What The Original Cast Of Dance Moms Looks Like Now

Fans of the original Dance Moms will easily remember Chloe Lukasiak. She was talented, blonde, and always vying for Abby Lee Miller's approval — something the instructor very rarely gave out. Due to the nature of the show, Lukasiak was often pitted against Miller's personal favorite dancer, Maddie Ziegler. Obviously, Lukasiak and her mom were involved in a lot of drama on the show, but, after officially leaving in 2014 (although she returned for a stint in 2017), Lukasiak has been doing her own thing, and she's clearly talented.

For starters, Lukasiak has a super successful YouTube channel with over 2 million subscribers. Lukasiak posts videos about her daily life and routine, as well as vlogs about her travel and cooking adventures. In addition to that, Lukasiak has had a pretty successful acting career. Lukasiak has starred in the made-for-TV movie Center Stage: On Pointe, the film Loophole, and other projects. But perhaps the most important way Lukasiak has changed since Dance Moms is that she's learned to stand up for herself. "As a person, I think I've grown up a lot," she told Teen Vogue in 2017. "I've done movies, and I've found my voice."

Brooke Hyland's younger sister, Paige, also had a rough experience on Dance Moms, unfortunately. As fans know, anyone who wasn't Abby Lee Miller's favorite dancer had kind of a rough time. In fact, Miller was known for ranking her young students each week in a pyramid format, which couldn't have been easy for the young girls to deal with. The younger Hyland sister left the show in the fourth season, and she didn't exit quietly. 

Hyland and her mother both filed lawsuits against Miller for emotional distress and defamation. The cases were dismissed by a judge in 2015, according to Deadline. After all the drama, the younger Hyland sister seemed to take the time to focus on herself. She had a super successful YouTube channel, but she hasn't posted a new video since 2015, at the time of this writing. According to her Instagram page (which has over 3.3 million followers), Hyland graduated from high school and made plans to attend West Virginia University. Just like her older sister, she is crushing life after Dance Moms.

Perhaps the most well-known original member of the ALDC is Maddie Ziegler. Abby Lee Miller's golden child, Ziegler got plenty of screen time on the show, as Miller tended to give her a solo every chance she could. Of course, you can't blame Miller, as Ziegler was certainly a star in the making back then. The young star left Dance Moms in 2016, and her career has only skyrocketed since. 

Ziegler first started making a name for herself when she starred in the music video for Sia's "Chandelier." The video quickly went viral, and Ziegler returned to star in several other music videos for the artist. In fact, Ziegler and Sia have such a close relationship that Ziegler told late-night host Jimmy Fallon that Sia is her godmother. In addition to her successful music video career, Ziegler also landed a role as a member of the Jets in Steven Spielberg's remake of West Side Story, which is seriously impressive. 

To be fair, Kendell Vertes wasn't in Season 1 of Dance Moms, but she's still an original cast member. Vertes joined the ALDC in Season 2, as noted by Women's Day, and quickly became a fan favorite. Of course, her mom managed to bring plenty of drama to the show, but Vertes' dancing skills spoke for themselves. Vertes left Dance Moms in 2017, when the seventh season came to an end, but she hasn't stopped hustling. 

For the most part, Vertes has been focused on her acting career since leaving Dance Moms. She has starred in several projects, including Rapunzel: A Princess Frozen in Time. While Vertes joined Chloe Lukasiak and Kalani Hilliker on The Irreplaceables World Tour for a while, Vertes has been looking forward to her future. In addition to Rapunzel, Vertes has secured roles in Anastasia and Santa In Training.

Let's be honest, everyone knows that the real stars of Dance Moms are the moms themselves. That's not to say that the young dancers don't bring their own brand of star power, but the moms bring the drama, and that's what made the show famous. Christi Lukasiak was definitely one of the most dramatic moms on the show, and it seemed like the was constantly defending her daughter Chloe. The two left in 2014, returning briefly in 2017, and the mother of two has had nothing but exciting things to look forward to.

When Lukasiak watched her daughter return to the stage with the Dance Moms crew in 2017, she told BUILD Series that it was such an empowering experience. "I was very proud and emotional and excited to watch her," she said. "There is nothing in this world I love more than watching Chloe dance. We all know that, right?" She added, "It was really wonderful for me to see her up there again and to watch all of the girls because I've watched those girls grow up." Since leaving Dance Moms, Lukasiak has been traveling the world with her family and showing off her adventures to her 2 million Instagram followers. 

One of the best parts of Dance Moms was that it featured real mothers sticking up for their daughters. Of course, the arguing and fighting was addicting to watch, but the protectiveness in each mother's heart made the show what it was: relatable. One of the most protective moms of the original cast of Dance Moms was Holly Frazier, mother to Nia Sioux. Frazier constantly stuck up for her daughter (via International Business Times) and called out anyone who typecast Nia in any way because she was the only black member of the ALDC at the time. 

Now, Frazier is still her daughter's biggest fan, and she frequently posts about her on her Instagram page. Frazier has almost 2 million followers, and loves to post uplifting quotes. As fans of the show will recall, Frazier got her doctorate in education, so, basically, she's always been a boss babe — on screen and off. 

Kendall Vertes' mom, Jill Vertes, also took every opportunity to stand up for her daughter on the original Dance Moms, and she never really held anything back when it came to her conversations with Abby Lee MIller. Obviously, she brought a lot of drama to the show, despite not coming on until Season 2 (via Women's Day). Still, when she and her daughter said their final goodbyes in 2017, Vertes was clearly done with the series. 

In fact, Vertes actually took to Instagram back in June 2019 to share how she felt about the new cast of dancers and moms. Alongside a photo of herself with a few original Dance Moms cast members, she wrote, "Just sayin' #letitbe." Her former castmates were quick to like and comment on the photo, with Christi Lukasiak commenting, "If i could 'like' this 876 times, I would. If only people could read our group text chain now....that's a show in itself." Clearly, Vertes has moved on.

The namesake of the ALDC and instructor extraordinaire, Abby Lee Miller, has had plenty of drama since the show ended. When Dance Moms' seventh season came to an end in 2017, Miller was sentenced to one year in prison, as reported by Deadline. Miller was found guilty of fraud for hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars during her time on Dance Moms. After she left prison, Miller was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (via Entertainment Tonight). Clearly, Miller has had a rough go of it, which made her return to the show that much more intriguing.

Now, Miller has been in recovery, and she continues to teach dance. The eighth season of Dance Moms premiered in June 2019, and it quickly garnered attention. There's still plenty of drama, amazing choreography, and protective moms on the show, but it definitely isn't the same. After all, the original cast of Dance Moms is practically irreplaceable.