Dance Moms - Lifetime "reality" series

[viennese]

Until Project Runway returns, I must content myself with the strangeness of

"Dance Moms" - Lifetime's docu-reality-whatever about a Pennsylvania dance studio run by the supposedly legendary dance coach Abby Lee, four little dancers and their four mothers.

Split leaps!
Kick ball change!
Curling iron burns!
Inappropriate costumes on 10 year olds!
Random mothers going psycho in the lobby!

And you thought skating parents were nuts. It's on Wednesdays and repeated often. Like leg lifts.

[ryanbfan]

oh dear God, if these moms are anything like my drill team coach, I won't be watching for it will bring back horrible memories and end with me crying in the corner.

[AnnM]

With the exception of the crazy minister lady, so far the teacher seems to be the nuttiest and meanest of all. I mean it's obvious that the moms are all trying to live vicariously through their daughters, but so far they seem more clueless than cruel.

I don't understand why all these little girls seem to be in full makeup 24/7. Do they do pageants on the side as well?

[Aceon6]

Having done the low level competition circuit when my niece was dancing, this show brings back not so fond memories. Some of the dance moms and teachers are just whack, with no skills other than forcing their precious little ones on the rest of the unsuspecting world.

[overedge]

I saw the first episode of this last week. Apart from the factor of the moms, the thing that struck me is that none of these girls are very good dancers. They don't seem to have any strong basics - all they do is gymnastics tricks with some vaguely dancy-type moves in between. Which I guess is the norm for the type of competitions they go into, but I wouldn't call it "dance". Those moms are seriously deluding themselves if they think the tens of thousands of dollars they are investing in their daughters' training is going to pay off with a professional dance career in the future.

And, OK, this is mean, but does the teacher have assistant teachers or something that actually demonstrate the moves/choreography to the kids? Because she looked like she was getting winded just standing around and yelling.

[PDilemma]

And, OK, this is mean, but does the teacher have assistant teachers or something that actually demonstrate the moves/choreography to the kids? Because she looked like she was getting winded just standing around and yelling.

I was wondering that as well. That woman does not look like she can do anything she is asking those kids to do.

[Aceon6]

I don't get how those "teachers" get students at all. Why would someone give that woman money?

[Holley Calmes]

You would be totally amazed at the number of dance studios there are all over every city, town, and burg. There are a few systems where the teachers must be certified, but not many. Any fool with enough money for rent can hang out a shingle. And because so many parents will just say "Oh, I'm taking Sally to Miss Coochie's School of Dance because our next door neighbor goes there..." well, it's like quality is not an issue. Just neighborly compitition or convenience. The majority of these schools couldn't teach a dog to pee, much less give a child the basics they need to build on for dance. I've been watching this all my life.

Rhee Gold, who is the publisher of Dance Studio Life Magazine and a truly good guy, wrote a big message on Facebook yesterday saying how this show was terrible for the industry and a mockery of what dance schools should be. It represents the lowest of the low.

I'm not about to watch it. I'm having a hard time watching SYTYCD this year as it is. Not that I'm comparing the two-far from it.

[BigB08822]

I mentioned this in another thread the other day! CRAZY!!! The instructor is wacko and a complete biatch. I would never let some fat whale yell at me while she huffs and puffs as she sits down. I know, maybe she has a thyroid disorder, but that is the first thing that comes to mind when I see her.

I also noticed the girls couldn't really dance. One or two of them were really quite awful. I don't get that. I also question the reality in this show, though. So many realities shows are no longer reality, it is all created and cast with real people to avoid having to pay people and to cash in on the reality craze. A friend of mine just filmed a show for something about Southern Weddings and the people getting married were not in a relationship (they were lesbians so the wedding wasn't binding in any way) but just wanted to do the show. The pay out for them was a free day in New Orleans and a huge party that cost them nothing with all the alcohol one could want. None of it was "real" though.

[genevieve]

Rhee Gold, who is the publisher of Dance Studio Life Magazine and a truly good guy, wrote a big message on Facebook yesterday saying how this show was terrible for the industry and a mockery of what dance schools should be. It represents the lowest of the low.

I pretty much agree. This show makes me think Lifetime is desperate for programming ideas. Unfortunately, train wrecks attract audiences.

[BigB08822]

Oh, and I am also looking forward to Project Runway! I know someone who made it on the show!

[danceronice]

I now REALLY appreciate the rules in ballroom that limit/penalize makeup and "inappropriate" costuming in the youth categories.

Did anyone want to slap the mother with two girls where the older daughter is CLEARLY no longer interested and wants to do cheerleading instead? But no, Mom wanted to dance, ergo daughter has to stick with it (and play second fiddle to Younger Sister.)

[viennese]

I'm sure we're not seeing typical classes, even for the school being portrayed.

Not sure how long I'll last with this series. It'll be demoralizing watch a teacher berate her students until they cry, and pit them against each other with that pyramid of 8x10's.

[OlieRow]

I caught this show last night and what a massive trainwreck. Which obviously means I'll be watching. The opening part with the pyramid and new routine every week seemed really staged.

I know next to nothing about the world of high level competition dance (other than having some family friends who are in with a supposedly great school) is this school really as elite as they want us to believe?


ETA:

It'll be demoralizing watch a teacher berate her students until they cry, and pit them against each other with that pyramid of 8x10's.

That's the biggest issue I have so far. As a rower, intrasquad competition was unavoidable so you could get the fastest people in the top boats. Luckily (most) all of us were old enough and mature enough to understand the big picture which was team success and why that made the competition necessary. These kids are young and I don't see how pitting them against each other so obviously will make them better individual dancers or a better dance group. If they could only have 5 dancers and there were 6 girls in contention I could see why you might have some sort of audition until you picked group, but to be so blatant with a pyramid? The girls are going to hate each other and that's not going to help performance.

[Aceon6]

is this school really as elite as they want us to believe?

If it's a real school, it's an all comers operation. The pyramid just proves it. In a "real" school, students are assigned to classes based on ability, the top students aren't bullied by the staff, and the kids look more like kids.

[Cachoo]

Finally saw the first episode tonight: OMG on the group dance number. OMG on lots of other stuff already mentioned in this thread. I wish they would piggy back this show with another dance series focusing on a Rhee Gold approved school.

[shan]

at the latest episode...

at the costumes and choreography...

[Holley Calmes]

[QUOTE=OlieRow;3239791]That's the biggest issue I have so far. As a rower, intrasquad competition was unavoidable so you could get the fastest people in the top boats. Luckily (most) all of us were old enough and mature enough to understand the big picture which was team success and why that made the competition necessary. These kids are young and I don't see how pitting them against each other so obviously will make them better individual dancers or a better dance group. [QUOTE]

Another facet of this and a huge difference is that you have young girls not just doing athletic movements, you have them focusing on their looks, their faces, their bodies, their costumes and makeup as an essential part of their whole package. It isn't simply about who is the best dancer. These other things do enter into how they feel about themselves, and I think it can be very damaging if handled the wrong way. Nothing wrong with wanting to have a great costume and look pretty. But being fixated on one's own looks and competitive about these looks is not good. Especially since many of these dancers are so very young, and the current styles of costume and choreography are pretty sexual many times, it's disgusting.

I guess when you're older and on SYTYCD it's ok to show your crotch continuously to the audience, as if we wanted to see it. As Patsy Stone so aptly put it, "The world is your gynecologist!" I wish to God the "tilt" had never been invented. There's plenty of ways to show flexibility without creating a camel toe for the whole world to see.

[newbatgirl]

This "school" is such a joke. The school where I send my daughter for summer dance camp, all the instructors are serious dancers and can do everything they ask the students to do. They also take input from the students about choreography and NEVER ask them to do things they aren't comfortable with.

I watched this show and my first instinct was the hitch kick the teacher/owner right in her smug face.

Re: the costumes, I recall that there was a YouTube video circulating last year of a performance of seven or eight year olds dancing to Single Ladies at this school in CA(?). They were wearing VERY inappropriate outfits and doing wild moves. I think the video ended up on the morning news shows eventually before things died down. I wonder if the producers of this show got the idea from that? Outrage sells after all.

[sk9tingfan]

Re: the costumes, I recall that there was a YouTube video circulating last year of a performance of seven or eight year olds dancing to Single Ladies at this school in CA(?).

I believe "the school" is located right outside of Pittsburgh, PA