LifetimeAre there rules surrounding the children on reality TV shows? It seems like the girls on Dance Moms need an advocate.
—Kittykapow, via Twitter
Yes, child, there are rules, and not just the kind involving what shade of body glitter matches which tone of vaguely sexual nude leotard. As lawless as it might seem out there in the Dance Mom Wild West, what with rugrats dressed up as randy Vegas showgirls, there is, apparently, someone on set who's supposed to look after the kids:
And that person is a studio teacher. In showbiz, studio teachers are hired to take care of minors while on set—make sure they learn their school lessons and get their juice boxes. Depending on the state, studio teacher duties can range from simple education to more involved monitoring—protecting a kid's general welfare or morals, for example.
The Collins Avenue production team behind Dance Moms tells me that there is such a guardian on set while the show is being filmed.
"Dance Moms adheres to state labor laws and standards in every state where the show is produced, including providing tutorial services to the cast featured on the show," Collins Avenue head Jeff Collins tells me. "In fact, we travel with a full-time tutor to ensure the children have a representative on the set."
The Dance Moms studio is based in Pennsylvania; the labor law there requires a tutor for child performers. Where the on-set teacher was when the moppets were being trussed up like Lady Marmalade in see-through burlesque get-ups, I can't tell you. But a studio teacher was there, all right.
"Requirements are there be one tutor for every 10 children," Collins tells me, "and Dance Moms falls well under that number."
So could a studio teacher have put the kibosh on some of the racier scenes in Dance Moms? Can we blame a studio teacher for the latest pink feather tease?
Probably not. In fact, it's quite possible that the tutor has no say in what the kids wear or how they are portrayed on camera, as long as state labor laws are met. That's according to Toni Casala, founder and president of Children in Film, a company that advises producers on child showbiz laws in all 50 states.
"When a teacher does have the power to look out for the welfare of the child, that teacher still has to leave most judgments to the child's family," Casala tells this B!tch. "If the teacher shows concern about bad language on the set, the parent can just say, ‘My kid hears those bad words every day'."
And if a parent, say, insists that sexy flamingo get-ups are A-OK, well, chances are, there's not much a studio teacher can do about it either.