The Problem with Abby Lee Miller (and the Producers)

The smash-hit reality television show Dance Moms began airing on the Lifetime network in 2011, and filmed eight seasons. Although the program is twelve years old, it still remains relevant to this day. Lifetime’s YouTube channel earns most of its views from airing full episode reruns, clips, and themed compilations of Dance Moms content. Both audio and video clips from the show have gone viral on TikTok, inspiring various trends, such as users making their own “pyramids” to rank people, places, or things of a particular subject, teaching themselves choreography from the show, and lip-syncing to humorous lines from the show. People still enjoy Dance Moms for many reasons, from the mothers’ antics and drama, impressive dance performances at the time, and even the brutal teaching methods endorsed by the program. As this reality television program seems to gain popularity every day, viewers should critically observe the show’s main character and dance coach, none other than Abby Lee Miller. 

Although it is widely-known from prior cast members that the producers of Dance Moms heavily edited much of the show and could twist words and actions with ease, some of Miller’s previous students suggest that her harsh demeanor and inappropriate behavior was not simply a guise put on for the cameras and enabled by producers. She has been noted on and off-camera to engage in verbally abusive behavior toward her students, especially through body-shaming tactics. According to former dance mom Diane Pent (mother of season one guest dancer Brandon Pent), Miller used to post the weights of her students publicly around the studio to shame them, and also made them execute ballet leaps while holding sacks of potatoes to suggest that dance is much harder for those who gain weight. Dancer Kendall Vertes says in a team vlog that Miller called her and her teammates fat and lazy as well. On camera, in a later season of the show, Miller implies that dancer Nia Frazier gained weight over a summer break from filming, saying she can tell by “the size of the thigh” when performing ballet techniques after the break. Miller also body-shames students in ways not related to weight. For example, on her spinoff series entitled Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition, she made various unnecessary comments on 12-year-old contestant Trinity Inay’s body, often suggesting that Inay was too short and bulky to perform certain styles of dance, like ballet and lyrical. She also made body-shaming comments unrelated to weight on Dance Moms. From calling Nia’s feet and arches flat and pathetic, to telling other team dancer Chloe Lukasiak to get her lazy eye fixed, to calling guest team member Ava Cota a praying mantis because of her tall, thin frame and long arms, Miller has made many insensitive, inappropriate, and flat-out unnecessary comments about her dancers’ bodies, causing many of them to reveal following struggles with confidence and self-image.

Miller has also engaged in inappropriate, sexually-charged behavior toward her young students of various gender identities. Families of Abby Lee Dance Company students suggest that this behavior emerged even before the show’s filming. Former student Regan Check speaks in a social media video stating that Miller bought her and her teammates Santa Claus themed g-string underwear for Christmas before Dance Moms. Check states in her video that she was ten years old when she received this inappropriate present and had no idea what a g-string even was at the time. She also mentions that Holly Frazier, Nia Frazier’s mother, received one for her child as well, and she immediately handed it back to Miller. Unfortunately, such sexual behavior continued on and is sprinkled throughout the show. Miller and the producers allowed oversexualized choreography to hit the competition stage and national television starting as early as the show’ second episode. That week’s jazz group dance, entitled “Electricity,” garnered much negative publicity due to age-inappropriate costumes and suggestive movements in the choreography, including gyrating and sultry facial expressions for dancers between the ages of eight and 13 years old. Although this routine did not place at the Starquest Dance Competition in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, this did not stop the producers and Miller from bringing back oversexualized choreography and themes as the show progressed. In Season 2, this team of children and pre-teens were made to perform a Las Vegas showgirl-themed routine, in which they had to wear peach-toned bra tops underneath flashy, feathered fans to allude to nudity. Not only did this routine not place at the Fire and Ice competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it gained so much negative backlash from viewers that the episode got pulled off the air after its initial airing. This episode is no longer found on any of the Lifetime network’s airing services or under any streaming service, including Hulu. Although it was important for the childrens’ safety to remove the episode from the air, it truly should not have been filmed in the first place. Miller and the producers put six children in a compromising situation by exposing their bodies on national television for millions of viewers to see, even for just a single airing of the episode.

Miller’s inappropriate sexual comments made their way into the fourth and fifth seasons of Dance Moms. In Season 4, Miller and production assigned then 11-year-old dancer Maddie Ziegler a musical theatre duet with then 13-year-old dancer Gino Cosculluela, which ended with a stage kiss. Ziegler was especially concerned and nervous about the kiss, and did not feel comfortable doing it. Instead of working through Ziegler’s feelings together, Miller demonstrated by kissing Ziegler on the lips on-camera, embarrassing her even more. Leading into Season 5, Miller was reported by multiple sources to have made a graphic oral sex joke toward a minor dancer off-screen at a competition, suggesting a child was “on her knees” for a boy in her dance routine. These may be some of the worst instances of Miller’s inappropriate behavior toward children, humiliating them and insinuating that their feelings do not matter. Dance Moms still continued to air for more full seasons after this allegation. 

Most of the Junior Elites from Dance Moms do not keep in contact with Miller anymore, with the exception of JoJo Siwa, who has since become a prominent children’s entertainer and LGBTQ+ figure for young people. Just because the two have an amicable relationship does not mean that Miller always speaks appropriately in relation to Siwa. Miller stated on a joint YouTube video that she has no issues with Siwa’s LGBTQ+ identity because that means there are “more hot young men for her” because of Siwa’s sexual orientation. For context, Siwa is 20 years old, and Miller is 57 years old. Around the same time, Miller was exposed for making inappropriate comments toward other young male social media entertainers, such as Duke Depp, also known as @willywonkatiktok. Miller and Depp made a TikTok video together in April 2021, in which Miller attempts to teach Depp some basic dance technique, but by the end, tells Depp to put his hands all over her. Although Miller has not made sexual comments directly at Siwa, she shows a lack of respect for Siwa’s identity, as she makes a moment of Siwa’s queerness into a moment for her to sexualize much younger men. 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic during the summer of 2020, Miller was scheduled to produce a virtual dance program to showcase young competitive dancers from across the nation. However, this series came to a halt before even airing due to Miller’s previous racist behavior coming to light. Adriana Smith, the season 8 mother of dancer Kamryn Smith, revealed how Miller consistently made racist and classist comments toward her and her daughter throughout the filming of season 8 in June 2020. Smith revealed her undesirable experience with Miller around the same time as Blackout Tuesday, a social media day in which Americans attempted to signify solidarity with the Black community and targets of police brutality. Smith states on a social media post that Miller told her that she was from “the hood” and that she and her daughter were only casted on the show to be “a sprinkle of color.” Smith reveals how Kamryn heard Miller’s racist and classist statements, leading the pair to only film a single episode of the show. 

Still, the television program and outside media portrays Miller making racially-charged comments and decisions toward other students before the Smiths joined. Miller often typecasted dancer Nia Frazier in both solos and group numbers, often getting choreography with an ambiguous “ethnic” theme or acting as Black historical figures because of her African-American heritage. Miller is also shown in the show’s second season telling Nia to fix her box-braided hair, yelling that it was “weighing her down.” Nia also mentions years later in a YouTube interview that Miller told her off-camera that her hair looked like worms when braided. Miller also targeted dancer Camryn Bridges from the show’s seventh season–Bridges tells her YouTube followers that Miller made comments that her feet looked weird on the dance studio flooring because the tops have a darker skin tone than the bottoms. Even Laurieanne Gibson, a renowned choreographer and teacher on the seventh season of Dance Moms, suggests in a Hollywood Unlocked interview that Miller was racist to one of the Black students on the team. She states that not all of the racist behavior was shown on television. 

Miller still maintains relevance in the dance community after years of behaving inappropriately toward minors, getting banned from filming at various dance competitions, and even getting her Dance Masters teaching certification revoked. She has taught virtual classes during and after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, coming into contact with dancers worldwide. Earlier this month, with nationals season in full swing, dancers across North America flocked to Orlando, Florida to compete at The Dance Awards, one of the largest and most prestigious dance competitions. Miller also was in attendance, without having students from her studio competing. Miller still holds a position of power over young dancers outside of her own studio, and dancers and their families still seem to be attracted to her harsh teaching methods and unique television personality, as they believe contact with Miller will increase their popularity, technical skills, and overall fame. As of April 2023, chatter surrounding the potential production of a ninth season of Dance Moms has arisen as well, meaning there may be even more children who are subject to Miller’s verbal abuse, body-shaming, inappropriate sexual behavior, and racism. 

This post is not an exhaustive list of incidents of Miller’s harmful behavior surrounding Dance Moms. It intends to urge viewers, dancers, and families to avoid idolizing her behaviors and brutal teaching methods. There are so many ways for dance teachers to reach their students, correct their technical errors, and lead them on the path to success in the professional world of dance without any additions of sexual comments, racism, classism, body-shaming, and fatphobia. Viewers should also note that the producers involved in Miller’s television programming are partially responsible as well, since they chose to film, edit, and air scenes of Miller treating young children with the utmost disrespect. When watching Dance Moms or any content with Miller’s involvement, it is imperative to consume such media critically, as to avoid embodying harmful teaching tactics and untrue stereotypes about the dance community at large. 

Written By: Summer 2023 Intern Joanna Fashjian