'Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition' recap: Down the Rabbit Hole

In this last episode before the season two finale, the four remaining dancers performed fantastical solos, and one mother tried to sabotage the whole thing.

This week the theme was going to be “Down the Rabbit Hole” inspired by, of course, Alice in Wonderland. The skill to go along with the theme was characterization – how well the dancers could portray a character in their dancing.

Gianna felt confident because she thought characterization is her biggest strength. Turns out she was right. In the challenge, the girls were given choreography and then had to perform it multiple times as different characters. First they had to act like the white rabbit, then a door mouse, and then the queen of hearts. At the end, Gianna was the challenge winner.

For her prize, Gianna and her mom, Cindy, got to assign the competitors their style and character for the solos. Cindy wanted to give everyone, except her daughter, their weakest style. She assigned Trinity the lyrical dance, Kalani hip hop, McKaylee modern funk, and Gianna jazz funk.

Both Trinity and Kalani were freaking out with their assignments, and the girls and their moms were all mad at Gianna and Cindy.

Trinity, who has a gymnastics background and whose strength is hip hop, was really worried about her lyrical number. She knew she would have to make sure her feet were perfect or else Abby would tear her apart. As for Kalani, the last time she did hip hop, she was eliminated (until Abby brought her back with her callback card). McKaylee just needed to make sure she didn’t lip sync to the song while she was dancing, which she has a hard time not doing.

While the girls were rehearsing their solos, the moms were working on costumes in another room. All the moms ganged up on Cindy for “sabotaging the competition” by giving the dancers their least favorite genre. Cindy didn’t feel bad, though. She reminded them that this is a competition, and she’s here to win, not to make friends.

The night of the staged portion of the competition, all the girls and their moms were uptight and snapping at each other. Kalani and Trinity were especially stressed, since their solos were way out of their comfort zone.

McKaylee’s modern funk number, “Cheshire Cat,” was the first to take the stage. McKaylee certainly made me grin as she portrayed a cat perfectly. I thought she did an incredible job with beautiful dancing and using her prop – a big ramp. I did notice some lip syncing, though, which is a big no-no! Richy pointed out her lip syncing, too, but otherwise thought she was great. Abby, however, thought she could’ve taken the feline aspect even farther and also critiqued her feet.

Right before Gianna went on for her solo, she was fretting backstage about her hat not being secure enough. To add to the anxiety, her mom, Cindy, started yelling at her. But you couldn’t tell how stressed Gianna was when she took the stage for her jazz funk “Mad Hatter” routine. I thought Gianna also did a great job, both dancing and portraying her character. She used a table with a tea set as a prop and definitely looked crazy (in a good way)! Richy and Rachelle loved it, but Abby went straight into critiquing her feet. Big surprise!

Kalani’s hip hop solo, “White Rabbit,” was next. She wore a skirt, a white wig, and big furry rabbit ears as she popped and locked it on stage. I thought she was good, but after remembering Trinity’s hip hop dance last week, Kalani’s wasn’t that impressive in comparison. Richy complimented Kalani for finally letting go and having fun onstage. Rachelle also commented, “I saw a new Kalani this evening.” Even Abby said that her facial expressions were great, but, of course, she had some technical critiques to give.

The last solo of the night was Trinity’s lyrical routine, “Alice.” I thought it was good, but not great. When I think of the beautiful lyrical routines McKaylee has done, this one just wasn’t as good. Abby told Trinity that this dance was a “huge letdown.” Trinity went backstage and started crying. She told her mom that she’s definitely going home this week.

After the judges discussed amongst themselves, the four dancers were called back out. They immediately told Gianna she was safe for having the best characterization of the night. Then they tore into the other three – McKaylee lip synced, Trinity couldn’t show a soft side, and Kalani’s hip hop wasn’t enough.

Then Abby announced that none of them were going home – they would all be in the finale! The girls and their moms were ecstatic. “Did you really think I was gonna let a mom determine your fate?” Abby told them, referring to Cindy.

Don’t miss the season finale next Tuesday on Lifetime! Who do you think will be the winner?

Image: Youtube Screenshot