Dance Moms Research Paper

There are not a whole lot of great reality TV shows. When it comes to reality TV, it can be hard to keep new content rolling every week. The goal for most reality TV shows is to create drama to make sure it’s interesting, which might not happen naturally. However, Dance Moms on the other hand has new drama every week to ensure that viewers stay absorbed in each episode.
The whole show is based on a group of 5-10 girls who compete at dance competitions every week. With new dances every week, watchers eagerly await to see what kind of style of dance Abby Lee’s choreography will express. Each dance seems to tell a story, whether it’s through tricky and original choreography or heartfelt emotion. Their technique is top-notch, and I don’t think
anyone could get tired of watching their dances. Each one has it’s own unique flavor that leaves the viewers anticipating the results.
Hence the name “Dance Moms,” a large portion of the episodes focus on moms, who can be described as crazy, unsophisticated, and mischievous.
Just about every week there is something new to dispute about, from costumes to “who’s in what dance” to plain old random nonsense. For instance, in season 4, episode 7, one of the moms gets irked by the fact that her daughter was told she “looked miserable,” and the feud ended up with a call to the cops. The redundant amount of time that they show the moms fighting is completely unnecessary and altogether takes away from the girls’ dancing. Judging from the fact that the show appeals mostly to young, adolescent girls, the producers allow way too much profanity to be shown. It looks unprofessional and can not only rub off on innocent viewers, but even their
daughters! Despite the crazy, always-arguing moms on the show, the team girls are really what made the show as popular as it is.
Girls all around the world fall in love with their personalities and friendships, following them on social media to keep up, but some people look at their part of the show and claim it to be child abuse, tween sexualization, and too obscene or competitive. First off, Abby has to screech at them every 5 seconds in severe tones for every little mistake made. If there was ever an episode that didn’t end with someone crying, I would be highly surprised. Her dispersed shouting has become a normal ordeal, but let’s mention the time in season 2 when she threw a chair at one of her dancers! Some fans come to defense saying she cannot be criticized for her crude behavior and short temper since she’s a dance teacher, but I believe that is no excuse for the way she acts. Next, to those not familiar with the dance world, “tween sexualization” might be a description used to describe the dancers in the studio. They often wear minimal clothing which, to their defense, is normal for dance atmosphere. However, for reality TV where there can be perverted and creepos, it certainly looks inappropriate, not even to mention some of the costumes. Lastly, the amount of competition within the girls’ own team is degrading and detrimental to their behavior and attitudes. Every week Abby has a pyramid with every dancer’s picture, all in the shape of a pyramid, to show who did the best
or worst that week. Normally, the girls closest to the top of the pyramid receive solos for the following competition. It is quite obvious that this portion is mainly based on favoritism than how well they actually danced. To top off the pyramid competing, the way they compete at competitions is demeaning. A regular dance team goes to competitions and tries their hardest to beat other teams. The Elite team goes to competitions and expect to beat each other, so it’s more like rivals than teammates. It seems as though Abby will give two girls a solo, but expects them both to win(which isn’t possible). Although the show is entertaining and suspenseful, there are many things wrong with the setup and content shown. In all, the show is very unique in the sense that it is based around real commotion, which is evened somewhat out with mesmerizing dances and youthful personalities. There are not many other shows that follow the same group of people with new chaos every episode, but with a combination of charming ballerinas and non compos mentis women, Dance Moms has enough drama to keep us fascinated for hundreds of episodes.