The 2011 Lifetime hit reality show struck the nation for its intense pressure on kids, and a unique look into the dance world. A team six girls from Pittsburgh, PA practiced competitive dance at the Abby Lee Dance Company. The mothers would argue and fight about unfair advantages some kids had, while the infamous Abby Lee Miller coached her girls with intense pressure and borderline bullying. 13 years after the series premiere, Hulu released a rebooted series this summer with a new dance teacher, new moms, but the same grueling conditions.
Dance moms ran from 2011 to 2019 with a total of 8 seasons. Every week, the girls would learn new dances to perform at a competition that weekend. In a video by original dancer Chloe Lukasiak, they girls would typically have 2-4 days to learn their new routines for the week. Most competitions were away, so they had to allot for travel time.
In August 2024, Hulu released a rebooted series titled “Dance Moms: A New Era”. It follows a similar formula with a new cast. Dance teacher Gloria “Glo” Hampton from Studio Bleu coaches eight new dancers: Ashlan, Audrey, Bellatrix, Isabella “Smiley”, Leilah, Lily, Gina, and Mina. The girls are around 10-11 years old; Audrey being the oldest at 13 and Mina the youngest at 8.
In terms of plot, the series is pretty much identical to that of the original. Each week would start with “Pyramid”, a segment where the girls were ranked and placed on a pyramid based on their performance last week, or in some cases, their mother’s behavior. The dances for the next week were announced, with an average of two solos and one group dance a week. They were given at least two days to practice from 5PM to 9PM, while still attending public school four days a week. Chaos ensues on competition day, and after performing and awards ceremony, the girls were critiqued or praised in the dressing room.
In this new series, I noticed many familiar setups and plot points that were big reason for chaos in the original show. First, Glo had an obvious favorite student: Audrey. She received the most praise out of all the other girls. If there was going to be a solo that week, it went to Audrey. Her mother, Tammi, was conveniently good friends with coach Glo. In the middle of the series, one mom out of nowhere revealed that Glo was living in Tammi’s basement (allegedly). This stirred up a lot of trouble when the other moms found out.
This is very reminiscent of former dance mom Melissa Gisoni’s friendship with Abby Lee Miller. As a “friend”, she would allegedly help Abby clean the studio, walk her dog, and worked at the front desk for free. It’s never mentioned outright, but is assumed to be why Melissa’s daughters Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler are Abby’s favorites. With this, they were treated better, given more private rehearsal time, and were guaranteed solos at nationals. Even Abby claims that Melissa would pull her daughters from school herself to get even more practice in a podcast appearance last year.
This series is inevitably missing the authenticity the original show had. The original series starts off as a random studio in cloudy Pittsburgh, with an angry dance teacher and four mothers whose history goes back decades. Original dance mom Kelly Hyland took dance with Abby’s mother Maryen Lorrain Miller. She had known Abby since she was two years old, and 40 years later, she was still bringing her children to take dance at Abby’s studio. All that to say, the moms did not join the studio to be on the show, the show was brought to the studio.
The new series was filmed at Studio Bleu in Ashburn, Virginia. It’s a real established studio outside of the series. Even so, I think the authenticity is lost when choosing to host the show at your studio, already knowing the success of the original series. In my opinion, it also affected the overall comic relief. There are a few moments of the kids being kids, and the moms being funny, but that’s about it.
One thing I really didn’t like about this series was the girls’ attitudes towards each other. In episode five, 11-year-old Gina was brought in to challenge Audrey. They were both praised to be the best dancers of the eight girls, and continued to be rivals for the rest of the series. As the episodes continued, Gina was talked down to by the other girls. She was picked on for coming in late and taking away their practice time, solos, and overall place on the team. In the final episodes, Audrey literally picked on Gina in front of the other girls, mothers, and Glo.
I was actually very impressed by the creativity of some of the dances. In the original series, aside from their show-stopping national numbers, many dances felt repetitive and lackluster. Week after week, another simple lyrical dance would grace the stage with a slightly different theme and outfits. But in the new series, I truly enjoyed most of the dances. In the first group dance “Shattered”, the girls started in a dome and broke out one by one with a special material that looked like real glass.
Episode four had a very interesting trio called “Bound Together”, where the three girls had to dance in and out of this net material. One of my favorite dances was “The Menu” from episode seven. It had such tricky and timed choreography where the girls had to pass plates down the table to each other without missing a beat.
If you’re a huge Dance Moms fan, I would actually recommend watching this new series. Although it’s missing that spark that the original show had, its performances really stand out. The final episode ends in a cliff hanger of who will stay for the next season. If it continues, I will probably be watching.