New ‘Dance Moms’ coach Glo Hampton says she's not Abby Lee Miller

For “Dance Moms” fans, Abby Lee Miller’s “everyone’s replaceable” threat comes full circle as Gloria “Glo” Hampton takes over as new head coach.

“Dance Moms: A New Era” was released on Hulu Aug. 7 and follows Hampton and her team of eight students as they prepare for an imminent national dance competition.

“It’s a new era of Dance Moms and we’re doing it our way,” Hampton tells TODAY.com. “I hope that everybody finds that as amazing and wonderful as the first go-around.”

Miller’s legacy still looms large over the series, which ran from 2011 to 2019 on Lifetime and followed a rotating batch of dancers and their mothers at the Abby Lee Miller Dance Studio in Pittsburgh.

Her controversial and brusque teaching methods were a bedrock of the show — and the center of the chatter off the show. She was not invited to participate in the reunion that aired on Lifetime earlier this year.

In addition to health struggles like a cancer diagnosis, the former dance coach also served eight months in prison from 2017 to 2018 after being convicted of concealing assets from the bankruptcy court, including one count of failing to report an international currency transaction, according to the Department of Justice.

“Abby was a trailblazer, this was you know her thing, she made this show iconic,” Hampton says. “But I have been teaching dance for 40 years and I’m very comfortable in that position, so this is just a bigger scale of me showing that to the world.”

Hampton, who told Entertainment Tonight she and Miller are “very good friends, invited Miller to come to the set. Miller “didn’t seem open to it at the time," she tells TODAY.com.

“I’m not sure where we stand right now,” Hampton says. “I would love to have her support. I would love to have her show up on an episode. We'll see.”

Hampton, in the series, tries to distinguish herself from the familiar “Dance Moms” style. The team was challenged with learning new routines and competing each week, a more rigorous schedule than usual.

To get them through it, Hampton says she instilled a motto: Mess up big. “I teach them on a daily basis to mess up big,” Hampton says. “Don’t hold back. You can’t do anything halfway in life and be successful.”

The new “Dance Moms” team is composed of eight girls between the ages of 8 and 13, along with their mothers. “We have some adorable, fabulous faces, and wildly talented little girls,” Hampton says. “We have talent across the board.”

The dance coach says she thinks all the girls are capable of becoming stars, even though not all of them may end up wanting to go pro like “Dance Moms” alums Maddie Ziegler and JoJo Siwa.

“Whatever it is that they want to get from dance, I want them to take that away,” Hampton says. “I just want what they want for themselves and I’m here to help them.”

Like the original series, fans can also expect tension among the mothers as they navigate the competitive dance world, manage their daughters and deal with the pressures of the spotlight.

“I was a dance mom so I know what it’s like to want the best for your kid,” Hampton says. “But I kind of try to keep the mama drama separate and let them deal with each other. If it affects my work, and my students, and my time with them, then we deal with it. Whenever you’re dealing with children, you’re gonna have mama drama.”

When asked what she hopes viewers will take away from the show, Hampton shared her enthusiasm for showcasing a fresh perspective on dance.

“I would just love for them to see that it’s a different style of dance, a different approach to training,” Hampton says. “Dance is so huge right now so I love the fact that there’s even another show that can showcase that and bring that to the world.”

Looking ahead, Hampton is hoping for a second season, one that might also include an appearance from the OG coach herself.

But regardless of a second season, Hampton wants to continue teaching.

“I’m still teaching dance, it’s what I do, it’s what I love,” Hampton says. “It’s my passion.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com