Linnea Hardin

Get ready for tears, screaming and drama galore when you tune into Dance Moms: Miami on Lifetime. If you’ve ever seen the original Dance Moms in Pittsburgh, you know what I am talking about.

Staying true to the original, the bickering moms, talented dancers and intense choreographers are back – Miami style. Victor and Angel work together choreographing dances, so along with the moms voicing their opinions to them, you get to see the additional drama and bickering between the two of them.

Many aspects of the show are very similar to the original. Instead of “the pyramid,” Victor and Angel implemented “the list,” in which they put the dancers in order based on their recent attitudes and performances. The setup of the show is essentially the same. The cameras follow the dancers as they learn difficult choreography in a short amount of time, travel to various competitions around the country to compete and win numerous awards. Crying, fighting and yelling fill all the gaps in between. These devoted dance moms are not afraid to make their opinions known, especially when it comes to defending their child.

Despite the drama, this spin-off doesn’t measure up. The Miami choreography does not seem as interesting and innovative. As an avid fan of the original Dance Moms for two seasons (and not missing an episode), I have grown attached to those girls and moms, so my opinion might be a little biased. I don’t know yet if I will continue to watch this season. But I’d encourage you to make tune in and decide for yourself!

College students and elderly people alike quickly filled Jesse Auditorium and chatted as a four-member band played folk music to pass the time before the showing of The Queen of Versailles at the True/False Film Festival.

The film opens as Jackie Siegel poses seductively on the lap of her husband, David Siegel, and a photographer takes pictures of them.

David, 74, and Jackie, 44, have eight children and a house of 26,000 square feet, which Jackie describes as “bursting at the seams.”

This large, wealthy family decides to build what would become the largest home in America at 90,000 square feet. As images of a room filled with $5 million works of marble appear on screen, incredulous gasps echo throughout Jesse Auditorium.

“This is, like, the nicest, grandest house in all of the United States right here,” Jackie says about the house inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France.

However the plot takes a twist when David, owner of Westgate timeshares, finds himself in financial trouble. He can no longer afford to keep his company running and lays off 7,000 employees.

Although this film contains images of a grand, luxurious house, it also manages to capture the brokenness of the family inside it. “Nothing makes me happy these days,” David says at one point.

David often comes home from work and refuses to eat dinner with the family. In one scene the couple’s teenage daughter, Victoria, goes into David’s study room and yells at her father for treating Jackie rudely and for not eating the meal they had prepared for him. During this scene Jackie stands by silently, watching her daughter stick up for her. When Victoria storms out of the room, she says that she hates her dad.

With the recent death of singing sensation Whitney Houston, it only seemed fitting to reflect on some of her best songs throughout her career. This singer, known for herstrong soulful voice, left a lasting impact on the music industry and her fans. I found myself listening to Whitney songs nonstop for hours on end, trying to pick a handful of my favorites, and these are the five hits I finally decided upon.
 
1. “I Will Always Love You”
Whitney, I will always love you for making this song famous. Though Dolly Parton originally performed the song, Whitney’s rendition brings out a soulful sound that captured the hearts of people all around the world. Suitably, a recording of this song played in the sanctuary at the end of Whitney’s funeral.
 
2. “I Look to You”
This touching ballad uplifts broken spirits with lyrics like, “And when all my strengths are gone, in you I hear a song.” Released in 2009, “I Look to You” signified Whitney’s road to recovery from her drug addiction and abusive marriage. In an interview with Oprah in 2009, Whitney described this song as the essence of her final studio album.
 
3. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)”
“Don’t you wanna dance, say you wanna dance, don’t you wanna dance” along with Whitney’s hit song, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”? You can’t help but rock out to this song in the privacy of your dorm room or crank the volume up while driving around in your car. In 1988, this sensation took the prize of “Favorite Pop/Rock Single” at the American Music Awards.