DRAMA ON TAP
‘Dance Moms’ reunion already controversial
THERE’S no way to dance around this slight. A two-hour “Dance Moms” reunion special is fast approaching (May 1), and the drama that unfolded over the course of eight seasons — and since the show wrapped in 2019 — is once again taking center stage.
Lifetime announced that “Dance Moms: The Reunion” will feature the following Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC) alumni as they “take a look back at the show that became a worldwide pop culture sensation and made them household names”: Chloe Lukasiak, Brooke Hyland, Kalani Hilliker, Jojo Siwa, Kendall Vertes and Paige Hyland.
Meanwhile, the show’s namesake, plus their mothers, will talk about “some of the most controversial headlines since the show aired” and get fans up to speed on what they’ve been up to since.
Viewers caught a sneak peek of what’s to come in the new trailer, and were likely quick to pick up on the absence of three of the show’s original stars: Nia Sioux, plus sisters Maddie and Kenzie Ziegler.
This seemed to have caught Siwa’s attention, as well, as she points out the absence of some unnamed co-stars in the trailer, per BuzzFeed News.
“Them not being here is kinda like, ‘Let me erase my past, pretend it never happened, shove it down the drain, when it’s like, that’s why you are who you are.”
The stars of “Dance Moms,” both those present and those missing from the upcoming reunion, have discussed the traumatic experience of training under the cutthroat dance teacher Abby Lee Miller and being in the spotlight at such a young age.
In the trailer, Lukasiak emotionally confesses, “I thought I wasn’t enough, like in every single way.”
While competing on Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” Siwa likened that strenuous experience to her time on Dance Moms.
“Me coming to this environment, where I’m gonna be yelled at and where I’m gonna be told what to do and not mess it up, is taking me right back to where I was at 11 on Dance Moms,” she shared. Although Sioux said she “learned so much from the show,” she noted that she was also “put through a lot” in an interview with Forbes in 2021, and highlighted being “the only black girl for a majority of the show,” something that motivated her to stay. “I was not going to let them make me or black girls, in general, look inferior,” she elaborated. “I’m allowed to be here just as much, and I’m deserving to be here just as much as someone else.” Maddie alleged to Emily Ratajkowski on her High Low with EmRata podcast that the show’s producers would instruct her on what to say, guiding her toward being “perceived as a little brat in the first season.” “My mom wasn’t in the room, so I was like, ‘OK, I just have to do whatever I’m being told,’” she recalled. “They would say, ‘Say you’re the best, say you’re better than everyone else.’” “Dance Moms: The Reunion” airs May 1 at 8 p.m. on Lifetime.