THEN AND NOW: The stars of 'Dance Moms' 13 years later

Maddie Ziegler was 8 years old when "Dance Moms" started filming.

On the first episode, Maddie's mom, Melissa Gisoni, proudly declared that her daughter was the favorite student of Miller, the controversial and strict owner of ALDC.

The dancer kept that title for most of her ALDC career.

The 21-year-old is one of the most famous dancers to emerge from the show.

In 2014, Maddie hit it big when musician Sia tapped her to appear in the "Chandelier" music video. The two have continued to work closely together, and Maddie starred in Sia's 2021 movie "Music," which has been criticized for casting an able-bodied actor to play a disabled character.

The dancer also played Velma in the 2021 "West Side Story" remake.

In addition to dancing and acting, she judged Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance?" in 2016, released a memoir titled "The Maddie Diaries" in 2017, and launched a makeup collection with Morphe in 2020.

In 2023, she starred in the movie "Fitting In." 

Maddie's younger sister, Mackenzie, was one of the youngest ALDC dancers.

Mackenzie was around 6 years old at the start of the show, so she competed in a lower age bracket than the rest of the team.

She was known for her comedic quotes like when she said she didn't need to be a Broadway dancer, she just wanted to stay home and eat chips.

She's now focusing on an acting and singing career.

After leaving "Dance Moms," Mackenzie released music under the stage name Kenzie.

She dropped her first album, "Phases" in 2018 and even collaborated with Sia for her 2020 song "Exhale."

With a growing presence on YouTube and TikTok, Kenzie's also branched into acting by starring on the Brat web series "Total Eclipse" and voicing the main character in the US version of the film "Ice Princess Lily" (2019).

More recently, Mackenzie competed as Tulip on Fox's "The Masked Dancer" and came in third place. She also played Ivy in "Let Us In" (2021).

In September 2021, she marked a new era of her music career with her single "Happy for Me," and she also released her collaboration with NOTD, "Worst Thing," in May 2022.

In 2023, Kenzie released more music, including the single, "Paper."

Chloé Lukasiak often played second fiddle to Maddie.

Chloé was 9 years old when she first appeared on "Dance Moms," and she was one of Maddie's biggest challengers.

Every week was a battle to see which one of them would win the solo at the competition.

Now, she's a published writer.

Chloé stepped away from the often-toxic competitive-dance world when she left the series at the end of season four. Now, she's in her 20s. 

She has a separate Instagram where she posts her poetry, and she previously released a book in 2018 called "Girl on Pointe: Chloe's Guide to Taking on the World."

She also uploads vlogs on YouTube for over 2 million subscribers. In her videos, she talks about attending Pepperdine University and her college experience. She's also since graduated. 

Additionally, Chloé has appeared in various movies like "Center Stage: On Pointe" (2016) and "Loophole" (2019). 

Nia Sioux was 10 when her "Dance Moms" journey began.

Although Lee seemingly didn't consider her one of the top dancers, Nia held her own and even learned how to perfect a difficult signature move — the death drop, in which the dancer falls to the ground in a split-legged pose.

Nia enrolled at UCLA.

The dancer has posted about attending UCLA while also staying busy with a budding singing and acting career.

She's worked on shows like CBS' "The Bold and the Beautiful" and Brat's web series "Sunnyside Up." 

Nia dropped the single "Low Key Love" in 2020, and she vlogs on YouTube for over a million subscribers.

In 2021, she started the podcast "Adulting With Teala and Nia" alongside Teala Dunn. She also played Hanna Brooks in the TV movie "Imperfect High" and appeared in the film "I Am Mortal" (2021).

Recently, had a cameo in the 2024 "Mean Girls" movie.

Brooke Hyland was the oldest member of the team when the show started.

At 13 years old, Brooke had already been dancing for years and seemed, at times, to be getting tired of it.

Throughout the series, she would say that she was missing out on regular high-school activities because she was so focused on dance.

Brooke eventually got the normal school experience she wanted.

After leaving the show at age 16, Brooke finished high school and eventually went on to graduate from Ohio University with a marketing degree in 2019.

She tried her hand at a singing career shortly after she left "Dance Moms," but now she runs a popular food-themed Instagram account and occasionally posts on her YouTube channel, which has over 200,000 subscribers. 

She still seems to be friends with Nia and was pictured hanging out with her in late 2020.

Brooke's younger sister, Paige, was 10 years old when the show started.

Paige tried hard to keep up with Chloé and Maddie but often found herself relegated to group dances instead of solos.

Paige now has millions of followers on social media.

She has posted about attending West Virginia University and seems to have since graduated. 

Gaining popularity on social media, Paige has almost 4 million followers on Instagram and over 2 million on TikTok, where she'll sometimes show off her dance moves.

In 2023, several "Dance Moms" stars, including Chloé and Nia, got together again to celebrate Paige's 23rd birthday. 

Kendall Vertes joined the show on season two.

Dancing since she was just 18 months old, the then-9-year-old stayed on the show through season seven.

 

Kendall is now an actress and singer.

Under the stage name Kendall K, she released several albums and singles, with her latest song "Girl Talk" debuting in 2018.

The 20-year-old also branched into acting, appearing in the movies "Rapunzel: A Princess Frozen in Time" (2019), "Santa in Training" (2019), and a live-action version of "Anastasia" (2020), about the Romanov royal family.

In 2021, she started hosting "The Kendall K. and Friends Show" on CBS-TV.

She also regularly posts on her Instagram page, which has over 11 million followers.

Asia Monet Ray joined the show during season three.

When she was 8 years old, Asia was brought onto the ALDC team and challenged other performers like Mackenzie.

Asia is now focusing on a singing career.

After "Dance Moms," she had her own Lifetime reality show called "Raising Asia" that ran for a single season in 2014.

Asia also jumped into acting, appearing on multiple episodes of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and FX's "American Crime Story."

These days, she seems to be prioritizing a music career. She released her single "Real Life" in 2019 and posts song covers on her YouTube page to nearly 500,000 subscribers. 

Kalani Hilliker joined the elite dance team during season four.

Kalani gained attention on Lifetime's "Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition," a "Dance Moms" spin-off in which young performers compete for $100,000 and a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School.

She officially joined the reality-show cast when she was 13 years old.

The 23-year-old is still dancing.

Her Instagram page, which has over 7 million followers, is filled with videos showing off her moves. 

In addition to dancing, Kalani now vlogs on her YouTube channel for nearly 800,000 subscribers.

She also dove into the world of fashion with a line of formal dresses for Prom Girl, and several "Dance Moms" alums, like Nia and Kendall, attended her launch event.

Kalani's acted in projects like the movie "Swiped" (2018) and on the Brat TV show "Dirt."

More recently, Kalani expanded her brand into the beauty sphere with her line Kare by Kalani. 

JoJo Siwa joined the "Dance Moms" cast in 2015.

JoJo was a late addition to the series, officially joining during season five.

Before her entrance to the official team, JoJo was on "Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition" when she was only 9 years old.

She's one of the most famous stars to come from the show.

JoJo has over 12 million subscribers on her YouTube channel and she's also gained over 45 million followers on TikTok.

She does a little bit of everything, from acting to singing to vlogging.

JoJo also has an accessories line with Claire's, portrayed T-Rex on Fox's "The Masked Singer," and was named one of Time's 100 most influential people of 2020. 

Recently, she starred in Nickelodeon's dance flick "The J Team" (2021), and is set to costar in the slasher flick "All My Friends Are Dead."

She also competed and got second place on season 30 0f ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," though she earned the first perfect score of the season for her and dance partner Jenna Johnson's foxtrot. 

In recent years, JoJo has also been vocal about her sexuality and coming out as queer. Most recently, the singer announced she was launching a "New JoJo," which includes a new look and new sound for her music. 

Her EP "Guilty Pleasure" is set to debut on July 12. According to Variety, the singer is also working on an unscripted docuseries with "Dance Moms" creator Jeff Collins. 

An earlier version of this story was published on February 2, 2021, and it was most recently updated on July 9, 2024.