S01.E09: The Finale (Holiday Special)

[OnceSane]

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The final couples each reprise a favorite dance they performed during the season, then perform a no-holds-barred freestyle to a special holiday-themed song; one couple takes home the Juniors Mirrorball trophy.

Airs December 9, 2018.

[topanga]

I’m not surprised that Sky won, but a bit disappointed. The two dances tonight showed how talented a dancer Miles is—and his dancing look effortless. I like Sky, amd I’m impressed by how much she improved over the season. But her cuteness and her tears must have made a difference with the audience because IMO, she was not the best dancer of the four. 

Edited December 10, 2018 by topanga

[After7Only]

Miles was my top choice but I figured Sky or Arianna would be the winner.   I do think Sky was overscored compared to the other teams.  Her freestyle was adorable and she apeared to have time of her life, but it didnt appear to be as difficult as the others.  She was probably the least known of the final four so I hope the win leads her to a lot of new opportunities.  

[breezy424]

Wow.  I'm first.  Sorry but I don't think Sky deserved the win and she was over scored by the judges.

Makenzie's freestyle was amazing.  She deserved the tens.  Sky did not.  Miles was also great. 

[PumpkinLumpkin]

I'm glad Sky and JT won. Sky is what DWTS should be about, a real amateur who had no dance training and was learning how to dance for the first time and improving every week. She deserved to win.

[legaleagle53]

From the impromptu "Unlock the Finale" thread:

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I'm glad Sky and JT won. Sky is what DWTS should be about, a real amateur who had no dance training and was learning how to dance for the first time and improving every week. She deserved to win.

I agree with @PumpkinLumpkin.  Ringer, schminger -- when I want to watch pro-level dancers, I'll watch actual DanceSport competitions. To me, DWTS, DWTS Jrs., and the rest of the worldwide Strictly Come Dancing/DWTS franchise are all about the journey and watching the untrained, inexperienced dancers grow each week.  THAT'S what really puts a smile on my face:  Seeing someone with no prior experience or training stepping outside of his or her comfort zone, committing 100% to the work and the routine, and having fun while doing it!

And Alan has every right to be proud of Sky and JT.  I almost started crying myself when I saw how emotional he got when it was announced that Sky and JT won.

[AnswersWanted]

Personally I am rarely invested in children competitions like this because I find too few of them actually cute or talented most of the time. But I will say overall the few times I checked in to see what this show was all about, I didn't hate it. 

I think out of the four I enjoyed team Lindsay the most, god help her kids if she ever has any and wants to be their mom coach, heh, but she really was a great teacher. I also thought Brandon did well with his kiddos also, he has a knack for bringing out the best in his students. 

And I will even admit this show made Gleb not seem as...undesirable as he does on the adult DWTS. I think he taught his kids well and gave them decent dances, though the kids themselves didn't do anything for me. I am pretty sure the girl is destined for SYTYCD if it's still around once she reaches the right age. 

The winner seemed cute and adorable so I figured she would be the obvious crowd favorite. I understand why she won and the way the others reacted to her win was with great sportsmanship so it was a fine ending all around I thought. It sure as heck beat the travesty of the adults' DWTS ending. 

Edited December 10, 2018 by AnswersWanted

[tedd]

i am very satisfied with the results. sky has shown lots of improvement and she is a great dancer for someone who has never danced before. anyone of them could have won to be honest. i’m so happy for sky. she deserves it. the audience got it right for this one, unlike a certain other show 😂😂

[HerkyJerky]

It doesn't bother me that Sky won but the fact that she had 60 points and everybody else had the same score (58 points) makes me smell a rat.

 

P.S. To Alan, leave the skateboarding to the professionals...

[legaleagle53]

1 minute ago, tedd said:

i am very satisfied with the results. sky has shown lots of improvement and she is a great dancer for someone who has never danced before. anyone of them could have won to be honest. i’m so happy for sky. she deserves it. the audience got it right for this one, unlike a certain other show 😂😂

I wonder what show you could be talking about ... . 🤔

[Koalagirl]

I’m thrilled that Sky won. As far as I knew she was the only non performer with the least amount of prior dance experience.  Miles did a little dancing on Blackish and Arianna took dance lessons. Don’t even get me started on MacKenzie.  Sky also had the best connection with her partner which really helped elevate her performances. 

[catrice2]

Congrats to Sky and JT. Both of Miles dances were amazing, and that little Ariana is so cute she's just a little star. I don't watch a lot of TV but I wondered if they really have that many young children on shows these days to have another season? They would have to start getting kids from something other than TV and movies. When I really thought about there hasn't been a lot of little kids in movies lately.

 

 if the show does come back they really need to Tinker with the hosts and the judges

[PumpkinLumpkin]

I'm glad Sky and JT won. Sky is what DWTS should be about, a real amateur who had no dance training and was learning how to dance for the first time and improving every week. She deserved to win.

[twoods]

They were all so cute! Loved all their dances, and happy that Sky won. She was so good despite having zero dancing experience. It’s a shame the others lost because they were all so much fun to watch, but this is definitely more enjoyable than the adult version.

[Miss Slay]

I was rooting for Ariana and Artyon. They are so adorable and I've liked almost all their dances. 

But congrats to Sky. All the children did so well.

I wasn't a fan of using Christmas music for the freestyles - not a lot of it was very danceable in my opinion. 

I pretty much knew Sky and Jt won when I saw they were dancing last.

[Phebemarie]

I liked Sky and JT from the beginning, so I wasn't disappointed in their win.   

Maybe there should be a teen version of the show so that kids like Makenzie, Miles, and Milo could compete against each other and keep the pre-teens separate.  

I agree with Miss Slay, the Christmas theme didn't work for most of the dances.  Sky and JT were fortunate to get something that sounded the most like a pop song.  

Edited December 10, 2018 by Phebemarie
I'm a fan of the Oxford comma.

[galax9845]

First off, I think Sky absolutely deserved to win! She pretty much embodies everything I like about the show. Great personality, started with zero dance experience and worked hard to become a great dancer by the end. Absolutely loved the whole team dynamic with Alan and JT. Speaking of JT, he seriously deserves more credit. Always super supportive of Sky no matter what happens and never tries to "outdance" her like some of the other pros. I hope they'll stay close friends for a long time. I hope they renew this for a 2nd season. The adult version is getting very stale to be entirely honest...

 

With all that said...all the negativity on social media regarding Sky's win is absolutely sickening. I get you guys are upset the person you're rooting for didn't win. That's fine, just leave it at that. She's just 10 years old. I'm not sure how well she can handle that much negativity being aimed at her at that age. There's no reason to point fingers and keep posting how undeserved her win was all over Instagram.

Edited December 10, 2018 by galax9845

[Bridget]

I’m bummed Miles didn’t win. He had a ton of content in his freestyle and got to have his shining moment with two other male dancers as well. I’m usually not a fan of Lindsay (lifts/tricks bc your partner is strong isn’t dancing!), but between her coaching and Miles’ crazy schedule, I thought he was the best dancer.

All I heard out of Mackenzie was a lot of “me me me” stuff. SHE wanted to win, SHE had a great time. Didn’t hear “Sage and I want to win” or anything else that made her come off as being part of a team. Her face when Sky’s name was called (Artyon’s too!) was one of pure disappointment. 

I can’t read lips to save my life, but I know Sky started to say: “I just want to say..” after one of her dances and Jordan/TPTB shut that down at lightening speed. I can’t lie - I laughed out loud and thought “Thank you!”

We all now officially know that Alana/HoneyBoo Boo never learned to dance. Artem & her partner weren’t even standing next to her at all in the skybox (that I saw). She executed the same “hands on hip/shake her head” during her entire run on the show. So sad. #FreeArtem

[galax9845]

59 minutes ago, Bridget said:

Her face when Sky’s name was called (Artyon’s too!) was one of pure disappointment. 

To be fair, this is a competition and it’s natural to be disappointed as your first reaction to losing. Artyon seems genuinely happy for them based on his posts to their Instagrams all the time.

[luvthepros]

I'm so happy for Sky and JT's win. JT, IMHO, is very responsible for this win. He was the most giving and nurturing partner and a great dancer too. Sky couldn't have asked for a better partner in JT. Alan was a big part of Sky's win also with his wonderful mentoring, choreography that was always fun, age appropriate and catered to Sky's skill level. Sky, as a novice dancer, really did come a long way and looked really good out there.

The other three finalists were so fun to watch too. MacKenzie  is so evidently a trained dancer, her polish gave that away by miles. I always love to watch the ringers so I enjoyed watching her. Miles must have Hip Hop training because he looked very comfortable in that pocket. Ariana has the absolute star quality and cuteness factor that I thought would bring her the win but she was edged out by Sky and her team.

Congratulations Sky, JT and Alan for your well deserved win.

[JerseyGirl]

Happy with the Sky/JT Win.  I also agreed that they were just a wee bit better over Ari/Arty, who I also wouldn't have mind winning.  Miles was good too but didn't stand out to me.  MacKenzie I'm all too familiar with through Dance Moms and was insulted as a viewer that she tried to hide her dance skills but not even mentioning her connection to that and her book she published last year about her dance years.  PUHLEASE Girl,  Sit down, you are not a beginnner dancer and I don't know how you slimed your way on to the show.

[spanana]

I've been spoiled to the win for months and I am 100% happy with it.  I would have been happy for any of the kids and I understand being upset if faves don't win, but I sure as hell hope that anyone throwing fits about it online (not here) and tagging the kids get a reality check and soon.  I don't care if you like Sky or nor and/or think she was undeserving, but she's 10 years old and does not deserve to be seeing ridiculous vitriol pointed at her because some people had a penchant for the other kids.  Nobody was robbed.  They were all good, etc.

I do think Miles had the strongest night in the finale and that's fine, but I will also say Sky is the only one of the four with no dance experience.  Now I don't care if the kids do or don't, but for all the grief that Mack gets, I'm surprised that nobody is on Mile's case.  He certainly has hip hip dance experience, which is how he's plugged into and knows a lot of the professional hip hop industry dancers.  Even little Ariana has vids of herself out there of her performing at dance competitions.  Granted she's only 11 and I'm sure she probably stopped doing a lot of that when her acting career picked up, but Sky was the only one coming into this not being a performer and not having taken dance.  Which doesn't mean she should get brownie points, but again, she's 10.

Which is also why I can't compare what Miles did to what Ariana/Sky did because Miles is 14 and a veteran performer and they are 10/11, which is a world of difference maturity wise.

As for Sky herself, I think pretending like she was the worst remaining is actual fallacy.  I didn't like Mack's freestyle at all, but that wasn't really about Mack.  I hated the theme and choreo.  Ariana's theme was cute but I thought the routine and execution of said routine was very sloppy.  Since at this point I only feel comfortable comparing the dancing of those close in age, I thought Sky's freestyle was better executed and better danced than Ariana's.  Ariana's was all theme but the actual dancing was sloppy.  Was it more difficult than Sky's?  That is also hard to say because Ariana's was geared more towards jazz while Alan kept Sky's ballroom and partner dancing based...which again made sense since it's not like Sky had any experience with other styles of dance and they probably only had a couple of days to learn this routine.  If you had asked me at the beginning of the season I would have said Ariana's routines were a little stronger than Sky's but as the season progressed I thought they evened out and that Sky started having the cleaner better put together routines.  Ariana was IMO a bit sloppy last night--which again, caveat that I'm sure these kids got only a few days to learn and polish these routines.

I wish I knew who came in 2nd and if I had to guess, I think it was Miles and not Ariana.

Lastly, JT deserves SOOOO much credit here.  I think one of the things that made Sky so successful here, besides her own determination and talent, is she had an excellent partner in JT that knew how to partner.  I love Aryton and he will only grow with time, but I think (and could be wrong) that JT has more ballroom and partner dancing experience than Aryton has, and I think it showed in how they partnered their young celebs.  Aryton is fabulous and adorable and a great partner in the way that he knew how to be, but I also think he would benefit from a few more years ballroom experience.  To me it's part of why sometimes Sky/JT came off as more cohesive on the dance floor than Ariana/Aryton.  But that isn't blame.  Just also a reminder that the pro kids come in with different levels of experience as well.

Lastly I laughed like an idiot watching Alan try to skateboard, fall off and then try to kick it offstage before anybody noticed.

7 hours ago, galax9845 said:

To be fair, this is a competition and it’s natural to be disappointed as your first reaction to losing. Artyon seems genuinely happy for them based on his posts to their Instagrams all the time.

I have heard supposedly Ariana's dad was playing bitter cakes on social media last night, but as I haven't seen it with my own eyes, I'm not sure.  I'm not sure if stuff was deleted or what, but I really hope none of the kids go there.  Especially when they all had months to deal with any feelings they may have felt.  Plus if it's coming from a dad, ick.

[galax9845]

2 hours ago, spanana said:

ave heard supposedly Ariana's dad was playing bitter cakes on social media last night, but as I haven't seen it with my own eyes, I'm not sure.  I'm not sure if stuff was deleted or what, but I really hope none of the kids go there.  Especially when they all had months to deal with any feelings they may have felt.  Plus if it's coming from a dad, ick

Seriously?! Yuck that’s awful. From what I’ve seen, the kids all seem very happy for each other. They’re commenting on each other’s posts positively and just congratulating each other all around.

[spanana]

5 minutes ago, galax9845 said:

Seriously?! Yuck that’s awful. From what I’ve seen, the kids all seem very happy for each other. They’re commenting on each other’s posts positively and just congratulating each other all around.

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it since I didn't see it myself.  Just other people referring to it vaguely.  So back to the cute kids...

[Bridget]

10 hours ago, galax9845 said:

To be fair, this is a competition and it’s natural to be disappointed as your first reaction to losing. Artyon seems genuinely happy for them based on his posts to their Instagrams all the time.

I totally agree with you as I don’t have a poker face at all. I know these are still kids and losing sucks - even as an adult! It really does suck towalk away feeling like you weren’t good enough, especially when something is supposed to be fun!

...and that’s exactly why my mom never enrolled me in Irish step dancing or Scottish Highland dance; she doesn’t like the idea of something fun being a competition and for the dancers being judged. It’s different in the ballroom world, I do know that. That doesn’t make the losses any easier to digest, but from what I know and understand about the sport, junior ballroom dancers have been competing and judged as soon as they are old enough to safely go through with the spray tanning process. I do give them props for their mental fortitude though - no way could I go through with that!

Artyon’s face initially read as “WTF is that?” when his name wasn’t called as the winner. It really stood out to me, hence my mention of him specifically. He looked as if he’d been robbed or that TPTB had genuinely made a mistake in tallying the votes. I’m sure he is a nice young man, but it makes me wonder about his competition experiences thus far.  

Edited December 10, 2018 by Bridget

[TwopLurker]

I really enjoyed this series, I think it brought the best out of everyone-even Gleb. I don’t really have anything negative to say!

Sky has it in spades, it could be a 5th grade chorus concert or neighborhood soccer game and she would still shine.

I really hope the show comes back and continues with a nice mix of performers, athletes, and interesting little kids. 

[legaleagle53]

10 hours ago, galax9845 said:

Seriously?! Yuck that’s awful. From what I’ve seen, the kids all seem very happy for each other. They’re commenting on each other’s posts positively and just congratulating each other all around.

That's one of the neat things about young kids.  Sure, losing sucks for them in the moment just as much as it would for an adult, but ten minutes later they're over it and are enthusiastically congratulating the others.  Adults could definitely learn from their example.

[marykat71702]

I'm happy for Sky that she won-she has been one of my front-runners this whole season, but after tonight's dances, I found myself rooting more for Miles to win.

Why, oh why did they bastardize Little Drummer Boy that way?!  And of course Mackenzie danced it well, that was right in her wheelhouse.

I honestly wasn't that impressed with Ariana's freestyle.

[jhlipton]

I thought that Miles did the exact same moves (and little of them) in both his "trio" and freestyle.  I was not impressed.  Agree that Kenzie should have been on a different show.

I wouldn't have minded an Arianna win, but Sky was just so gosh darn CUTE through the whole season that I'm really glad she won.

[winsomeone]

When they lined Alana up with the normal sized kids, she looked like a 30 year old woman due to her weight. She is over dosing on food, and no one seems to care. She needs to be taken away from June, and put into therapy for her food addiction. Poor child has already lost most of her childhood due to the way June is raising her. Yes, let's just put her on dancing with the stars junior, and pretend she is a normal child..how ridiculous and uncaring for her welfare. Mama made more money off  her and that is all that matters I guess. How long before she hits 600 pounds, and can be on that show too?

[ljenkins782]

13 hours ago, TwopLurker said:

I really enjoyed this series, I think it brought the best out of everyone-even Gleb. I don’t really have anything negative to say!

Sky has it in spades, it could be a 5th grade chorus concert or neighborhood soccer game and she would still shine.

I really hope the show comes back and continues with a nice mix of performers, athletes, and interesting little kids. 

Lol, I love that hating Gleb is the one true uniting force. This show is the closest I've ever come to sort of liking him, but still not a fan.

Brandon and Alan, on the other hand, completely won me over (I already liked Lindsay). They were so great with their little mentees. I also like Val a little more, he was very sweet to the kids.

I figured Sky and JT would win and I'm happy with that result. 

Quote

Lastly, JT deserves SOOOO much credit here.  I think one of the things that made Sky so successful here, besides her own determination and talent, is she had an excellent partner in JT that knew how to partner.  I love Aryton and he will only grow with time, but I think (and could be wrong) that JT has more ballroom and partner dancing experience than Aryton has, and I think it showed in how they partnered their young celebs.  Aryton is fabulous and adorable and a great partner in the way that he knew how to be, but I also think he would benefit from a few more years ballroom experience.  To me it's part of why sometimes Sky/JT came off as more cohesive on the dance floor than Ariana/Aryton.  But that isn't blame.  Just also a reminder that the pro kids come in with different levels of experience as well.

JT was just adorable. I still can't believe he's 12, he looks about 8 to me. Every time they showed the rehearsal packages where Alan was explaining their dance, he was always intently listening and really seemed to try hard to do things right, it was so cute. They had the best partnership by a mile, they genuinely clicked and they both put a lot of effort into learning. They had a lot of standout performances too, their contemporary and Argentine tango are 2 that spring to mind. 

Miles was an amazing dancer but there's something a little dead behind the eyes when he's not dancing. I didn't feel the connection as much with him and his partner, probably because they really didn't spend that much time together due to his schedule. 

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 I didn't like Mack's freestyle at all, but that wasn't really about Mack.  I hated the theme and choreo.  Ariana's theme was cute but I thought the routine and execution of said routine was very sloppy. 

Those Nutcracker outfits were truly unfortunate. Outfits can impact the visuals of a dance and for me, those hideous costumes really took away from the dance.

[PumpkinLumpkin]

11 hours ago, marykat71702 said:

I honestly wasn't that impressed with Ariana's freestyle.

I wasn't either. The dance was sloppy and the choreography sucked. I feel like Brandon dropped the ball for Ariana and Aryton's dances for the final 3 episodes. When the show started, I thought Ariana and Aryton were sure to win, but they kind of fizzled out for these final few weeks. If their dances were better choreographed and excuted for these final few episodes I think they would have won.

[Ilovepie]

12 hours ago, marykat71702 said:

I'm happy for Sky that she won-she has been one of my front-runners this whole season, but after tonight's dances, I found myself rooting more for Miles to win.

Why, oh why did they bastardize Little Drummer Boy that way?!  And of course Mackenzie danced it well, that was right in her wheelhouse.

I honestly wasn't that impressed with Ariana's freestyle.

Yes to all of this. Sky has been one of my favorites all season but I think the last few weeks Miles has stepped it up and really deserved it. I am on the fence about her score on her first dance - it was clearly not perfect mostly because of Alan's fumbling with the skateboard and the hat; I guess they didn't want to penalize her for her coach's errors, but it was a trio dance and it definitely was not perfect.......I can still live with her win - I was just happy it wasn't Makenzie......

Overall, I really enjoyed this show, much more than the adult version. I really hope it comes back.

[spanana]

1 hour ago, Ilovepie said:

Yes to all of this. Sky has been one of my favorites all season but I think the last few weeks Miles has stepped it up and really deserved it. I am on the fence about her score on her first dance - it was clearly not perfect mostly because of Alan's fumbling with the skateboard and the hat; I guess they didn't want to penalize her for her coach's errors, but it was a trio dance and it definitely was not perfect.......I can still live with her win - I was just happy it wasn't Makenzie......

Overall, I really enjoyed this show, much more than the adult version. I really hope it comes back.

But that's kind of the thing....while yes, it's trio dance, I don't think they can penalize the kids for their mentor's screw up.  I don't know if the dance deserved a perfect score.  A 9 or two would have been fine, but I really can't see them withholding a score because of the mentor. 

3 hours ago, PumpkinLumpkin said:

I wasn't either. The dance was sloppy and the choreography sucked. I feel like Brandon dropped the ball for Ariana and Aryton's dances for the final 3 episodes. When the show started, I thought Ariana and Aryton were sure to win, but they kind of fizzled out for these final few weeks. If their dances were better choreographed and excuted for these final few episodes I think they would have won.

I mostly agree with this.  Based on the pictures of all the freestyles that were sent out for publicity, I was expecting to love The Grinch number since it just had such an easy and natural theme and lended itself to big performances.  If you would have asked me at the beginning of the season, who was stronger between Ariana and Sky, I would have said Ariana.  I thought her numbers were well choreographed and well executed.  Brandon lost me a bit with his choreography the last few weeks.  I also may be in the minority that doesn't love the Rolex number as much as everyone else, but that wasn't about choreography.  The choreo for the Grinch number could have been better or IMO made better use of Ariana and as a result it felt like Ariana got sloppier.

One thing that I do think gets lost here though is all the kids were learning 2 dances a week (I think).  They taped two days in a row each week so I also think the audience doesn't have a full understanding of how little time the kids had to learn routines.  However being kids in many ways I think they picked up choreography quicker than the adults and of course have to worry less about injuries.

JT did one of those sit down interviews with Kristyn Burtt, but he said that he had started training with Lacey Schwimmer amongst others before the show started to get a crash course in ballroom.  So another thing as referenced above, is all the pro kids were really coming in at varying stages of ballroom knowledge and partnership knowledge.  Based on what JT said, I get the impression he felt good about his partnering knowledge.  Especially having done things like SYTYCD, but he's not extensively ballroom trained.  Just put in hours knowing he was going to be on this show.  Others like little Elianna (Jason's partner) just started competing Pro/Am in the past few weeks.  A lot of these kids I feel like are more contemp or hip hop kids than ballroom kids. 

The one note I'd give them for next season is either ditch the troupe kids or find ones with more cross training because the one thing that was distracting for me was the troupe in background of numbers.  In some cases the kids just don't know ballroom and are distracting in that way or they don't know how to quietly blend in when they aren't supposed to be the star.  I think learning how to dance back-up is a skill most of the adult pros acquire with time, but the kids naturally don't know how to tone it down.  I found most everything the troupe did pretty sloppy.

[realdancemom]

Great season.  After watching the first show, I wasn't sure if I would like it.  The kids were good but even the kid pros still danced like kids.  It's because some of them are still growing and they don't have full control of their limbs yet.  But in the end, I liked it better than the adult version especially since I didn't care which of the four won.  With the adults, I thought three of the finalists were good and of course, the one that I thought wasn't won.

The little ballroom dancing that JT learned made him a better partner than Aryton.  As others mentioned, you could tell most of the pros are mostly jazz/contemporary/hip-hop dancers not ballroom dancers.

Really like MacKenzie's freestyle but there is no way that Gleb choreographed that.  He hasn't produced a really good jazz/hip-hop number in the adult version and can't see him doing that for the junior show.  Also didn't like Ariana's freestyle and unfortunately I can see Brandon choreographing that.  I do think that he has choreographed other good pieces though.  Maybe having to use holiday songs hindered some of the choreography.  I think Alan did a great job giving Sky/JT choreography that they can handle and look clean.  I would rather see a simpler routine done cleanly than a more difficult routine that is not polished.

As I previously mentioned in another episode thread, this show gave really good exposure to Brandon and Alan for the adult version.  

[HaaCHOO]

16 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Agree that Kenzie should have been on a different show.

And NOT a dancing show.  WHY does their mother make her compete in the same genre as her very successful sister?  Let her sell a few (average) songs as a trickle-down from the "Moms" show and her sister's popularity. The showbiz life is rarely healthy for kids and definitely NOT for siblings!

Also, next season, DWTSJ, don't have 1-2 "kids" who are noticeably HUGE compared to the others.  Or vice versa...don't have especially tiny if the other kids are HUGE.

[HaaCHOO]

On 12/9/2018 at 9:02 PM, Koalagirl said:

Miles did a little dancing on Blackish and Arianna took dance lessons. Don’t even get me started on MacKenzie.

Miles was on "Ellen," in 2009, performing as a "Four-year-old Hip-Hop dancer."  I'd bet he has been taking lessons and/or dancing ever since.  MacKenzie...SIX seasons on "Dance Moms."  Six seasons of lessons and the associated drama of that show--performing in front of TV cameras, traveling with a dance troupe, dancing in competitions, and working with various choreographers.  She should have been better.  If her mother hasn't pushed her enough to be a success by now, it ain't gonna happen.  Go to high school and college with a degree and profession in mind.

[HaaCHOO]

On 12/9/2018 at 10:46 PM, galax9845 said:

Speaking of JT, he seriously deserves more credit. Always super supportive of Sky no matter what happens and never tries to "outdance" her like some of the other pros.

Dancing is a difficult life.  JT has so much appeal, I hope he's also working on acting skills.  He deserves some "work" that's not as hard--movies, television. Of course, I hope he can keep the "mugging" to a minimum.  If not, there are always Disney series where those over-animated kids' faces are a must.

On 12/10/2018 at 12:47 AM, galax9845 said:

To be fair, this is a competition and it’s natural to be disappointed as your first reaction to losing.

I agree, but MacKenzie has been "competing" for most of her life AND she has been on television for years.  She has been coached to "put on a happy face" when you don't win--especially when cameras are around.  Isn't she the eldest in the competition with MORE experience than most of the kids put together--more experience than most adults on DWTS?  It's hard to cut her slack.

[marykat71702]

9 hours ago, Ilovepie said:

Overall, I really enjoyed this show, much more than the adult version. I really hope it comes back.

Surprisingly, I find myself feeling the same way.

[catrice2]

 hip hop dancing is not the same as ballroom dancing. Many people who have been on the show have said that before. Mya was trained in tap and other parts of dance, and even she had difficulty learning some of the ballroom moves. Just because miles knew hip-hop doesn't mean he was going to be a shoo-in for Ballroom. Other than mandala I actually think miles made more improvement over the season than anybody else. He didn't just rest on cuteness he actually got really good  and he had to deal with a significant height disparity. His hip action on some of those moves and his flicks on the jive have nothing to do with hip hop. he did the best with selling his character. I saw them do the little clip about the video for the semifinal dance, but I just read an article and I didn't realize that because of the work restrictions he had to do that every week on every dance. To learn new types of dance by video is really amazing, especially when his competition had the chance to actually work with their partner  and he had to figure out how to translate those moves to Riley being taller than him when he finally got to see her. That's why it was baffling to me that one of the critiques that Val gave him was about a connection with Riley. I'm pretty sure the judges knew he was doing his practice by video, so it's kind of hard to have a connection when you don't see your partner until practice before the show. even his freestyle had a variety of different dances in it which made it cute. Athletes have always done just as well on the show as people with prior Dance Experience because a lot of it has to do with discipline and how you sell the performance and a lot less to do with dance.   these kids gone these show to raise their profile and I'm sure that it has already given many of them a boost. I know that miles wants to play Miles Morales and Spider-Man and I think he would be great casting, and he has a song coming out so he did all ok for himself.  I don't know anything about Mackenzie but it's not her fault that they put her on the show. Ariana is going to be a little star. If Disney is smart they are trying to get her on the show right now or any other network.  she is cuteness and sassiness Overload in a good way. on both shows I'm tired of the obligatory let's act like the freestyle was the greatest thing in the world and give everybody high scores. It really diminishes the competition.   the kids were fine, the judges not so much.

[spanana]

Hip hop is not the same thing as ballroom of course, and same with other dance styles.  I have no problem with Mack or Miles being on this show as celebs outside of Mack size wise looked out of place and I think any leg up she had on the other kids as far as experience was leveled out by the fact that more often than not the bigger kids are likely lose out to the smaller cuter contestants.  If you put a mature-ish looking 14 year old next to a cute 10 year old and they both are good for their age levels, which one is going to win out?  My only gripe is that if people have such a huge problem with experience, they should also be giving Miles nearly as much grief as Mack is getting.  Miles has a lot more dance experience, albeit not ballroom, than just having danced a little on Blackish.  This is a kid who at the very least has trained in hip hop, and as someone else pointed out, was on dancing on Ellen when he was 4 years old.  That doesn't take away from what he did here, but I think Miles due to his size and looking younger than his years was given a big pass in a way that Mack was not.  Also since Mack's experience was way more known to the general public.

Yes, Miles did a great job and had to learn ballroom and often had to learn via videos, but I'd also argue that a kid that didn't come in with some dance experience wasn't likely going to be able to pick up choreography through videos.  Even if you have to retrain your body, having some dance experience still gives people a leg up over those with no experience.  While I do think on regular DWTS fans often like to overstate the experience of many celebs (ex. so and so female celeb took a handful of jazz lessons as a 13 year old and performed in a recital therefore she must be a RINGER 25 years later), no matter how celebs try to spin it, having any formal dance experience gives you a leg up.  

On another note, I also agree with what was said above that I'd rather see kids perform a cleanly danced routine that is tailored to their skill level than a sloppily danced one that is just outside their reach.  I'm all for pushing the kids when it's needed and we saw both Brandon and Alan do that here at times, but I don't believe in giving brownie points for difficulty if it's not danced well.  Give me cleanly danced anytime.  One thing I think Alan got right here (clearly not his skateboarding) is that I think he understood that finale week was probably not the week to push Sky further out of her comfort zone. He had pushed her on other weeks, her A Tango comes to mind, but I think he understood that she would perform better in the finale probably if she was in her zone and just out there having fun doing what she does best.  And not in a Bobby Bones way where his finale dances had zero recognizable content.  Her dances still had ballroom elements and partner dancing. 

And if people do want to hate Gleb, I don't know if it's true, but there is a strong rumor (I think being circulated by Pure) that Mr. Gleb was originally supposed to be paired with Addison/Lev as he mentors Lev in real life, but Mr. Gleb threw a fit and got his team switched with Keo's.  Also if the rumors are accurate, I think Mack was the last of the celebs to sign on.  The only nice part of that if there is any truth to it at all is karma would have come for Gleb in the regular season when he got first out and Keo made it to the finals.  Also rumor has it that Gleb was the only one really pissed re: not winning Jrs.

[realdancemom]

2 hours ago, spanana said:

And if people do want to hate Gleb, I don't know if it's true, but there is a strong rumor (I think being circulated by Pure) that Mr. Gleb was originally supposed to be paired with Addison/Lev as he mentors Lev in real life, but Mr. Gleb threw a fit and got his team switched with Keo's.  Also if the rumors are accurate, I think Mack was the last of the celebs to sign on.  The only nice part of that if there is any truth to it at all is karma would have come for Gleb in the regular season when he got first out and Keo made it to the finals.  Also rumor has it that Gleb was the only one really pissed re: not winning Jrs.

Wow if this is true!!

[HaaCHOO]

...

11 hours ago, spanana said:

Also rumor has it that Gleb was the only one really pissed re: not winning Jrs.

I assume this means the "only pro."

Edited December 14, 2018 by HaaCHOO

[HaaCHOO]

17 hours ago, catrice2 said:

I don't know anything about Mackenzie but it's not her fault that they put her on the show.

None of her "career" is her fault.  It's her mother's.  WHERE is her father???

[spanana]

10 hours ago, HaaCHOO said:

None of her "career" is her fault.  It's her mother's.  WHERE is her father???

Too bad people don't have this same energy for Alanna (Honey Boo Boo).  She gets called every name in the book and made fun of her weight/looks. 

[HaaCHOO]

1 hour ago, spanana said:

Too bad people don't have this same energy for Alanna (Honey Boo Boo).  She gets called every name in the book and made fun of her weight/looks. 

For Alanna, I blame her mother 100% and any/all producers who hire her, leading her on so unfairly.  They put her in positions to be ridiculed.  

[spanana]

2 minutes ago, HaaCHOO said:

For Alanna, I blame her mother 100% and any/all producers who hire her, leading her on so unfairly.  They put her in positions to be ridiculed.  

I don't disagree and for the record my contract wasn't aimed at you or any one specific.  I just don't see why some children are given the benefit of the doubt and others that are in similar circumstances or worse, are not given the same consideration.  After the first show I saw a lot of sympathy for Tripp, who clearly was forced to be there by his family, but disdain for Alanna, which made no sense to me.  Both are a product of their upbringings.

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, spanana said:

I saw a lot of sympathy for Tripp, who clearly was forced to be there by his family, but disdain for Alanna, which made no sense to me.  Both are a product of their upbringings.

I think the difference was that Tripp didn't want to be there, and doesn't seem to want the "fame", whereas Alanna does at least seem to want it.

Edited December 14, 2018 by jhlipton

[HaaCHOO]

2 hours ago, spanana said:

After the first show I saw a lot of sympathy for Tripp, who clearly was forced to be there by his family, but disdain for Alanna, which made no sense to me. 

I do feel sorry for Alanna...but she has been a pushy little brat since her Toddlers & Tiaras days.  Because her family (AND the various producers, etc.) think that attitude and behavior are (were) entertaining, they just kept feeding that beast (NO pun or insult intended).  The more she acted out, the more popular she became and the more $$$ accrued to her family's pot-o-gold.  Now she's just a pushy teenager.  She was truly heartbroken when she was eliminated from the dancing show because she has been led to believe she's a GOOD dancer.  And then, what did they do?  Brought her back for a little special attention.  OY!

[spanana]

42 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

I think the difference was that Tripp didn't want to be there, and doesn't seem to want the "fame", whereas Alanna does at least seem to want it.

But she wants it because that is the environment she was raised in.  She was raised to want the fame.  Just because she and Tripp responded differently to their upbringings in terms of the personalities they put out there, doesn't make Alanna any less of a victim of her own family.  Alanna never consented, at least at an age of to know what the heck she was doing, to be on any of those shows.  It was thrust upon her, whether she enjoyed it or not.  She never had the experience of just being a regular child.

27 minutes ago, HaaCHOO said:

I do feel sorry for Alanna...but she has been a pushy little brat since her Toddlers & Tiaras days.  Because her family (AND the various producers, etc.) think that attitude and behavior are (were) entertaining, they just kept feeding that beast (NO pun or insult intended).  The more she acted out, the more popular she became and the more $$$ accrued to her family's pot-o-gold.  Now she's just a pushy teenager.  She was truly heartbroken when she was eliminated from the dancing show because she has been led to believe she's a GOOD dancer.  And then, what did they do?  Brought her back for a little special attention.  OY!

Which again, if she's been a pushy brat since Toddlers & Tiaras, is it okay to blame a tiny child for acting out based on the way she was raised?  So because her family and producers and whoever think the attitude Alanna has cultivated is charming, and by turn that has been ingrained in her since birth, is it any wonder she has internalized it and continued to run with said persona?  She's been given positive reinforcement for that persona since being tiny, so of course she still does it.

IMO Alanna is fair game when she is an adult and by that time should hopefully be able to figure out what she does or doesn't want in terms of attention or otherwise.  But at this point she is still a child and a child who has profited in her life and for her family (financially) by acting a certain why.  No kid should have to carry being a cash cow for their family. 

So my point is, and I promise I'll leave it alone after this, is allowances shouldn't be made for some kids and not others.   To feel bad for Mack and Tripp fore being forced in front of the cameras while open deriding another child for the same reason doesn't wash for me.  And no, even if Alanna wanted to do DWTS Jrs and people say the decisions was all hers (as it probably wasn't for Tripp), she didn't really consent herself since she's a minor.