On May 1, 2024, Lifetime’s iconic reality television show, Dance Moms, resurfaced when some old cast members came together and did an interview-style reunion. The reunion was long awaited by the community of fans and did not disappoint. For those who may not know, Dance Moms aired in 2011 and was originally intended to showcase the competitive dancing of students at the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC). The show was only supposed to last one season and conclude with the Junior Elite Competition Team winning their national competition.
Producers quickly realized that the dramatic mothers of the dancers and hard-core dance teacher, Abby Lee Miller, would draw much more viewers and attention than anticipated. Therefore, the show skyrocketed and created the empire that exists today. Unfortunately, this only resulted in emotional turmoil and broken friendships for the young dancers. The dancers are all young adults now and although most of them left dancing behind when they left the show, they came together to reflect on their journeys and remind each other that they will always be there for each other.
The filming of this one-time special episode merged original cast members and some who joined the show in later seasons– making the promotional social media posts fairly awkward to the fan base. Additionally, several original cast members refused to appear on the special or even speak about their experiences with the show. To preface, the original team in early seasons consisted of acclaimed actress Maddie Ziegler, singer Mackenzie Ziegler, UCLA Graduate and Women’s Rights Activist Nia Sioux Frazier, Pepperdine University Student Chloe Lukasiak, Model Paige Hyland, Influencer Brooke Hyland and James Madison University Dukette, Kendall Vertes. Although not all the original cast members joined for the reunion, two notable cast members who came in seasons 4 and 5 of the series and were in the reunion are Mental Health Advocate, Kalani Hiliker, and Rising Pop Star, JoJo Siwa.
It was very obvious that Maddie, Mackenzie, and Nia would not return to the show to reunite. They explained they simply did not want to return to that part of their lives but that they would always appreciate where they came from, and will always love the original cast. Nonetheless, fellow cast members such as JoJo Siwa, Kendall Vertes and Kalani Hiliker’s mother Kira Girard went on to call anyone who refused to return “ungrateful.”
Furthermore, during the reunion, JoJo Siwa mentioned how it was disheartening that Melissa Gisoni and her two daughters Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler did not come to the reunion and face their trauma head-on. But, there is much more to their story with Abby Lee Miller and the ALDC affiliation that brings back terrible memories for the Ziegler sisters, which they have opened up about publicly after many years of silence.
As fanatics of the show know, Maddie was Abby Lee’s “golden girl” and a favorite dancer throughout her time of knowing her, but that put such a huge amount of pressure on Maddie that resulted in her having panic attacks from a very young age and fueling her motivation to explore other performing arts such as acting. On the other hand, Mackenzie was always being called lazy by Abby Lee and was belittled constantly because she was nothing like her older sister. After many years of frustration and fear, Melissa was able to properly step away from the show and the dance company for good.
Things worsened on Oct. 31, 2024. It was revealed by Kendall Vertes that Melissa invited everyone from the original cast to Maddie’s house to have an early surprise celebration for Paige’s birthday. Kendall recalled, “We’ve never been invited like that before,” making it very peculiar that Melissa would invite them the night before the reunion began filming. Melissa’s most notorious rival, Christi Lukasiak, was unable to film the reunion because of a scheduling conflict; however, she joined the conversation via FaceTime to comment, “Melissa has been orchestrating and playing everyone as long as I’ve known her. She saw an opportunity to absolutely throw a fire blanket on any bomb that was gonna go off today and she took it.”
Christi holds a lot of rage towards Melissa because of the rivalry Abby Lee forced between their daughters, Maddie and Chloe. Those two were the most technical, disciplined dancers of the group and are only a year apart in age. Abby would frequently place them in duets together or have them compete against each other for first-place solo awards. This ruined their friendship and since Abby favored Maddie dramatically, she always wanted her to win and would often sabotage Chloe’s dances.
Chloe expressed that her image of herself changed and it took her many years of her life to regain any sort of confidence. She emphasized her vulnerability by saying, “I thought I wasn’t enough, like in every single way.” Despite the ongoing fued, it has since been revealed that Chloe and Maddie are on speaking terms again and they were even pictured standing next to one another at the celebration for Paige’s birthday the day before the reunion was filmed.
Fans and viewers were very shocked to see the Hylands return to the show after the extremely wild way they left it. They hung up their leotards and left in 2014 during the show’s fourth season. Around that time, Abby Lee was threatening to replace several girls on the team and it was blatantly obvious she was referring to Brooke and Paige. Their mother, Kelly, and Abby had a history of over 40 years together at that point and it was no secret that they were not each others biggest fans. That being said, Kelly frequently left the show and Abby was once quoted saying, “Kelly quits every year,” at one of her open call auditions in New York City that year. A petty argument transpired between the two and it quickly turned into a massive physical altercation that involved the police and scarred many of the children, but especially Brooke and Paige. They unfortunately witnessed their mother get lunged at by Abby Lee Miller, so the family grabbed their costumes and left their dressing room. Kelly made one final appearance a bit later in the season and exposed that she was arrested after the altercation. During the reunion, Brooke Hyland began to cry after re-watching this unfold.
In other news, the girls and their mothers were each asked about a dance that they felt impacted the show and themselves the most. Paige Hyland chose the heart-wrenching dance titled “The Last Text” which is about a group of girls going for a drive when suddenly they get into an accident and each pass away. Paige was not the lead in a dance very often, but she shined despite that. Her facial expressions were moving, and Becton student Freesia An agreed that this dance is unforgettable.
When Kalani Hiliker was asked about which dance moved her the most, she began to break down and only felt comfortable speaking to castmate and longtime friend JoJo Siwa about the matter. The dance in question is titled “Hotline.” It was created in 2017 to break the mental health stigma and spread awareness to viewers of the show. Kalani was very distraught because she played the lead role in the dance and has unfortunately related to the dance’s meaning. On the show, Kalani was only ever seen crying on one occasion. Unlike all the other girls, Kalani never expressed her emotions towards a situation publicly, and she listened to Abby’s infamous saying, “Save your tears for your pillow.” This caused a lot of trouble for Kalani’s mental well-being after leaving the show, and be that as it may, Kalani had a very difficult adolescence because of it. Thankfully, she chooses to spread awareness and use her platform to educate others about the struggles of mental illness. She even launched a self-care brand, called Kare by Kalani, that encourages its users to take care of, and love themselves, just the way they are.
The reunion was filled with bittersweet moments of awkwardness and teeth-gritting interviews, but nonetheless, it is clear that those who chose to tell their stories got the closure they needed and can finally move past their experiences. The show ended adorably with the song from the well-known dance titled “Boss Ladies” and those who were choreographed in the dance chose to do the choreography as everyone else smiled and hugged.
No one said fame and childhood stardom would be easy, but these girls have overcome the obstacles of the dance world and they have bright futures ahead of them!
