Dance Moms has faced a ton of negativity the last couple seasons (along with dropping ratings) – all of it focused on how Abby Lee Miller treats her pre-teen dance students! There’s the lawsuits from Paige and her mom Kelly Hyland, the very public-leaving of fan favorite Chloe Lukasiak, rumors that Nia Frazier is on her way out next, and Abby constantly scrambling to keep girls on her team.
However, Lifetime reportedly has no plans to stop the Abby Lee Monster! During a recent trip to Australia, where Abby wasn’t even wanted, she revealed season 6 is a definite. Abby and the girls are filming while in Down Under, and Abby hinted about recruiting new students for the ALDC. “Maybe season six will be an Australian Dance Moms,” she suggested says the Daily Telegraph.
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Maybe Abby will have to flee the USA in exile? In an interview with USA Today, Abby’s no. 1 protege, Maddie Ziegler even complained about fakery on the show and admitted producers stage a lot of the conflict. Maddie insists the dancer’s reactions are “really real” due to their “crazy competition life,” but the adult drama is fabricated and coerced.
“It’s hard to do a reality show when there’s so much crying and drama. The producers set it up to make us all yell at each other,” Maddie confessed. “If my mom ever screams, I get embarrassed.”
She also revealed that in real life both the moms and the dancers are close friends. “You know how I said that moms do fight? The moms have a fake fight sometimes,” Maddie continued. “Afterward they just start talking and laugh about it. All the girls on the show, they’re my best friends.”
Which is an interesting segue into Kelly’s lawsuit against Abby and Collins Avenue Entertainment (Dance Moms’ producers), in which Kelly accuses producers of instigating her fight against Abby, and creating a threatening situation which resulted in things getting physical. They then refused to let her leave the set! As a result of the hair pulling and slapping, Kelly was charged with assault by Abby.
Kelly’s attorney is attempting to force Lifetime into releasing unedited footage of the fight scene, because what is featured on the show doesn’t present an accurate portrait, and misrepresents what truly happened. Since that edited footage is being used as part of Abby’s defense against Kelly, Kelly wants a judge to allow them access to hours of videotaped outtakes.
“We’re entitled to know what was true and what was staged here,” lawyer Michael Skliar argued in court, believing that the unseen footage could give a better indication of who is to blame for the argument and what caused it to exacerbate.
Julia Atcherley, the high-powered attorney for A&E Network (which owns Liftime), argued the show is protected under the First Amendment. According to NY Daily News she also insisted 13 witnesses of the smack-down can give a truthful representation of what transpired.
Kelly was suing for defamation of character and emotional distress, but that portion of the case was thrown out by an LA judge. UNFORTUNATELY. Kelly is moving forward with negligence and breach of contract claims, maintaining producers coerced her to violate, then fired her. Kelly’s daughter Paige is also suing for defamation and breach of contract, that case is also still in progress.
Finally Chloe hasn’t hung-up her dancing shoes since freeing herself from Abby Lee. Instead Chloe’s dancing has improved under the tutelage of new teachers and she has found success with the prestigious Studio 19 Dance Complex.
With her new studio, Chloe has been winning competitions and building industry connections.
“‘Break the Silence’! Highest Scoring routine of the entire day!! Almost perfect!! Thank you @shannonmather1 for the beautiful choreo for this junior large group! We LOVE you! #studio19 #season10,” the dance studio captioned a photo from this weekend’s competition.” {credit: instagram}
“Such an amazing weekend. I’m so grateful for all of these wonderful people in my life. I’m beyond happy at @studio19dancecomplex Wouldn’t be anywhere without my incredible teachers Tammy, Katie, Beth, and Robin,” Chloe gushed on Instagram. “So happy to have such amazing friends to share this experience with. Love everyone beyond words. Thank you for taking me into your family. You have no idea how happy you guys make me. Cannot wait to see what the rest of this year and many more years holds. I’m so appreciative for all of these amazing people and all of these wonderful opportunities. Thank you and I love you all.”
I’m happy to see Chloe thriving, regaining a love of dance, and what seems to be a new confidence! Good for her.
So far there are no plans for Chloe and Studio 19 (another Pittsburgh-based studio) to compete against ALDC in any competitions. Although I wonder if Chloe is still technically under contract, despite being “fired” from Dance Moms?
TELL US – DID PRODUCERS INSTIGATE THE FIGHT BETWEEN KELLY AND ABBY?
[Photo Credit: Instagram]
