"Dance Moms: New Girl in Town" Recap

August 28, 2012

Last week we got to see another side of the Abby Lee Dance Company—the recital side. We also got to see the hip-hop side, which I’d be more than happy to never see again. (That hip hop looked a whole lot like lyrical…) This week, thank goodness, the dancers got back to what they do best: competitions and contemporary dance. What were the top five moments? Read on to find out. 

5. All my favorites got a solo—and they totally  nailed them!
Chloe was rewarded for her good performance last week with a cool solo and an even cooler costume. She didn’t perform her best, but some of her turn sequences were still unreal. Nia’s routine blew her previous attempts at solo-dom out of the water. She danced beautifully to scatting by Josephine Baker, and handled the maturity of the piece like a pro. While Mackenzie’s solo only had the emotional maturity of, well, a 6-year-old, she still steals my heart every time. I’ve never enjoyed pursed lips and shimmying shoulders more. Everyone was in the top ten!

4. Paige can dance again!
That boot came off just in time, because seeing her pouty face while sitting on the sidelines was getting too depressing.

3. Enter Kaya and Nicaya.
Gotta love a mother/daughter pair with rhyming names, right? Nicaya, while not a great acrobat or speller, seemed to have decent technique, and just enough microphone-stealing “divatude” (her word, not mine) to stir up the pot. And her mom was tricky—she had the insult-the-moms-but-suck-up-to-Abby drill down to a science—until the end of the episode when she blew her cover and freaked out at everyone. Will she be back next week? My guess is absolutely (though she wasn’t in the preview). Silver lining: When Kaya referred to the Hyland sisters as “Broke-Back Brooke and Peg-Leg Paige,” I died laughing.

2.
Speaking of the Hylands, Brooke and Paige had the cutest sister moment ever (something to strive for, Maddie and Mackenzie) when they filmed a YouTube video of Brooke singing her original “Summer Love Song” and Paige backing her up with strange hand movements. My guess is that vid went viral. (Update: I just tried to find it and couldn’t, so I guess not.)

1. This week’s group number was a thinker.
“I Can See The Kite Flying” focused on an insane asylum (I won’t go into what this could be a metaphor for). Despite not grasping the concept at all, the kids did a convincing job at faking it. The choreography was unique and interesting, and Abby didn’t hate on anyone for messing up (always a plus). We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again—Abby does weird well.

Do you love when Abby’s choreography gets dark and twisted? Do you want to see the return of Kaya and Nicaya? Are you as obsessed as I am with Mackenzie’s back walkovers? Let me know what you think, and tune in next week for another recap.