If you’re a fan of reality TV, then you’ve probably come across Lifetime’s hit show “Dance Moms,” which aired from 2011 to 2019. The show revealed the behind-the-scenes chaos of life at the Abby Lee Miller Dance Studio and the drama the dance moms and their kids had to put up with.
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Well, Nia Sioux — former “Dance Moms” star and the only Black girl on the competition team— just released a memoir about her time on the show, which includes a bombshell allegation.
It’s no secret that Sioux was not her dance teacher Abby Lee Miller’s favorite girl on the team. Her memoir, titled “Bottom of The Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring In My Own Life,” reminds her readers that Sioux was constantly placed at the bottom of the pyramid, a ranking board that Miller would make at the start of each week to show the young girls where they ranked in their dance teacher’s eyes.
But while Miller was already very critical of Sioux on screen, even once calling her box braids “horrible” in front of the other moms and girls on her team, Sioux has revealed that Miller’s cruelty was only worse off-screen.
In a short passage released by PEOPLE, Sioux writes of an incident where Miller asked her if she wished she had “White girl hair.”
“Don’t you wish you just had White-girl hair? I (Sioux) was taken aback by her question but I responded ‘No.’ ‘Oh really?’ She (Miller) said. ‘Like you don’t think it would be much easier?’ Again, I (Sioux) told her no. It didn’t matter what she said—I knew I didn’t want to be white,” Sioux wrote.
But it doesn’t stop there, as Sioux also wrote about another racist remark her former dance teacher made when she was criticizing Sioux’s dancing form in another passage shared by PEOPLE.
“She would say, ‘Well you know your people (Black people) have flat feet.’ This struck me as ignorant; I know plenty of Black people with perfectly arched feet! Yet, despite the fact that she actually believed this ridiculous generalization was true, she’d threaten punishment for my perceived shortcoming. ‘If you don’t point that foot,’ she’d warn, ‘I’m gonna come out there and break it.’
Of course, when these upsetting revelations hit the internet streets, folks on X had to voice their opinion and showed support to the “Dance Moms” star.
“Suggesting Nia wants white girl hair and claiming her people have flat feet is racist intimidation… I stand with Nia! No one should ever endure racial disrespect under the guise of mentoring, ” wrote one user.
“It takes immense courage for Nia Sioux to share this painful experience. Hearing her story confirms what many already suspected. Racism disguised as ‘tough coaching’ is unacceptable,” added another.
Other users noted that while the racism Nia had to endure is upsetting, it, unfortunately, is not surprising.
“Fork was found in the kitchen. Didn’t we all know that Abby Lee Miller is a racist?” commented one user.
“Abby Lee’s been terrorizing kids for years and somehow people are still shocked she said racist stuff? That woman built her brand on humiliation. This is just the mask slipping,” posted @iamnoblefx.
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