* CashCowFranchise: One of the girls on this show, [=JoJo=] Siwa, was popular enough to spawn a whole merchandise line under the Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} brand. The most popular product in this line is the [=JoJo=] Bow, a bow similar to the ones she wears.
* ColbertBump: Maddie Ziegler's appearances in the music videos of Music/{{Sia}}'s "Chandelier", "Elastic Heart", and "Big Girls Cry" dramatically increased both her and the show's popularity, with "Chandelier" being the most definitive and prominent example.
* CreatorBacklash: Maddie Ziegler has stated on several occasions since her departure that her experience on the show was "really stressful", once describing it as "the worst", and that she has never seen a full episode of the show.
* DeletedScene: The show is notoriously full of scenes you don't get to see, such as the dances shown in each episode; they're usually shortened versions, with complete versions sometimes posted on Lifetime's website.
* DyeHard: [[RunningGag Jill's hair color interchanges during seasons.]] She was a brunette during season 1, became a blonde in season 2, [[FridgeLogic somehow went back to a brunette during seasons 2 and 3]], and as of season 4 is red-haired.
* DyeingForYourArt: Kira had to get a mole on her face removed in order for her to be a regular on the show.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Apparently, the show producers have tinkered with aspects of the show so as to create more drama.
** According to Barbara Schrade, Kendall and Jill only abandoned the ALDC for the Candy Apples as a ploy by the producers.
** "The Pyramid," and the dancer/moms that appear on the show, were [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/dance-moms-and-the-broken-promise-of-reality-telev,83838/ chosen by the producers]]. According to Abby, the rest of her studio is far less stressful.
* FollowTheLeader:
** Since the show's inception, two quite similar reality shows have started: ''Bring It!'', about an African-American cheerleading team, and ''Jump!'', about an African-American jump-roping team.
** See TransAtlanticEquivalent.
** Rather, a case of the leader following her student. When Mackenzie made an Instagram account for her dog Maliboo, Abby quickly followed suit by making an account for her pony named Pearl. However, the followers that Pearl had were merely a fraction of those that Maliboo had. However, Maliboo's account suffered two consecutive hackings and was ultimately deleted.
* MissingEpisode [=/=] KeepCirculatingTheTapes: The infamous "Topless Showgirls" episode, which was aired once and only once, and then effectively wiped off the face of the Earth, being axed from reruns, DVD releases, and the show's online episode collection. For a long time, the episode mainly existed in clips at best; mirrors of the episode in its entirety have been uploaded more recently to Dailymotion and [=YouTube=].
* NoExportForYou: Subverted; the show actually got a British counterpart called ''Dance Mums''. It premiered in October 2014 and is based around a Liverpool-based dance studio. Abby actually starred in a special CrossOver episode of the show.
* RecycledScript: Several of the group dances and solos were ones that predated the show ([[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjVWTnJH2tXo4f4lfnwrATyNbPszOJoB5 seen here]]) and were [[SuspiciouslySimilarSong modified to go along with copyright restrictions]], in addition to being rechoreographed to fit the six girls.
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