JoJo Siwa Calls Out Missing OGs at Dance Moms: The Reunion as Cast Agrees Show Is 'Why You Are Who You Are'

Dance Moms' long-awaited reunion is almost here.

The trailer for Dance Moms: The Reunion, a two-hour special event that sees many of the original cast members — mothers included! — reunite to reflect on the iconic Lifetime series, dropped on Wednesday, giving fans their first taste of what’s to come when the beloved girls come back together.

The Dance Moms alums that participated in the reunion special were JoJo Siwa, Chloé Lukasiak, Brooke Hyland, Paige Hyland, Kendall Vertes and Kalani Hilliker, with Nia Sioux and Maddie and Kenzie Ziegler noticeably absent — which did not go unnoticed. 

In the trailer, between teary-eyed clips of the girls on the show a decade ago and musings about how it feels to look back, Siwa, 20, and Vertes, 21, seem to call out the Zieglers for not being part of the reunion events.  

“We would not be here without Dance Moms. it was literally the stepping stone into who we are today,” Vertes says to the group.

In the next clip, Siwa seems to make a more direct jab at Maddie and Kenzie’s absence. “Them not being here is kind of like, ‘Let me erase my past, pretend it never happened, shove it down the drain.’ When it’s like – that’s why you are who you are,” she says as Hilliker, 23, sits beside her, nodding her head in agreement.

The sisters’ absence is far from the only dramatic thing the girls are set to cover in the two-hour special, which airs May 1 on Lifetime. There will also be one-on-one interviews with the six former dancers “as they look back at the most memorable moments of the series and discuss the good, the bad and everything in-between including the lasting impact on their entertainment careers,” per a press release.

The girls’ moms will be weighing in on it all, too, as Jessalynn Siwa, Kelly Hyland, Jill Vertes, Kira Hilliker and Christi Lukasiak will all appear. 

In the reunion, “the original Dance Moms cast discusses some of the most controversial headlines since the show aired, catches fans up on what they are doing now and provides some shocking revelations as the Dance Moms drama comes full circle.”

Among the topics that the girls and their mothers dissect in the trailer include Brooke and Paige’s retirement from dance, which their mother says she feels is her fault, and the girls’ feelings on their former coach Abby Lee Miller, who is notably missing from the reunion.

“It’s hard to say I forgive her when she did so many nasty things to me,” Paige admits, while Vertes says of Miller’s intensity, “It’s just so bizarre that dance can get to that.”

“I don’t think anybody can explain how complicated all of our relationships are with her,” Hilliker adds.

Miller served an eight-month sentence in prison in 2017 after she was found guilty of fraud charges, and has been confined to a wheelchair since 2018 due to complications of Burkitt lymphoma, which affects her spinal cord. Despite her health battles, Miller has remained steadfast in her defense of her actions as a dance coach to the young dancers, even after Maddie, 21, called her experience on Dance Moms "toxic" in 2022 and revealed she and Miller haven't talked since she left the show in 2016.

In response, Miller said there are "devastating things" between her, Maddie and the Ziegler family on the Sofia with an F podcast, much of which stems from her sister Mackenzie's early musical endeavors.

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The Lifetime reunion special is not all fans are getting from the former reality stars, though. Starting on March 18, more than nine hours of new Dance Moms content will begin streaming up until the May 1 reunion, including “in-depth sit-downs with the Dance Moms cast on the set of the reunion where they answer burning fan questions and look at of some of the most controversial moments from the series.”

Following the reunion, another new 10-episode show will premiere, Dance Moms: Epic Showdowns, which features Christi Lukasiak as she looks back at “the most explosive dance battles and jaw-dropping meltdowns from the series.”