Dance Moms fans were surprised this year with the news the original girls were coming back for a reunion after almost 10 years. On May, 1, Cast members Brooke Hyland, Kendall Vertez, Chole Lukasiak, Paige Hyland, Jojo Siwa and Kalani Hilliker all came back with their mothers after leaving the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC) years before. Fans were ecstatic to hear more behind the scenes and how the girls really felt about Abby Lee Miller and the ALDC.
As the reunion starts the girls are introduced with their current ages and their old headshots that were used on the “pyramid,” and clips of them dancing. Old flashbacks from fights, dances and awards are shown before the girls explain how they felt forty-eight hours before the reunion began. Topics like Maddie Ziegler, Nia Sioux and Mckenzie Ziegler absence from the reunion, Ziegler’s and Lukasiak’s “Show Down,” and Hilliker’s mental health were discussed.
Producers instigated the girls to talk about Hyland’s birthday party which was hosted at the Ziegler’s the day before. Lukasiak, Vertez and the Hylands were invited which made all the others mad. Christi Lukasiak (Chloe’s mom) couldn’t attend the reunion but called getting upset that Melissa Gisoni (Maddie and Mckenzie’s mom) had the party and didn’t invite the other girls. Lukasiak was saying they didn’t invite those girls because they felt “threatened,” by them and their success. Maddie was the face of the ALDC, so I don’t think they felt threatened in any way. This was the first topic brought up because the Ziegler’s refused to be at the reunion. They invited the girls there to make sure they were all on good terms, so they wouldn’t say anything negative about them not being there. I think this made Lukasiak so upset because she always had a problem with Ziegler and wanted to continue to make it seem like she was a bad person.
The rivalry between Lukasiak and Ziegler was also talked about, how Abby treated Ziegler differently and how that affected everyone through life. Lukasiak was constantly compared to Maddie because they were each other’s biggest competition. Being compared to someone and being told your are not enough is not an easy thing to hear. Pretty much all of the girls were compared and there were lots of favoritism throughout the show. I think this is what caused a lot of the fights and why many people left the show.
So much was talked about and you can tell how hurt and how much everything affected the girls. Hilliker had lots of issues with her mental health on and off the show. Lukasiak talks about going through life always thinking about what Abby said to her. I think it is important that the girls were so open about everything. I really loved seeing the girls now and how they are doing now and how they dealt with everything. I do wish everyone was there because it would have been nice to hear everything. The Ziegler’s and Sioux don’t talk about their time on ALDC which I think they should and they should have been there because this was a big part of their life. They started in the dance studio and not being open and not showing up to the reunion makes it seem like they don’t care or appreciate the opportunities that the show gave them.
One thing that I didn’t like was Siwa being there, she was just annoying and always talking and trying to get her piece in on every situation. It really just made me mad every time she had something to say and I just wish she wasn’t there. I also think they should have just brought Abby on the show, this would give the girls a chance to tell Abby what she did to them. It would have also been more interesting to have her there and hear things from her perspective as well. Ultimately, I give the reunion a 7/10.
