Welcome back to my series, Dance Moms Uncovered. This week I'm uncovering just how much influence the producers have over the dancers featured on Dance Moms. On the show it looks like Abby is the one coming up with the ideas for these super controversial dancers.
But let's just say that there could be more to these dancers than the producers cared to show. There is evidence that strongly suggests that it was actually the producers who came up with some of the most risque performance ideas. Feel free to share your thoughts on the following evidence. Evidence number one.
Abby and Gianna's statements. Both Abby and Gianna have claimed on social media that the producers have forced ideas on them for particular dances. Gianna Martello, the assistant choreographer at the Abby Lee Dance Company, is quoted to have said that the producers picked the songs and ideas for the dances. Furthermore, Abby also posted this tweet on the 31st of March 2015. The dance she is referring to is the Tell Me What You Want number inspired by the Spice Girls that went up against the Candy Apples in season 5. This tweet suggests that the whole dance was the producers idea. I wonder whether they knew that this routine wouldn't stand a chance against the Candy Apples, or whether they just wanted a fun number for the Dance Moms fans.
It definitely explains why Abby doesn't get insulted at Mackenzie's comment in the next episode. At that time, it was just to entertain. It wasn't really a competition game. Touche.
That means you are spot on. When Abby announced that she was quitting Dance Moms in Season 7, she released an Instagram post. She claimed that she went against the producers'ideas once again. This proves that the producers have been trying to force their ideas on Abby, and have done so many times before.
My next piece of evidence is the dance Electricity. Electricity was the second group dance to ever be performed on Dance Moms. I believe that it was the producers idea to create a controversial dance with controversial costumes to boost ratings.
First of all isn't it odd that the producers filmed the audience's reaction during the whole dance? Throughout the dance the camera keeps cutting to the audience looking shocked. This shows that they knew it would be controversial, and that the audience would be shocked, so they set up the cameras in advance to capture their reactions.
I mean, they performed in Lancaster, which is generally considered to be a more conservative area of Pittsburgh. Furthermore, before Dance Moms was even a show, a controversial dance was uploaded to YouTube in early 2011. This was a dance to the song Single Ladies, performed by Dance Precisions. As you've probably noticed, Electricity looks like a copy of this dance, with its similar style and even uses the exact same costumes, only in turquoise. Similar to Electricity, this dance sparked quite a bit of controversy online, because of the choreography, costumes and the ages of the girls. The infamous Electricity number was what really got people talking about Dance Moms in the early days of the show, and I think the producers knew exactly what would get people talking.
Number 3. The Fantastic Dance. Abby got a ton of criticism for the group dance Fantastic from Season 2, Episode 9 of Dance Moms. As a result, the episode was never aired on TV again, and it was removed from the Season 2 DVD release.
On the 7th of March, in 2012, Abby posted this tweet. She claimed that the idea wasn't actually hers, and that a creative team comes up with the ideas for these dances. Also, it's only during weeks with controversial costumes. that there is a separate scene to reveal them.
The producers clearly stage scenes to reveal these costumes when they know the mothers will hate them. Well when this has the rhinestones on and they have the headpiece on and the trunks, it won't look like a bride. No, they'll look naked.
Electricity, What Goes Around, and Fantastic all had scenes revealing the controversial costumes. Evidence number four, The Last Dance. The Last Dance was another super controversial dance that was performed in season seven, episode 24. It appalled Bryn's mother, Ashley, so much that the pair quit dance bumps.
Ashley strongly suggests in a clip she sent to TMZ that the producers were the ones who demanded more risque and provoking dances like this one. The last drop for me absolutely was when I expressed my concern with my 13-year-old daughter being on a television show that was portraying young women that way and I was blown off. I was brushed off.
And realizing that without Abby over the show, That was kind of the direction that the show was heading. Without Abby standing up to the ideas, nothing would stand in the way of some of their truly horrible ideas. One of these ideas that Abby refused to do is my next piece of evidence.
Abby revealed in a newsletter entry in 2015 that she was fighting with the producers. She put her foot down when the producers tried to force this idea on her and was even willing to be fined to stop this dance from happening. This happened during the filming of season six, but I'm not sure exactly when it happened.
My theory is that it could be the reason why the girls had to go to Debbie Allen's studio. This week Abby Abandons the Team has kicked us out of her studio. She has decided not to show up, not to teach the kids for competition. Abby wouldn't let us rehearse at her dance studio so we had to rehearse at another location. We're still competing ARDC because Gia is here.
If fighting against these ideas caused so much trouble, can we really blame Abby for the other dancers that she had to choreograph? The bottom line is that people have been accusing Abby for years about routines that weren't even her idea. She was under a contract with Lifetime and was forced to go along with their ideas to avoid fines and probably other threats too.
Honestly, it makes me sick that the producers would be willing to put the girls, their mothers and Abby in the center of all this controversy just to boost ratings for the show. If making this series has taught me anything, It's that rather than blaming the cast members, it's time to start looking at the people behind the camera. So what do you guys think?
Have we been accusing the wrong people this whole time, or is Abby still somewhat responsible for these numbers? Let me know in the comments below. Thank you for watching and I'll see you next time. Bye!