In 2011, Lifetime gave us a show that forever changed the world of dance: Dance Moms. We were introduced to Abby Lee Miller, a very… um… passionate dance instructor who wanted the best dance team of them all. The only things standing in her way, though, were the mothers of her dancers. Her dance studio was actually very close to home in Pittsburgh, until she moved her team to Los Angeles to turn them into stars.
The show seemed to take a downhill spiral when Miller ran into legal trouble and had to serve some jail time. I watched every single season up until that point, because what’s Dance Moms without Abby Lee Miller? Then, she was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, where she underwent an emergency spine surgery and was in and out of the hospital for chemotherapy treatment. Now, she’s back and announced in July that Dance Moms will return for an 8th season. According to Newsweek, she’s casting an entirely new team, but sorry Lifetime – no thank you.
Since Miller’s decided that “everyone’s replaceable,” let’s honor some of our favorite dancers from the show. We’ll see what they’ve been up to in the past year, and we’ll look at their future plans since that clearly doesn’t involve Dance Moms:
1. Maddie Ziegler
In 2016, Maddie Ziegler and her sister, Mackenzie, left the show – and she’s been extremely busy ever since. During her time on Dance Moms, she appeared in several of Sia’s music videos, and after she left the show, she appeared in more of her music videos and even went on tour; these two ladies are practically best friends.
Maddie’s also had some acting experience: she played Christina Sickleman in the 2017 film “The Book of Henry” and guest starred in two episodes of the Nickelodeon show “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn.” Not only that, but she was also a judge on “So You Think You Can Dance”, making her the youngest person to ever judge on the show.
She also wrote her own book, a memoir of her life called “The Maddie Diaries”, followed by a fictional book called “The Audition”, which is about a girl trying to fit into her dance team.
Most recently, in terms of her personal life, she was in a relationship with her Australian boyfriend, Jack Kelly, son of baseball player Pat Kelly, for over a year until the couple’s recent breakup. I guess you could say Maddie is thriving, but she’s only 16, so the best is yet to come!
2. Mackenzie Ziegler
Poor Mackenzie. Her mom and Abby always put so much pressure on her to be like Maddie. Even after she left the show with Maddie, they ended up doing a lot of things together. In 2017, Mackenzie and Maddie went on tour in Australia and held dance workshops. In the summer of 2018, they toured Australia again and even extended their tour to New Zealand. Mackenzie also acted with her sister on “Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn.”
During her time on Dance Moms, she also began pursuing a music career under the management of Abby. She ended up soaring without Abby in her music career, though, and released four different singles, two of which were with Johnny Orlando. The Ziegler girls seem to be doing pretty well for themselves!
3. Nia Frazier (aka Nia Sioux)
Nia was always at the bottom of the pyramid and was treated like garbage by Abby, and she probably cried the least out of all the girls. I honestly don’t know how she dealt with that for so many years because I would have cried every day.
Nia hasn’t been dancing as much as Maddie and Mackenzie. She made two songs a few years ago called “Star in my Own Life” and “Slay,” but she’s become more prominent recently in the acting world. She appeared on the soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful” as an intern named Emma, and was recently signed on as a series regular.
Nia, Kalani, Chloe and Kendall all went on a national tour together called “The Irreplaceables”; the name was a shot at Abby’s signature phrase, “Everyone’s replaceable.” The tour didn’t last very long, but the girls still seem to be besties. Overall, it looks like Nia is living her best life, and that’s all a girl needs to do!
4. Kalani Hilliker
Ok, Kalani is a queen. She was always my favorite dancer on Dance Moms, and boy did she grow up to be gorgeous.
Kalani has turned to the world of fashion since “The Irreplaceables” tour. She launched a dance-themed line called Kalani Collection, a fashion line called Mod Angel, and even a sock line called KH that includes crazy, colorful socks. Otherwise, this 18-year-old seems to be living the party life, and a queen like her certainly deserves a good time!
5. Kendall Vertes
Kendall also hasn’t been very active since her time on Dance Moms.
She pursued a music career like Mackenzie and Nia, and her music video for “Wear Em’ Out” actually beat Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” on the iTunes charts. Wow, I wish I could say I beat out Taylor Swift. In 2017, she released a Christmas album and she seems to be rising in the music world, but she’s also enjoying her free time as a teenage girl!
6. Jojo Siwa
Jojo has pretty much been up to everything but dance. She’s a singer. She’s a YouTuber. She owns a lot of bows.
Jojo signed a contract with Nickelodeon and appeared on the TV show “School of Rock.” She also has an animated TV show on Nickelodeon’s YouTube channel called “The Jojo and Bow Bow Show Show.” Try saying that five times fast. She also has her very own YouTube channel, which has over 8 million subscribers, where she talks about all things Jojo.
Even an adorable, bow-loving girl like Jojo can get herself into a Twitter fight. Earlier this year, she got into a fight on social media with Danielle Bregoli, aka the “Cash Me Outside” girl, aka Bhad Bhabie. It all started when a fan of Jojo posted a rant on Facebook about how people should stop picking on her because she should be a role model to teens, unlike Danielle Bregoli, who is the same age as Jojo and “dances half naked on the internet.” Jojo responded by showing her gratitude and saying, “I want everyone to know it’s okay to be a kid and to not worry about growing up so fast!”
Danielle didn’t like that so much. However, Jojo made a bold move and responded back. Honestly, this is the feud I never saw coming, but I’ll leave anything to the internet nowadays.
If you decide to watch the 8th season of Dance Moms with an entirely new team, let us know how it is, collegiettes!