While this season, the original Dance Moms have been pushing their children to be “The Next Maddie” since Maddie’s departure last season, this week they banded together over a common enemy: the Mini Moms. And as always, they are being vocal about their opinions.
We started this week at Pyramid, where Abby ranks the children in order of their performance from the previous week. Jess is certain that her daughter, Jojo, will receive a good ranking, since she had done a beautiful lyrical duet with Brynn last week. She gets a nasty shock, when Jojo ranks below a couple of the girls on the Mini team. All the original Dance Moms demand that Abby split the Pyramid rankings by groups. This is only the beginning of the division between the Junior Elite Moms and the original Dance Moms.
This week, the team is attending a dance competition in Arizona. Abby gives out two duets: one to Kendall and Nia, and the other to Brynn and Kalani. Since Brynn and Kalani are from Arizona, they feel the pressure to win and prove to their hometown they are improving under Abby’s guidance. The group dances this week are themed Mother’s Day. Abby assigns a lyrical group dance to the Mini team as a tribute to her late mother. A heartfelt flashback scene is inserted to show the bond that Abby had with her mom. Meanwhile, the Junior Elite Team is assigned a supposedly funny (but actually offensive) group routine.
The original moms are unimpressed when they see their daughters’ dance. The dance has the junior girls using jokingly using walkers as a prop. Holly explains that Nia was ill and had to be in a wheelchair when she was younger. All the original moms collectively pull their daughters from the dance, because they find it inappropriate and offensive. The Mini moms accuse the original dance moms of pulling the dance because they are threatened by their daughters’ lyrical routine. The original moms dismiss them as delusional.
Abby’s work with the Mini Team proves to be difficult, when the young girls don’t apply their dance corrections. When Abby finally starts working with the junior team, she tells them to improvise. The girls look confused throughout practice. It is clear they are at a loss, and Abby is not going to give them a choreographed dance. The Minis are consuming all of Abby’s coaching time, and the original moms have a problem with it.
On the day of the competition, the Junior Elite Team and the original moms avoid entering the competition with the Mini Team. We find out that Gianna and the girls choreographed their own dance in the hotel room the night before. The Mini Team and Junior Elite team go to their respective dressing rooms. Kalani and Brynn’s costume is lackluster, and does not fit their serpent-theme duet. While they practice their dance in front of Abby for the final time before performance, the Mini Team rushes into the room to wish luck to the Junior Elite Team. In a rush, Kalani and Brynn left to perform their dance, and Nia and Kendall follow suit shortly after. Eventually, everyone goes to the viewing area to support the two duets. Kalani and Brynn dance beautifully. Unfortunately, Nia’s strap falls during her duet, but neither Kendall nor she miss a beat.
After the duets, the Mini moms enter the junior team’s dressing room to confront the original moms. One of the Mini moms happens to be a therapist, and she accuses Kalani and the other girls of being rude and the moms for ignoring them. Kalani’s mom, Kira, becomes livid. She yells at the Mini moms to leave their dressing room and to leave them alone. When they don’t and continue complaining about the way they are being treated, she physically pushes them apart in a fit of anger and all the OG Moms leave the room with her. One of the Mini moms screeches that Kira is supposed to be a role model. The therapist feels the need to tell Abby she was pushed by Kira. Of course, Abby does not care and pretty much tells her to drop it. What else is new?
The Mini’s group dance was beautiful, and the kids do a great job with the choreography. It was a very Abby-esque dance, and exactly what you would expect Abby Miller to choreograph. The junior group dance is absolutely wonderful, and does not look at all like they choreographed it the night before in a hotel room.
Kendall and Nia‘s duet places third, meanwhile Kalani and Brynn’s dance place second. The Minis win first for their group dance. The Junior Elite Team’s group routine also wins first place in their division. When the announcer asks who choreographed their dance, they awkwardly answer that they did it themselves.
Back in the dressing room, the Mini moms once again comes into the junior team’s group, this time to present a large poster of Abby and her mother as a Mother’s Day gift. The original dance moms are fed up with the Mini mom’s thirst for attention, considering none of the mini team members or their moms know Abby’s mom’s name. The original moms are angry that mini moms would insinuate the junior team would be rude to their kids. Holly, the voice of reason, asks Abby if the junior team has ever been rude to any guest dancers, to which Abby answers that they never have. Finally, the original moms end with giving Abby an ultimatum: The Junior Elite Team or the Mini Team. Abby tells them to be careful what they wish for. Abby is clearly unimpressed and already plotting her revenge for next week for the ultimatum.
Photo via Lifetime
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