The Dancer's Kingdom

My daughter danced for Abby Lee Dance Company for more than five years before we had the sense to take her somewhere else. Because I’m afraid that some mothers watching this show may actually get the idea that this is a good place to take their children to become successful dancers, I feel obligated to point out the inaccuracies in the show’s portrayal of ALDC. First, this show makes it look like these students are getting superior training, and that Abby is making them great dancers. In reality, Abby hardly ever teaches class. She is usually off judging competitions, choreographing dances at other studios, or traveling. Many times, the person teaching the class is actually just another student. On the show, Abby is hovering over the students and correcting their every mistake. In reality, she would choreograph the dances, and then never look at them again until just before competition. Second, the mothers on the show like to point out that ALDC wins all the time. They win a lot because Abby only takes her dancers to small competitions that don’t have much talent. There were times when we would be competing solos in a group of only ten dancers, and we had seven of them. It’s not too difficult to win, when you comprise 70% of the competition. They actually had a soloist win a national competition that she was the only contestant in. Abby hunts these easy-win opportunities down, so she can add them to her website. On the show, they compete at West Coast Dance Explosion in Phoenix, and they make it look like their trio wins first-place overall, but it was really only first-place in their category (e.g. jazz, tap, acro, ballet, hip-hop, lyrical, open, etc.). This was also the case for the third-place group number they did as well. It was only third-place in its category, not overall. My daughter now competes in larger competitions against higher level talent and has much more success than she ever did at ALDC. Third, the show makes the studio look like it’s a state-of-the-art, meticulously maintained, and well run establishment. The truth is that it was freshly painted and cleaned for filming. There was always food and garbage lying all over the place, the stench in the dressing room was unbearable, the parking lot looked like a bomb was dropped on it, and you were lucky if the building had utilities, as they were regularly shut off for non-payment. Abby sitting at the front desk and greeting people as they come in is downright laughable. I was usually too concerned to leave, because the only people in the building were the teacher (i.e. teenage dancer) and the students, and anyone could just walk right in without them even knowing. And last, I find myself almost falling off the chair laughing when Abby tells one mother that she makes her payments late. That’s pretty funny coming from someone who is notorious for not even paying her bills at all. There was one year when nobody received their recital DVD’s. Abby collected the money, but never paid the company that produced them. So, if you’re watching this show and thinking it would be worth it to endure those crazy moms so your child can get a good dance education, don’t do it. They can get a better education and be treated with respect somewhere else.