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| Abby Lee Miller on Dance Moms |
On season 3, episode 6 of Dance Moms titled "Boys Are Cuties, Girls Have Cooties", Abby's arch-nemesis Cathy Nesbitt-Stein, owner of the Candy Apple’s Dance Center, is back to compete against the Abby Lee Dance Company. This time Cathy has a gimmick: her new team is all boys and includes talented teen Zack Torres, previously seen as a contestant on Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition. How do you like them apples? Abby knows judges favor boy dancers and this puts her in a foul mood, much to the dismay of the Dance Moms, especially Jill, who is hoping to replace Melissa as Abby’s favorite, and Christi, who has just about had it with all of the drama.
The episode opens with the girls from the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC) lined up because Abby “wants to see what 4th place looks like”. This is in reference to ALDC placing fourth at in10sity Dance competition last week - apparently none of Abby's teams have come in that low in 20-25 years. Then Abby reveals this week’s pyramid from the bottom up: Mackenzie, Maddie, Paige, Nia, Kendall, Chloe, and then at the top it's… nobody. Abby says nobody in a group that came in 4th deserves the top spot. Poor Brooke - Abby purposely leaves her off of the pyramid again.
Abby assigns the routines for the girl’s upcoming roadtrip to the "On Stage" America dance competition in Voorhees, NJ (that's how they punctuate it, with quotes around only the first two words). The group will be doing a musical theater number called “Pink Lemonade”. In this routine the team will be using hats as a prop, and Abby warns, “Drop your hat and you’re off the team”. Since Abby is unhappy with Mackenzie's performance last week, she's not in the group number this week. Kendall gets a jazz-acro solo called “Owe You Nothing”, Nia gets a lyrical solo called “A Hundred Years from Now”, and Chloe gets a contemporary solo called, “Left in the Dark”. No solo for Maddie again this week.
After the routines are outlined the Dance Moms are dismissed to go rhinestone costumes, and the girls begin rehearsals. Kendall’s Mom Jill says Melissa is about to explode over the fact that both of her daughters, Maddie and Mackenzie, are at the bottom of the pyramid. Kelly expresses surprise that Melissa didn’t defend herself when Abby was reading her the riot act last week, and Chloe’s Mom Christi says that Melissa is wearing glasses because she can’t keep her contacts in through the tears. Kelly reminds Melissa that despite the fact that she kept her mouth shut, Maddie still didn’t get a solo.
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| Zack and his Mom, Gina |
Back at ALDC, the girls rehearse “Pink Lemonade”, and Melissa admits to Nia’s Mom Holly that she regrets “things”, as in standing up to Abby, and she cries. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Abby, Jill takes Kendall for a fitting with designer Jen Rocket in hopes that a special costume will give her daughter an edge in the competition. Abby is not going to be happy about this.
When Jill gets back to the studio, Abby assigns her dog-sitting duty for “Broadway Baby”, her poodle, and this includes walks and poo-wrangling. Jill says, "I'm honored that Abby trusts her dog with me, I just really hope she doesn't go to doggie heaven on my watch." (On December 12, 2012, Abby announced that Broadway Baby had passed away at age 16. Hugs to you, Abby.) Christie notices Jill’s attempt to replace Melissa as Abby’s favorite, and says, “Jill saw an opening on Abby’s pyramid of Moms”, and notes that giving Abby gifts didn’t work, so now Jill is trying to do a lot of favors for her.
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| Cathy from Candy Apples |
Back in Canton, Cathy introduces her boys to a Nick Anthony, a choreographer she brought in specifically for them. They all work on a number called “Own It”, a routine Cathy describes as being very masculine.
Our girls in Pittsburgh are rehearsing too, and it’s not going well for Jill and Kendall – they miss Abby’s deadline to have their costume ready, so Abby cuts Kendall’s solo. Jill flips and she and Kendall walk out, with the young girl in tears all the way to the door. Abby points out that when Kelly left with her daughters Brooke and Paige, the Moms staged a walk-out, but no-one stood up for Jill and Kendall. After she drops that tidbit, Abby goes to wait on the bus. Out in the car with he daughter still crying, Jill realizes she’s on her own and decides to go plead her case with Abby. It’s a surprisingly calm conversation, and in the end Abby tells her to “get a costume and get on the bus.”
The team arrives at the competition in Voorhees, NJ, and Abby goes to Cathy’s dressing room and meets the boy-team. She tells them she brought them gifts of ALDC t-shirts, and Cathy says they will dust with them.
Nia, Kendall and Chloe do their solos – it’s alarming how fast Nia is growing up, she looks lovely and serene – and then the awards are announced. Kendall is named as 2nd runner-up, but the other girls don’t place at all. Obviously, Abby is unhappy, and says the group routine has to be perfect. She tells the team, “Do not embarrass yourselves, and more importantly, do not embarrass me out there”.
The CADC boys go first. Individually they are good dancers, but there’s one point where they are supposed to be dancing in unison and it’s completely off. I know I talk about timing in almost every recap, but it’s a crucial element. The crowd doesn’t care, though – the boys get a huge round of applause.
Then ALDC performs. The number is cute, but yikes - Chloe drops her hat. Christi prepares Chloe for the worst by telling her, “Just so you know, Abby’s going to come in here and it’s going to be awful.” Abby comes through the door and says, “Nice job, Chloe”, but then instead of the usual verbal fisticuffs, Christi says, “You want Chloe gone, we’re gone… go ahead and replace me… I’m not going to make a scene with you…”, and then they leave. We see them make their way through the crowded hallway at the competition while Christi tells people (the cameramen or the producers maybe?) to get away from her, and they go outside and look for a cab. I’m glad for Chloe’s sake there wasn’t a huge argument, but Christi’s willingness to resign instead of fight back was sad; she really did seem worn down. After they leave, Abby tells the group, “Besides someone dropping their hat, it was not bad.”
The winners of “On Stage” America announced. The emcee tells the crowd that in the Junior Advanced Small Group there is only 1/10 of a point between 1st and 2nd place. CADC comes in 2nd, ALDC wins. They collect their prize without Chloe.
In the previews for next week’s episode we see Cathy come into a room where Abby and the Dance Moms are hanging out, they have words, Abby throws water on Cathy, Cathy hits Abby with a big purse, Jill jumps in to defend Abby and throws more water on Cathy and yells, “Get lost bitch!” Wow.
Now for some bonus Dance Moms news: Abby was on Andy Cohen’s show Watch What Happens: Live (Bravo) on February 5. He announced Abby by saying she’s “Not afraid to tell you if you stink, even if you’re six”, and did a segment in which fellow guest Carson Kressley had to judge whether screaming soundbites were "Abby Lee or a Chimpanzee?" (watch the video below). When Andy asked Abby why she was so hard on Chloe and Christi, she answered that Christi takes her daughter around the country and charges fans a fee for “Meet and Greets”, and that Chloe misses rehearsals because of it. She also calls out Candy Apple Cathy for recruiting amazing dancers from around the country to build her competition team - it's curious considering how Sophia Lucia wound up at ALDC. I wonder what's up with that?
To see all of our Dance Moms coverage click here.
Video ©Bravo
Abby photo by Scott Gries, all photos courtesy of Lifetime
Dance Moms airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on Lifetime
Posted on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
