“Everyone is replaceable."

Looks like producers took Abby Lee Miller's notorious quote from Dance Moms a little too seriously. The popular reality TV show, which aired on Lifetime from 2011 to 2019, is out with the old and in with the new: the reboot Dance Moms: A New Era is set to premiere on Hulu on August 7th. The show has undergone a complete makeover with a new coach, new dancers, and new crazy moms.

After eight seasons of iconic fights and national titles, fans are unsure what to make of this reboot. Here's what you should know.

The O.G.s

The original season one cast of Dance Moms consisted of six main dancers, Maddie Ziegler, Mackenzie Ziegler, Chloe Lukasiak, Nia Sioux, Paige Hyland, and Brooke Hyland, and their mothers. Cathy Nesbitt-Stein and her daughter, Vivi-Anne Stein, were also temporarily part of the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC), but left shortly after failing to click with the group. Cathy's own dance studio, Candy Apples Dance Center, became rivals with the ALDC. Later additions to the cast included Kendall Vertes, Jojo Siwa, Kalani Hilliker, Camryn Bridges, Brynn Rumfallo, and more.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The original cast gradually fell apart as time went on. The Hylands left in season 4 after Kelly Hyland's now-famous physical altercation with Abby Lee Miller. The Lukasiaks left around the same time. The Zieglers left after season six, and Nia and Holly Sioux finally said their goodbyes after season seven.

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Who is Abby Lee Miller?

Abby Lee Miller was the dance coach pulling all the strings. She trained the young dancers for weekly competitions with strict rules and certain unorthodox methods. Some of her infamous quotes reflective of her personality include “save your tears for the pillow” and “second is the biggest loser on the stage”.

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In 2015, Miller's career started going downhill. She was charged with bankruptcy fraud after she kept a secret bank account that concealed over $750,000 in income she earned despite filing for bankruptcy. She eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year in prison and served eight months.

But even after completing her sentence, the hardships weren't over for Miller. She was later diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. She underwent ten rounds of chemotherapy and is now cancer-free, but she is still unable to walk due to a tumor that damaged her spine.

Controversy

I watched Dance Moms for the personalities and absurdity. Where else could you see a dance instructor yell at a bus driver to drive steadier because everyone was doing eye makeup, or a mother instructing an empty chair to “do a solo”?

But despite some of its “iconic moments”, the show has always been controversial. Viewers were concerned for the mental well-being of the young dancers. Paige Hyland, for example, began experiencing panic attacks whenever faced with Miller.

Several of them, all grown up now, have spoken out about their experiences on the show. Chloe Lukasiak spoke on Dance Moms: The Reunion about how she struggled with self-confidence after being constantly pitted against and compared to Maddie, who has also reflected on the toxic Dance Moms environment.

Coach Glo

Glo, or Gloria, Hampton is the coach of Studio Bleu, the studio for the reboot. Hampton and her daughter, Kaeli Ware, appeared in several episodes of the original Dance Moms, and Studio Bleu was one of the ALDC's biggest rivals, beating the ALDC at multiple competitions. Now, Hampton has taken over and is ruling with a “tender but tough iron fist”.

As the Star Dance Alliance Teacher of the Year for 2022 and serving as a national judge for Dance One, Hampton certainly has the credentials for the job. Fans are eager to see if she'll be a copy-paste version of Miller or an upgrade.

Tiny but Mighty

The new cast consists of eight dancers: Ashlan, Audrey, Bellatrix, Isabella ‘Smiley’, Leilah Bell, Lily, Gina, and Mina. By the looks of it, the producers factored in diversity when creating this new cast, an improvement from the original cast, which consisted of all-white dancers, with the exception of Nia.

As someone who has watched her fair share of Dance Moms, I'm hoping the producers have learned from both the criticism and the love the show received. Instead of focusing on mom meltdowns and crying kids, I hope to see the new era set boundaries that were absent from past seasons and rebuild the reputation of Dance Moms.