Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Mad Moms

Lin Ferguson - TV Review
Whanganui Chronicle·
23 Sep, 2016 01:50 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Abbey Lee of the Abbey Lee Dance Company in Pittsburgh stars in the reality TV show Dance Moms.

Abbey Lee of the Abbey Lee Dance Company in Pittsburgh stars in the reality TV show Dance Moms.

I've tried to ignore my burgeoning angst about the show Dance Moms on Bravo tele.

I have memories of myself as a stick insect kid who signed up for ballet classes at the local primary school when I was eight.

The cost was 20 cents a class, our teacher was a 15-year-old ballet student, her best friend played the piano for us and we all were congregated in the scout hall behind the school.

We skipped and stepped/hopped wearing everything from old tartan skirts and jerseys to corduroy trousers.

I was pretty hopeless from the outset; a ballerina I wasn't. But no one told you you were hopeless. Instead I was told I had "stage presence".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

No "moms" sat about, which brings me back to Dance Moms.
Where, if you're in Abbey Lee's competitive "pyramid" team, you're being trained and groomed to be either a Vegas show girl, a stripper or a lithe pole dancer.

These sylph-like girls arrive at class escorted by their moms dressed in designer gear.

The girls twinkle about mostly in shiny, tight two piece leotards.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The Abbey Lee Dance Company in Pittsburgh is exclusive and the local moms with kids as young as five and six are convinced and determined Abbey will make their daughters dance stars.

Abbey's choreography is based mostly in contortionist acrobatics, and the "little girls" are smothered in slap, false eyelashes, hairpieces and an abundance of sequins.
But this show is not about the dancing or the company; it's a serious, bitchy commentary on the mom's behaviour.

Abbey greets them at each class then shunts them off to a glassed in viewing room upstairs which immediately puts one in mind of a snake pit.

This is a very clear view of the mothers living vicariously through their daughter's lives.

Abbey pulls no punches and snarls in her raspy voice - smoking too many fags or suffering a constantly ruptured larynx - berating everyone from the tiny dancers to the snivelling moms.

If you're a person keen on sinking your teeth into a shrieking reality show knock yourself out.

A dance recital with sweet girls it's not.

Instead prepare to enter the Abbey Lee dance arena starring witches and tiny pixie dancers munching their fingers and tugging their pony tails.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Phil ‘Bear’ Reweti fighting for Māori voice

17 Sep 11:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

'Bigger fish to fry': Aviary staying under council control

17 Sep 06:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

Emergency dredging for Whanganui Port Basin

17 Sep 05:00 PM

Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Phil ‘Bear’ Reweti fighting for Māori voice
Whanganui Chronicle

Phil ‘Bear’ Reweti fighting for Māori voice

It is a change he has campaigned for across the past three elections.

17 Sep 11:00 PM
'Bigger fish to fry': Aviary staying under council control
Whanganui Chronicle

'Bigger fish to fry': Aviary staying under council control

17 Sep 06:00 PM
Emergency dredging for Whanganui Port Basin
Whanganui Chronicle

Emergency dredging for Whanganui Port Basin

17 Sep 05:00 PM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP