"We know that production is doing this. Everything that was stupid, they did," remarks Kelly. Well how stupid could things get? Well how about a Hip-hop Dance Battle?! Cause sure, that'll make the girls look good! Unfortunately as the two part Season 4 finale gets underway, both the Production AND Abby seemingly have it out for the ALDC and there's good reason these ended up being Christi's last days on the show.

The team arrives in Los Angeles for Nationals and Abby has an important announcement to ring in the occasion: She's setting up a new studio in LA. The moms wonder, perhaps naively, how Abby is going to manage to run two studios when she can barely run one! But right now the greater concern is Nationals as nobody is happy with the solos line-up of Chloe, Kendall and Kamryn. Holly is upset Nia was excluded once again and Chloe is upset she's been given bad choreography out the gate. Notably absent from the line-up is Maddie, which everyone finds suspicious.

Meanwhile Cathy delivers a gift to Abby that's sure to stir up trouble.

Quotes

• “Jill needs supervision. But not in a bad way. Like you and I need supervision in a different kind of way." (05:44-05:50 | Christi)
• “In this episode if I heard one more person say the word Nationals... I know! Like oh my god I cannot wait for Nationals to be over. How about everyone drink for nationals? That'll be fun, everyone will be drunk before we get to page three." (13:08-13:22 | Christi & Kelly)
• “I had to pay money to watch this episode. I'm so mad, I want a refund! Somebody give me my $2.11 back!" (46:22-46:29 | Christi)
• “Did you notice that Abby found a cheese mat in LA? I did. She's like a mouse, she can sniff out cheese anywhere she goes." (51:38-51:47 | Christi & Kelly)

Links

Subscribe to Pillow Talk S4: https://pillowtalkpod.com/checkout/new?o=215431

Grab your Back to the Barre LIVE tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/back-to-the-barre-with-christi-kelly-live-barre-crawl-tickets-1626773767129?aff=oddtdtcreator

Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w 

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

Follow Kelly on IG: www.instagram.com/kellylhyland

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"I cheer for the Dallas Cowboys! Yay! Just so you know, Jill is basically steal your soul at some point."

This week we have a very special guest joining us at the Barre: NFL Cheerleader Karley Swindel! On our latest season of Pillow Talk we're covering Season 2 of America's Sweethearts: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and Karly is one of the team's current group leaders. She's also just so happens to be a huge Dance Moms fan! And because this is related to Pillow Talk, joining us today is also Melissa and Jill!

The moms are eager to pick Karley's brain about the in's and out of what it takes to make the team, how have the routines changed season to season, and how has her outlook changed in the 4 years since she began. Karley is also a dance teacher, and she herself was once a dance kid with her own dance mom, so how did Dance Moms influence her? Tune-in to find out!

Quotes

• “I told you someone called me a generational icon, I'm like seriously? I guess? I don't know about that. Ah look, it's better than some of the things we've been called in the past." (00:35-00:47 | Christi & Kelly)
• “All I'm going to say is I feel like you've been waiting for this for 14 years... it's not a hot guy tho. I've been waiting for one of them' for 54 years!" (10:43-10:55 | Christi & Kelly)
• “I have to know in your very professional opinion, could Jill be the point? That's all she wants in life. Oh of course!" (20:13-20:21 | Christi & Karley)
• “I want a french twist so bad!" (49:33-49:35 | Karley)

Links

Follow the adorable @Karley_Swindel on IG!

Subscribe to Pillow Talk S4: https://pillowtalkpod.com/checkout/new?o=215431

Grab your Back to the Barre LIVE tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/back-to-the-barre-with-christi-kelly-live-barre-crawl-tickets-1626773767129?aff=oddtdtcreator

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Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Chloe turned to me and said I'm never going to dance on this stage again, am I? Like she knew, it was really sad," remembers Christi as she looks back on her last ALDC Annual Dance Concert. On "45 Second Solos", Chloe doesn't even get a chance to shine as she's put on medical rest due to her fracturing her foot suddenly offscreen. Of course it didn't seem that way to viewers as the cover story for her eye problem in the week prior was a foot problem as well, so now it just comes across as Christi and Chloe being a little shifty on screen, leading to accusations off screen of faking it for the camera (more on that in this week's Producer Notes).

Abby gives the girls a challenge: perform a 45 second solo of "their choosing" (as in the Producer's choosing) before the actual recital this week to determine who will get a solo at Nationals. To add some drama, Abby brings in Kamryn as Chloe's replacement. Christi is still made at Abby for trying to convince the judges in a previous competition to throw out Chloe's win in favor of Kamryn, so this development doesn't sit well. And to make matters worse, multiple fights break out between the moms... they just mostly happen off camera (again, lot of stuff in the Producer's Notes this week).

But Abby has a solution to ease everyone's tension... a dunk tank! Why?! Who cares!

Quotes

• “We all have to take a moment and just apreciate the fact that Christi and Kelly have any sort of tech capabilities whatsoever. Because I have the perfect example of why I'm not qualified to do tech. When I was prepping tech for Pillow Talk, I literally electrocuted myself." (10:05-10:24 | Christi)
• “The dance concert is the culmination of all the hard work the kids have done all year; it's the hottest ticket in town. Gurl no it's not, because you sent us to Shady-side and we couldn't even get the gays to come! There were rhinestones! It is not the hottest ticket in town." (20:59-21:14 | Christi)
• “Abby says at the dance concert I will be the executioner, judge and jury... it should be judge, jury and executioner. She did it the wrong way just like she did red, white and black all over." (29:51-30:03 | Christi)
• “Abby turns to Sarah and calls her a dingbat for sitting in... Oh she stole my name!" (1:02:27-1:02:34 | Christi & Kelly)

Links

Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w 

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

Follow Kelly on IG: www.instagram.com/kellylhyland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"That is one of the dances I pull out and show people to say I had to do this on national television when I was 13," according to Chloe; so despite what the actual results of this week's competition say; we're in for a real stinker this week!

As the second half of "Another One Bites the Dust" gets underway at DanceKidsUSA, Cathy makes a surprise appearance... ok well the moms knew she would be there, but Abby was none the wiser and is immediately displeased. She attempts to put on a good face and ignore Cathy's barbs, but it's begins to dawn on Abby that production may be up to something with Cathy (Nationals are around the corner after all). Offscreen Abby gets her jabs in by talking over Lucas' solo entree, which rightfully riles up Cathy.

Meanwhile Nia stuns with her tribute solo to Maya Angelou, which for many fans is often remembered as one of Nia's best. But despite being equally praised by the judges, the same cannot be said of the group routine: The Seven Dancers. Maybe it's the t-shirts, the awkward black belts or the bizarre headpieces... but anyway you look at it, it's a pretty bad dance. Did you like this dance? Because it's been 11 years and we still don't know how this took 1st!

Quotes

• “Kelly, they know we're normal people if they listen to the podcast... I don't think Kelly has pants on right now you guys. I was hot! We're pretty normal, Kelly doesn't have pants on." (08:27-08:41 | Christi & Kelly)
• “I was just going to say I've been mad before but I've never tried to injure someone, that's not true!" (14:07-14:12 | Christi)
• “Tracey thought this dance was atrocious. She struggled all week and wondered why she let her daughter do it on TV. This dance is awful. Yeah, try doing that for four seasons!" (40:08-40:20 | Christi & Kelly)
• “I told you I agreed with that, but you don't say that! You say that to someone behind the scenes later in the privacy of your own home with a glass of wine. Exactly!" (54:10-54:23 | Christi & Kelly)

Links

Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w 

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

Follow Kelly on IG: www.instagram.com/kellylhyland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This isn’t just a podcast recap — it’s a full night out packed with fan-favorite moments, insider producer notes, hilarious games, juicy audience Q&As, and so much more. Whether you’re a diehard Dance Moms OG or new to the chaos, this is your chance to be part of the Back to the Barre family in person.

Tickets Available Here

Preorder your shirts NOW to guarantee your size!

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"We're getting into the end of Christi Lukasiak days on Dance Moms, and I'm feeling a type of way about it." reflects Christi as each week it becomes clearer and clearer the series of events that finally broke the camel's back. And on the first half of "Another One Bites the Dust" Abby is just adding fuel to that fire as she takes aim at Chloe's injury. Of course at this time Christi says they didn't even know what was wrong with Chloe's eye, so instead she offered-up the excuse of a foot injury so Chloe could make her hospital appointments. Abby of course is mad, go figure! If it wasn't bad enough that Abby would eventually make fun of Chloe's eye anyways, Chloe is close to actually injuring her foot as well! It's going to be a rough last couple of weeks for the Lukasiaks that's for certain.

But if that wasn't bad enough, Abby decides the girls should get a lighter week before Nationals and assigns a Seven Dwarves themed group number. Aside from the fact they'll only have two days to rehearse the number, every girls is also given a cringe inducing character and outfit that's sure to help! However the bigger question on everyone's mind is who is going to make the cut for nationals? As if to stir the pot further Abby brings in Select Team alternate Kaleigh to join the group routine, leading Sarah R's mom Tracey to question if they're being edged out.

Quotes

• “You showed your nipples on social media for your daughter! Just so she didn't! I went to jail for you AND I showed my nipples. Oh my god this is a nipple heavy episode." (08:24-08:40 | Christi & Kelly)
• “I need you to go back to just being Kelly in the dumpster. Wouldn't that be nice? I want to go back to that to." (17:50-17:56 | Christi & Kelly)
• “I need somebody with a degree to tell us what all of our mental health issues are." (22:16-22:24 | Christi)
• “I would say I'd be 'Honest'. Ok, that's not a dwarf name! You have to have a stupid name to be a dwarf." (41:46-41:52 | Christi & Kelly)

Links

Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w 

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

Follow Kelly on IG: www.instagram.com/kellylhyland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Apparently something is going to happen at the end of this episode that goes on into Season 5. And they never show any of it. So I'm gonna unlock that little tea!" promises Christi, and deliver she will as our beautiful Bitches round the corner into the second half of "The Understudies".

The ALDC arrives at Sheer Talent greeted by Cathy's lovely insults over the intercom. Abby is already frustrated enough with Cathy and, as if pre-ordained, announces Maddie will be performing her solo despite Jill's best efforts to get Kendall the spotlight. Cathy's only competition for Maddie is Gino, despite the two being in separate age categories so are they really competing? And does it really matter if Cathy seems bent on sabotaging Gino's chances by putting him in THAT outfit?

The rest of the moms are fed up with their daughters being sidelined and an argument erupts over the white board tallies. Abby does not like her methods being questioned and argues the moms never complained about it before the show... despite her teaching style and time commitment with these girls being completely different at this time! Christi points out that the rest of the girls are used as fodder to prop up Maddie, and Abby silently storms out. Seemingly in retaliation, she pulls the group number from the competition, leaving only Maddie's solo as the sole ALDC performance of the evening. But is that what really happened? Did Abby go to such lengths over a petty argument? Surely there have been more severe fights at this point that never warranted such measures. Could it be that Abby was actually afraid to lose to Cathy? Well thankfully we have the Producer's Notes to shed some light on the situation!

Quotes

• “You know why I had detention? Why? Guess. Talking too much? Yes, of course." (18:06-18:12 | Christi & Kelly)
• “I don't remember any of this, I must have been drinking in a corner. Just praying to make it end. Like please make the day go faster!" (29:57-30:05 | Christi)
• “You said your kids succeed on the backs of our kids. Because in order for your kids to be the winners, our kids have to be the losers. That right there, that sentence, is Dance Moms in a nutshell." (33:55-34:06 | Christi & Kelly)
• “This was so stupid, we went this whole weekend for Maddie to do a dance. That's it!" (54:14-54:18 | Christi)

Links

Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w 

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

Follow Kelly on IG: www.instagram.com/kellylhyland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"No one from Dance Moms has ever talked about this, so this is like real behind the scenes tea." remarks Christi, so you know it's going to be a must-listen. But even more enticing is the fact that Kelly's back! And just in time to cover the first half of "The Understudies" as Abby's continued insults results in the moms keeping a running tally.

After Maddie's surprise solo appearance at last week's competition, Abby sticks her right back at the top of the pyramid. Abby could have given Nia (who led the group to 1st) the top spot but some habits die hard I guess. Abby is more preoccupied with the fact the ALDC is facing off against Cathy's Candy Apples this week and her star player is preoccupied with other media appearances. Just in case Maddie's schedule might wisk her away to Miami, Chloe and Kendall are assigned as her understudies. Chloe also gets the rough end of Abby's barbs during group rehearsal after coming to practice injured, but there's also more to that story the cameras couldn't capture.

Of course Abby doesn't miss a chance to brag about Maddie's good fortune, but her bragging quickly leads to more insults towards the other girls. Fed up with the negative comparisons to Maddie, the moms begin a running tally of how often each girl get unfavorably compared to her. But after production supplies a physical scoreboard for the mom to mark-up, Abby quickly catches on and things unsurprisingly begin to spiral.

Quotes

• “You're allowed to take some days off, you have some built up PTO. you went through an entire year and a half of cancer and never missed a podcast!" (09:43-09:51 | Christi)
• “My favorite pill story is when you took all your pills in the back of the van with a big chug of vodka on accident. I might jsut have to start doing that, make it easier to take them!" (18:47-19:03 | Christi & Kelly)
• “They had taken, and are you ready for this because I'm not exaggerating vials of blood that day." (34:28-20:22 | Christi)
• “Are we cheesy? I guess so! I didn't know!" (41:33-41:36 | Christi & Kelly)

Links

Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w 

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

Follow Kelly on IG: www.instagram.com/kellylhyland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"In the words of the infamous Abby Lee Miller, the show must go on!" laments Christi, as it's another week at the Barre without our illustrious Bitch #2.

Unfortunately Kelly is back in the hospital this week; we're wishing her a speedy recovery as always. But in the meantime we want to keep the lights on at the Barre so we can continue to help support Kelly as best we can. So while we organize and bring on some additional guests, Intern Matt has continued to sort through all your comments to find the best questions for Christi to answer for an impromptu Q&A. During our last Q&A we managed to get some pretty juicy tea out of Christi, will this batch hold such riches?

More importantly, will Matt find a way around his supposed potty mouth? Actually, does Matt really have that much more of a potty mouth than our beloved Bitches!? Some of you seem to think so it seems! So let's see if the good Dr. cant strike a balance between holy s**t and gee willickers!

Quotes

• “Matt made a powerpoint yesterday and sent it to me. It is not fit for public consumption." (04:14-04:21 | Christi)
• “So there's this person I used to know named Abby. Couldn't guess who she was. I had to change her name in my phone as "Zabby" because I would go to put something in and undoubtedly she would come up first all the time and I almost... and I probably did, send her some texts that were not for her eyes." (06:57-07:18 | Christi & Matt)
• “I'm sure somewhere there is footage if Kelly peeing in the parking lot." (20:17-20:22 | Christi)
• “Dance Moms didn't have a gentle decline. It literally got to the top and suddenly it all sucked." (56:10-56:17 | Christi)

Links

Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w 

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

Follow Kelly on IG: www.instagram.com/kellylhyland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I can't imagine you're watching Dance Moms every night, you know for fun!" Christi remarks to Ed Phelan, an OG Dance Moms choreographer who returns to the Barre this week after a two year hiatus to check-in on Christi and Kelly as they tackle Season 4's "No More Crybabies". With Nationals quickly approaching Abby begins to shift focus on to who will be getting solos

and whose going to be left on the sidelines. She assigns Mackenzie, Select team member Tea, and Sarah H solos to see who will get cut from consideration. Though Abby does Sarah H no favors by giving her a dance centered around the Holocaust of all things! It wasn't about that once the episode aired, but it must have been fun explaining that one to the kids!

But Abby is more worried about the fact the ALDC is slated to compete against Ava at this week's competition, which inspires the classic Abby move of, "What if I surprise added Maddie to the line-up?!" which she's certain everyone will like! Shockingly Maddie's inclusion doesn't earn Abby any goodwill, and instead works to only encourage the other moms to turn on Melissa who allowed her other daughter to be upstaged.

Quotes

• “It was the ugliest menagerie of clothing I've ever seen. But I digress, that's every week." (18:21-18:26 | Christi)
• “It was nice to see her in a shirt that wasn't black with blue writing. It was blue with black writing! I was like oh we're expanding!" (23:20-23:25 | Christi)
• “This is giving Schindler's List." (32:49-32:51 | Christi)
• “I don't think anybody should be demonstrating a temper tantrum more than Abby Lee Miller." (47:26-47:32 | Christi)

Links

Subscribe to us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC50aSBAYXH_9yU2YkKyXZ0w 

Subscribe to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/backtothebarre

Thank you to Ashley Jana for allowing us to use Electricity!! Follow her on IG HERE: https://instagram.com/ashleyjanamusic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Download Electricity HERE: https://music.apple.com/us/album/electricity/1497482509?i=1497482510

Follow Christi on IG: www.instagram.com/christilukasiak

Follow Kelly on IG: www.instagram.com/kellylhyland

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.