S08.E05: Queen of the ALDC

[Guest]

Airs June 25, 2019

Quote

Abby sends one dancer home, changing the future of the ALDC team; a tribute to Queen pushes Brady to his limits; GiaNina dances for her life in a solo rematch with Hannah.

[PumpkinLumpkin]

This show and its fake storylines. The producers are the ones that sent Brady and his mom Tricia home because they thought him and mom were boring and didn't bring enough drama.

Are we really supposed to sit here and believe this BS storyline that Abby Lee Miller would let these moms have enough authority to force her to take a kid off the team and send them home? Smh...

[Keywestclubkid]

I'm sending him home so the other dancers can thrive? umm isn't this a group thats supposed to be in competition? wouldn't you want the best dancers? Wouldn't you want to find talent that rises to the kids level you are sending home?? you are just to good for this team so you go home makes no sense 

[Katy M]

I really liked the group dance.  It looked so in sync.  And I loved GiaNina's solo.  So pretty.  

Now Brady can go back to training and maybe he won't regress like most others on this show.  

And, I know a lot (most) of the drama is fake, but what kind of an adult throws a temper tantrum like that. If someone bakes you a cake, say thank you, have a piece, and get on with your life.

[Tikichick]

2 hours ago, Katy M said:

I really liked the group dance.  It looked so in sync.  And I loved GiaNina's solo.  So pretty.  

Now Brady can go back to training and maybe he won't regress like most others on this show.  

And, I know a lot (most) of the drama is fake, but what kind of an adult throws a temper tantrum like that. If someone bakes you a cake, say thank you, have a piece, and get on with your life.

Tossing the cake brings the drama and gives production a juicy visual to repeatedly flashback to in an effort to illustrate the tension when he ultimately returns. 

[Stats Queen]

Brady is an amazing dancer. I hope he makes it into a wonderful ballet company.

Abby sending him home was just weird. Maybe she wanted more flexibility with the types of group numbers and having a male in the group lessened her options?

I think the girls/young women are good dancers but not excellent and not near the talent of most of the original girls.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Stats Queen

[Katy M]

23 minutes ago, Tikichick said:

Tossing the cake brings the drama and gives production a juicy visual to repeatedly flashback to in an effort to illustrate the tension when he ultimately returns. 

 I understand that. But to me, it was just too over-the-top.  Realistically, at most someone would just storm out.  They wouldn't throw the cake on the floor.

[LibertarianSlut]

Occam's Razor says that Brady isn't gone for the reason Abby purported.  He either got another job or opportunity, or he is gone for a short period of time to create drama.  I think that the cake throw was pure theatre (and disgusting as well).  Who acts like that?

I say Brady is not "gone" because, remember seasons four and five, respectively, when Kalani and Brynn were "gone"?  People were posting that they would miss them, as they seemed like such sweet young girls, etc., and they boomeranged right back!  I will be convinced Brady is actually gone if the show gets cancelled before he returns.

The group dance was good.  However, that was NOT ALDC choreography.  I thought Hannah's solo was eh--reminiscent of Kendall on a really good day.  GiaNina's was ok, but I hate that sappy contemporary shit, so I wasn't a fan.  Brady came as close to doing actual ballet as I've seen on this show, and was by far the best so...of course he got second.  

Abby, let go of the conspiracy theories. The male judge is from Miami?  So are 2.75 million other people. 

What stood out to me was that the moms actually had two funny moments last night.  One was when Ann said she was worried about the dance, because Hannah goes to Catholic school and Ashley quipped, "maybe not next year."  I mean.......do the producers really think there is even one viewer watching and fretting and doing the Maddie face, squealing to their spouse, "Oh no, it finally happened--the moms are getting along!  Cancel the show from the DVR!"?  Just let them get along and let the kids dance.  An occasional squabble here or there is fine, but week after week of being at each others' throats serves absolutely no one.

I'm glad that when the moms did fight, in the beginning, that the fight actually made sense.  Tricia was kinda just like, "so Brady's gone.  Are you guys happy now?"  That is a legitimate topic.  In seasons past, when the moms would fight about Abby's behavior to each other instead of going to the source, who is Abby, it would drive me insane.  Holly was the worst at this (as were Christi and Leslie):  "But don't you think my daughter deserves...?  Like, take it up with the dance teacher if you don't like her treatment!  I know they are supposed to stir up drama, but it is so preaching-to-the-choir for the moms to argue with one another about Abby's choices.  Small blessings, but we had significantly less of that this episode. 

[Katy M]

19 minutes ago, LibertarianSlut said:

Abby, let go of the conspiracy theories. The male judge is from Miami?  So are 2.75 million other people. 

I loved that Brady's reaction was like 'yeah, so?"  Obviously everybody wants to get first place, but second place is not the tragedy that Abby makes it out to be. And since there is a bit of leeway in judging dance for personal opinions, teachers should be more concerned with how well the dancer executed the dance as opposed to what place they got.  And, for crying out loud, I think it goes without saying that if one of your student beats another, you don't go on and on about how unfair it was.

22 minutes ago, LibertarianSlut said:

In seasons past, when the moms would fight about Abby's behavior to each other instead of going to the source, who is Abby, it would drive me insane.  Holly was the worst at this (as were Christi and Leslie):  "But don't you think my daughter deserves...?  Like, take it up with the dance teacher if you don't like her treatment!  I know they are supposed to stir up drama, but it is so preaching-to-the-choir for the moms to argue with one another about Abby's choices.  Small blessings, but we had significantly less of that this episode. 

I agree. Melissa was not in charge of the assignments.  If Abby gave her a solo every week, and made her the lead in the group, that was Abby's (or the producer's) decision. It is not Melissa's job to make sure that all the children are given equal dances.  Get your kid to practice more and earn it.  Yes, Abby has her favorites that sometimes doesn't line up with reality, but she does love to win, so if you keep winning she'll notice.

[Absolom]

Ratings are in:  578 K viewers (Abby quit talking about "the world" and these dancers.)  and a .18 rating.  

40th cable show of the day.  

[Jsage]

10 hours ago, Katy M said:

Now Brady can go back to training and maybe he won't regress like most others on this show.

The best thing that could come out of this show for Brady is that a good ballet school snaps him up right now. He can train and eventually become a working dancer, unlike almost every other ALDC dancer.

[Rabbittron]

Stick a fork in your show Abby it's way overdone and don't forget to turn off the lights when you close the door. 

[meatball77]

Brady has already been in places where he could be picked up by major ballet programs.  It would be nice if he decided that comp dance was a waste of his time after this.

I think the reason he didn't win is that he didn't live up to the expectations that the judges had for him.  His choreography wasn't very good and he wasn't that rehearsed.  It couldn't compare to what people are used to seeing out of him.

[Absolom]

There was so much more "punch" that could have been in that routine.  I was looking for a sharpness and attitude that weren't there.

[meatball77]

And if he'd had two more weeks to work on it (and better choreo) then it could have been so much better.  It was just trick after trick after trick

[Jax7917]

Is it me , or does Brady even look like Maddie ? Their faces are so similar . 

Abby used to go on and on about Maddie being the best , yet she was never sent home . I highly doubt Brady was sent home for being the best . His mom just obviously didn’t provide what producers wanted . 

[Primeallthetime]

On 6/27/2019 at 5:36 AM, Katy M said:

I agree. Melissa was not in charge of the assignments.  If Abby gave her a solo every week, and made her the lead in the group, that was Abby's (or the producer's) decision. It is not Melissa's job to make sure that all the children are given equal dances.  Get your kid to practice more and earn it.  Yes, Abby has her favorites that sometimes doesn't line up with reality, but she does love to win, so if you keep winning she'll notice.

I listened to a podcast interview where she said that the producers always wanted Chloe , Brooke , Paige and Kendall to have the solos because their mothers caused the most drama. However Abby wanted Maddie to have solos and thought she was more deserving which led to her and production having multiple fights because they wanted to keep the drama rolling. Now Abby isn't the most reliable narrator but that's what she said.