S07.E11: Leaving La La Land

[OnceSane]

Quote

In the final week before the ALDC heads to Pittsburgh for Nationals, the elite girls struggle with a difficult ballet routine and get the cold shoulder from Abby; Abby becomes obsessed with the mini soloists; Kendall resumes her stalled music career.

[WildFlower87]

I wished the elite moms and some of the elite girls would stop whining about Abby "ignoring" them for the minis blah blah blah. Shut the fuck up! They don't need Abby monitoring their every move. They're not babies, they're teenagers. The elite team members have had years of attention. It's not all about them! No studio owner babysits one group all day long. That's why they hire staff.

I didn't like Lilly's solo. All her solos have literally been the same the past three weeks, just different costumes. Can you give her some new choreography? She's gone end up just like Mackenzie and Brooke doing the same exact acro dance forever. 

Elliana's solo was great! Beautiful dancer. She was robbed and deserved 1st or at least 2nd.

I'm not surprised Maesi didn't place She rushed through her solo and her technique is not good. Abby's right. She doesn't fit the team.

The group dance was a mess. The girls looked bored and had low energy. Camryn's timing was off. Nia and Kendall made me cringe. This dance highlighted their poor technique, bad feet, and clunkiness. Brynn and Kalani were amazing as always. 

Otherwise, this episode was boring. This show has gotten so stale and repetitive.

Edited February 9, 2017 by NickDisnCart

[tessat]

Wow guess we watched different shows as I loved the group dance - Kalani and Brynn killed it! I thought Maisi was good and showed she could do something besides hip hop.

Lilly was cute but I do agree that she's being boxed in like MacKenzie. Elliana was good but her mom is as bad as Jill.

[Maccagirl]

The slim number of comments on this forum really shows how quickly this show is tanking.  I have viewed since season 1, and am nearing the end of what I can absorb these days as "reality" TV.  This is so highly scripted and producer driven, it really ruins it.  It's hard to believe both "Minis" tied with one another - REALLY? 

[realdancemom]

On 2/7/2017 at 9:22 PM, NickDisnCart said:

I wished the elite moms and some of the elite girls would stop whining about Abby "ignoring" them for the minis blah blah blah. Shut the fuck up! They don't need Abby monitoring their every move. They're not babies, they're teenagers. The elite team members have had years of attention. It's not all about them! No studio owner babysits one group all day long. That's why they hire staff.

I didn't like Lilly's solo. All her solos have literally been the same the past three weeks, just different costumes. Can you give her some new choreography? She's gone end up just like Mackenzie and Brooke doing the same exact acro dance forever. 

Elliana's solo was great! Beautiful dancer. She was robbed and deserved 1st or at least 2nd.

I'm not surprised Maesi didn't place She rushed through her solo and her technique is not good. Abby's right. She doesn't fit the team.

The group dance was a mess. The girls looked bored and had low energy. Camryn's timing was off. Nia and Kendall made me cringe. This dance highlighted their poor technique, bad feet, and clunkiness. Brynn and Kalani were amazing as always. 

Otherwise, this episode was boring. This show has gotten so stale and repetitive.

ITA.  The elite moms and girls should be happy that Abby didn't do their group dance.  She can't choreograph or teach ballet.  Brynn and Kalani were beautiful.  If I only kept my eyes on those two, then the dance was great.  Otherwise, I catch Kendall's and Nia's poor technique and clunkiness.  Didn't look at Camryn so I can't comment.

Lilly is a far better dancer than MacKenzie and deserves better choreography.  Elliana's solo was beautiful.  Since we didn't see the other solos, I can't say why she placed fifth.  But it is odd that both Lilly and Elliana tied.  Out of those two, I would have given higher marks to Elliana.

I totally agree with your assessment on Maesi.  I mentioned in previous episodes that she didn't belong and the two minis are better technique-wise.  She was rushing through her solo and didn't finish her movements, pay attention to the music, etc.

[RedheadZombie]

Lilli's tricks may be more complicated than Mackenzie's tricks, but they're still tricks.  Frankly, I'm horrified every time she rises up in that Cobra move.  Her routines make her look more contortionist than anything else.  She's adorable, but Abby really babies her compared to Ellianna.

Elli is only one year older than Lilli, but seems eons older.  Using words like "defeated" when Lilli's more likely to giggle and make a weird face.  Elli is my favorite, and she's the better version of Maddie, IMO.  Her faces are so expressive, yet not the glue-sniffing euphoria or abject agony of Maddie-faces gone by.

I did not like the group routine.  I am no dance expert or even dance mom, but a ballet routine performed by teenagers and not en pointe, seems extremely amateurish.  The costumes were not the best, as poor Kalani somehow had a gut while wearing hers.  I thought Kalani had a lot of ballet training, but Brynn really drew my eye.   Those two have contrasting ballet bodies.  Brynn had the traditional waif look, and Kalani has a more Misty Copeland-type figure, with a bulkier muscle tone, and a real butt and breasts.

I'm still watching the show, but comment less because there are fewer comments to bounce off of.

[KaveDweller]

2 hours ago, RedheadZombie said:

Lilli's tricks may be more complicated than Mackenzie's tricks, but they're still tricks.  Frankly, I'm horrified every time she rises up in that Cobra move.  Her routines make her look more contortionist than anything else.  She's adorable, but Abby really babies her compared to Ellianna.

Elli is only one year older than Lilli, but seems eons older.  Using words like "defeated" when Lilli's more likely to giggle and make a weird face.  Elli is my favorite, and she's the better version of Maddie, IMO.  Her faces are so expressive, yet not the glue-sniffing euphoria or abject agony of Maddie-faces gone by.

Elli does come off a lot more mature, especially when talking to her mom. "It's things like this that make me so frustrated with you." Do most 9-year-olds really talk like that?

Lilliana's dance looked like it was all tricks without even a little dancing in between. It was adorable, but I think she could have done better.

I love how Maisy's mom was storming out at the end, only to be seen in the previews next week.

[Jamie Satyr]

30 minutes ago, KaveDweller said:

Elli does come off a lot more mature, especially when talking to her mom. "It's things like this that make me so frustrated with you." Do most 9-year-olds really talk like that?

Lilliana's dance looked like it was all tricks without even a little dancing in between. It was adorable, but I think she could have done better.

I love how Maisy's mom was storming out at the end, only to be seen in the previews next week.

Seems to happen more and more these days; a dramatic exit, only to see them return quite quickly! ;-)

 - http://fiero4251.blogspot.com/2014/05/dance-moms-abby-lee-dance-company-aldc.html -

[limecoke]

I despise acro "dances."  

[cali1981]

The group dance was a hot mess but Brynn and Kalani did everything they could to make something of it.  Kalani is becoming a much better actress and is using her facial expressions more and more to sell the routine.  Now that SYTYCD is being renewed and going back to a more traditional format, maybe by the time Kalani turns 18 the show will still be around.  She's got the potential to be a great dancer but still needs more intensive training in order to get there.  I'd love to see what someone like Debbie Allen could do with her.

[renatae]

Kalani was  amazing! Maisie's mom is nauseating. Jill gets worse each week.

[Lemons]

On February 11, 2017 at 0:35 AM, cali1981 said:

The group dance was a hot mess but Brynn and Kalani did everything they could to make something of it.  

Kalani was the lead and did it well but exactly did Bryn do to "make something of it".    None of them kept their turn out. It was a stretch to call it ballet. 

Eliana is good but I keep thinking she's about six years old based on her size and speech patterns. The other one, not as good, just has a genetically bendy body.