Despite being off the air for almost five years, traces of the Dance Moms universe can be seen all over pop culture, largely thanks to its breakout stars Jojo Siwa and Maddie Ziegler, and Abby Lee Miller’s status as an iconic meme machine.
So popular was the Lifetime reality show, which follows the antics and drama of a young girls’ dance team in Pittsburgh, that Lifetime recently aired a special reunion episode featuring many of the original castmates.
That reunion, released on May 1, 2024, coupled with the current booming popularity of Siwa, has had fans reminiscing on Dance Moms and its decades-spanning influence on culture.
If you’re considering a rewatch (like this writer), or perhaps wondering where this omniscient figure named Jojo Siwa even manifested from, we’re answering once and for all how many seasons of Dance Moms there are.
How many seasons of Dance Moms are there?
There are eight seasons of Dance Moms in total. The docusoap premiered its first season on July 13, 2011, and ran for an additional six seasons before initially concluding its run on November 7, 2017. The following year, Dance Moms was renewed for an eighth season, with a rebooted dance team featuring none of the original castmates from seasons one to seven. All told, there are 235 episodes of Dance Moms, with season three clocking in the most episodes with 39.
From the debut season until season five, Dance Moms was filmed at the Abby Lee Dance Company in Pittsburgh, California. The remaining subsequent seasons were relocated to Los Angeles. Seasons one to seven are often regarded as the ‘golden years’ of Dance Moms, featuring or introducing most of the castmates who would become staple figures in the show.
This seven-season run is also home to most of the show’s most iconic moments, from Miller’s hiatus while awaiting her fraud trial in season seven to Vivi’s career-ending injury in season three. Ziegler and Siwa were among the stars to appear in seasons one to seven, alongside fan favorites like Nia Frazer, Kendall Vertes, Chloe Lukasiak, and Paige Hyland (although their respective moms are arguably the actual stars).
Season eight, which ran for 18 episodes, follows Miller’s dance company in the wake of her release from prison and her non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis. It features an all-new cast including Elliana Walmsley, GiaNina Paolantonio, Hannah Colin, Lilliana Ketchman, and Sarah Georgiana, among others.
Dance Moms aired a special reunion episode in May 2024, bringing back together some of the main cast of seasons one to seven. Siwa, Vertes, and Lukasiak attended the special, but the Ziegler sisters did not.
