kalani-hilliker
Kalani Hilliker will have her work cut out for her on Tuesday's installment of "Dance Moms." Above: Kalani at a Season 5 competition taping in New Jersey on Oct. 25. Rebecka Schumann

Maddie Ziegler and Kalani Hilliker are the dancers to beat when they team up for duets, but how will they score when they don’t have each other on lean on? As part of Abby Lee Miller’s quest to dominate the West Coast, the coach will have the two dancers go head to head in the solo division on Tuesday’s Season 5 episode of “Dance Moms.”

Kalani wants to bring home a first-place win for the ALDC coach in episode 15, but her teammate, Maddie, will be a big threat. “Kalani is hungry for a win,” Lifetime’s synopsis for “Maddie vs. Kalani” teases. And Maddie is not her only concern.

The Murrieta Dance Project, which the ALDC failed to beat earlier in the season, will also be attending the weekly competition. “She is feeling the pressure to beat not only Maddie but MDP as well,” reads the episode summary.

While Kalani, 14, may be concerned about going up against her music video star teammate, it appears she does have someone in her corner. In a promo for the installment, MDP coach Erin Babbs makes it clear she wants her students to go after Maddie.

“You have to prove that L.A. is too tough for her,” Erins says as Maddie can be seen performing.

“Maddie, keep your back straight!” Abby scolds the dancer in a separate scene as Maddie, 12, looks on, forlorn.

That’s not the only drama in store for viewers. The episode 15 synopsis reveals that dance moms Jill Vertes and Holly Frazier will exchange a few tense words when Holly’s daughter Nia is “left out of a showbiz opportunity.” As a result, Nia’s exclusion reportedly “puts a strain on the team.”

[Spoiler Alert]

It may come as no surprise to “Dance Moms” viewers that Maddie beat Kalani in the overalls at World-Class Talent Experience Invitational in Riverside, California, on Jan. 31, according to one “Dance Moms” spoiler site. Attendees of the West Coast competition report that Maddie took home first place in the junior division and first place overall for her lyrical solo “Dreams Come True.” Kalani is said to have placed first in the teen division, and second overall for her acro routine titled “Innocent.”

While Kalani did not win first place for her solo, she did help the ALDC elite junior team bring home a win. The site reports that Abby’s team placed first in the junior small group division and first overall, beating MDP by six points, with their open category dance “The Rose Garden.”

Watch the promo video for episode 15 below:

Catch new episodes of “Dance Moms” Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EDT on Lifetime.

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