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Season 1
- "Angel
", arguably one of Maddie's best performances, a solo dedicated to her late grandma Babcia.- Melissa shares a special memory with Maddie.
- You could see Melissa crying in the audience. Then again, when you see your daughter performing an amazing dance in memory of your mother, you'd probably get emotional too.
- Melissa shares a special memory with Maddie.
- The special outings Abby has with the girls, showing that she does love them.
- Abby takes the girls out for ice cream.
- Abby takes the girls out shopping.
- Special bonus: Abby says that she has $300 for the girls to spend, but spends an extra $58.97.
- Abby takes the girls out for ice cream.
- "You're Chloe. You're different. I wouldn't trade one Chloe for 100 Maddies." - Christi
- Chloe getting the main role in Lux's music video after a season of being overlooked in favour of Maddie (and Christi's reaction to this) is pretty heartwarming, in a Throw the Dog a Bone sense.
Season 2
- Nia being on top of Abby’s pyramid for the first time. All the girls ran to go and hug their teammate in support of her.
- One time, Mackenzie performed her dance so well, she actually made Abby cry. (Doubles as a CMOA for obvious reasons.)Abby: As a dance instructor, we have moments in our lives that make everything else make sense. When she nailed that routine, I just had a moment where, this is why I do what I do.
- During Kelly’s birthday party, Leslie comes and insults Chloe to Christi, Leslie is kicked out and Christi breaks down in tears, and is comforted by Melissa, of all people.
- There's this bit in one of Mackenzie's confession cams where she looks down for a few seconds, and then looks up with the most adorable, innocent look on her face◊.
- In "Break A Leg" Abby called Chloe a "sneak" during a big blow up with Christi. When the girls are leaving the room, Chloe is hugging herself and being comforted by the others. In a brief moment, you can see Paige mouthing "shut up Abby", before giving Chloe a big hug.
- A paraphrased (non-snarky) comment from Christi from the 2012 nationals episode: "When Maddie's solo got second, I knew that Chloe won." And she did.
Season 3
- After hearing the news that Ally (one of the best dancers on the team at that point) had left the team after being unable to take the moms' harsh comments that scapegoated her for the group coming in second, a visibly shaken Abby responds by taking two moms that had accused Ally and kicking them (and their kids) out without as much as a second thought.
- "Liar Liar, Dance Mom On Fire!", had Abby picking on Kendall all week with the duet. After a big fight before she and Maddie were supposed to go on, Kendall ended up having a meltdown. Right before they were supposed to go on stage, you can hear Maddie comforting Kendall by saying "Forget what Abby said, you're amazing,".
- The girls dedicating a group dance to Abby's late dog Broadway Baby. Actually placing first with a part-improv dance counts as a CMOA.
- The Rosa Parks tribute.
- Maddie dedicating one of her solos to one of her biggest fans, and even giving the trophy to her.
- There's a video from the Mother's Day special starring Christi, who is taking Chloe to her childhood home. She shares her love of dance with her daughter, and tells her to get in the car. She then stays outside and looks at her house, and starts to cry. Would it surprise you that this video is called "Dance Is The Tie That Binds"?"It's so important for me to have Chloe have an opportunity to shine and show what she can do, which she's worked hard for. And every competition is a chance for her to do that. Although, I didn't have all the same opportunities that Chloe had. My grandparents were able to give me something that my mother didn't, and that was unconditional love."
- Christi starts the scene stating that her grandmother, her closest mother figure (she has some pretty heartrending Mommy Issues), is ill. She's on the verge of tears saying this.
- Mackenzie's reaction to the Christmas present Abby gave her will melt your heart.
- At the end of this video, after Kelly has had a very tearful and emotional heart-to-heart with Abby concerning Paige, Abby says this:"Seeing Kelly break down at a competition like this really disturbs me. When I look at Kelly, I don't see the mom of two dancers in my company. I see my own student. When she was twelve or thirteen years old, crying her eyeballs out, that's when she stopped dancing. And I think Kelly could've had a great future. I just hope she doesn't do the same thing to her two girls."
Season 4
- Some fans of the show have said that if the Hylands (Paige, Brooke, and Kelly) are leaving the show permanently, then they would stop watching altogether.
- Same thing goes for Chloe leaving.
- The Dance Moms Cares Special, an episode that has the girls competing at a competition that benefits the fight against cancer.
- "New Day", a big group dance with a conglomerate of dancers from several different studios including the ALDC all banding together.
- "New Day"
- Abby's eulogy at the memorial service of her mother. While it was pretty sad, it was also nice to see Abby thanking everyone in the room and seeing them as Mrs. Miller's true family.
- From this video. Do note that Payton has broken down crying a bit before saying the following.Payton: I come to this studio because I love you, and I love the teachers, and I love the k-kids, and I love dancing here. That's why I do not qu-quit. There's nowhere else that I want to be than in this studio.Abby: That's wonderful.Payton: And I come here to dance.
- Mackenzie is supposed to compete against Maddie with her "Cry" solo and Abby keeps going on about Kenzie doing the "Maddie face". Christi tells Kenzie not to listen to do that and just be herself because that's just as good, she's her own special person. As Christi notes, she's had that same conversation with Chloe once or twenty times.
- When the mother of one of the girls auditioning for the team insulted Paige's turns, Abby jumped right in Paige's defense. She had the daughter go up against Paige, and ultimately cut her. It ended with Abby and Christi saying that nobody messes with any of the Competition Team, except Abby. This could double as a Tear Jerker, as it was the Hyland's last episode.
- The recital episode. Nia was worried that she wouldn’t get her national solo from Abby, and it distressed her. Christi would come and comfort Nia, and tell her that she told Holly that she thought that Nia performed well during the recital.
Season 5
- Holly expressing her extreme gratitude and thankfulness for Nia's music video opportunity, working with the likes of Katy Perry's hairstylist and Janet Jackson's makeup artist. At several points, it even drives her to Tears of Joy.
- Unfortunately, it becomes a straight Tear Jerker when someone she's working with starts bragging about Nia's video on social media, causing the moms to see it and start ganging up on Holly, effectively ruining her happiness and making her cry tears of sorrow this time.
- Cathy's special outing with Vivi, showing us the sweeter side of her that isn't shrouded in so-called "villainy".
Season 7
- The nationals episode at the end of the first half of Season 7 sees Christi and Chloe make their triumphant return, much to the surprise of everyone in the room (save Abby). Nia is the first to hug Chloe, followed by Holly and Christi both hugging, and Holly bursts into tears.
- After Christi and Chloe’s throwback special after the Season 7 finale, it was said Christi and Melissa regained contact with each other after filming, and are working to rebuild their friendship. Christi appears on a home filmed clip saying that Chloe and Maddie are back in touch and are looking to be friends. This just goes to show that you can rebuild friendships regardless on what happens.
Season 8
