But last night's episode made me sad, a little ashamed, and somewhat furious.
Let's begin with the pyramid. Abby, you can't call it a break if you still expect your dancers to be to tons of classes. That's not a break! It's a break from competitions, but not a break from dancing. And these girls seemed incredibly over worked all the time that they deserve a break for a little bit! I grew up dancing my whole life and the summer breaks kept me from being overwhelmed and stressed. Granted, a long break will cause dancers to lose flexibility and energy but they are little girls, they need some time to play! (so those hugs they all gave each other in the beginning, totally fake, there was no break)
Continuing, it terrible for Abby to get mad at Chloe for going on family vacations. Because, how dare an 11 year old girl go on a vacation with her family!! Sorry Abby, but let's be honest for a moment, family is more important than dance. There, I said it. On the subject of Chloe, she is my favorite dancer! She has such beautiful lines and technique, I sometimes think her arm placement is much better than Maddie's. Yet Abby constantly rips on Chloe, because giving little girls low self-esteems is what she does best. Chloe's solo was fantastic! She did amazing in the group number! Yet Abby still yelled at her because she changed a small part of the dance because she forgot. At 11 years old, I would give her props for the way she kept dancing and never let it show that she forgot. I love that about Chloe! She can improv! But apparently that deserves being yelled at by Abby. She was also yelled at because she didn't beat Maddie. But Abby would have gotten mad at Maddie if she didn't beat Chloe. They can't both win, but they don't deserve to be yelled at for it. (on a sidenote, I found it humorous that Chloe's solo was called "Nobody's Perfect" when Abby tells them they have to be (more on that later) and Abby doesn't want Chloe to get a big head from her national win (which is the opposite of what she inflicts on Maddie, she wants Maddie to have a big head))
It did make me a little sad to see Brooke and Paige gone. I truly believe they should still dance. Brooke is an incredible dancer and needs to keep it up! Paige is the sweetest little girl and is also amazing, but rarely gets to show it. Even if they don't want to go back to that competition team, they must still dance. Brooke has definitely lost her fire to compete, but I don't think she should give up dancing. Kelly... I don't care either way if she comes back. She makes me laugh sometimes, but even though the name of the show is Dance Moms, I watch it for the girls. But you could tell from the short segment they were featured in the episode last night, neither Paige or Brooke have a real desire to go back. And with the way Abby treats them, I think I understand.
Kendall is such a cute little girl even though she has, in the past, said somethings that are hurtful to the other girls. She is a good dancer and as they say constantly on the show, she has lots of potential. I am not a fan of Jill. She's getting much better than the way she used to act, but she's still not a favorite of mine. Kendall did a very good job with her solo. It did bother me that Abby kept saying "I'm done!" "You're done!" in their rehearsal, but Kendall got yelled at for leaving the rehearsal to cry? I feel that scenes were pieced together wrong to add more drama. But I hate the way Abby yells at kids for crying.
That being said, why would Abby nearly threaten an eight year old not to cry? Mackenzie only cries because she's terrified of what Abby might say if she messes up! It was adorable for Maddie to start a prayer for Mackenzie, she's such a good older sister. You could also see that when Mackenzie came back off stage. Maddie hugged her sister, told her she was amazing, and told her not to cry... because if she did she would get yelled at... and she did get yelled at. I was so mad that Abby told Mackenzie "You used to be a dumb little kid..." Why? Why would you say that to an 8 year old? Seriously Abby, why do you feel the need to give these girls a low self-esteem?? These girls are terrified to be any less than perfection, but that's not how life works! You can't be 100% perfect all the time! That's a better lesson to teach little girl than to not cry or you'll get yelled at. Thank you Mackenzie for saying "Ha ha, Abby, I won anyways!" You made me laugh and you deserved your win.
Maddie's solo was great, they always are. You can tell that Maddie loves to dance and is there because of her love to dance. But Abby is constantly shoving a competitiveness down her throat that will ultimately fail her. Maddie is having a harder time being humble because Abby puts her on a pedestal. I don't blame Maddie for what Abby has done to her. Abby is training Maddie to be a selfish dancing monster. She isn't one yet, but the current path she's on could definitely lead her there.
With everyone getting a solo, why would it be so hard to give Nia one? Nia is adorable and sweet and kind and a really good dancer! She's constantly improving. So why make her the only one without a solo? Secondly, on the subject of Nia, I was so mad at Abby for the things she was saying about Holly. Holly was fully justified in saying that it would be a waste to go to Denver for nothing. Abby, you can't force people to pay money to go to a dance competition and then take away their opportunity to dance. Abby was horribly rude to Holly and I hated it. Nia deserved to dance. She never did anything wrong, she almost never does. Stop punishing Nia for no reason! Let her dance!
Ally is a beautiful dancer! However, I am as angry as the moms were that Abby gave all the credit of their 1st place win to her. Abby also gave a lot of the credit to herself. Abby, you taught Ally for less than a week, you don't deserve ANY credit for the talent of Ally. Ally is incredibly talented and beautiful, but unlike the other girls on the team, you didn't make her, you didn't add to her talent. She came to you that way, and it is a shame to put all your stalk on an outside dancer when you constantly brag about how talented of a teacher you are and how you make stars. Ally is a star, but you didn't create her, and the dancers that you have "created" deserve just as much attention or else you don't deserve to brag about all the things you do anymore.
I'm not going to say much on Cathy except that I've never liked her. She's so over-the-top dramatic and downright cruel that I can't ever like her. But I would like to share another Dance Moms recap which casts Cathy as a comic book villain.
I loved the group dance! I really did! And I agree with Christi that the demons did just as good at the angel. The dance was amazing AS A WHOLE and Abby did not have to single out Ally.
Overall, the whole episode made me very angry at Abby. Abby is so much worse than she was before and I didn't think that was possible. She seemed constantly disappointed and irritated at the girls. They're little girls! Give them a break! But no, because she's Abby Lee Miller and she can't do that.
If anyone watched the silly "Smoke before the Fire" thing before the show, you may agree that Abby has snapped. The producer talked about meet and greets and Abby says they stabbed her in the back and that they were soliciting their kids. Abby, these women yell at you because they're trying to protect their kids! Besides, the girls are TV celebrities and having to pay for a meet and greet with them seems reasonable, especially if the money goes to guarding and protecting the girls. In the show it also looked like Christi had snapped. She wouldn't look at Abby and she wasn't able to talk to her without that look of fury in her eyes. I always have been told that some of the fights are staged to add drama to the show, but as was seen in that interview, something else is going on. Abby has brought all the moms to their last nerve. Honestly, I would never want to work with someone like Abby, and I understand why the mothers are figuring that out as well.
I'm terrified of the future of this show. I'm literally angry with Abby. She's gone psycho and I'm really worried for those girls! They are all going to have low self-esteems, inflated egos, and a constant fear of failure or anything less than perfect. Last night's episode just made me angry. So here's hoping the rest of the season doesn't cause me to stop watching...
No comments:
Post a Comment