ABBY: Mackenzie, Mackenzie, where are you going?
Where are you going?
Mackenzie, you don't go that way.
You forget about it?
What is it? What is it?
Are we waiting for her?
When I do my--
ABBY: You got to improv. You got to go.
You got to go. You're holding up.
No, no, no, don't go that way.
Let's just open the curtain. Put her out there.
Get out there and pose.
We have to go curtain, and I don't
know what's going on with that.
[cheers and applause]
[molly moore, "boys like you"]
(SINGING) Oh, no, boys like you.
No, no, I know just what you do.
And I'm not falling for you, falling for you.
I know about boys like you.
Stay out till the sun comes shining through.
I know about boys like you.
Whoo!
(SINGING) Oh, no, boys like you.
No, no, I know just what you do.
You know, I can play games too.
You should know that girls like me
don't fall for boys like you.
WOMAN: Yes, Mackenzie.
Whoo!
[applause]
I was really scared that I forgot my dance.
But when I went on stage and heard the music,
it all came back to me.
What was all that hysteria about?
HOST: All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're
ready to get started back up in the Juniors
Small Group division.
This is entry number 87 entitled Rosa Parks.
[applause]
ABBY: It's not about wanting to win.
It's about having to win.
It's tough to get a group routine together.
And we've been losing week after week.
I'm going to forget before the set.
MADDIE: No. [gibberish]
Don't say it. If you say it, you're--
Stop.
If we don't win with this number,
there might not be a group any longer.
And I'm serious about that.
[mania, "is she black?"]
(SINGING) One bus leads to another bus
leads to another bus leads to another bus leads to a train.
And one dream leads to another dream
leads to another dream leads to another dream leads to this.
Is she fighting?
Is she riding?
One thing leaves my eyes.
Is she fighting?
Is she riding?
One thing leaves my eyes.
One bus leads to another bus leads
to another bus leads to another bus leads to a train.
One dream leads to another dream leads to another dream leads
to another dream leads to this.
Is she fighting?
Is she riding?
One thing leaves my eyes.
Is she fighting?
Is she riding?
One thing leaves my eyes.
One day I was another shade.
I was another shade.
KELLY: Brooke, what are you doing?
JILL: I think it looks good.
Brooke doesn't know what she's doing.
(SINGING) She was the one.
ABBY: What is Brooke doing?
[cheers and applause]
Brooke was standing there on stage like--
ABBY: Brooke has been dancing longer
than Maddie has been alive.
When she's wandering aimlessly on the stage, I'm thinking,
how could she screw up a group like that?
No, it was your key part.
I don't even think the judges knew.
You're fine.
MADDIE: But, Brooke, at least it wasn't the whole dance.
No, Abby did and she did.
ABBY: Before Brooke's big mistake on stage,
I think we had this one in the bag.
Now I'm not too sure.
I just hope the judges didn't notice.
[chatter]
HOST: First place, entry number 87, Rosa Parks.
[cheers and applause]
First place from--
ALL: Abby Lee Dance Company!
[cheering]
Focus.
Represent.
MADDIE: The pressure I'm feeling this week
is because I'm their national winner.
So I don't want to let Ms. Abby down.
[applause]
HOST: Number 890, open ages 9 to 10, In My Heart.
[applause]
[sharon kenny, "hotel heart"]
(SINGING) I saw you in my dream last night.
You had your smile so white, I thought
your teeth were the stars.
Your eyes, they were like tiny rivers.
Well, it gave me the shivers when you looked right up at me.
We never got to say a goodbye.
We never sat down and cried and watched--
[groaning]
MADDIE: [sobbing].
No, no, no!
Abby's gonna freak out on me.
I want to go again.
[panting] I've never done this before.
Can I please go again?
Please, please.
Abby's going to hate me.
KELLY: I'm not surprised that Maddie forgot her dance.
I think that Melissa and Abby both put way
too much pressure on that kid.
She's nine years old.
Every single week, she has a solo, a duet or a trio,
and a group number.
And Abby wants Maddie to be her winner.
But she doesn't care that she's going to burn the kid out.
MELISSA: It's not fair.
They just threw you out there.
[bleep] - [cries]
[shushing]
Abby's gonna hate me.
MELISSA: Shh, she is not.
Baby, look at me.
- She's gonna hate me. - No, she's not.
I've never done this. I've never done this.
[shushing]
CHLOE: I was backstage, running my number.
And all of a sudden, I hear the music dying down.
And then I hear footsteps coming from the stage.
And then I heard Maddie say that she forgot her dance.
I'm a little bit nervous with my solo now that, like,
from all the kids backstage.
[sighs] All I can do is cross my fingers.
HOST: Entry 891, Red Queen, 891.
[cheers and applause]
[we3kings, "merlin"]
CHRISTI: Sitting in the audience, I'm looking at Abby.
And she's sitting over there, crying hysterically.
I thought you were supposed to save those tears
for your pillow, Ab?
[vocalizing]
[applause]
[cheering]
Let me think.
Mia forgot her solo, Abby didn't cry.
Paige forgot her solo, Abby didn't cry.
Chloe forgot her solo, Abby didn't cry.
Maddie forgets her solo, it's waterworks.
Abby only cares about one person.
And this is a blatant display of that.
MELISSA: Tell her how it feels, Chloe.
You did it too.
And I just feel so bad because I know exactly how it feels.
We've all done it by now.
Nobody's perfect.
MELISSA: Honey, honey, you're so hard on yourself.
You have to stop this, OK?
Dance isn't that important, Maddie.
MADDIE: Yes, it is.
MELISSA: But it's not your whole life.
Well, it is your whole life.
And it shouldn't be.
This is way too much pressure.
It's really hard when your daughter is
crying, saying she's a failure.
And she's nine years old.
You're not a failure when you're nine years old, not at all.
And she kept saying Abby's going to hate me.
She's going to hate me.
It really breaks your heart.
Abby's not going to hate you, Maddie.
I didn't even hear them announce my daughter.
ABBY: Well, that doesn't matter.
But I'm just saying.
I mean, I don't want to make excuses.
Every kid forgets their dance. MELISSA: No.
ABBY: That's not the deal.
MELISSA: She thinks you hate her.
(CRYING) I'm sorry.
ABBY: Sweetheart.
MELISSA: Aww, see, she thinks you hate her.
See, I told you she doesn't hate you.
Maddie, it's not your fault, honey.
You are such a fabulous kid.
MADDIE: [sobbing].
See, Abby loves you, Maddie, OK?
She knows what a kid you are.
She screwed up just like everybody else.
But you know what?
Maybe they won't all be vultures and be
after her all the time now.
Girls, nuh-uh, uh-uh.
We're not going to play that game.
You can see her and talk to her later.
We're not going to play that game.
We're not playing that game.
I'm not playing a game, Abby.
But I also know that my child ran off the stage.
I didn't see any tears from you, Abby, when
my kid ran off the stage, OK?
So point noted.
It's a horrific-- - I don't care.
I don't care.
I know you don't care.
And that's my point.
I found that incredibly cruel that there is a teacher who's
sitting there having a pity party for herself
because her student forgot a dance on stage.
And other students-- every other kid in that room
has had that same experience.
They all could have used a dance teacher who cared about them.
ASSISTANT: Awards.
I'll take you down.
HOLLY: You've got to be supportive of your friends,
so-- any child being on stage and forgetting their dance,
it's humiliating.
CHRISTI: And it's happened all of us.
And it's happened to everyone.
But she even said to Maddie-- HOLLY: If there are pressures--
She said she didn't care.
HOLLY: They all forgot for a reason.
And she didn't want any excuses.
She could care less.
Yeah, but there was not a tear shed for another child
in this company.
That's my issue.
These are children.
And you cry for whatever reason for one
child and not the other.
They all hurt the same.
And the kids know.
The kids know.
It was so obvious and transparent.
I've tried to deny that for many years and give Abby excuses.
'Cause I'm saying that's just the way she teaches.
That's just the way she is.
But today was like black and white.
No, it's not.
It's not the way she teaches for all.
There's a double standard.
It's a different system.
It is not equal.
KELLY: Why don't you care that all the other kids
forgot their dances?
But you care for Maddie.
My kids have been with you since they were two.
I've been with you for 30 years.
And you didn't care that Paige came off the stage
and forgot her dance.
She told Maddie she didn't care
she forgot her dance either.
She sat there and cried.
HOLLY: Abby, for once, was speechless
because she knew she was wrong.
For once, someone called her on something,
and she had nothing to say.
Moms, it's awards.
CHRISTI: Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm ready to go.
[applause]
HOST: Ladies and gentlemen, our top junior soloist today.
Please put your hands together for number
891, the Red Queen, Chloe.
CHLOE: I'm really happy about I got first Overall Solo.
I mean, I haven't really won first in a while,
so it feels really good.
Who choreographs for you?
Ms. Abby Lee Miller.
CHRISTI: Given that Chloe is at the bottom of the pyramid
this week for forgetting her number, I am so proud of her
that she won.
And Abby is nowhere to be seen.
Where do I go?
Oh.
HOLLY: How come you didn't come to awards?
CHRISTI: Chloe is your dancer.
You should have been there to support her.
I think one of the things you always
tell them is that save it for your pillow
and your hotel room or your bedroom.
And you should model that behavior for them
and sat in the front row, put your game face on.
Come paddle me.
Let's just get it over with quicker.
Please, that's a visual I do not want to see.
Paddle. Paddle.
I'll take the paddle.
I'll give you my tongue lashing because shame on you.
That's what you give the girls.
ABBY: I have nothing to send to these moms right now.
And I don't care if I hurt their feelings.
They're grown adults.
They can handle it.
If they want their kids to be nurtured and coddled,
they need to take them back to nursery school.
You always say, like, you know, act
professional, act professional.
You know, grow up.
This isn't really professional model behavior.
I could not just sit there and say
nothing after all my child is experienced and as well as many
of those other kids.
It's not right.
It just is not right.
- Hi. - Hello.
Congratulations.
You should be the proud. - Good job, Chlo.
Everyone here is proud of you. CHLOE: Thank you.
CHRISTI: Yeah.
You should be proud of yourself.
Abby didn't say, Chloe, you were fabulous.
She didn't say, like, oh, Chloe, you know, way to go.
That was amazing.
Nothing.
It was all about Maddie.
It's amazing to me.
It's amazing.
But there is no favoritism.
Not at all.
[music playing]
All right, guys, see you on the flip side.
CHRISTI: So Abby says very cryptically,
see you on the other side, and leaves the door.
Like, what's going on?
And the only one in the room who doesn't seem confused
is Melissa.
She's going home.
What do you mean she's going home?
She's leaving right now.
HOLLY: Did she really leave?
This can't be real.
I lost a lot of respect for Abby.
I really did.
Hi.
DRIVER: I've got room for one more.
It's just funny how all of a sudden
when things don't go Abby's way, she's running home.
I think it's ridiculous.
You're leaving because you're embarrassed about the way
you act earlier today.
Where are you going?
I'm going to go to the hotel, get my stuff,
and go on right to the airport.
I need a break.
I need a break from these moms, a break from these kids,
a break from the yelling.
What do you want us to tell the kids?
Your kids are fine.
They are great.
They have been trained even as young as seven years old.
They know what to do.
And they're fine without me.
KELLY: I have known Abby for a long time.
And I have never seen her like this.
I'm shocked.
[music playing]
This is your moment.
This is who you are.
You love hip hop, right? MAESI: Mm-hmm.
This is what they suppressed from you
and they took away from you.
And then they put you in the back.
Like, who puts Baby in the back?
Nobody.
Mm-hmm.
JAIME: I can sense the tension and anxiety in the room
because these solos are probably the most desired
thing since we've been here.
Nia, Camryn, and Maesi all had breakthroughs this week.
But Laurieann really, really wants to win.
Her reputation is on the line.
And so it's important that these kids bring Laurieann
Gibson's vision to the stage.
HOST: Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome
entry number 38, Black Sheep.
[cheers and applause]
Go, go!
[photronique, "beauty inside"]
(SINGING) Hey.
everyone looks so beautiful tonight, wouldn't you agree?
I'd like to go on and introduce myself and maybe
y'all can start seeing me.
I'm, I, this way.
I just love this face, these eyes with this smile,
these thighs with this waist.
Oooh.
And you too want to see things like I do.
So much love.
So much pride.
Turn heads with my out but my beauty's on the inside.
You never feel it in the video or see it through the radio,
oh. - Yeah!
(SINGING) All the beauty's inside.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, you're looking at me.
Feels good in the mirror.
(SINGING) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, you're looking at me.
My reflection ain't perfection 'cause the beauty's inside me.
I'm outside, trying to catch a vibe.
Billboards, sky high.
LAURIEANN: Hey!
Get it, girl.
(SINGING) It's so true when you see things like I do.
[cheering]
Got much love and much pride.
Turn heads with my out, but my beauty is on the inside.
You never feel it in a video or see it through the radio, oh.
All the beauty's inside.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, you're looking at me.
My reflection ain't perfection 'cause the beauty's inside me.
JAIME: Yeah!
[cheers and applause]
Whoo!
LAURIEANN: Maesi is so talented.
She's a firecracker.
She's soulful.
But Maesi did forget the choreography,
so I need to assess the situation.
Hi.
It's OK, baby.
Were you worried?
Maes, we're not worried.
I don't care if you miss every single step.
Maesi, can nobody dance like you.
The dance steps and the choreography don't make you.
They don't make you.
You make them when you dance.
MAESI: I am really upset that I just forgot my solo.
Abby would have went back and yelled at me.
But Ms. Gibson is very nice and actually will stick up for me.