We
together for on stage.
The girls are ready. I have complete faith in them.
I would never send them out on stage if they weren't ready.
Hello! How are you?
How are you?
Ready for another day.
I'm cutting your music.
Dance is so expensive,
so I do work for Abby at the studio.
I do the costumes, the music. I work at the desk.
Hi, girls!
Hello!
I have your music, but Paige's I can't seem to get.
Music, where's my music?
Music is always getting lost at the studio.
Because I don't even have music yet.
Every day this week I checked in to see
if Paige's music was cut.
It was the night before the competition,
and Paige still hadn't heard her music.
All right. Well, if Abby comes out at all,
can you just tell her that I need to talk to her?
Yes. Go. Good, Nick. Push.
When we don't have music to rehearse to,
we have to use counts like five, six, seven, eight,
but it's not as fun when we don't have music.
Now we're doing acro?
Yes. Yes, can you believe it?
We are supposed to be competing new solos,
and she needs to get these kids who are dancing this weekend
to rehearse their solos. It's 7:30!
I know. It's a night before our competition.
Ooh, that was scary, Kennedy. Straighten your legs.
I'm in the middle of teaching an acrobatic class.
The mothers were not confident in their children
which saddens me.
I have more faith in their kid than they do.
They want that kid to practice, practice,
practice on their solos
that they're going to get on stage and do for 2 minutes
and 30 seconds instead of learning how to dance.
Then they could learn a combination like that
and get on stage and perform it.
So obviously she's not going to perform very well
when she's the youngest age in the category,
and she has no music.
And she hasn't had any super secret privates.
Exactly.
When I'm backstage, I'm really nervous
because I'm scared I'm going to forget my dance before I go on,
and it makes me forget it more
if I really get rushed up about it.
For Paige to learn a solo and perform it in 2 days,
that makes me nervous for her,
but hopefully she just goes out there,
uses her personality and charms the judges.
[Lyrics]
Paige was like a deer in the headlights.
That hasn't happened to me in 25 years.
I was sick to my stomach. It's humiliating.
Just go off.
Give a nice round of applause,
make her feel very comfortable.
There's no excuse.
You should remain on stage and continue dancing.
[ Chatter ]
It was humiliating for me as a teacher,
number one, and number two, she should be humiliated.
Don't be sad.
You looked beautiful for what you did do.
Yes, you did.
You were perfect. Don't worry about it, Paige.
It's a dance. Who cares?
I know, but it's not your fault
that it was messed up. Right? Don't you agree with me?
You got your music last night at, what, 8:30
and went home and went to bed,
and we're expected to rush in here and compete it?
You want to go home? Mmm, we can't go home.
Don't cry, Paige. Don't, okay?
All right. Up next in the junior solo division,
we have entry number 17.
This is Fallon's opportunity to make an impression.
I want to see how she handles the spotlight
and also how she handles the pressure.
This is Fallon with "Voices In My Head."
She forgot it. Yep, she forgot it.
It's okay. She'll be all right.
Excuse me.
Yeah?
This kid just forgot her whole dance.
She's making it up?
She's a kid that auditioned for me,
and she just forgot the whole dance,
and she's making all this crap up
as she goes along so disqualify her.
Fallon, look, Abby is going to yell at you,
but listen to me. You know and I know because we seen them ...
I know you knew it, and it's okay.
Oh. Oh, hey!
Are you okay? Oh, what happened?
She sliced it. That's why she started improv-ing.
Oh, I didn't even see that.
She started improv-ing.
She rolled over and hurt it and ...
We were wondering what happened.
I've never seen her do anything like this
since she's been dancing. It happens. It was not her time.
Hey, ladies.
Hello. Hi.
Hi, there. Bring it on.
Okay, here it comes.
Hey, ladies, I just came in to tell your new little teammate
how noble of you to keep dancing.
That's what it's all about, doll.
It's all about forgetting your dance and keep going.
I would never run to the judges' station
to try and have you disqualified which is what Abby did.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. You need to go, honey.
She's not one of our students.
Oh, oh, nice! How about that?
She came in, learned her solo in 2 days like we do,
and it wasn't great on stage.
Where does it say in the rules
that you have to learn your solo in 2 days?
Our kids work their asses off day in, day out.
And our kids don't?
No, they don't.
Leave! Leave!
It's amazing the things that you guys are fed
into your bubble heads.
At least we don't have bubble butts.
Oh, god! Slam it! Slam it! Slam it!
I can't believe the audacity of Cathy
coming into our dressing room.
You know what, Cathy? Mind your own business.
All right, Fallon.
I'm very disappointed in you. We worked hard on that routine.
You went out there. You forgot your dance.
You were just bumbling around on the stage.
I don't really need your side of the story.
I don't really care what happened because the judges
and the audience all think that you are a little kid
who got in way over their head this week
and forgot their dance.
Don't cry because you're going to make me feel bad
for yelling at you. All right?
I think it's clear to everyone at this time
that we've reached the end of the road for Cheryl and Fallon.
I think it's time for everyone's sake that they go home.
I just want you to know that you had your chance.
You had your golden opportunity.
You could have went out there and beat Kendall.
Then you would have had a spot on this team.
And some of those kids that you just danced in this group with,
they're not that fabulous but somehow they make it work,
and that comes with time, and we don't have time, okay?
Forgetting a costume, unforgivable.
Doing your own choreography in place of mine ...
never going to happen.
[Lyrics]
My worst fears are coming true,
and my heart begins to break, and I see my little girl freeze.
Thank you, Nia.
Great job, Nia. Let's hear it for Nia! Come on!
It's okay. You know the dance.
I forgot it, Mom.
No, Nia!
You okay? You know the dance.
You know that dance in your body.
Can I do it again? We're working on it.
You will do it again. It's your turn to shine.
Okay? Stop psyching yourself out.
You are an amazing, amazing dancer.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
We care that you can show people and you can dance.
At this point, I'm thinking you have nothing to lose.
Let me go to the competition director.
I know it's very rare
that they would ever let someone do a dance over.
I want my child to at least be considered for a second chance.
Hi. I wasn't sure who I should speak to.
Nia would like to do her dance again if it's at all possible.
Take a deep breath before you go on.
I'll find a spot.
What I found is the competition director
was amazing.
She was very accommodating. Her heart bled for Nia,
and she allowed her to do this dance again,
and I was thrilled.
I knew when she got off the stage
she was going to be mortified, but most importantly
she was going to be afraid of Abby's reaction.
I heard you're going to dance again.
You know when you dance again,
you have to be 1,000 times better than the first time?
For me it's not just about this routine on this day.
This is a life lesson that we all need to learn.
I am preparing Nia for the future,
and a future in this business is tough.
You don't get a second chance.
And taking the stage for a second time, we have Nia.
[Lyrics]
I'm happy for Nia.
She had the courage to face the audience,
and she performed with a smile, with energy,
and she proved to herself that she could do it.
Moving on to elementary division,
first through fifth grade.
In third place,
Nia from Abby Lee.
Even after the week that kid has had,
Nia acted like a responsible dancer.
If you fall off the bike,
you need to get right back on it.
Good for her.
That was good, Holly. She'll be happy with that.
She'll be happy.
I'm proud of myself, and I'm glad I did it.
Mackenzie, you're my first one up.
All right? So you cannot miss a trick, understood?
You have to nail every single trick.
If the legs aren't straight and the feet aren't pointed,
you're not going to win.
Go through it. The pressure is on you.
You won last week, and I say it every time.
Getting to the top is one thing. Staying there is another thing.
Mackenzie looks beautiful.
That turquoise costume certainly looks like the beach,
but the kid has this look on her face like she
is scared to death.
Hey, come on, Mackenzie. Now remember the pressure is on.
I am counting on you to win this division.
Don't mess it up, kiddo. Got it?
You're not serious enough, Mackenzie.
I'm a little nervous for Mackenzie
to have this type of solo. She can be real cutesy on stage,
but this type of emotion is different for her.
Let's go.
Abby gave me a harder dance.
I'm freaking out that I'm going to forget my solo.
All right.
Skipping ahead just a little bit in your program
to entry number nine in the mini solo division.
This is Mackenzie with "Dancing Barefoot."
[Lyrics]
Mackenzie forgets her dance on stage.
Keep going, keep going, keep going.
There is one split second where she goes completely blank.
[Lyrics]
The end, she was early,
so she had to add another trick to end
and ends up finishing facing the wrong direction.
Dumb mistake, Mackenzie, dumb mistake.
You okay?
Oh, yeah, I'm fine. What are you going to do?
Yeah, you're right.
She's not Maddie.
She what? She is not Maddie.
Hello! Good job, Kenz.
Mackenzie, how do you feel like you did?
Mackenzie actually danced
against 8 and 9-year-olds this week,
so I just don't think she was ready for this type of dance.
Well, well, well, get on stage and forget your dance,
look like a deer in the headlights.
You're like this.
So, Mackenzie, let's go through what all you did wrong.
You choreographed your own dance at the end
which I don't really appreciate. You were early on the music.
I don't want to be mean. I don't want to be nasty.
I would have loved to have walked in here
and had you run and hug me
and be so thrilled with your performance,
but that's not what you do.
You were going to be the overall high score 8 and under,
go out there and do what you did.
You went out. You screwed up. You failed, and you know what?
She's not ready to do a big girl dance.
I don't know what religion you all are,
but I'd start praying because that's all we have left.
Third place is Ms. Mackenzie
with act number nine, "Dancing Barefoot."
Really, third?
She goes from first to third in 6 days?
What went wrong? She was clearly outdanced.