Lifetime’s childhood stars came together once again to laugh and cry at some very memorable moments on the reality TV show “Dance Moms”. Chloe Lukasiak, Jojo Siwa, Brooke Hyland, Kendall Vertes, Kalani Hilliker, and Paige Hyland were joined by their mothers to be interviewed about their experiences on the show. The episode was filmed in the fall of 2023 and released on May 1st, 2024. The girls reacted to different dances and memories on Dance Moms. The producers asked them questions about then and now. It was so great for fans to be able to understand the cast’s experiences and how they are doing now.
Even though this episode has only been out for 6 days, it has already raised some questions. Some wonder why Jojo stuck up for Abby even though Abby and the others don’t have a good relationship. Why would she talk for others when she has no idea what they had gone through? Others wonder why Jojo was even invited to the reunion, they say she talked too much and that she is annoying. The biggest question asked is why Nia, Mackenzie, and Maddie didn’t come. These girls have been on the show since the beginning with Chloe, Brooke, and Paige so why didn’t they come? After getting comments on all platforms asking this question, Nia Sioux responded in a TikTok and the answer is simple, she didn’t want to. Meanwhile, Maddie and Mackenzie Ziegler have not publicly explained why they didn’t go.
However, whatever this reason was, it was not because they did not want to see their co-stars again. The girls had a birthday party for Paige on November 1st, 2023. This birthday party included all of the OGs and their mothers. There was a picture of all of the girls around a table posted by Melissa on Instagram. People were thrilled that their favorite TV stars were reuniting to celebrate Paige’s birthday. This same day the reunion was announced by Lifetime.
The person who started this all, Abby Lee Miller reacted to the reunion in a TikTok. The video starts and Abby says “Did you think I really wasn’t at the reunion? Come on.” She then shows clips of the reunion when they talk about her, “I made a splash at the reunion” she says. Abby shows a clip of JoJo at the reunion, explaining that in her opinion, Abby was always right. The video then cuts to Abby saying “Jojo has learned something”. This clip refers to when Jojo was a kid and interrupted two adults when speaking, Abby then yells at her saying “Jojo! Have you learned nothing?!” This was the only remark Abby made regarding the reunion.
There has been a lot of controversy since Jojo’s song “Karma” came out, many people have said that her music is bad and that she changed too much. Also, people were mad that she bought someone else’s song and passed it along as her own. There have been several comments on Jojo’s inappropriate choreography in the music video. Some even think that it’s not even her voice singing. Since all of this happened, many people were not thrilled to see Jojo at the reunion. Recent events made people pay a lot more attention to Jojo whenever she talked. They paid attention to the other girl’s reactions to Jojo speaking as well. There are several videos on TikTok showing the girl’s faces while Jojo was speaking with comments like “They definitely have a group chat without her” or “They definitely talked about this later”. Many fans were disappointed because of how much Jojo dominated the conversation. Some felt that Jojo was invalidating their feelings and experiences by talking for them. Most wanted to hear more from Brooke, Paige, and Chloe.
I enjoyed the reunion, but I agree that we needed to hear more from the OGs. I wish that Maddie, Mackenzie, and Nia had been there but I understand why they didn’t come.
The 9th season of Dance Moms includes the reunion as the first episode and then 10 additional episodes called Epic Showdowns. Epic Showdowns are episodes with Christi Lukasiak reacting to and breaking down Dance Moms’ episodes and moments. If you like watching Dance Moms, I’d consider watching these. The reunion is truly emotional and relatable, hopefully, you check it out.
