By now, fans probably know that reality shows have more secrets than what you see on screen. Are they scripted? Are the supposed "enemies" actual friends when the cameras stop rolling? Fans of the hit Lifetime series Dance Moms probably know there is more involved behind-the-scenes.
Were the competitions real? Were the fights scripted? Did the young dancers even want to be on the show? Fans have many questions that they would love to have answered in a tell-all book. Take a look at some of those most frequently requested questions. What was it really like to be on Dance Moms?
10 Competitions Are Re-Filmed
When fans watch Dance Moms, they might wonder how the competitions are organized and filmed. How do the cameras capture the routines when there are judges and an audience? As it turns out, according to the girls, the dancers perform their routine for the judges and then complete a second performance for the cameras. This allows the crew to capture all the footage they need for the finalized episode.
In 2014, International Business Times traveled to the Sheer Talent competition in New Jersey. They learned it took nine hours to film just one competition segment of an episode. The dancers were often exhausted by the end of the day, and we can't blame them.
9 Mackenzie Ziegler Didn't Want To Dance
In 2018, Mackenzie Ziegler (younger sister of Dance Moms superstar Maddie Ziegler) shared her experience on the reality series in a tell-all book, Kenzie's Rules for Life: How to be Happy, Healthy and Dance to Your Own Beat. In the book, Ziegler revealed she didn't like dancing when she started the show in 2011.
"I didn't feel like I was good enough," Ziegler shared. "I was also really nervous about people watching me on TV. Would they laugh at me? Would I look really stupid up there? I know the cameras would be following us around and catching everything I did and said. I was embarrassed and really insecure." That's a lot to handle for a six-year-old.
8 Why Chloe Left The Show
Chloe Lukasiak was a fan favorite for many viewers. They loved her personality and dance solos. So, they were shocked when she unexpectedly left the show following its fourth season. However, there were already problems at the start of the season. In a YouTube video, Lukasiak explained that she was kicked out of the dance studio one day because she wouldn't sign a contract concerning her weight and appearance.
She said, "It said things like you couldn't gain or lose five or 10 pounds, something like that. You couldn't do anything to your hair." Lukasiak also explained her former dance teacher (Abby Lee Miller) wanted 10 percent of the money Lukasiak made on the show. The dancer wouldn't sign the contract and she had to leave the studio.
7 It Wasn't Supposed To Be A Reality Show
Dance Moms seems like the perfect concept for a reality series, but it wasn't originally supposed to be a reality show. Instead, it was pitched as a documentary series. Dance Moms alum Nia Sioux shared on her YouTube channel that the show was supposed to be entirely different.
She explained, "It was only supposed to be for six weeks and six episodes, so we never really thought anything of it. Obviously, it turned into much more than that." Clearly, Lifetime producers realized the potential for a major reality show, and they weren't wrong. Fans were hooked from the very first episode.
6 How The Girls Went To School
The young dancers had a busy schedule while filming for Dance Moms. In between the filming and dance rehearsals, the girls had to go to school. Some of them still attended public school, while others were homeschooled right across the street from the Abby Lee Dance Company studio.
In a video posted on JoJo Siwa's YouTube channel, she addressed how the girls went to school. They studied from 8 to 11 a.m., had a lunch break, and then resumed school until 4 or 5 p.m. until it was time to dance all night. The girls shared one schoolteacher, even though they were in different grades. Does that sound like your type of school?
5 Abby Was Even Worse Off Camera
It's hard to imagine Abby Lee Miller's temper being any worse behind-the-scenes than she behaved when the cameras were rolling. However, Jill Vertes (Kendall's mother) shared in an interview for Australia's Studio 10 that what you see is what you get with Miller.
Vertes commented, "People think that it's gotta be for the cameras, and it's not. It's really who she is." She added that the girl dancers could "attest that she [Miller] would be worse when the cameras were off because she really doesn't want everybody to hate her." If you thought it was all "for show," well, unfortunately, it wasn't.
4 The Girls Were Stressed
The dancers were young girls when they were on Dance Moms. They shouldn't have endured the hectic schedules, stress, and behavior. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Maddie Ziegler revealed in her tell-all book, The Maddie Diaries, that she did "a lot of crying" in the early seasons. She was pressured to perform, even when she was sick.
Ziegler added, "I learned a lot of lessons. I had the craziest time when I was with her [Abby Lee Miller] and on that team. I was stressed at 11 years old, which shouldn't happen." Because of this, the girls typically don't speak fondly of their experiences on the show.
3 They Learned The Dances Quickly
If it seems like the girls learned their weekly dance routines far too quickly, that's because it was really like that. Nia Sioux explained, "We started the dance on Wednesday. We would finish it either Thursday or Friday, and we would compete Saturday."
The girls would often dance until late hours of the night - far later than young girls should stay at a dance studio. They had to learn their routines quickly, but if some mistakes were made during the competition performances, the camera crew allowed for some retakes. The girls had more time on the day of the competition to perfect their routines to the best of their ability.
2 The Pyramid Took Forever
One of the most famous aspects of Dance Moms was the "pyramid" segment at the beginning of every episode. Abby Lee Miller ranked the girls' performances from the previous competition, which Chloe Lukasiak commented wasn't a normal thing to do. She said, "Let's rank children and tell them how horrible they are."
Lukasiak explained that the dance studio never used the system before starting the show. It also took about two hours to film the segment. She said, "Imagine standing there for two hours listening to your dance teacher talk, and most of the time she's telling five out of six children how horrible they are."
1 The Drama Was Mostly Staged
With any reality television series, the drama isn't totally "reality." Dance Moms didn't have a script, but situations were set up. Dancer Payton Ackerman explained, "All I can tell you is that they set up situations that might have not actually happened, which causes a reaction to something that happened that wouldn't have if they didn't set it up."
However, there was drama between the moms, which should make fans happy. Nia Sioux explained, "If it wasn't like that in normal life, then the show wouldn't have even picked our studio in the first place." Dance Moms may not have always been "reality," but there were plenty of real fights.
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