In her new memoir, former ‘Dance Mothers’ star Nia Sioux recollects a number of particular incidents of alleged racism, claiming Abby Lee Miller as soon as requested her, “Do not you simply want you had white-girl hair?”
Former Dance Mothers star Nia Sioux is opening up concerning the alleged racial abuse and physique shaming she endured whereas working below dance teacher Abby Lee Miller, claiming that Miller made quite a few racist remarks towards her all through their time on the hit Lifetime actuality present.
In her new memoir, Backside of the Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Personal Life, Sioux, who was the one Black dancer within the core solid for a lot of the sequence, chronicles the trauma of being a toddler of colour in a predominantly white, high-pressure atmosphere.
For these not conversant in the cutthroat world of Dance Mothers, Sioux starred on the present for seven seasons from 2011 to 2017, alongside along with her mother Holly Frazier. She was solely 9 years previous when it first aired and turned 15 through the present’s remaining season.
The now 24-year-old dancer recollects a number of particular incidents of alleged racism, as reported by Individuals. One notably hanging declare particulars an off-camera alternate the place Miller, 60, allegedly questioned Sioux’s look. “Do not you simply want you had white-girl hair?” Miller reportedly requested her. When Sioux responded that she didn’t, Miller pressed, “‘Oh actually?’ she stated. ‘Like you do not suppose it could be a lot simpler?'”
Dance Mothers Star Nia Sioux Reveals Why She Is Not On The Reunion Particular
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Sioux additionally alleges that Miller used dangerous racial stereotypes to criticize her dancing. Whereas Miller continuously commented on Sioux’s “dangerous ft” on the present, the memoir claims Miller attributed this perceived flaw to a racial generalization. In response to Sioux, Miller acknowledged, “‘Nicely, you realize your individuals have flat ft,'” suggesting Black individuals have been “bodily predisposed to having flat ft.”
“This struck me as ignorant; I do know loads of Black dancers with completely arched ft! But, even though she truly believed this ridiculous generalization was true, she’d threaten punishment for my perceived shortcoming,” Sioux writes within the e-book. “’When you do not level that foot,’ she’d warn, ‘I am gonna come on the market and break it.'”
Sioux writes that Miller’s criticisms usually centered on her physique, which she believes stemmed from racial bias. She states that Miller critiqued her “thighs, my butt, and even my muscular legs,” noting that these feedback usually “trickled all the way down to a number of the ladies and their mothers.”
And in a single occasion throughout Season 6, Miller implied Sioux was “fats as a result of I used to be not working onerous sufficient,” creating an phantasm for viewers that the dancer was lazy. “Viewers and a few of my castmates ate that up with out query,” Sioux writes.
Sioux’s e-book additionally particulars how racially charged themes have been allegedly woven into her competitors routines. She claimed her first solo on Miller’s competitors workforce earlier than the present used a music known as “Nattie of the Jungle,” a routine a few youngster raised by monkeys. One other early solo was allegedly titled “Devil’s Li’l Lamb.” Sioux claimed that whereas her mom, Holly Frazier, would usually confront Miller concerning the problematic routines, she generally needed to “chunk her tongue” in order that Sioux, who was anticipating the chance to carry out, might dance.
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Miller did apologize for racist habits in 2020, although solely immediately talked about dancers Kamryn and Adriana in her apology.
Throughout a Might 2025 interview with Individuals, Sioux informed the outlet {that a} major motivation for writing the memoir was the sensation that her story was by no means precisely informed on the present. She careworn that being the only real Black dancer for a majority of the sequence “had lasting results” on her, and that it is very important share these experiences, particularly concerning being the “token Black woman.”
Backside of the Pyramid is now out there for buy.
