A revival of Dance Moms has hit the Hulu schedule, and let’s face it: Ever since Abby Lee Miller was introduced to the world back in 2011, this show was intended to be polarizing. If the dance instructor wasn’t screaming at someone, the moms were. It was just so much bickering, whining and shouting, and I was 100% here for it.
Skip forward 13 years, one jail sentence and a couple of lawsuits later, and Miller’s ALDC is gone, replaced by Coach Glo’s Studio Bleu on Hulu’s Dance Moms: A New Era. But this time, at this stage in my life, I don’t think this show is for me anymore.
The faces and location may have changed for Dance Moms: A New Era, but fans of the original know the drill. Glo Hampton is the owner of Studio Bleu in Virginia, and she’s assembled a junior elite team to learn new dances each week to perform in competitions. The pyramid is back. Fighting over solos is back. The. Moms. Are. Back. Other than a few softened edges (we live in a different world than 2011, after all), there really isn’t much to differentiate Coach Glo’s series from Abby Lee Miller’s. So what’s changed? Me. I’ve changed.
With Daughters The Same Age As These Dancers, I Am No Longer Entertained By Dance Moms
Back in 2011, I had just become a mom, but today my daughters are basically the same age as Audrey, Mina and the rest of the Dance Moms: A New Era cast. Thirteen years ago my own upbringing in athletics was a little fresher in my mind — the screaming coaches, the fighting parents, the science teacher getting arrested for yelling at the refs. (What, did that not happen at everyone’s school?)
I have no tolerance for that anymore. I guess I filter things through a different lens now, and watching the revived series drop in the middle of the 2024 TV schedule, I just felt so bad for the young dancers. They shamed poor Ashlan and laughed in her face when she cried about not being able to dance for fun. Look, everybody raises their children differently, and I’m not going to judge another parent’s choices; I’m just no longer entertained by the path these families have chosen.
Of the four episodes I watched (all 10 episodes of Dance Moms: A New Era can be streamed now with a Hulu subscription), Episode 2 showed so much promise, as one mother and daughter’s grief was explored in part through the group dance choreography. However, two episodes later, we were back to the women calling each other bitches and even physical altercations.
I’d like to think it wasn’t just me who grew up over the past decade or so. Aren’t the younger generations of women being taught that we don’t have to be in competition with each other? That we’re stronger if we stick together? Have I been listening to too much Taylor Swift?
Glo Hampton Is An Upgrade From Abby Lee Miller
One aspect of Dance Moms: A New Era that seemed to be a major improvement — in the episodes I watched, at least — is Glo Hampton. Her methods are a far cry from the horrifying experiences of JoJo Siwa, Nia Sioux and others at the ALDC.
It was refreshing to see the coach take responsibility for the team’s less-than-ideal finish in the premiere, rather than pinning it on team leader Audrey (who, if you’re keeping score, is definitely the Maddie Ziegler of the new era). I also loved when Hampton told one student that it was OK to mess up, it just wasn’t OK to not try.
For me and where I am as a parent, the positive qualities that Glo Hampton has over Abby Lee Miller aren’t enough to compensate for the moms’ still-pretty-abhorrent behavior. However, I fully recommend that fans of the OG Lifetime series check out Dance Moms: A New Era and decide for themselves. The first season’s 10 episodes are available now on Hulu, one of the best streaming services to subscribe to.
