Ohio University’s University Program Council, or UPC, hosted a Moms' Weekend event Saturday featuring Kelly Hyland and Christi Lukasiak, two moms from the Lifetime reality show “Dance Moms” and hosts of the podcast “Back to the Barre.”
Members of UPC Luke Vannus, a junior, and Emily Osborne, a sophomore, moderated a Q-and-A with the two moms with their own questions as well as questions from the audience.
Osborne, creative events vice chair of UPC, said the idea has been in the works since October or November.
Osborne said UPC had been in contact with a couple of agencies in the past, and one of them happened to be in contact with all of the Dance Moms stars. UPC went with Hyland and Lukasiak after thinking about the price range and interests of students.
Rhyan Matheny, a junior studying psychology, and her mom, Tracy Matheny, thought the event was perfect for Moms Weekend.
“I have been watching Dance Moms since I was 11 or 12 and I’m obsessed with Christi and Kelly – they are my favorite ones on the show,” Rhyan said.
Hyland and Lukasiak met before the show started, Hyland said.
When they met at the studio, Chloe Lukasiak was an only child and Paige Hyland was the youngest of three – and according to the moms, it showed.
The day the two moms met, Paige was wearing isotoner slippers instead of ballet shoes, Lukasiak said.
“She looked at me and she’s like, ‘Are those slippers?’” Hyland said.
“And you said, ‘Is she an only child?’” Lukasiak said.
The two moms have been friends ever since, they said.
Hyland and Lukasiak talked about their experience on Dance Moms, surprising fans of the show with certain moments that were produced for continuity purposes.
One thing in particular that shocked Madalyn Mehollin, a sophomore studying finance and business analytics, was that Hyland’s oldest daughter, Brooke, did not actually want to quit dance to become a cheerleader.
In Season 2, Episode 3, “Brooke’s Turning Point,” Brooke said she wanted to quit dance to try out for cheerleading.
Hyland said Brooke actually wanted to go to a school dance.
“As a mom, I wanted Brooke to do normal things that every person does. I didn’t want her to look back at her childhood and be like, ‘Oh, I didn’t get to go to my eighth-grade farewell because my mom made me work,’” Hyland said. “And so nine times out of 10 the reasons I fought with Abby was for things like that, was to get her to be able to go to her school functions … I wanted them to be normal kids.”
Another thing the moms shed light on was the infamous fight between Kelly and Abby in Season 4, Episode 7, “Big Trouble in the Big Apple.”
Hyland said in Season 3, she tried to behave herself and stay quiet for the good of her kids, but it got her nowhere, and all of that was bottled up inside of her.
Lukasiak said that day, the room they were in was small with 13 cast members and probably 30 crew members, and “about 900 degrees.”
“It was a festering boil waiting to pop,” she said. “It really was unlike anything I had ever seen.”
Hyland said she felt like she was set up at that moment.
“Even if I sat here and told you exactly what was said and how it went down, it doesn’t matter because … no matter what we say, there’s one person who would be like, ‘That’s not how it happened, Christi and Kelly are jealous, they’re liars,’” Lukasiak said.
Hyland said there’s usually a guard in the room who will jump in, and the producers had him out of the room that day. She said as soon as the fight happened, there was a van outside waiting for her to leave the premises.
“They knew something was happening, you know, so … I fell for it. But it got me off the show, which was a good thing,” Hyland said.
