S08.E07: Yolanda's Back

[PumpkinLumpkin]

Quote

It's hell week at the ALDC and Abby assigns the girls a group dance about sorority hazing. As a plan to motivate the girls, Abby brings back former teammates Yolanda and Elliana. Seemingly causing more harm than good, one mother shockingly quits the team with the return of these two familiar faces.

[Loves2Dance]

Yolanda is a cancer. I mean, I'm no fan of Stacey's, but I loathe Yolanda so much more. 

[tessat]

I also think Yolanda is crazy but I really detest Stacey now. She never bothered me that much in the past - but she is at least these days as being portrayed as a b****. Right at the beginning - her comment - she's the new mom - had me laughing as though I love Lilliana - Ellianna has done just as much if not more from her exposure on Dance Moms.

Glad Pressley didn't leave and am sorry to see Savannah go.

I thought the dance was beautiful but really didn't get the hazing concept at all. Looked more to be a sorority party where Lillianna drank to much and had alcohol poisoning.

[Stats Queen]

54 minutes ago, tessat said:

I thought the dance was beautiful but really didn't get the hazing concept at all. Looked more to be a sorority party where Lillianna drank to much and had alcohol poisoning.

I totally agree. It seemed like they were dancing around and drinking. 

[PumpkinLumpkin]

Stacey's awful. She's got a lot nerve complaining about Elliana dropping the rope in her dance, when Lilly was a hot ass mess for the first couple of episodes. She messed in the clown trio, messed up the side aerial in The Healer group dance, she was a beat behind everybody else in the Freddy Mercury group dance, she had a major panic attack during rehersal. And messed up the back handspring thing off of the table in the Hazing dance.

[LibertarianSlut]

I am surprised to find myself in agreement with some--Yolanda is not the worst one right now.  Her appearance without her daughter was bizarre, and I hated how she pullled her kid into the bathroom at the competition to get support from a her, a 10 year old.  Ashlee used to do that with Brynn.  I hate when parents saddle their children with parental things, like needing emotional support.  Abby was right about that one.

Where I was on Yolanda's side was with the seat at the ALDC.  There are no assigned seats, so get over it and move your shit, bitch.  This was really not the hill to die on, and it made Stacey and Ashley look like petty, pathetic ninnies.

Anyone find themselves wondering whose name was uttered more in the aftermath of their leaving--Brady or Maddie Mackenzie (yes, I have started calling them "Maddie Mackenzie" as if they are one person, because that's how everyone, especially Holly, referred to them after they were gone)?  But, damn, the people in question are gone; move on!  I never need to hear the name "Brady" ever again.

Now I dare ask a stupid question:  What is Abby's goal?  (Yeah, I went down that rabbit hole).  But bear with me for a minute:  She got rid of Brady because he was "too good." Ok, so now you are left with "mediocre" dancers, Abby.  Train them!  Maybe--gasp!--stop competing for a hot second if they are not up to snuff.  But what you don't get to do is complain how bad they are to their faces when you just got rid of someone for being too good, you nitwit.

What I do think is fair game for Abby to critique is anything the judges will judge about the kids.  If Abby thinks one of the kids has thighs that are too muscular, I think it's not only fair to point that out, I think it's kind of her responsibility as a competitive dance teacher.  But she needs to tell them how to fix it--tell them exactly what to eat and what not to eat.  Tell them what exercise to do and what exercises not to do.  Covering a "flaw" with a skirt is a very short-term solution, and if Ashley doesn't like her daughter getting a full critique, then she should pull her daughter, but then she need not come back.  

Whenever these moms come back after storming out, it looks so weak.  They need to decide in advance if Abby is abusive--if she is, their kid should be gone.  If she's not, then hang in there.  Stop vacillating.  That's about the worst message to send--"I'm going to subject you to the authority of an abusive person."  That's what will put them in therapy as quickly as anything Abby has to say. (For the record, I don't think Abby is abusive, but that's my opinion from what I gauged on TV.  Even if she's not abusive per se, she is bad enough that I wouldn't subject anyone I liked to her authority, nevermind anyone I loved).

I did actually like Pressly's solo more than Elliana's.  What was really cool was to see a grown-up, highlighted Eliana.  She is still very young, and a lot of her childlike qualities are still there (I liked her as a mini), but she is growing up, and it was fun to see the transition.  Hopefully we'll get to see more than a solo that was choreographed in 45 minutes from her in the future.

(Sorry I can't spell Eliana's name.  I'll learn by next week). 

Edited July 10, 2019 by LibertarianSlut
Clarity and spelling

[Katy M]

1 hour ago, LibertarianSlut said:

Where I was on Yolanda's side was with the seat at the ALDC.

I wasn't on anyone's side on that one.  It was a ridiculous thing to argue about.  Everybody was in the wrong.  I forgot who was sitting there in the first place, but obviously nobody else needed to be involved in that.  Here are the two ways this should have gone:

"Could you please move?"

"No."

"OK."

Or:

"Could you please move?"

"OK."

Anything else was ridiculous.

1 hour ago, LibertarianSlut said:

What I do think is fair game for Abby to critique is anything the judges will judge about the kids.  If Abby thinks one of the kids has thighs that are too muscular, I think it's not only fair to point that out, I think it's kind of her responsibility as a competitive dance teacher.  But she needs to tell them how to fix it--tell them exactly what to eat and what not to eat.  Tell them what exercise to do and what exercises not to do.  

You've hit the nail on the head.  It doesn't do any good to just point something out without corrective action.  And to do that is absolutely pointless.  It would be like if you handed in an English paper (in a lower grade) and the teacher that told you that your punctuation was all wrong and said absolutely nothing else.  Well, gee, that's helpful.  Thanks.

[Saraher]

On 7/9/2019 at 9:37 PM, Loves2Dance said:

Yolanda is a cancer. I mean, I'm no fan of Stacey's, but I loathe Yolanda so much more. 

If you or anyone could explain how these dancers are better than the OGs. I’ve always wondered if the original girls were really good or if Abby picked competitions that would always rank them high. I have a lot of questions lol. 

[Rabbittron]

You really think Abby is teacher all she is a famewhore.

[Jsage]

I'm so confused by the group dance and how they possibly won second. Yes, it's the first to lose, but it's still pretty good! Meanwhile, their routine was just awful. The overall theme made no sense. Their outfits were for a pretty contemporary routine, the music and most of the dancing was for an upbeat jazz, then there are two dark notes at the end and Lily is creepy and dead? (I know I'm exaggerating the disjointedness a little but it was pretty glaring.) Not to mention the girls' dancing-the timing being off, Lily clumsily getting up on the table with those cups in the way, the huge bobble with the assisted walkover, etc. 

As I recall, they showed very few montages of other dancers in this episode and they may not have shown any other groups at all. I can't quite remember. Maybe there were only two groups entered in their division and that's how they placed second?

[Loves2Dance]

18 hours ago, Saraher said:

If you or anyone could explain how these dancers are better than the OGs. I’ve always wondered if the original girls were really good or if Abby picked competitions that would always rank them high. I have a lot of questions lol. 

None of the OGs are great dancers in terms of technique or skill, tbh. They did go to a studio that did well at competitions, but after Season 1 a lot of real, well known competition stopped allowing filming because they manipulated the scores/places for TV. By Season 2, no real competition let them in so from about Season 3 on they go to competitions that are 'casted'. Meaning the audience is paying to watch the episode and they invite a few local studios to come and dance. 

[Absolom]

Ouch for the ratings this week:  562 K viewers and a .05 (25% drop) from .20 to .15 in the rating.  

I think the rest of the audience is feeling as jerked around by this mess as most of us here. 

[meatball77]

For the OG's.  Maddie and Chloe were both super talented for their ages when the show started.  Paige was talented but not as much as M&C, Kendall was fairly equal in talent to Paige.  Makenzie was super young but a great tumbler at her age (she was too young to do much dancing).  Brooke was older and not special for her age, Nia was pretty average for a comp dancer and Vivi was good for her age (but not as good as Makenzie).  Vivi is the only one (besides Maddie) who is still dancing.

The problem with this new group is they are just too old.  It's not that impressive to see a strong dancer in the teen division as it is when they're dancing as minis.  However, the only reason the OG's were able to do those first two seasons is that they were performing dances they'd learned the previous year/summer.   Dancers that age just can't learn and retain choreography as fast as is needed for a show a week.

I heard from some moms who were at the taping for this weeks show and they said the entire audience was confused by the routine.  It apparently was danced to Shout and they changed the music.  Apparently, they were also passing out missing posters for the dancer that didn't show this week.  I guess they dropped that plotline.

The Yolanda and Stacy plotline is just so over the top and fake because there is a lot of photographic proof that Lilly and Elliana were hanging out a lot while Abby was in prison.  Doing Jordan Matter photoshoots and stuff.  If they could hang out enough to do a Jordan Matter shoot then they're not mortal enemies who can't be seen together.

[Saraher]

2 hours ago, Loves2Dance said:

None of the OGs are great dancers in terms of technique or skill, tbh. They did go to a studio that did well at competitions, but after Season 1 a lot of real, well known competition stopped allowing filming because they manipulated the scores/places for TV. By Season 2, no real competition let them in so from about Season 3 on they go to competitions that are 'casted'. Meaning the audience is paying to watch the episode and they invite a few local studios to come and dance. 

I always kinda thought that. The competitions had the same names over and over and i thought it was overkill that they would win. And once they started bringing in fans who cheered at the beginning, it seemed so fake to me. Since Maddie was the star, was she actually a good dancer? Is it known why Abby favored her more?

does Abby still have normal classes like she had before she went to prison at her studio? Or does she only have that competition team now? 

Also any other interesting things about the show that made it fake or just behind the scenes stuff that would change someone’s perspective of the show?

thank you for the answers!

[Loves2Dance]

46 minutes ago, Saraher said:

I always kinda thought that. The competitions had the same names over and over and i thought it was overkill that they would win. And once they started bringing in fans who cheered at the beginning, it seemed so fake to me. Since Maddie was the star, was she actually a good dancer? Is it known why Abby favored her more?

does Abby still have normal classes like she had before she went to prison at her studio? Or does she only have that competition team now? 

Also any other interesting things about the show that made it fake or just behind the scenes stuff that would change someone’s perspective of the show?

thank you for the answers!

Maddie, technique wise, is mediocre. What worked in Maddie's favor is that she is a natural actress and has such an expressive face that she was able to project the various characters she was asked to play. That is what drew Sia to her; not her dance technique. 

In the beginning, Brooke, Maddie and Chloe were the strongest trained dancer, but as the show became a job their training also stopped. They could hang in the mini division; they could not hang in the senior one. 

[meatball77]

Vivi is probably a better dancer than all the girls are right now because you have to actually take classes (not just do choreography) to improve.  They all stopped taking daily classes when the show started.  Maddie I've heard still takes classes, but I suspect she's more at the level of a music theater kid who "moves" rather than an actual dancer.  We shall see how much she is actually dancing in the west side story movie.  The kids they've brought in are good dancers and Lilly and Elliana have been doing solid work on their ballet during the break (and Elliana was on DWTS Jr).  Lilly may not ever be able to dance as an adult because of her height so being on the show isn't too weird.  I'm not sure about Elliana, but her mother is thirsty.

The competitions are all set up just for the show (and have been since at least the second half of the first season).  They put out a call for dance studios to bring in solos and groups at the right age division and then create a half day competition with a small number of groups and solos.  A typical competition runs two or three super long days (8:00am-10:00pm).  When you see them only giving out the top three, it's because there were only five or six soloists or groups. 

 

[Tasya]

I disagree that Maddie wasn't actually a good dancer. My niece was in the competition circuit at the same time as Maddie. She won a LOT and not just at the "filmed" for TV competitions. She won the really prestigious ones as well. The thing about Maddie was that in person she was sooo charismatic. Your eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her. Whenever my niece's studio was at the same comp as ALDC she would almost always get ovations. She really was something special. Chloe was good for age, but had all the expressiveness of a porcelain doll. Paige, Nia, Kendall and Brooke were your average comp. dancers. They'll shine as youngsters with good choreography and then putter out.

Mackenzie is the one that has always puzzled me. People always acted as if Mackenzie was younger than she was. Remember when Mackenzie did Maddie's "Cry" solo? She was 10 as compared to Maddie's 8 and it was awful. In Season 2, Mack was 8 and still doing the cutesy baby dances and in Season 1, Maddie was 8 and Chloe was 9 and think about the caliber of dancing they were delivering. Mackenzie was no where near the level of her sister or even Chloe and I always thought she was a brat on top of that. I think that talent wise the OG ranking was: Maddie, Chloe, Brooke, Kendall, Paige, Mackenzie and Nia. Nia would rank higher for likeability and charisma but her actual technique was terrible. 

[Katy M]

3 hours ago, Tasya said:

I disagree that Maddie wasn't actually a good dancer. My niece was in the competition circuit at the same time as Maddie. She won a LOT and not just at the "filmed" for TV competitions. She won the really prestigious ones as well. The thing about Maddie was that in person she was sooo charismatic. Your eyes couldn't help but be drawn to her. Whenever my niece's studio was at the same comp as ALDC she would almost always get ovations. She really was something special.

I agree that Maddie was a good dancer.  I don't agree with the show stance that she's the best dancer that ever danced in the history of dance.  And, not that this is Maddie's fault, I felt that a lot of her choreography was just the same stuff in a different order, so I tended to get bored with her.  Add to that that she had a solo almost every week, whereas the other girls didn't, and she just wasn't my favorite to watch.

[LibertarianSlut]

23 hours ago, Saraher said:

Since Maddie was the star, was she actually a good dancer? Is it known why Abby favored her more?

Also any other interesting things about the show that made it fake or just behind the scenes stuff that would change someone’s perspective of the show?

HI, I will try to answer your questions without repeating too much info already stated, and I guess I'll give my perspective as to why I think it's still worth watching, despite the fact that it's inherently fake (although nobody really asked lol)!

Re Maddie's dancing:  I never thought she was anything very special...until season six, when she had been working on outside projects and her dancing just popped.    Her Lizzie Borden solo and the final solo she danced at the ALDC were amazing and it gives me no pleasure to say this, as I was a Brynn fan, but Maddie outshined Brynn in season six (Brynn was better than Maddie when she first came on the show IMO, and Brynn got better after Maddie left).

As for why Abby likes Maddie, she was good friends with Maddie's mom, Melissa. Melissa was very complaint.  Melissa was the first mom to homeschool her kids so they could commit more time to dance, for example.  Abby also seems to favor brunettes, as she has said Brooke used to be "a Maddie," and Abby was really gunning for Kendall when she joined the show and came back from the Candy Apples in season two, giving her plenty of solos and great costumes, but that never went anywhere.  Also, Kalani.  Abby has never made any bones about the fact that she prefers skinny, pretty girls with good feet.  Maddie had about...half those things.

As far as interesting things...what I have read several times (don't have a verified source) is that the girls are allowed to perform the "competition" dances several times, so that the camera can get all angles.  A lot of times the show will just flat-out lie about whether someone had a solo.  That already happened this season; I just forgot which episode.  In an earlier season, Abby dramatically scratched a solo at the last minute, only for it to be revealed on the Internet that the girls performed, but were disqualified for using fire on the stage.  They also fudge the scores for purposes of serving the narrative.  They will use category scores indiscriminately with overall scores.  As people said upthread, the comps are phony.  They would show up late to their own "competitions," and everyone would have to wait on them.  They don't learn the dances in two days; they learn them at booty camp on the offseason and then clean them in a few days.  Abby pretends to just call someone on the phone and ask them to catch a flight or pretends to pull a kid from another part of the studio, but it's all been set up well in advance. I could go on forever about all the times they lie to the audience and fake things, but a good rule of thumb is that, if they tell you something, assume the opposite 🙂 

I don't know anything about dance other than what I picked up from the show.  But the way that I enjoy the show despite my ignorance and their lies is to just treat it like a soap opera.  I will analyze, assess, complain and root for and against people, but none of it impacts me the way, say, a documentary might.  I also...like Abby.  As a character.  I think she has a really entertaining personality, and though she gets in her own way, and she is a generally terrible person--very shallow, inconsistent, bitchy, spoiled, entitled, bossy...there is something about her tenacity I like.  And even though she lies a lot, I don't think she's afraid to tell the truth either, and she is right on the money in her assessments fairly often.  She can also be really funny.

Now that I just said so many kind things about Abby, I feel dirty.  I like the kids.  Like I posted upthread, Lilly and Eli were really cute tiny little girls, and it amuses me to see them more grown up.  I think they both have really cute personalities.  I like all these kids this season so far.  And the moms are a little better than they used to be.  While they annoy me, they don't seem completely viscous and hypocritical, or void of humanity.  I feel like the moms now are more like the moms from seasons 1-4--flawed, but human, like Christy and Kelly.  In seasons five and then six, Holly, Jill, JessaLynn, Kira and Melissa became disgusting vipers who would gaslight and torture anyone they didn't like--including kids--and it was disgusting.  

I dunno.  The way the show is produced is absurd, and it's like a highly entertaining piece of performance art to me.  As long as it plays out this way, I will never stop watching.  I love it.  There's not much else like it on TV, and that says a lot in these days of 500 channels.  

[marinaalexis]

12 hours ago, Tasya said:

Remember when Mackenzie did Maddie's "Cry" solo? She was 10 as compared to Maddie's 8 and it was awful.

I think it's grossly exaggerated and inaccurate to claim that Mackenzie's version of Cry was "awful." 

[Loves2Dance]

On 7/12/2019 at 10:07 PM, marinaalexis said:

I think it's grossly exaggerated and inaccurate to claim that Mackenzie's version of Cry was "awful." 

Why? It's not a lie. Mackenzie's dance training stopped by the time she was 6 years old. The idea of her doing a pretty lyrical/contemporary routine with almost no ballet foundation is why her rendition of Cry was awful. Mackenzie, on the other hand, shined when she was given acro and hip-hop dances because those were her stronger genre's.

The good thing about Dance Moms is it gave the girls' recognition, the bad thing about Dance Moms is that it essentially froze their dance training. To become a great dancer, you can never stop learning and all of them did. No one from the show, not even Maddie, would have been able to leave the show, move to LA and start booking consistent dance jobs because they would easily be out-danced. Maddie had a 1 in a Billion lightning strike come her way to which Mackenzie benefited from because it pulled Melissa from Abby and into an actual talent agency. Jessalynn also saw the writing on the wall, realized she could market Jojo and got her into the doors of Nickelodeon at a great time. Everyone else? They're back to relatively normal lives. 

[marinaalexis]

13 hours ago, Loves2Dance said:

Why? It's not a lie. Mackenzie's dance training stopped by the time she was 6 years old. The idea of her doing a pretty lyrical/contemporary routine with almost no ballet foundation is why her rendition of Cry was awful.

We're just going to have to agree to disagree then. Apparently I'm in the minority, but although lyrical clearly wasn't Mackenzie's strong suit, I would not in any universe say that the routine was "awful." 

[LibertarianSlut]

Can we all come together and agree that this is the worst version of "Cry"? 🙂 

[tessat]

My 2 cents - I love the new show and I love the new kids - they can all dance!!! As far as the OG's - I loved Chloe, wasn't a big fan of Maddie's because of her mother which is sad - but Maddie was a beautiful dancer. Mac was cute - but couldn't sing then and can't sing now - she looks like her dad and has very strong features - she's no longer the cute little MacKenzie - but they all are successful because of their stint on Dance Moms. Kendall and Jill  - I couldn't stand. I loved Nia and still do - I think she's come far.

None of those kids would have the opportunities they have today had they not been on Dance Moms. That's why despite not being a Jojo fan or Jessalyn fan (especially when Brynn was there) - I can't say enough about how Jessalyn raised Jojo and how great a person Jojo is. She hasn't forgotten her roots - nor the fact that is was due to Dance Moms she has what she has today.

I don't think these kids are mediocre, I enjoy adding Brady and Abby released him for a couple of weeks so the girls would step up - work as a team and work to better themselves. They couldn't hide their flaws as Brady wasn't there to draw everyone's attention.

I like the choreography so much better. Brady was a drawer and why I feel the ratings were down when he left as then it was like the same old Dance Moms. People I know are excited by this new group and new season.

[Absolom]

Wrong thread. 

Edited July 24, 2019 by Absolom

[Bichon]

wrong thread as well

Edited July 25, 2019 by Bichon
wrong thread