If Dance Moms Was Real

If you have a child in dance, especially if you have a child in competitive dance, you have probably been asked, "Is it really like it is on that t.v. show?"   I've gotten to the point that I like to tell people yes, just to see the looks on their faces.  But we, dance parents and dancers, know that it's not. It's not anything close.

The thing is, those of us who live in that world catch things that the average, never-been-to-a-competition person would never catch. But we catch it all.

One night, I took the hashtag #ifdancemomswasreal (actually it started as #ifdancemomswerereal) and had a conversation about it. If it's not my tweet, I've credited you below.

In no particular order:

If Dance Moms was real:

• We'd have no issue with traveling to take one group number and two solos
• Our studio would get to sit at the front for every awards ceremony
• Competitions would only have about 70 numbers entered
• We'd only take one junior group to the competitions. No one else would go.
• People would pay for my signature
• All dancers would compete.
• Students would be judged with "pyramids" - ‏@JennyTullis_X
• My dancers would arrive for practice in full stage make up.
• I'd arrive at competitions in a limo or on a chartered bus.
• We'd travel across the country for a regional comp. Every weekend.
• My kids would have recording and modeling contracts.
• You would only ever have one teacher/choreographer. ‏@t_marie_16
• Competition fees wouldn't be an issue. Ever.
• Kids could just drop in week to week and compete with your team.
• I would be learning new choreography and getting new costumes every week! 
• My mom would sit and watch me dance every day instead of dropping me off with dinner. @typdanceprobs
• All of the parents would be expert costume designers. ‏@t_marie_16
• We would all have private dressing rooms with no people stealing space and enough room to run dances. ‏@Morgan_Leslie16
• All of my numbers would go on one day and I wouldn't have to worry about quick changes ‏@typdanceprobs
• We could just edit out the parts of our day that we don't like.
• We could read the script ahead of time to see how we'd place.
• We'd have to "qualify" for nationals like it was some big deal.

This is not to say that many of us don't have a Melissa in our studio--or a Jill--or Heaven help you, a Kristi - but, well... you get the point.