I'm actually panicking rn, I enrolled bright and early this morning and had many enrolled courses, and now Acorn says I'm not in anything! I didn't click unenrol, what on Earth happened? I'm going to be so distraught if I got removed from these classes
Multiple times in the past few weeks, I’ve seen people call Kaya “Black Patsy” even though the mods are constantly reminding people that Kaya would prefer to be called by her real name. Now, I always assume that people are coming from a well-intentioned place, and maybe are just not aware of this. So I gently comment “just to let you know, Kaya would prefer to be called by her real name”. Once I got no response so I assumed the person just didn't know, however I did get a bunch of downvotes. Another time a different person continued to argue with me about it. And I've seen other posts where people refer to her that way and just absolutely refuse to change it. Why tf are some people so attached to calling a Black woman by a name that she’s explicitly said she doesn’t want to be called anymore??
First of all, Kaya never asked anybody to call her Black Patsy on the show. That nickname was an inside joke between her mom, her friends, and herself. The moms asked what they should call her, and she says “Kaya.” She’s said it online, she’s said it on the show, her nametag in later seasons says Kaya, Nia refers to her as Kaya in her book, they call her Kaya on BTTB, all her online handles say Kaya. Obviously, this woman wants to be called Kaya. Do you let everyone in your life call you by the nicknames that your mom or your friends call you?? These moms had very racist moments on the show and by insisting on calling her Black Patsy, they were clearly doing it in a way that was meant to make fun of her or make her feel bad about herself. They seemed to see “Black” as an offensive or demeaning label (really telling on themselves huh) and so they were astonished that Kaya put “Black” in her nickname, and used it to get away with saying things they wouldn’t have ordinarily said, like Christi saying “don’t let the door hit your Black ass on the way out”.
To continue to call a Black lesbian woman by a name that she has told fans that she doesn’t like, is disrespectful at best, and in this political climate, outright hateful at worst. If you didn’t know, let this be your PSA. Everyone on this show deserves to be called by their real name. We all rightly understand how dehumanizing and cruel it was when Abby refused to use Chloe’s name, so let’s apply the same understanding to Kaya. Her name is Kaya, and we should refer to her that way.
Her character is hands down my favourite parent character that I've met so far. Absolutely hilarious to watch her scenes, especially because I have an aunt that has a similar (albeit not as extreme) complete and utter lack of regard for boundaries about personal topics. I also found the references to some of Freud's more questionable theories amusing, because somehow Freud comes up in so many of my lectures when I least expect it, and a couple of my professors try their best to find "examples" of his theories in literature like some twisted game of Where's Waldo, so I felt vindicated by Leonard's annoyance LOL.
What's everyone else's favourite parent character on the show?
One of my favourite professors told me that I should watch this show after she heard about my interest in vexillology (my friends were talking about the World Cup and although I don't really know much about sports, they know that I like flags and so they allow me to fill in flag history trivia about both countries that are playing on a given day). My professor told me that I might enjoy Sheldon's character because he has an appreciation for flags as well. I haven't seen that subject come up in the show yet (probably a later season thing, as I understand the show changes a lot and two more female characters will be added), but I will say that I'm greatly enjoying it!
It has become my nightly ritual to watch a few episodes, and it's really funny. I do agree with Sheldon on some things, like how in one episode, Penny shouldn't have told him to come to the party at 7 if the party didn't actually start at 7, and his friends really do expect him to know a lot of social conventions that make no sense without explaining them to him (except for Leonard; I like Leonard because his kindness is similar to one of my friends in real life). However, I find Sheldon very sexist towards Leslie, which I do not appreciate, and I also do not appreciate the fact that he consistently undervalues the humanities and apparently cannot see the value in literature. Overall though, I will say I do like Sheldon's character and find his actor very talented, and I also like Penny, Leonard, and Raj. I think Howard needs to be served with several restraining orders. I don't like him yet, but hopefully this is a Schitt's Creek situation and I'll warm up to him eventually.
Anyway, wonderful show! Does anyone have any insight into the trajectory of the show? Does it improve in later seasons with a more even gender balance? Does Howard ever become likeable? When do flags become involved? I'm so excited to keep watching!
(Here are mine! I didn't do everyone's, others can add more)
Maddie - Helen Keller (s2): She hit the accents in the music so well, used the ragdoll prop perfectly, and was able to change the quality of her movement throughout the piece in ways we hadn't seen from her on the show yet by that point. In the full version of the solo, the way she changed her spot four times during one of her turning sequences to mimic the feeling of disorientation when she lost the doll is such good choreography. I also loved the control she had over her facials, like not looking at the doll prop while she searched for it to sell the fact that she's playing someone blind. Very impressive execution of a difficult piece for a 9 year old. I love Happiness and Lizzie Borden and Bond Girl like everyone else, but Helen Keller was also incredible.
Chloe - Black Heart (S3): I HATE that the storyline surrounding this solo was about the hand gesture that Christi told her to do as she went offstage (which was not inappropriate in any way, so idk what Abby was on about) because this is an amazing Chloe solo that doesn't get enough love. Her lines were beautiful as always, but how about those gorgeous turns that she does at the very end of the solo where her hair fans out around her? Incredible. Her facials were really good, her energy was up, her technique was extremely solid. She managed to make the aerial look effortless, which is impressive to me because I know she struggled with acro sometimes. This solo — and her 1st place win with it — was proof that not even Abby trying to sabotoge this kid could overshadow her talent.
Brooke - Purple Reign (S4): I share the popular opinion that Garden of Eden and Diary of Anne Frank are definitely her best on-show solos, but Purple Reign is pretty amazing too and doesn't get as much love. Her extensions are lovely, her tricks looked light and floaty if that makes sense (I never did acro), and I am forever in admiration of Brooke's releve. The quality of the choreography was more mature and solemn for this solo rather than it feeling like a childish acro solo, which was a trap that the choreographers on this show fell into a lot. Her ending pose and the transition into it were creative too. This dance also had a really great costume, which was rare for the Hyland kids to get, poor things 😭
Paige - Creme de la Creme (S2): Okay, it's not underrated on here, but at first I personally didn't understand why it was so well-liked because what I saw on the show was pretty basic. But that's because I had never seen the full version before! I made a post about this a while ago; it turns out the editing for this solo was terrible, and Paige was actually doing a lot of very impressive things in it that got cut. Her facials are great as usual, and she looks adorable onstage. But the calibre of tricks that she executed was really cool, especially her sequence of aerials. She also had an illusion in the cut choreo that showcased her lines. I think that if Abby had given Paige and Chloe a good musical theatre duet in S2 it would have won big, because Paige had good extensions and long lines like Chloe when she could keep her alignment and her feet under control. Anyway, lovely solo!
Nia - 20s Scat (S2): I was stuck between this and No Regrets, but ultimately went with this one because she was so young for such a mature piece and this was the first solo where you could really see how much Abby underutilized her. Her leaps were beautiful, her lines were the cleanest we had ever seen them up until this point, and the way she paid attention to the smallest details of the music was really amazing to watch (look up the full version and you'll see how great her comprehension of the music was). She literally breathed in time with the breaths in the music. The landing of the aerial was light, and I also loved the costume and that she got a pretty routine with choreo she liked. Beautiful performance!
Mackenzie - Don't Take My Fire (S6): Again, love a routine where you can tell that they're properly processing each individual beat in the music, and you can see that immediately in the beginning of this routine. This also showed the trajectory of Mackenzie's improvement with her leaps, because she had straighter legs and better alignment on some of them than in many of her other solos. She had really great energy, the choreography made sense for her age, and she looked confident on the stage.
Kendall - Living the Blues (S5): If there was one thing they were going to do to Jill's little Kendall it was give her some sort of prop to deal with for no reason 😭. However, I actually think the choreo with the hat worked really well for her here. And the turns!!! She had an amazing turning day that day. She was admittedly lacking in her facials, however her movement itself had personality, her musicality had improved, her extensions were lovely, and the leaps showcased her flexibility. I also love how sparkly the costume looked under the stage lights, and also how well the song fit Kendall's quality of movement.
(Sorry I wrote a lot lol)
I apologize in advance if this is already common knowledge, but I just stumbled across a video of Paige's Creme de la Creme solo in its entirety, and the clips of this solo they used for the show is probably some of the worst editing they've ever done. Paige did an AMAZING job of this dance, and they literally edited out everything that made it impressive! That must have been so frustrating
You know how when the select team came, they were matched up with an elite team member that "matched" them? I think that if the OGs were all still around when the minis were introduced, they could have done the same thing. And here's who I think from the mini team was most like each of the OGs:
Elliana - Maddie (Great expressions, perfectionism, and attention to technical details)
Areana - Chloe (Ability to execute a lot of turns, really shines in lyrical numbers)
Lily - Brooke (Flexible, strong acro dancer and contortionist)
Alexus - Paige (Didn’t get many solos but is one of the strongest in groups because of her amazing faces)
Payton - Nia (An incredible tumbler, determined, small but strong)
I might have gotten spellings of the minis' names wrong, but let me know if there's anyone you think the minis would have matched up with better than who I said
It seems like there's been a weird increase in negativity on this sub in the last few days, so let's go back to talking about dances we liked and girls that worked well together! I feel like trios get overlooked the most when talking about favourite categories of dances (probably because something went wrong in a lot of the early season trios tbh) so I want to hear people's favourites!
This sounds strange, but my favourite English professor/mentor who I have a really special bond with is leaving forever to a place where I'll never see her again, and I think a book about a similar situation would help me process that feeling of loss. I do not want a professor x student romance; that is not the dynamic I'm going for. This is just someone really important to me who supported my proudest moments when nobody else did, and has taught me a lot about life, who I will really miss. Does anyone have a recommendation for books that capture that vibe between two characters?
Sorry if this is a dumb question or has already been answered elsewhere. I'm just confused because I met all the requirements and haven't been invited to join yet. I thought the minor was a type 2 program? The deadline to accept is fast approaching, so I hope I didn't misunderstand something 🥲
I’ve started listening to BTTB, and in the first few episodes they are CONSTANTLY complaining about having to take their shoes off in the dance studio for pyramid. Jill also complains about it in an episode iirc. I don’t know if it’s just that I’m not from the U.S. and social customs about wearing shoes indoors is different there, but I kind of don’t see why they have such a huge issue with it? They keep saying that it’s controlling and demeaning to make someone stand in their socks, but I completely disagree.
The type of flooring in dance studios is special flooring that makes it safer to do tricks, and is better for your body when you’re doing pointe, repetitive leaps, and things of that nature. Wearing outdoor shoes could damage that flooring, which is expensive to replace and not good to do pointe on when damaged. The girls are also shown frequently doing classes in that studio in their bare feet. Imagine having to dance for hours in your bare feet where someone has walked all over with shoes that were in contact with dirt, mud, snow, animal poop, bugs, and who knows what else? Their hands and even their faces touch the floor sometimes when they do acro tricks too. For the health and safety of the dancers, I think it was absolutely valid to force the moms to remove their outdoor shoes for the health and safety of the dancers.
Why do Kelly and Christi have a problem with this? Is there some sort of social stigma around wearing only socks? Do dance studios in the U.S. usually not make parents remove their shoes before entering? I know this isn’t that deep, but it is very puzzling to me.
I know that Abby had her favourites and least favourites, but I went down a rabbit hole of trying to find the Dance Moms solos on youtube, and I'm realizing that Paige had a TON of solos that didn't make it to air. These unaired solos include "People", "Poison Apple", "Tongue Twister", "Hot List", and even more judging by the random solo costumes you can see her wearing in the background of some episodes. Everyone knows that Maddie and Chloe had the most solos, but I was surprised that even the other main girls had significantly more solos than Paige. A breakdown:
From S1 E1 to S4 E7 (the one where the Hylands leave), Paige had 9 of her solos aired.
Brooke had 14. Nia had 15. Kendall had 18. Mackenzie had 21. Chloe had 39. Maddie had 43.
For goodness sake, Asia only had two fewer solos than Paige, and she was only on the show for less than a full season!
Now, not everything can be fair, and it would be silly to expect the girls to get the exact same number of solos all the time as they're at different levels. BUT 43 TO 9? That level of disparity is WAY over the top, and makes me wonder if it was more than *just* Abby being rude.
From a production standpoint, do we know if there's a reason why Paige's solos rarely made it to the air?
This is a weird situation and potentially a stupid question....basically my final grade for a course got posted today on Acorn, and it's way better than I expected. Which is awesome! But I'm a little confused on how I possibly could have scored so high, because the grade is 3% higher than my highest grade on any assignment for the entire semester. It should be mathmatically impossible for my grade to be that good. This isn't a class where curving happened for assignments, and every grade from the entire course was posted so I didn't just underestimate how well I did or something. I'm really happy, don't get me wrong, but I'm starting to get anxious that my professor accidentally gave me someone else's grade. Is it an offence in any way to not mention this?