NEWS'Dance Moms' Stars Team Up With Starlight Children's Foundation; Show Is Renewed for Third Season
Oct. 10 2012, Published 8:04 a.m. ET
Great news for Dance Moms fans! The Lifetime hit, which documents the lives of seven talented girls on Abby Lee Miller's competition team (or perhaps, arguably, more so the lives of their moms), has been renewed for a third season, the network announced today. The season will feature 26 episodes.
"With major growth season to season and a bona-fide star in Abby Lee Miller, Dance Moms continues to be a top performer and an important franchise for Lifetime, said Executive VP of Programming at Lifetime, Rob Sharenow. "It's become a force in the docu-soap genre and were pleased to bring Dance Moms back with more episodes next year."
Although the show has garnered more media attention for the moms of the show — Melissa Gisoni, Christi Lukasiak, Kelly Hyland, Holly Frazier and Jill Vertes — most Dance Moms fans will tell you they watch more for the dances, performed by some of the most talented students at Abby Lee Dance Company. The girls travel to a new city each week for dance competitions, and they often find that their toughest competition is each other.
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And when they're not traveling around the country competing, these little girls and their moms are still hard at work, making personal appearances, and in some cases, pursuing philanthropic efforts. Such was the case when OK! caught up with Melissa and her daughters, Maddie Ziegler, 10, and Mackenzie Ziegler, 8, at Stoopher & Boots, a boutique on NYC's Upper West Side. For Melissa, Maddie and Mackenzie, this wasn't just a run-of-the-mill appearance, but rather part of their work with the Starlight Children's Foundation, which aims to create special experiences for seriously ill children and their families.
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"Maddie and Mackenzie have made Starlight kids feel extraordinary during a difficult time in their lives, and we know that kind of support can have an immediate impact on the emotional well-being of a seriously ill child," Jacqueline Hart-Ibrahim, global CEO of Starlight Children's Foundation told OK! of the time the Dance Moms stars spent visiting with the children.
In addition to visiting, Maddie, Mackenzie and Melissa joined forces with tween clothing line Purple Pixies to create limited edition "Ziegler Dance Team" T-shirts, which can be purchased at PurplePixies.net — $5 from the sale of each shirt will go to the Starlight Children's Foundation.
"The event was such a nice experience for my girls," Melissa told OK! of her daughters' visit with the Starlight kids. "Afterward, Maddie and Mackenzie mentioned how much they wished they could have had more time to play with them."
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We love that the girls — who have been able to do some pretty enviable things courtesy of their Dance Moms fame, like hang out with Justin Bieber at the Teen Choice Awards, take pictures on a Broadway stage with the cast of Newsies, and sit front-row watching Kendall and Kylie Jenner walk the runway at the Sherri Hill show during New York Fashion Week — are also excited about dedicating their time to helping other childen. Their names might not ring a bell for many people who are older than they are, but to the tween crowd, they are superstars, and they are setting a positive example.
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