Season 1: Episode 1 (The Competition Begins). Original air date: 07/13/11. Meet dance instructor Abby Lee Miller, the Dance Moms and their daughters as the competition season begins and they travel from Pittsburgh to Phoenix. The Dance Moms will push their young daughters to great lengths to get them to Nationals and Abby reveals big news to her young dance girls. They’ll be working all year to get to the big National competition. If they want to win, they've got to work harder than ever. Abby's confident she can get them there, but with a group of dance moms living vicariously through their daughters, this may be more than she can handle, especially when Abby has her first conflict with two of the moms when they cross the line and risk losing it all. Check out "Dance Moms" photos and extras!