Dance Moms

Dance Moms premiered on Lifetime in July 2011 and aired until 2019. The show began at the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC) in Pittsburgh, where the series followed young dancers and their mothers navigating the high-pressure world of competitive dance. Abby Lee Miller, the head of ALDC, became known for her tough, often confrontational approach to teaching, creating frequent drama with dancers’ mothers while aiming to drive her students to success.

The original cast included dancers Maggie Ziegler, Chloe Lukasiak, Nia Sioux, Brooke and Paige Hyland and Kendall Vertes (with JoJo Siwa and Kalani Hilliker joining later seasons). Their mothers — Melissa Gisoni, Christi Lukasiak, Holly Hatcher-Frazier, Kelly Hyland, Jill Vertes, Jessalynn Siwa and Kira Girard — were integral to the show’s dynamics, as they often clashed with Miller over her strict teaching methods.

The eighth and final season, titled Dance Moms: Resurrection, premiered in June 2019. The season documented Miller’s return to ALDC after battling cancer and featured a new team of young dancers, with Miller aiming to restore her studio’s reputation.

Lifetime hosted Dance Moms: The Reunion, which reunited the cast, in 2024, but Sioux and the Zieglers did not participate.

Dance Moms was relaunched with Gloria “Glo” Hampton introducing a new group of young dancers to viewers.