“Dance Moms: A New Era” is under fire for a solo dance routine inspired by , a 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant whose unsolved 1996 kidnapping and murder continue to . The unscripted reality television series is a ,” which ran on Lifetime from 2011 and 2019 and , in addition . In Episode 8 of “Dance Moms: A New Era,” dance coach Gloria “Glo” Hampton assigns a student a dance solo inspired by Ramsey.
The segment stirred backlash among audiences, who called it “ .” This isn’t the first time the “Dance Moms” franchise has featured choreography inspired by crimes. Brynn Rumfallo played Elizabeth Short, the murder victim nicknamed the Black Dahlia, in a dance routine; Maddie Ziegler performed a number as the murderer Lizzie Borden.
Both dances were met with . Hulu and Hampton did not respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment regarding the controversy.
Here’s what to know about the routine. In the episode “Glo Don’t Give with Both Hands,” Hampton assigns two dancers solo performances for an upcoming competition. Hampton tells her 11-year-old student, Ashlan Scheide, that she will portray Ramsey in a routine called “Glitz.
” “I want you to research JonBenét,” Hampton instructs Ashlan in the episode. “I want you to know all about her, everything about her family and about her tragic ending, OK?” Hampton calls Ashlan a “born actress,” which seems to weigh into her assignment. “Remember, it’s a really sad, tragic story.
So you’re playing this young child who was put on display at all these pageants and your parents want this fame and stardom for you...
her parents couldn’t protect her from what happened. I need to really get into character and be there and tell that story, OK?” she says in the episode. Later on, Ashlan and her mother, Lisa Scheide, research Ramsey together.
“You’re going to be a glitz pageant girl. That’s who JonBenét was, but then she got kidnapped and murdered,” Scheide says. As she learns more about Ramsey, Ashlan expresses shock “Someone strangled her?” Ashlan asks.
“A 6-year-old,” Scheide explains. “They took her while she was sleeping.” “Oh my gosh, this is really not for me, but I’ll do anything for the win,” Ashlan adds.
The episode goes into the making of the routine. Ashlan prepares for a rehearsal performance by putting on bright blue eyeshadow and red overdrawn lips. “I think I am going for the Kylie Jenner lips because she has big, juicy lips,” she tells the camera as she grins and applies the costume makeup.
Later, when she enters the studio to rehearse, Hampton bursts into laughter. “This looks like JonBenét after she was murdered,” Hampton says. The studio moms also have a chuckle.
While rehearsing, Hampton incorporates choreography that seems to reference Ramsey’s kidnapping. “Someone’s taking your leg once it’s up here and they’re catching it and they’re pulling it that way,” she says. At the end of the episode, Ashlan performs the dance in front of an audience wearing a white, sparkly dress.
In the background, a song with the lyrics “careful what you wish for” plays. Ashlan appears to strangle herself at the end of the routine. In showed that Ramsey was strangled.
The segment was met with backlash and conversation. “This has to be the most disgusting example of child exploitation on prime time TV,” one . “We have become a disgusting society using the actual murder of a child for entertainment.
Shame on everyone associated with this.” In a Reddit thread about the episode, fans called it “ .” “Seems extremely disrespectful to that poor little girl," wrote.
“I think a dance about JonBenét could never truly be done in taste. Simply because there is no happy ending, it’s just emphasizing a horrific murder of a child,” a . Another called it "pure exploitation for shock value" with "no respect at all.
" Alex Portée is a senior trending reporter at TODAY Digital and is based in Los Angeles..
