Dance Moms: A New Era may feature the type of reality TV chaos you’d expect from a reboot of the series that made Abby Lee Miller a household name, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of hard work in the dance studio that goes into it. So, when we had the chance to interview dance instructor and coach Gloria Hampton about the new series, our focus was much more on our shared passion — dance — and Studio Bleu’s junior elite team than on, say, the mama drama over which kid got which featured part in which competition.
Because Hampton, known as Miss Glo to her kids, had been part of the show that started it all, we had to begin our conversation by asking what made her want to do this spinoff in the first place. “I teach dance,” Hampton told us, “I’ve taught dance for 40 years, and it’s just my way of taking it to the next level.” For her, doing Dance Moms: A New Era is about “showing the world what I’ve spent my life doing.” And because she feels like she’s good at what she does (can confirm, based on many a competition result), this is her way of “putting it out there for the world to see.”
Part of being good at her job means, as she says in the intro package in Episode 1, she can put together a winning team without having them resent her in 10 years. When asked how she could pull that off while providing the necessary tough love for improvement and giving the reality TV audiences what they want, “Mis Glo” told us, “I don’t think that we have to have drama surrounding the children.” And her relationship with her students is one of mutual love and respect. “I teach with love,” Hampton said. And “I teach with respect. [The dancers] respect me. I let them speak their mind, and they’re very happy to do that — trust me. So, you know, we can leave the drama to the mamas.”
That’s not to say that the dancing itself doesn’t sometimes involve a little drama, like when in Dance Moms: A New Era 1×03, the plan to have Audrina Brudner perform the team’s contemporary ballet number en pointe…doesn’t end well. Regardless, it was exciting to see a reality series include — or, eh. Try to include — something that isn’t often emphasized by shows like this and, therefore, isn’t necessarily a style young dancers who’ve been inspired by TV are rushing toward. And Hampton gets it. “Never, in a million years, will I not advocate for ballet,” she told us. Admitting she was “really disappointed, too, with the way things ended in that episode,” she also said she’d like to try again in the event that there’s a Season 2.
And ballet’s not the only style Miss Glo wants to keep alive. You know, sometimes you have a conversation with someone who gets it, and this was one of those times. “I wanted to showcase that our kids are well-rounded,” she told us about the contemporary ballet piece. But then, she kinda read my mind because she started digging into other styles and what she sees at competitions. “There’s a technique to jazz that is getting lost. I judge dance competitions, and I will say that we talk all the time as judges about how the jazz category has become contemporary. The lyrical category has become contemporary, the contemporary category is contemporary, [and] the open category is contemporary.”
But that’s…not what those styles are supposed to be. “There’s a very big difference. There’s actual jazz technique that is so important to train in. And I still do that.” Hampton said she’s “not one that’s letting it all fade,” and she’d even like to “have a tap group on Dance Moms if we can. We’ve never done that.” So, while “there’s a place for contemporary,” Miss Glo told us, “you still have to be trained in proper ballet technique to do anything. I firmly believe that. People will argue…but I still firmly believe it. Just to understand body awareness…it’s so important.”
That actually brought us back around to Dance Moms: A New Era itself — and not the dance world at large — as Hampton pointed out she “will always be the first one to be like, ‘why aren’t you in your ballet class.'” That, obviously, is something we see in a big way on the series, as she repeatedly tells Ashlan Scheide she needs to go to more ballet classes. Well, if there’s a second season, Miss Glo is looking forward to us seeing Ashlan’s “nice little turnaround” in that regard. So, if you want to see a tap group, or if you want to see if Ashlan’s improvement is legit, you’re going to have to make sure those streaming numbers are good enough for a Season 2.
At the time we did the interview, we’d seen the first three episodes of the series. So, we wanted to know which performances we should look forward to. As expected, one of the pieces Hampton pointed to was the “Medium” group dance from Episode 2, calling it “a very…important personal story for me.” Additionally, we’ll be paying special attention to the “dance based off the movie, The Menu — or loosely based” that comes in a later episode. Not only did Hampton call it “my favorite dance of the season,” but she also told us “it was a lot of fun. And the kids really enjoyed it.” But at the same time, the dance was also “the most challenging.” So, when “it came together on stage…we all just had this huge sigh of relief.” In fact, “my assistant and I cried afterward just because we were so proud.”
No need to save your tears for your pillow with this one, folks.
Watch our full interview with Gloria Hampton from Dance Moms: A New Era here.
Catch Gloria Hampton and the Bleu Junior Elites in Dance Moms: A New Era, now streaming on Hulu.
