Not Exactly Dance Moms

Saturday night I had dinner with my friend, Kolpana.  Her daughter, Prema, dances with Lindsey and we have all gotten very close this year.  We decided to have a mom/daughter sleepover on Saturday night because we were getting up early and riding to the competition together, except the girls didn’t get home until late—so late that they didn’t even see each other.  The sleepover was mainly for us, haha.  She did my nails, which look beautiful!  Don took Lindsey to the ballet and Prema was at a skating party, so we just hung out until their dads brought them back.  We got up at 6:30 Sunday morning, got the girls ready to go and met our other “dance mom friend” at her house.  (Kim and her daughter, Macie Grace.)  This time, Kim drove to the competition.  Kolpana and I have had very bad luck in the past.  We got stuck in the parade back in March and the girls almost missed their stage time, if you recall.  Then in April I drove and forgot Lindsey’s big red bow.  Remember that mess?  Anyway, we couldn’t have been more prepared and careful this time and we got to the Rialto downtown ON TIME and in ONE PIECE, which was great.  We figure that Kim driving brought us good luck.  It turns out that check-lists really help me with Lindsey.  She is like a slug….all of her stuff leaves a trail behind her.  It’s very aggravating.

First of all, I have to mention that Kim, Kolpana and I have a really great time together.  We have great conversations and laugh a lot.  We have what I guess you would say, great chemistry—same thing with our girls.  Lindsey, Prema and Macie Grace are a great little trio.  I wonder if it’s because they are all a lot like their mamas.  We all started having babies relatively young, so we are all the same age and we have a lot in common.  The girls are our firstborns and we all have younger children. 

Ok, so the “big deal” yesterday was that the cast and crew from the show “Dance Moms” was going to be at the competition.  For those of you who haven’t heard of it, it is a reality show on Lifetime that makes the mothers of dancers look like complete psychopaths and it’s really rather embarrassing.   The moms are bitchy and constantly making the female race  look like a bunch of self-absorbed, gossipy and catty losers who are vicariously living their fat asses through their daughters.  (Like “Toddlers and Tiaras”.  Could those moms be uglier and more overweight?  Sorry.  But it’s true.)  The times I have seen “Dance Moms”, I feel so sorry for the little girls because all they want to do is dance and their moms always cause drama and make their daughters cry.  Having said all of this, of course, our dancers and even some of the moms (cringe) were overly excited about the fact that they would be competing with us.  Lindsey was completely star-struck.  She met the dancers and said that one of them wished her luck—I heard that the girls were very sweet.  I heard that Abby Lee Miller was sweet to the girls as well, but Macie Grace said that she yelled at her.  I didn’t hear much about the moms. I did see them.  They sat across the aisle from us during the awards ceremony.  They really just sat there watching like all of us and looked normal.  However, it was in a way, very staged.  Abby Lee’s girls looked so bored the entire time the awards ceremony was going on, and then perked up for the camera when it got closer to their big win….same thing with the moms.  I can’t explain it, but it was bizarre and a little uncomfortable to watch “reality” being staged.  It was flat-out weird.  There was one team, their dance was called “Sassy”, and they were a lot better than Abby Lee's girls.  But who do you think won 1st Place?  Abby Lee…..they were giving out scholarship money…which taught our girls that money and fame win in the end.  It was a lot of bull, actually, and I sort of resented them even being there.  It really wasn’t fair to the girls.  (Not ours, but the Sassy girls.)

Reality “stars” look exactly the same in person; I don't know why I found that odd.  It makes sense.  Celebrities that have an actual reason for being famous probably look different in real life (when I have seen them, they always look a bit different) because they are made up and stuff on magazines and TV, etc.  These moms looked just as bad in real life as they do on TV.  Sorry, that is mean, but they are not very attractive.  They look sort of trashy, in my opinion.  The girls were just as adorable as they are on TV. 

I guess my main thing is that I had to remind Lindsey that they are no better than she is.  I told her that they are there to dance, just like she was.  I reminded her that she is doing the same thing every day that they are doing—dancing and practicing…..they are just doing it in front of a bunch of strangers, which I would never allow.  I could never put my kids on a reality show.  I don’t get it. 

When I say that it’s odd watching “reality” being staged, I guess watching reality is odd as well.  Kim, Kolpana and I were sitting on the floor people watching and we saw a dance coach smack one of the dancers with a stack of papers and get onto her about how she was executing the moves….we started laughing.  We probably look somewhat cliquish because we only hang out with each other and our girls aren’t doing company next year.  We can’t help it, looking cliquish that is.  We have fun and enjoy the girls dancing, but we just sort of try to stay out of the ridiculousness and stresses of competing.  We think that it’s stupid to get your panties in a wad about a missing bow or a missing rhinestone on a strap.  We especially laughed yesterday because it was even crazier and more unorganized than usual. 

Oh, by the way, we had to sign a waiver in case we or the girls are on TV…….they approached us to ask if we would sign.  There were some moms who approached the TV crew to sign waivers.   We laughed at that.  Lame. 

On the way home, we listened to our girls behave more like boys than little girls.  Macie Grace had a flatulence app on her iPhone.   She was going through the menu and naming the fart noises….we didn’t want to laugh, but she did it in a British accent and the names were really funny.  She would say “Perhaps you prefer the Short but Sweet!  Or we have the Nuclear!  Or then there’s always the Long and Painful!”  Macie Grace is hilarious.

You wanna see some pictures?  I’ll shut up now.



Lindsey stopping to eat Jimmy John's



Prema, Lindsey and Macie Grace....Hot Hot Hot costume

Macie Grace, Lindsey, Olivia and Prema

Two little handfuls right here.....



Company A in the lobby



Company A



The girls in the pink jackets are Abby Lee's girls, Lindsey is
right behind them.....I knew she would like it if I got a picture



Craziness

Girls with their trophy

Ride Home...Lindsey is STILL trying to finish her Jimmy John's.
She had like ZERO time to eat!

Thanks for reading!



Word of the Day:


belabor \bih-LEY-ber\, verb:
1. To explain, worry about, or work more than is necessary.
2. To assail persistently, as with scorn or ridicule.
3. To beat vigorously; ply with heavy blows.
4. Obsolete. To labor at.