u/Naive_Shape_9323

First of all, I’m posting this here because it gave me a good laugh, not because I think the creator was trying to direct hate towards any dancers nor because I want anyone to go hate on them. 

But omg, these rankings are WILD. I don’t think a single person is in a spot on the list that even remotely makes sense other than like two people. Trust me. You’re going to watch it and immediately go “HUH” at #36, then again at #34, and by #20 I was laughing because WHAT DO YOU MEAN Fallon ranks above Sophia? And then it just gets more insane from there 😭

To be clear, every single one of these girls was talented! But this just serves as a reminder that a lot of the fandom doesn't actually have dance experience (not that it's a requirement), and sometimes when someone argues with you on here, it comes from a place of simply not being informed about dance technique, and not a personal thing against you!

I'm in my 20s, and my brother is a younger teen. He's absolutely fearless and LOVES rollercoasters. My parents hate theme parks and barely let him go anywhere by himself. He went to Wonderland once on a band field trip in school, and he always talks about how fun it was, so I'm surprising him with tickets for just the two of us for his birthday!

But here's the thing: I'm also VERY ANXIOUS about rollercoasters and thrill rides. I do have an anxiety disorder. Obviously I'll get him to ride all the biggest ones on his own and just get myself some ice cream or something and wait, but I'm wondering which ones we can ride together for the memories and stuff?

Quick info (don't make fun of me 🥲 ):

Going upside down is an immediate no, heights are okay within reason, I'm scared of people throwing up so fast-spinning rides aren't great either, and I plan to go to the waterpark but I'm not a great swimmer. When I went on the same field trip years before him, I rode Silver Streak and Thunder Run which were okay for me, and The Windseeker which was too intense. Other than that....I stayed with the instruments and ate a lot of candy 😭 . I want to do some more rides this time if I can!

I know it's a lot of criteria, but does anyone know of rides we might both like?

Super random question, but I'm wondering if anyone from the U.S. knows whether these speech things that Kelly and Christi do are a Pittsburgh thing or related to a certain region of the U.S.?

Christi and Kelly both say "Oh my God" like "ow my gawahd" during the show. However, for Kelly this speech pattern has remained the same, and for Christi it started to fade over time. I can hear on BTTB that Kelly still says it the same way, and Christi only occasionally says it like that, mostly just as "Oh my God". But what confuses me is that Kelly moved to Florida and still has her accent, but Christi never moved and talks differently now?

Now there are also some specific things that only Kelly does. Mostly people say that it's a Pittsburgh thing or a Pennsylvania thing, but I don't hear the other moms do the same things as Kelly, nor do I hear it on other TV shows that supposedly take place there.

I've seen a lot of people point out Kelly's "alls I wanted" habit and saying "cosh-tume" instead of "costume", but I've also noticed that she often says "whenever" in places where "when" is a more appropriate word (ie. "whenever Brooke graduated high school, we threw a party"). She also pronounces "older" as "oh-der". None of the other moms drop Ls from the middle of words or say alls I wanted, so is there another cultural thing at play for why Kelly does?

And finally....why does only Brooke sound Southern? Was Kelly's ex-husband from Texas or something? Paige doesn't sound like that despite having the same parents, and the other girls definitely don't, despite all being raised in the same area! I think all of their voices sound adorable, don't get me wrong, but what's going on there?

Also I didn't intend for this to sound disrespectful or rude; I'm not from the U.S. and I find different accents and linguistic things cool, but I don't know that much about them!

Here are my choices, and the reasoning behind them....

Season 1: Chloe was the most improved. Baby Mine is an old solo that she had been working on for a year, so the best measure of her progress is not from her first solo to her last, but rather from Mother to Dream on a Star (which was chronologically the last solo she performed even though episode release order was different than filming order), which is a crazy huge improvement. Her part in the Black Swan duet was gorgeous, and she gained some confidence over the season in groups. I also really admired the extent of her technique considering her young age.

Season 2: Nia earned that most improved award at the recital, 100%. From One Small Girl and I’m Gonna Survive, to Bound and 20s Scat is an insane transformation, both technique and performance wise. She also pulled my eyes positively in some groups this season like Private Eyes, which she didn’t necessarily in the season before. I loved her resilience this season too — she had something to prove to herself and the world, and her work ethic really shows. 

Season 3: Kendall improved the most this season, because she had one of the biggest improvements between her first and last solo and gained a lot of confidence in her turns. From It Girl to Voodoo Doll is an amazing jump, but it wasn’t just the solos that stood out to me this season. This was also the first season where Kendall had duets with Maddie, and I found myself impressed at how well she dances up to match her partner. She went from barely outdancing seven-year-old Mackenzie in their duet in s2, to fitting in perfectly with Maddie and Chloe in s3. She also had great moments in groups. 

Season 4: Maddie was definitely the most improved this season, and started to look like a real professional in her solos! I think her best lyrical dancing came in this season because she was able to fix a lot of her stability issues with turns, and her musicality improved so much. I was so impressed with her performances in groups and duets too, and her duets were all incredibly synchronized which is a tough skill. And she was undefeated in solos this season! It’s no wonder she started booking (non-Lifetime) music video opportunities around this time. 

Season 5: Mackenzie has to be the most improved for season five. Her confidence skyrocketed, and she started pulling off much more difficult numbers. Bat Crazy was probably my favourite solo that she did that season, but it is also notable that this season was when she beat Maddie with Sink or Swim. I noticed that her legs were straighter and her arms were more consistently strong, and she was great in the group dances. Her faces became more mature as well.

Season 6: I’m going to go with Brynn. This was pretty difficult because, to be perfectly honest, I think we saw very little improvement from anyone this season. The move to LA was not good for these girls, and a lot of them either had slight technical regressions from season 5 or they got burnt out and just stayed stagnant. But Brynn managed to retain her excellent technique despite losing some of her emotional performance quality at first, and then she started to regain her performance skills as the season went on. She delivered a wonderful performance in small groups like Suicide Hotline. I also admire her resilience in the face of bullying from a grown adult. 

Season 7: Kalani was the most improved this season in my opinion, because this was the season where she became a more mature professional and a leader. Every dance in which she was a lead was absolutely incredible, like Blush and Bashful, Pretty Reckless, and Family Court. Keeping your flexibility at 16-17 as your body develops into its adult shape is hard, and she did it. Her solos also stood out to me; this was the season where we got Say Something Say Anything. Kalani was always a great technical dancer, but her emotions while dancing really shined this season in a new way.

TLDR; Chloe, Nia, Kendall, Maddie, Mackenzie, Brynn, Kalani (and I haven't watched season 8 yet)

This may be a dumb question, but are there two versions of the season 2 nationals episode? Because I was listening to the BTTB episode where Chloe visits the podcast to talk about it, and they're constantly referencing things in their notes that I had no memory of seeing. Kelly taking Paige to get headshots taken for modeling, Kendall being comforted by Jill about the whole solo debacle, funny interactions between Abby and Cathy, Chloe having a possible asthma attack, etc., all things that I never remember being in the episode.

Were these parts that got cut from the episode on some platforms or something? They might have mentioned it on the podcast/I might have misinterpreted if these were behind-the-scenes stories, but I was only passively listening as I walked to work. I watch on Tubi and none of that stuff is included.

Dance is my favourite part of the show, so I just love to talk about the show's dancers and routines! Unpopular opinions about their dancing abilities are cool, just not about anyone's personality, yk? I'll put a few of mine in the comments!

I ranked each girl's solos in season 2 while doing a re-watch. How does this compare to other people's rankings?

Maddie: 

1. Looking For a Place Called Home
2. Helen Keller
3. I Can’t Find the Words
4. Piece of My Heart
5. Quiet Voices
6. Telling Myself
7. This Is Me Over You
8. I'm Already There (banned)
9. Reflections
10. All of My Life
11. Cry
12. Mom, It’ll Never be the Same
13. In My Heart v2
14. The Girl I Wanna Be
15. Lights Camera Action
16. Star of the Show
17. Every Little Step
18. Maestro Man
19. In My Heart v1

Chloe: 

1. Silence
2. Leave the Light On
3. The Raven (banned)
4. Red Queen
5. Trouble
6. Ghost
7. Proof
8. Please
9. Don’t Catch Me
10. Keep Burning
11. Unchained
12. Born To Sing
13. Glitz and Glamour
14. In for the Thrill
15. Send Down Your Love
16. What Goes Around
17. Angry Bird
18. Watercolours Fade

 

Brooke: 

1. Garden of Eden
2. Diary of Anne Frank
3. Fly
4. Starry Night
5. Who Am I

Paige: 

1. Make Some Noise
2. Creme de la Creme
3. Tongue Twister
4. City of Angels

 

Nia: 

1. 20s Scat
2. Working Girl
3. Bound
4. I’ll Do Anything For You
5. One Small Girl
6. I Like the 60s
7. Baila v2
8. I’m Gonna Survive
9. Baila v1

Mackenzie: 

1. Hollywood
2. Daisy Chains
3. Killer Bee
4. Bigger Isn’t Better
5. U Know U Luv It
6. It’s a Perfect Day for Fun
7. Party Starts Right Now
8. The Perfect Fit
9. Shoulda Coulda Woulda

 

Kendall: 

1. Kiss Kiss
2. Queen of Hearts
3. Halftime Performance
4. I Think I Like You
5. My Dear Friend
6. Sweet Little Lies
7. Bring On the Boys

I know some of my rankings are going to seem strange lol, I'll explain my thought process if people are curious!

This sub has a ton of helpful information, but most people here are in STEM (which I have a lot of respect for) so the posts that get the most visibility are usually related to STEM courses or general student life. I like to help people and answer questions about my program, so if you're an English student and are wondering about anything to do with ENG courses, grad requirements, assignments, or anything else, feel free to leave questions here!

If you're asking for course recs, tell me your year, your strengths (tests vs. essays vs. class discussions), and your favourite genres/time periods to read from — that way I have more information from which to draw when making a recommendation.

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?