nasty back, she could have mentioned that puberty hasn't been kind to Kalani and she might not end up with a dancers body.  And she also has been doing the same turns since 8 years old. So?

[Alison]

Oh, another loathsome Melissa moment: it's just "kids being kids" when her children are making fun of Jojo, but when one of the moms suggests Maddie might be plateauing, she loses her damn mind. She's getting to be my least favorite person on the show, maybe even more so than Abby.

[iluvobx]

Nia wouldn't have that video or be on TV at all without Abby. Really, if anyone is sabotaging Nia, it's Holly. Yeah, Holly got this faux video to go along with Nia's faux singing career, which was arranged simply to stir up trouble with Abby, NOT because Nia is actually a good singer, because she's not. In the end, Holly will find out that Nia had her 15 minutes of faux fame, and that's it. Of all the girls, I think only Maddie has a chance of making it long-term in the business. In the meantime, it'd be nice if the mothers would quit being donkey's behinds, and let their kids have fun being a part of Abby's dance company.

 

Melissa warning those two to stay away means she knows that they're all about: causing trouble. So good for her.

LoL,  Melissa is the one that is all about causing trouble.  She is disrespectful towards the other mothers and gets really pissed when Maddie is not the one being touted.

[RedFire2000]

Jeez ....Abby really has a hang up when it comes to Jojo. That poor child can't even say something encouraging out loud to herself and her teammates ("let's rock this!") without Abby jumping down her throat and telling her basically to shut up. Dang that woman has issues! And then yelling at her for being late in the dance but Maddie falls out her turn (THAT SHE'S BEEN DOING FOR YEARS) and sobs hysterically in the bathroom its perfectly okay??

 

Melissa telling Holly and Jess to not show up, you weren't invited was just plain rude.

 

I'm so glad they brought up that awful Ireland tour video of the girls mocking JoJo. "Kids being kids"? Trash talking your teammate in front of a whole press tour audience is not "Kids being kids". And the worst part Abby was sitting right there in the audience laughing along.

 

And real nice that Abby excludes Nia and JoJo from the Australian private events. What a bitch!

[LexiconDevilOne]

So why does everyone get so upset and root for these "underdogs" if it is fake?  I don't get that.  Although they do put too much fighting into the show and that's too bad, it does ruin it.

And no, other dance moms, Maddie has not plateaued.  Kalani's mother using the reasoning that her "turns" haven't changed is ridiculous.  Turns are only a very small part of dance and that's most ballet.  Maddie has the musicality and artistry that is harder to teach.  She has the stamina and work ethic that is also harder to teach.  She'll be a dancer if she wants to be. 

 

Kalani's mother needs to worry about Kalani.  She's the one who is dancing with much younger students.  Kalani needs to be dancing with advanced teens if she wants to improve.  If Maddie's mother wanted to get nasty back, she could have mentioned that puberty hasn't been kind to Kalani and she might not end up with a dancers body.  And she also has been doing the same turns since 8 years old. So?

Because this show is not called the Maddie show, and most people who watch it, especially those who've watched it since the beginning, are sick of watching Abby fawn all over her. Go back and watch the first season, Maddie made a TON of snide remarks towards the other dancers, especially Chloe (in particular when she won the dance spotlight for the Lux video). She's very entitled, and it's going to be quite a fall for her when this show ends. Abby too.

[tessa]

So why does everyone get so upset and root for these "underdogs" if it is fake?  I don't get that.  Although they do put too much fighting into the show and that's too bad, it does ruin it.

And no, other dance moms, Maddie has not plateaued.  Kalani's mother using the reasoning that her "turns" haven't changed is ridiculous.  Turns are only a very small part of dance and that's most ballet.  Maddie has the musicality and artistry that is harder to teach.  She has the stamina and work ethic that is also harder to teach.  She'll be a dancer if she wants to be. 

 

Kalani's mother needs to worry about Kalani.  She's the one who is dancing with much younger students.  Kalani needs to be dancing with advanced teens if she wants to improve.  If Maddie's mother wanted to get nasty back, she could have mentioned that puberty hasn't been kind to Kalani and she might not end up with a dancers body.  And she also has been doing the same turns since 8 years old. So?

 

Actually Kalani is still very much involved with her old dance studio in Arizona when she is not performing on Dance Moms - http://dancemoms.wikia.com/wiki/Kalani_Hilliker- hence, my disgust when others talk about Cathy stealing dancers - what Abby does is no different - you're just led to believe that they now only dance at Abby's studio.

[tessa]

Anyway - it's obvious that Abby is po'd at the production company for making Nia's video  - a professional one - and why she's bad mouthing them now to the media. What she seems to forget is that they're in it for the money and could call quits on the show or her in general should they want to - remember Charlie Sheen with 2 1/2 Men? I think the big wigs see that the majority of the audience loves Dance Moms because of the girls and detest Abby and her teaching methods. It's bad enough that she yells at the kids - then she takes it out on them because the moms disagree with her.  Astra did not contact Abby to request Maddie dance at the awards but they may have contacted Maddie and Mac's real managers. I'm sure that the group were all invited to the awards via Collins production who set it up.

 

Abby seems to have a beef with production now : http://www.ibtimes.com/dance-moms-producers-set-maddie-ziegler-fail-abby-lee-miller-claims-new-book-1631016- but it didn't bother her for the 1st 3 seasons when she was raking in the glory and the money.

 

There was actually a lot of outrage that the tour was coming to Australia and I thought Abby was really being sarcastic when she talked about all the great teachers and dancers there are in Australia. The woman is very crass and full of it. Being a so-called celebrity has gone to her head.

 

I do admit that I was not a Jojo fan while she was a contestant on AUDC - but I think she does well and I do like her now. If she is constantly behind after all these months with the ALDC - why does Abby still tolerate it? It's so faux but I love watching the girls - although it would be better if Chloe were back. I do miss Brooke and Paige but Brooke was over it already and ready to enjoy her teen years and Paige, though cute, really couldn't keep up.

[Lemons]

Im not seeing the musicality and artistry. She can follow a beat for the most part (she seems to rush at times). It also seems to me like the adult dance world has very little space for solo artists. If she ends up in a chorus line on Broadway (best case scenario), will artistry matter all that much?

It doesn't seem very kind to comment on the body of a developing child in that way. Are you saying she's fat? What is it about her body that makes her seem not like a dancer? Of all the kids, she looks the most fluid and natural at dance. I do think that she is dancing below her skill set.

 

I think for the most part, other dance moms are the quickest to find fault with Maddie's skill set.  It's mostly jealousy and Kalani and JoJo's mothers are the worst.  It's kind of ridiculous to expect a 12 year old to have perfect turns.  If you go to a professional school, for example, School of American Ballet, the 12 year olds are not doing advanced turns like comp dancers.  The fact is that professional artists and choreographers have noticed Maddie.  Judges at these competitions, even the ones not related to the show, have recognized Maddie's talent.  She's not perfect.  She's 12.  But she's got what I have seen over the years in young dancers who have gone on to work professionally.

 

And it doesn't matter if a teen dancer has some baby fat, that can easily be resolved as they grow.  It's proportions that matter and you can't change those. 

[BodhiGurl]

I don't honestly understand why Holly has stayed on this show this long. Clearly there is some benefit. I don't condone Abby's behavior that we see on tv, but lawd I can't take any more of Holly screeching, bitching, moaning... Take your child and leave. I won't miss her if she leaves the show and wish her daughter well... I want to like this show but the drummed up momma drama has worn me thin...

[KaveDweller]

I can't decide if Melissa is really dumb or just a bad liar.  Anytime someone criticizes her kids she says she's confused and has no idea what they could be implying. Does she really not understand the idea of plateauing? She didn't say she disagreed with that, she seemed like she had no idea what they meant, and that Maddie still has to dance well even if it's the same thing.  

 

And she also said the girls weren't making fun of JoJo to be mean.....but that's kind of what making fun of someone is.  She should be teaching her kids to know that people can be hurt even if that's not the intention.

 

Although that scene in the car where Maddie was talking about how she'd apologize was the most like a kid I've seen her act in awhile.

[NextIteration]

Balanchine isn't running SAB anymore and not all professional dancers are ballet dancers in need of a "perfect" ballet body.  Commercial (LA style) and large and small company dancers have all kinds of body types now.  Maddie is not the only dancer in this group that has been recognized by big name teachers and choreographers either, Kalani has actually done better on a national basis than Maddie (when Kalani was 12) we'll see if Kalani's post-pubescent body manages to pull off another national win this summer since it seems that Kira is set on her competing again.  She also appeared on Bunheads, before she was on AUDC.  Kalani reminds me a lot of Jeanine Mason who won season five of So You Think You Can Dance.

 

Maddie consistently falls out of her turns, and most of her solos are choreographed with trick after trick and no chance to even show much artistry or musicality, those are things you generally see in transitions and whomever is doing Maddie's solos wouldn't know a transition if it hit them upside the head.  It seems like Kalani is being choreographed by someone else because her pieces are not like that.  That's the same problem with Kendall's choreography along with Mack and JoJo's all tricks and no lovely transitions.

 

Maddie is a great dancer but I don't think she's as special as we are made to think she is, she's probably somewhere in the 50 in her age group amongst cross-trained dancers in the country, there is a ton of talent out there.  She has Sia to thank for much that has come her way.

[Absolom]

Ratings tanked:  941K viewers and a .3 rating. 

[NikSac]

Since when is Maddie falling out a turn a new thing?

 

I don't think it is, because I've heard people complain about it for a long time, but I must admit I couldn't actually see it before. I kept wondering what people were talking about. I think either I've gotten better at seeing it or she's gotten worse.

[Darknight]

Ratings tanked: 941K viewers and a .3 rating.

Omg. That's horrible please let it get canceled

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNP_7fBcX_A

I think I found the scene with the parents talking about her plateauing. And Maddie is sobbing alone in the bathroom while the moms talk about her. Worse than I'd imagined. This show needs to end.

Goddess between Melissa Jill Holly and Jessalynn. I don't know whose worse. Maddie is going to need therapy. Lots of therapy. Melissa is just an ass kisser.

[Darknight]

Maddie has always fell out of her turns. Nothing new. I've seen some amazing 12yo competition and ballet dancers who can do advanced turns or at least be on full releve and not fall out of their turns. Maddie has been dancing for 10 years now? Serious dancing begins at what 8/9/10/11 depending on the school and the dancer. She still makes the same mistakes. She's not the best 12 yo I've seen. She was good at 8/9/10 but now as a teenager she's semi average. Making that transition from cute 8 yo dancer who can get away with stuff is not the same as a 13yo dancer where technique and artistry counts.

[NextIteration]

Ugh I just watched that clip - it's sad.

 

The transition between those age groups from Mini through Jr to Teen also covers when dancers move through puberty and lose their centers as they gain height and weight, most girls go through this a few times with growth spurts.  It's a really critical time for them to be at the ballet barre, to maintain their skills and grow them.  I don't see that happening for these girls.  Only Kalani and Nia appear to have finished going through this development and for some young dancers, it can be the undoing of them.  Oft times the girls that overall left and right as Minis and Jrs fall to the middle of "elite" group pack of a studio through this process.

 

Slow and steady can often produce the best Srs.

[OhSnap]

I have to ask, do you REALLY believe everything you see on TV? This show entire show, including the storylines , is "FAUX". That includes the competitions, too!

 

How did my comment (practically every other word being "faux") imply that I believe everything on TV? 

 

It's clear that the girls enjoy the competitions, whether they're faux or not. If the harpy moms would let their girls do them without going off on Abby every three seconds, that'd be great. I realize that the idea of the show is for the moms to be harpies, but it gets really old.

 

 

Nia had the video because of Collins Productions not Abby.  Abby had zero to do with producing it.  Collins was in control of the situation and deliberately set it up to bait Abby.  

 

No, I wasn't talking about who produced the video. I'm saying that Nia wouldn't have been given that opportunity if she wasn't on the show. As you said, it was a set up to bait Abby. Nia was being used, and her mom went along with it. That's pretty horrible.

[Loves2Dance]

So why does everyone get so upset and root for these "underdogs" if it is fake?  I don't get that.  Although they do put too much fighting into the show and that's too bad, it does ruin it.

And no, other dance moms, Maddie has not plateaued.  Kalani's mother using the reasoning that her "turns" haven't changed is ridiculous.  Turns are only a very small part of dance and that's most ballet.  Maddie has the musicality and artistry that is harder to teach.  She has the stamina and work ethic that is also harder to teach.  She'll be a dancer if she wants to be. 

 

Kalani's mother needs to worry about Kalani.  She's the one who is dancing with much younger students.  Kalani needs to be dancing with advanced teens if she wants to improve.  If Maddie's mother wanted to get nasty back, she could have mentioned that puberty hasn't been kind to Kalani and she might not end up with a dancers body.  And she also has been doing the same turns since 8 years old. So?

The original season wasn't as fake as what it is now---the competition results were altered which is why they started getting banned from the big, well-known competitions; but the mama drama (except for Nia who was brand new to those girls), the girls friendships...all of that pretty accurate. Abby's treatment of Brooke, Paige, and Chloe...also accurate. What we've seen since about Season 3 is purely manufactured drama for the show---ie, the theme of Season 5 was the 'battling music videos,' that was producer driven...etc. All of the drama between Jill and Holly is set up and manufactured to get the footage for TV. 

 

As for Maddie, I actually agree that she is plateauing and Abby even referenced it back in Season 1 about peaking too soon and it being a fear of hers with Maddie. If anything highlights that her recent DWTS performance did---lack of control in her leg lifts were a huge giveaway and she fell out of every single turn she did. I have no doubt she could get back into a studio, pull back on the famous stuff, and attempt to rise back up again, but being realistic she isn't going to because of Melissa and Abby and ultimately she will suffer long term. This show is dying and while Maddie has had a good run with Sia, when DM's falls off the planet, she's yet to make a strong enough mark not to fall with it. Will she get back up? Maybe, but also maybe not.  

 

As for Kalani not having a dancer's body---Kalani doesn't want to be a ballerina, and frankly, Maddie doesn't have a dancers body either. In fact, the only two who had the stereotyped bodies were Paige and Chloe---Paige seems to have lost it with puberty while Chloe doesn't seem like she is. Kalani's unique look will get that child far, the fact that she is a great dancer makes her worth standing out. 

[Loves2Dance]

That clip is sad for a lot of reasons, but it's the saddest for Maddie. I was kinda wondering when the production team would turn on her; we all know the moms are fed lines in those confessionals---those lines then get thrown into multiple episodes to stay with the storyline---the fact that Jess actually used the word plateauing wasn't authentic to the way she normally speaks. I have a feeling this next string of season 5.5 or 6, whichever it is, will be the fall of Maddie on Dance Moms. I won't spoil anything because I do look for the comp results ahead of time, and one particular week raised a red flag---seeing that only confirms it. And sadly, not even Abby lee Miller is gonna be able to save her. 

[Absolom]

 

Nia wouldn't have that video or be on TV at all without Abby. 

 

 

 

No, I wasn't talking about who produced the video. I'm saying that Nia wouldn't have been given that opportunity if she wasn't on the show.

 

You said she wouldn't have the video without or the show without Abby.  We don't know for sure that Abby pitched the show.  I believe Abby saying she pitched the show is just her ego talking.  Abby certainly had nothing to do with the video.  Even if Abby did pitch the show, that was years ago and Nia was cast by Collins not Abby.  She wasn't on the original team.  

[cali1981]

Another train wreck of a show.  One scene really bothered me. It was the one with Melissa and Maddie are in the limo talking about the video in which the girls are making fun of Jo Jo.  I thought that Maddie was rather insincere in her "remorse" and the more that she spoke the more that I thought "My God, she's becoming just like Melissa".  That is a very low bar but the seeds seem to be there.  It's very sad to see.  This 12 year old has had too much "fame" thrust upon her, too much fawning attention and too little solid parenting at this stage of her life.  She has been used by Abby as a mallet to beat her teammates over the head with too many times but neither she nor Melissa see anything wrong with that. Maddie may be imbued with the values of hard work and discipline but there are other values in life that are equally, if not more important and her foundation in those may have eroded.  She may indeed become a "star"  but she is just as likely to crash on the rocks at some point and if that happens Melissa and Abby will be, in great part, to blame.

Edited May 21, 2015 by cali1981

[Loves2Dance]

Would you mind posting a link in the spoiler thread, please? I don't think I'll watch this season. The clips seem to highlight thr most pivotal scenes, anyway.

Done.

[goodbyeglittergirl]

I officially deleted Dance Moms from the DVR after letting this episode sit for a couple of days. Every time I went to play it, I was like..."ugh, I don't want to watch this" - and then I realized, I can choose not to watch it. So long, Dance Moms! It's been real. or scripted.

[NextIteration]

It's clear that the girls enjoy the competitions

 

Dancers, by their very nature, love to perform.

[Tasya]

I'd disagree about Maddie's reaction to the Jojo bashing, since if you watch the actual video you would see that Maddie only took part very briefly with the "spazzing" out thing. She also tried to get the other girls to stop. However I'm sure no one will give her the benefit of the doubt, we all know that Maddie is the worse most awful child ever. 

[Loves2Dance]

I'd disagree about Maddie's reaction to the Jojo bashing, since if you watch the actual video you would see that Maddie only took part very briefly with the "spazzing" out thing. She also tried to get the other girls to stop. However I'm sure no one will give her the benefit of the doubt, we all know that Maddie is the worse most awful child ever. 

I did watch the video and didn't think she was the worst; however, she is the most trained, so when she continually tried to bring it back into focus, it could be that she is trained enough to know it was going to far or she actually had a heart. Without being in her head, we'll never know the answer.

[hqtextbook]

I'm actually pretty impressed by how chill the kids are about it being the maddie show 24/7. Like when they introduced "maddie and the other girls" at the awards show and spoke almost exclusively to her on the red carpet...I would have been rolling my eyes at that age. So good for them for being chill. I hope they know they are walking away with the least damage...

[DoctorWhovian]

I'm not even half way and I am so disgusted at the reaction to the video of the girls making fun of Jojo. I don't care who you are, but when you have one parent in front of you holding proof that your child did something inappropriately, especially when it's towards another child, your reaction should be, "I'm sorry that this happened. I am going to talk to my child about it." If you love your kid, you will talk to them about not being a jerk. And I really think that the Melissa/Maddie conversation would not have happened had the cameras not been there nor had there been no prompting (maybe Melissa went shit, I better show that I said something to Maddie so it's on camera). They all should have stood up and said they would be talking to their kids and making sure they apologize, don't care if it's forced or not but they're supposed to be a team.

[Absolom]

I'm finally getting to watch this episode and almost every word from Abby is scripted.  So it's all pretty much one grand or lousy performance depending on how you see it.  

[chickpea]

Im not seeing the musicality and artistry. She can follow a beat for the most part (she seems to rush at times). It also seems to me like the adult dance world has very little space for solo artists. If she ends up in a chorus line on Broadway (best case scenario), will artistry matter all that much?

It doesn't seem very kind to comment on the body of a developing child in that way. Are you saying she's fat? What is it about her body that makes her seem not like a dancer? Of all the kids, she looks the most fluid and natural at dance. I do think that she is dancing below her skill set.

I think that Kendall has some basic issues with her body mechanics that will making dancing difficult for her in the longer run. Nothing related to size, I'm referring to the over pronation and poor turnout. She also has no charisma or energy on stage, but I guess that is more subjective.

I think that Kendall is an awful dancer. Her facial expression is so doofy and I dont know what Abby sees in her honestly. 

[RazzleberryPie]

I'm actually pretty impressed by how chill the kids are about it being the maddie show 24/7. Like when they introduced "maddie and the other girls" at the awards show and spoke almost exclusively to her on the red carpet...I would have been rolling my eyes at that age. So good for them for being chill. I hope they know they are walking away with the least damage...

By now, they know it's The Maddie Show, and they can accept it and stay or fight it and leave. Sort of like a D-level Destiny's Child in the late 90s.

[Fiero425]

On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2015 at 4:17 AM, LexiconDevilOne said:

 

UHG....

 

I broke down and watched this...nothing else was on. It was as god awful as I expected.

 

I have to ask, do you REALLY believe everything you see on TV? This show entire show, including the storylines , is "FAUX". That includes the competitions, too!

 

I'm glad Nia and Holly are leaving. There will be no one left to root for when they leave.

Never happened; stayed until the last, kvetchin' all the way! ;-)

[Fiero425]

On ‎5‎/‎22‎/‎2015 at 10:16 AM, Loves2Dance said:

I did watch the video and didn't think she was the worst; however, she is the most trained, so when she continually tried to bring it back into focus, it could be that she is trained enough to know it was going to far or she actually had a heart. Without being in her head, we'll never know the answer.

Hard to believe the criticism of these kids; and they are kids! Kids can be mean; heaven knows I saw plenty of it! When they aren't little angels, I wonder what reality people are looking for in them? Some should look in the mirror! I personally loved this episode! I LMAO when Abby called and "read" these women to filth! Her comments about JESS were hilarious; esp. when Abby asked her about "kissing her arse" and Jojo laughed as well! ;-)