Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition: Season 1 finale quick recap

Are you ready for the second season of Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition? As a warm-up for season two, let's take a quick look back at the season 1 finale.

The contestants had been pared down to three girls:

Madison (mom: Coreen), who had outstanding technique but needed to learn how to emote better on stage.
Brianna (mom: Kris), an athletic, "hard" dancer who the judges kept urging to be softer and more "angelic."
Asia (mom: Kristie), a sassy little girl with an amazing talent for performance but lacking in technical proficiency.

Sparks flew in this episode when, for the group challenge, Abby brought back all the previous competitors - AND their mothers. The mothers were herded into the same room with each other and a few buckets of champagne. (Best idea or worst idea? Best idea.) Old feuds were quickly rekindled, and Kristie (Asia's mom) got in a spat with Yvette and ended up walking out on a toast to the girls.

The girls performed in a group challenge, a disastrous trio performance, then each girl gave her own solo performance. These alternated with a performance by each of the judges: a sexy burlesque number by Robin Antin which made me thankful that the choreographers were designing performances that were appropriate for the girls' ages, Richy Jackson bringing some much-needed masculine energy to the stage as a counterbalance to all the froo-froo ballet work, and a performance by some of Abby's former students that held out hope for the future of the current crop of girls.

• Asia's solo performance was a jazz routine which was full of sass and highlighted the fact that she's a great performer if not necessarily a great dancer.
• Brianna's solo performance was an emotional bit of angel-themed contemporary dance which she dedicated to her dead grandmother.
• Madison's solo was a lyrical piece with a lightness and emotional honesty that even seemed to stun the other moms into silence.

Unfortunately for Madison, this last-minute turn-around wasn't enough: Brianna won the competition, $100,000, and a prized scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School.

Join me this Tuesday night to talk about the season 2 premiere!

Image courtesy Flickr/HighTechDad