There is a group of girls on Lifetime who know how to barrida, cambre, and patada. These girls are the daughters of Dance Moms. 
Abby Lee Miller has become famous for her extremely talented dance team. Before her fame, she participated in swim team and ski team. Dancing was not one of Abby’s sports. Her mother was a dancer, so Abby would accompany her as she went to competitions and performances. This sparked Abby’s interest, even though she never actually got on stage herself. At only fourteen years of age, Abby opened her own state of the art dance studio. Now, nearly thirty years later, Abby is the owner and lead choreographer in two studios.
The Abby Lee Dance Company Competition Dance Team consists of three national champions, Chloe, Maddie, and Kendall. These girls are the leaders of the team, as they have exactly what Abby desires in a dancer. All three display the emotion, flexibility, and passion when dancing which allows them to thrive at competitions. Other members on the team are Mackenzie, Nia, Paige, and Brooke. This champion team competes all along the east coast. Types of dance the girls perform are jazz, contemporary, hip hop, lyrical, and musical theatre.
Chloe Lukasiak, known as Chlobird, is the best dancer on the team. She is a national champion soloist, and even received a college scholarship in 2012 for her dancing. She started dancing with Abby at the young age of two, and she plans to become a Rockette when she is older. Christie is Chloe’s mom. Christie is most known for protecting her daughter. Abby knows the amount of talent Chloe has, so she pushes her very hard. When it goes too far, Christie is quick to defend her child. Christie is the owner of a child fitness center, and strongly believes all kids should be active in some way.
The Ziegler family seems to have the most attention on the show. Melissa Ziegler has both of her daughters enrolled with Abby. Maddie is a national champion, while Mackenzie is far from the best dancer on the team. Maddie is focused on mainly because her and Chloe have an intense rivalry. The two girls are the same age and compete on the same level. Maddie’s younger sister, Mackenzie, is on the lowest level of competition for her age group. She is only eight years old, but it is questioned by many people why she is even on the team. She cannot do many spins, and her flexibility is no where near what it should be for her level of competition. Abby believes Mackenzie will eventually become as good as Maddie, but it seems highly unlikely.
Coach Abby’s rival, who has been the team’s closest competition this year is Cathy, who coaches an all boy team. This “winning is everything” mentality has not gone unnoted. In fact, Abby believes the team only gets higher scores because the judges want to encourage the boys to keep dancing. According to Abby, “Second place is the biggest loser on stage.” She expects perfection out of every one of girls in every routine. It does not matter if it is a group, solo, duet, or trio, Abby has very high standards for her girls, and she is intensely competitive. If her group does not win first place, Abby requires the girls to do push-ups.
StarQuest Dance Competitions is the largest dance competition series in Pennsylvania. Abby, as well as the whole “Dance Moms” show, has been banned from this series because the organization feels Abby’s perfection expectation puts too much unnecessary stress on the young girls.
The girls on this show truly are amazing dancers. Most of them are young; however they shouldn’t be exposed to certain things at the studio. Abby uses profound language around the girls to try to get her point across. The girls probably learn the message, but they learn a few inappropriate words too. As for the moms, they do not receive enough credit. Viewers seem eager to see who is keeping a secret from Abby, or who is going to pull their daughter out this week. They do not appreciate how hard these mothers work for their girls. They always defend their daughters, no matter the cost. When it comes to Abby and Cathy’s “rivalry,” it is obvious that much of it is staged. How does a studio from Pittsburg despise a person from Canton, Ohio? Regardless of the rivalry being staged, the show should not show so much violence between the two.
Overall, Dance Moms is an entertaining show. The dance routines are always new, so there is never a disappointment. If the viewer is a drama fan, they will enjoy seeing the rivalries between Abby and other teachers, competition between girls, and the jealousy between mothers. If the person is not a drama fan, the dancing alone is incredible. The girls have passion and talent for dance. If there is one bad thing about the show, it is Abby’s push for perfection from the girls. Abby never danced herself, so why does she expect these girls to be perfect? Perhaps Abby should get on stage herself, then she can tell these girls they need to be perfect.
