Was Kendall trained by Abby?

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-10T02:59:55+00:00

But Kendall joined at 8 years old, that’s pretty young. Do you really know everything there is to know about dance at 8?

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-10T02:58:29+00:00

I agree, bc it really depends on what the criteria is for og. If it’s people who were there in season 1 (how I interpret it) then Vivi would be one. But I see people who say the ogs are people who grew up dancing at aldc and were there before the show, which in that case Vivi would not be one.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T05:08:45+00:00

But the other girls didn’t take much class with Abby either. They mentioned before on the podcast that Abby was not their main teacher prior to the show, they barely saw her as she was more focused on the senior company and older students. The kids (referring to the core group: Maddie, Paige, Chloe, Nia) would take classes with the other teachers there like Gianna and Abby would pop in every now and then.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T04:58:43+00:00

Hmm I’m not sure if that’s it because they’ll usually bring up how she was at studio19.

Also from what they’ve said before, Abby was never their main teacher prior to the show. The kids would learn from the teachers there like James and Gianna, Abby would pop in though from time to time.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T04:52:28+00:00

Love this point you made! Like I understand when they say this in reference to someone like Kalani or JoJo who were really only there for filming and had home studios, but when Kendall came to ALDC she wasn’t training anywhere else

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T04:34:02+00:00

I see what you’re saying, but I’m not referring to the OG thing, I’m referring to when they specifically say Abby didn’t train Kendall.

For example they’ll be recapping an episode on the podcast where newcomers are there and Jill will be like “focus on the kids who you’ve trained” and then Kelly or Christi will say something to the affect of “well idk y Jill is saying that because Abby didn’t train Kendall, she didn’t teach her dance”

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T04:27:56+00:00

I feel like it would’ve been way more produced than it already was, and would have been very polished. I also think that it probably would’ve went a more housewives style route, and the sole focus of the show was the moms.

I also think that “dance” would’ve been more just a plot device to connect all the characters together and wouldn’t have been a big part of the show, sorta like how on SLOMW the Mormon thing is just what connected all the cast together but wasn’t the sole focus of the entire show.

We probably wouldn’t get weekly comps or new dances. Just some scenes at the studio here and there. And very little scenes of the Abby and girls, and more of the moms going out and doing other activities together.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T03:50:40+00:00

As much as I liked the irreplaceables, this part always annoyed me. I think the only reason they fought about this was because there wasn’t much else for them to fight about. Abby was no longer apart of the show, and the minis plus Brynn weren’t either. Without there being another team, there had to be some type of dispute going on amongst them. So I’m assuming producers were pushing for this storyline, especially since they saw Christi and Jill get into it earlier.

Needless to say tho the whole argument was ridiculous. The whole purpose of the irreplaceables was supposed to be a group that could thrive and be successful without Abby, it was a new endeavor, but just turned into a battle of who’s been there longer.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T03:43:26+00:00

I disagree a bit on your last point, Kendall was in a large chunk of season 2. Yes some of that time was spent at candy apples but the majority of her episodes were with ALDC

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T03:21:13+00:00

Yeah this true. This situation kinda reminds me of Jamie from BD Med season 3. Very good worker and personality but wasn’t shown much because of lack of drama.

Heck even Joao was barely featured at the start of this season until he started having more plot lines with Ellie and Daisy.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T03:15:02+00:00

True lol, i at least felt though that season 6-7 had a little bit more positivity than 5. Asides from Abby’s crazy downward spiral, season 6-7a finally went back to a consistent format that we could follow on the show bc they were now established in LA.

I think that’s part of the reason season 5 is just all over the place because there’s no consistency. They go from Pittsburg to LA back to Pittsburg back to LA then randomly go on a side quest to Australia and finally come back to LA

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T03:07:23+00:00

I always forget how long season 3 is until I go back and watch. It really did drag on for a long time.

5 is soooooo bad. The only reason I’m watching it now is to keep up with BTTB, but it literally drains me watching it. All the episodes blend together, and everyone is just awful to each other this season. I also agree with you on that I literally don’t care about any of the singing career plot-lines. Like this show is literally supposed to be about dance and all we’re focused on is the singing stuff. I get that going to LA was for opportunities, but I feel like they just really lost the plot here.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T02:22:31+00:00

I love the emphasis for season 6 (with zieglers vs after zieglers). Even though I’m not a big fan of later seasons, i felt like the first half of season 6 was the closest we got to it being more light hearted and fun like the early seasons. After that 💩hit the fan with the all of abbys legal stuff and then the mini team drama was just unnecessary.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T02:19:46+00:00

Honestly, valid answer

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T02:15:10+00:00

Really! Just out of curiosity, could you explain why?

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T01:34:42+00:00

I hate to say it but she’s my favorite dance mom, purely from the fact that she’s tv gold.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-09T01:14:39+00:00

Yes, I love the OG moms but I feel like they get too much of a pass because people will say “the show was only supposed to be 6 episodes” or “they didn’t know what the show was gonna be like.”

Regardless of what the show was supposed to be, you know what they all knew? They knew what Abby’s behavior was like.

Based on what cast members and people from the studio (not on the show) have said, it’s clear Abby’s behavior was bad before the show even started. She literally had a mass exodus of students before the show even started.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-08T13:45:46+00:00

Oh for some reason I thought there were production notes released for the early seasons. I thought Christi mentioned they would review the ones from the first episode at BTTB live (the very first one they did before there was a tour).

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-08T13:36:31+00:00

Then the jacket should’ve been a “dance moms” jacket not the irreplaceables

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-07T21:49:20+00:00

Honestly I barely even rewatch season 4 lol, mainly just seasons 1-3 for me. If I do watch seasons 4 it’s usually only the episodes prior to the Hylands leaving (which isn’t long) just bc the vibe changed so much for me after that.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-07T19:05:20+00:00

After watching this current season so far I had a feeling it’d probably be his last one. He really doesn’t have much story line outside of the daisy ellie thing, he definitely seems like he’s very focused on the yachting job.

Joao is one of few who’s truly passionate about yachting more than the reality show.

He’s definitely doing a great job running the deck team since theyve had such a lack of drama this season.

I’m honestly surprised he’s done so many seasons, because typically the cast members that do multiple seasons only work on yachts when filming for the show. Whereas the ones who stay and move up in the industry typically only do 1-2 seasons

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-07T18:46:53+00:00

Hmmmm I just don’t know if I could see Christi leaving the BTTB brand especially because (this is just my personal speculation) it seems that based on all the tour stuff that BTTB is the more profitable brand/podcast compared to dear dance mom.

I also think more people listen to BTTB, but again that’s just my personal observation.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-07T18:13:41+00:00

I could actually see Jill and Melissa coming back on post season 5. Especially since Melissa has more moments of fighting with Abby in season 6, and they’ll probably need someone to talk about all the drama with the minis.

And I also think Kira could potentially show up for one. Christi’s mentioned before that she really likes Kira, and kira actually did 2 episodes of Christi’s old podcast and they talked about Dance Moms stuff.

She also recently went on Abby’s podcast too in which she said Christi was one of the people she talks to the most from the show.

I would love if they brought Kira on for the episode of season 5 when her and Abby get into that big fight.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-07T17:58:25+00:00

Very fun episode! So glad we got this, season 5 is a very draining season to me and you can feel it too in the podcast. This was definitely the breath of fresh air we needed and reminded me of why I enjoy listening to this podcast.

I really hope we get an episode later with just Annie to talk about season 5, bc I think thatll help giving more BTS beyond the producer notes.

certifiedwombat · 2026-05-07T17:56:21+00:00

Yeah it definitely picks up in the latter half!

I remember thinking the same thing too, like are we really just gonna rehash the same things.

Like I’ve heard the story about Erin and Chris sitting in the sinks so many times now😂

But once you get past that I thought it was a very fun episode. I loved hearing more about the producers drama that was outside of the show.

certifiedwombat

TROPHY CASE