Candy Apple's Dance Center

**Candy Apples Dance Center** is the dance studio owned by Cathy Nesbitt-Stein in Canton, Ohio. Cathy used to compete a team of older girls against Abby Lee Dance Company after she leaves Abby's in Season 1, but started using an all-boys team in Season 3 with boys from different studios. Cathy switched to a co-ed team mid-Season 3.5 and kept it through Season 5. In Season 5 Episode 11, she switches back to an all-girl team. In Season 5 Episode 28, her competition team effectively disbanded, with its dancers reforming into Jeanette's BDA team.

The Candy Apples later returned for the seventh season.

## In *Dance Moms*

Cathy has taken many measures to have her "apples" win. She used the same music as Chloe, the same theme as Chloe and usually has older girls into her routines with Vivi-Anne and Justice McCort to bring down the age.

Jill takes Kendall to this studio after she is tired of Kendall not getting the respect or attention she deserved from Abby.

Leslie Ackerman also takes her daughter Payton here after being fed up with Abby. Cathy is impressed with Payton, but when Payton says she wasn't sure about coming there, Cathy feels as though the two wasted her time.

Cathy is able to beat ALDC in *Abbygeddon* by one point. However, ALDC continues to defeat them. Kendall is pulled from CADC by her mother after Cathy loses interest in her.

By *The Beginning of the End*, Cathy loses all her remaining members of her competition team, most noticeably Justice. Cathy talks to Vivi about forming a new all-boys competition team, which Vivi agrees to, even though she probably won't be in it.

In *Boys Are Cuties, Girls Have Cooties*, Cathy loses to ALDC by one-tenth of a point, however, she beats ALDC in *Rotten to the Core*, *Watch Your Back, Mack* (with a perfect score), and *Candy Apple Showdown*. For the rest of the season however, and for the whole of Season 4, ALDC continuously remains the victor. Cathy once again, beats ALDC in *Mackenzie's Time to Shine*, and loses to ALDC by half a point in *Showdown in Pittsburgh, Part 2*.

## Dancers in *Dance Moms*

* **Kerisa**: Kerisa is one of the apples on the competition team. She has not had an on-screen solo. She auditioned for the Joffrey Ballet School like the rest of the group and was called out for her excessive make-up. Kerisa appeared regularly in Season 2 CADC group dances; and like Taylor, she appeared in the background during a couple scenes of the Season 3 episode *The Apple of Her Eye.*

* **Vivi-Anne**: Vivi-Anne continues her training at her mother's dance studio. She is mainly used as a human prop to reduce the age for the group. She usually runs on and off the stage, but she performed a duet with Justice back in Season 1 Episode 10 which went against Nia and Mackenzie, but they did not win. Vivi-Anne is not a part of her mother's new competition team but still goes with her mother to competitions.
* Additionally, there have been more dancers shown in the group routines. In 'A Funeral' there was an older girl and another girl around Vivi's age who danced. In 'Asian Empire' there was another boy who played one of the Ming dynasty warriors with Justice.

## Former Dancers

* **Sarah**: Sarah was one of the members of the competition team. She first appeared in Season One when Cathy was picking which three of her "apples" she was bringing to compete against Abby. She didn't have a solo on-screen. Sometime in summer 2012, she changed studios and dances now at Center Stage Dance Studio.

* **Justice**: Justice was previously the only boy in Candy Apple's competition team. He performed the most on-screen solos for Candy Apple's and had a duet with Vivi-Anne in Season One. In *Brooke's Turning Point*, he was in the line with Maddie and Chloe for the overall junior winners. He performed "Keep the Faith" at Company Dance and lost. At the competition in *How Do You Like Them Apples?*, Justice's solo "Shipwrecked" was not shown, but finished fifth ahead of Chloe and Paige; the same dance was later re-performed and shown on *Revenge of the Candy Apples*, finishing first and again beating Chloe. His final solo was "Never Surrender" in *Nationals 90210*, which finished third. Justice left Candy Apple's Dance Center in August 2012 and currently dances elsewhere.

* **Erika**: Erika was one of Cathy's dancers. She performed with all the group routines and competed with a solo against Brooke. However, she was disqualified because Cathy put her in the wrong age division. At the Myrtle Beach Starbound competition, Erika's "Palladio" solo finished first, although this was not shown on the corresponding episode. Erika left Candy Apples recently and dances elsewhere.

* **Taylor**: Taylor was a dancer on the show's original team. She competed a solo in Season One with the same competition music as Chloe, but she did not place. In Season 2, she breaks her ankle onstage and was pulled from the rest of the season. She eventually returned in Episode 14, free from her injury. Taylor briefly appeared in the background during a couple scenes in the Season 3 episode *The Apple of Her Eye*. She appeared in rehearsals in *On-Again, Off-Again Abby*, and performed in the group dance "Phoenix Rising" at the competition; however, the editing made no mention of her name. Taylor left Cathy's studio sometime in 2013, stating that they could not work out a schedule.

## Guest Dancers/Apple Core Team

Cathy started bringing in guest dancers in season 2 when she brought in Drazen to dance with Justice. However, in season 3, Cathy made guest boys her primary team but recently she changed the team up, adding more girls. The team remained co-ed in Season 3 all the way up to CADC's first appearance in Season 5. However, in their second appearance in Episode 11, CADC is now an all girl team. In Episode 28 of Season 5, her team joined JC's Broadway Academy, effectively leaving CADC.

The Candy Apples later reformed in Season 7, after Cathy returned to the show.

## Guest Choreographers

### Season 2

* Mitchell Finke
* Michael Place

### Season 3

* Nick Anthony
* Jenna Hide
* Anthony Burrell
* John Culbertson
* Yvette Walts
* Blake McGrath

### Season 4

* Blake McGrath
* Erin Babbs
* John Culbertson
* Chehon Wespi-Tschopp

### Season 5

* Erin Babbs
* Chehon Wespi-Tschopp
* Erin Stein-Rich\*\* (Instagram)