When Abby Lee Miller picks on her star dancer Maddie Ziegler on Dance Moms, you know there is trouble brewing. In the Season 5 June 30 episode, the growing pains of moving to Los Angeles were showing since the moms and Abby battled it out. But with the girls of the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC) not having a first place win since they relocated to Los Angeles from Pittsburgh, PA, Abby wasn't pleased with her dancers either — including Maddie.
Maddie, Nia, and Kendall were all given solos and Abby spoke to the three girls about the ALDC's losing streak and told them not to disappoint her. In this episode, the moms were obsessed with the fact that the girls weren't winning because of a lack of technique classes and training, but Abby took it out on the girls by saying they should be stretching and practicing on their own time.
After Abby told Maddie to go to Ross and buy an exercise ball, she made both Maddie and her mother Melissa tear up since she was targeting Maddie for not stretching and working out outside of the studio. (Hey, Abby — you're not in Pittsburgh anymore, so stop with the Ross references.) When the moms came into the studio, Abby also turned on Kendall by saying to her mom Jill, "Why can't [Kendall] stretch on her own?! LAZY!!" Luckily, little Mackenzie missed the insane cross fire since she was busy filming the Nickelodeon show Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn.
Abby said she believes the girls know how to improve on their own since her and their other teachers have given them the tools and foundation of dance. While I can't fault her for that logic, the girls are still young and could always use more training. Things seemed to be on the right track toward the end of the episode with the three soloists perfomring well, but unfortunately, after a huge fight with Kalani's mom Kira, Abby left the dance competition they were competing in and missed their group performance. At first, the moms were irritated, but after the solo dancer results (Kendall placed fifth, Nia placed fourth, and Maddie placed third) and with the group number also getting third, the moms were relieved that Abby wasn't there to show her disapproval.
Based on the editing of Dance Moms, it's hard to know who is right and wrong when it comes to why the girls aren't getting their usual first place prizes. But all I know is that I wouldn't be dancing at a first-place level with so much drama going down between my mom and my dance teacher. These women need to stop placing blame for why the girls keep losing and help their children focus on the thing they love to do — dancing. And maybe then, they will start getting first place again.
Image: Bobby Quillard/Lifetime
