Copyright Parade
Almost a decade ago, Nia Sioux did her last step in the Abby Lee Dance Company. She had been a mainstay on the TV show Dance Moms for seven seasons under the militaristic and controversial tutelage of Abby Lee Miller. The Lifetime series opened up America’s eyes to the world of competitive dance, as well as make household names out of Maddie Ziegler and JoJo Siwa. But Nia’s new book, Bottom of the Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life, releasing Tuesday, Nov. 4, shows an even seedier underbelly to Dance Moms. After building a successful career in acting, singing and dance following her time on the series, she now adds writer to her multi-hyphenate career, diving deep into her time before, during and after the series. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 “I’ve always wanted to kind of tell my side of things, and it took years to figure out how I wanted to say it,” Nia, 24, tells Parade in an exclusive interview. “It took years for me to feel ready to kind of put myself out there and to talk about my experiences. Because I know that harping on the past sometimes brings up past trauma, past drama and it can be really messy. I’m so glad I was able to go back to these experiences, to actually unpack it and have feelings about it. Because feelings are good, feelings are human. It’s been a joy to kind of write all my thoughts down, but it also has been challenging at times, too.” Here are the 9 most shocking things we learned about Dance Moms from Nia’s new book, including some incredibly ugly moments involving Abby Lee Miller that did not make it onto the show. Nia had to learn to walk again months before Dance Moms began Nia begins Bottom of the Period recounting the origins of her love of dance, as well as how she got involved with the ALDC. But that all got put on pause when she suddenly began experiencing an extreme tingling and stinging in her legs. After much rigorous testing, she was diagnosed with Reflex Neurovascular Dystrophy, a condition where the brain misfires and sends pain synapses to parts of your body. On the show, there was a singular mention of Nia’s RND. But, in actuality, as she writes, “it took me more than a year to get back on track.” That includes outright learning to walk — and dance — again. “I had to relearn how to just do basic things like walk, skip, jump, swim, and then, at some point, learn how to dance again,” she recounts to Parade. “So that already was a really hard, especially as an eight year old, when you really don’t really know what’s going on. But I think it also just kind of made me an advocate from a young age. You know, it showed that I had to advocate for myself, so it prepared me for the show. It definitely prepared me for those moments where I did feel ostracized, and for those moments where I felt like the underdog. I knew who I was, and I had already been through so much.” Competition performances were filmed twice Of course, at the heart of Dance Moms lied the high-stakes world of dance competitions. And Nia reveals that every routine they did was actually performed twice. The first, like the other teams, was done for the competition proper, in front of the judges. Then, the judges would leave the room, and the crew would do the dance again, this time only for the cameras. Nia admits that often times the second performance, while not scored, would be their better one. The way she puts it, they had gotten the jitters out from the first time around, and there was less pressure knowing it didn’t count towards the competition. But there was still pressure, as they knew if they made a mistake, even though it wouldn’t have hurt them with the judges, it would almost certainly make the episode. “One time, I landed a front aerial beautifully in the first performance of one of my solos,” she writes, “but the second time I stumbled out of it. Of course that was the version they used on the show. It was TV gold to feature a mistake — and a great opportunity for Abby to yell at you for messing up.” In 2020, Abby came under fire after posting support for the Black Lives Matter movement on social media. It prompted a series of revelations from previous Black dancers, who TKTK. And of course, tragically, Nia was not immune. Bottom of the Pyramid is littered with a number of problematic comments Abby made towards Nia, both seen and unseen. The ones mentioned include Abby asking her, “Don’t you just wish you had white-girl hair?” as well as saying Nia was predisposed to have flat feet because of her race. During one opportunity Abby set up for the girls to meet with some music producers in L.A., she recommended that Nia specifically perform a gospel number. As Nia describes, anytime a routine called for anyone playing the role of “an animal, the help, a thug, a thief, a kidnapper, or a gang member, I was usually the one cast in these roles.” Not all of her comments were as explicit as that. Nia recalls one time when, during one of her many tirades, Abby would insist, “Nobody would know Nia’s name if it wasn’t for me. Nia is twelve! She can have kids! She can get married in some countries!” The way Nia sees is, Abby was taking on a narrative that she was “rescuing” her from an alternative life of oppression by allowing her to dance under her tutelage. Related: ‘Dance Moms’ Alum Rings Chemo Bell in Heartwarming Video Amid Breast Cancer Treatment Perhaps the most significant, however, is an incident that viewers were not privy to seeing. During one of the many arguments Abby got into with Nia’s mother, Holly Hatcher-Frazier, she spoke about her ideal vision for the ALDC: Namely a troupe of skinny white girls with blonde hair and blue eyes. She went on to say she didn’t ask for a “Tootie,” referring to the Black main character from The Facts of Life. The insinuation that she didn’t want someone in her troupe due to the color of her skin caused Holly to “lose it.” The two continued to argue loudly, and things got so heated to the point where Abby walked over to Nia and gruffly grabbed her arm, throwing her off-balance. Enraged, she kicked both of them out of the studio. The show very much minimizes what happened during this incident, saying that Nia was simply “expelled” from the studio. But, in actuality, Nia writs that the situation was so intense that filming immediately halted. She would wind up returning to the team, flying down to Miami, though she was unsure she was welcome. And, while Abby never apologized for what happened, production attempted to paper over the incident, hiring an on-set therapist for the children and giving them all brand-new iPads. One episode was so controversial it got wiped compeletely from the internet Throughout her time on Dance Moms, Abby was known for creating routines that were evocative, to say the least. Routines were themed around everything from child abduction to texting while driving. Perhaps one of the most memorable, though, was Season 2’s “Topless Showgirls” which, as Nia describes, involved the girls wearing “skimpy outfits” with huge fans they waved around while making their way across the floor. Parents were mortified, as were fans. To date, the routine, and the episode proper, is not available anywhere online. The real reason the moms went on strike Of course, the titular “dance moms” were just as much at the center of the show as their kids. But, above all, they were parents before they were reality TV stars. This was perhaps most prominent in Season 3, when the moms chose to stage a protest after Kelly Hyland chose not to return to ALDC with her daughters Brooke and Paige Hyland. The women refused to step foot in the studio, prompting Abby to create an entire new team, until Kelly chose to return. That, however, could not be further from the truth. The moms did not choose to go on strike due to Kelly’s temporary departure. Instead, it was to create hospitable work conditions. At that time, Pennyslvania (where the show films) did not have many child labor laws. And so the moms decided to push for their own. According to Nia, they banded together, wanting the kids “to be compensated fairly, to be fed before the crew, to have a designated area to rest and eat (there were no chairs and tables), and to have tutors.” While Abby consistently threatened them on the picket line, including threatening to call the police on them, Lifetime finally came to an agreement with the moms, allowing everyone to return to work. Related: ‘Dance Moms’ Abby Lee Miller Shares Unfiltered Thoughts on JoJo Siwa’s Bold New Look JoJo Siwa called the original dancers “washed up” when she arrived Of course, it wouldn’t be a recounting of Dance Moms without mention of arguably its biggest star, JoJo Siwa. Throughout the book, Nia talks about how the original kids on the show were there to be dancers over becoming famous. As such, despite the interpersonal drama, they would work hard to make sure they stayed as a team and in solidarity. When JoJo was brought in in Season 5, that dynamic immediately shifted. While the two are good now, Nia admits that her relationship with the pop star started off rocky. She brought a big personality and “an enormous ego” from the jump, apparently telling the other girls they were “washed up” and she would be the “light of the team.” The other girls were immediately taken aback, not only with JoJo’s inflated sense of self, but also the clear idea that JoJo’s mother, Jess, had enrolled her in ALDC not to actually become a part of the competition dance scene, but to become a reality TV star. “I really hope that she’s healed through all that,” Nia tells Parade, “which I think she has. But I do want to stress that just because she loves her experience, others didn’t have that experience. Others can’t just chalk it up to just being a reality show and move on with their lives. Some of us are deeply hurt by some of the things that happened on the show, not just with Abby, but other people, other castmates, just how things played out. It seems like she’s doing really well, and that’s incredible, and I’m so happy for her.” Abby tried to bribe Aubrey O’Day not to work with her girls Deep into Dance Moms‘ run, Abby began to relocate the studio from Pittsburgh out to L.A. And that opened up many more opportunities for her – and the troupe – to get involved in the music industry. Nia recalls one occasion where Abby brought in Danity Kane singer Aubrey O’Day to perform a master class. Aubrey struck up a chat with Holly, who informed her about her daughter’s desire to get into music. And, much to Nia’s delight, she actually offered her help to get her foot in the door. Before every season starts, the moms would meet with producers to talk about storylines they’re interested in pursuing. Holly informed production about her conversation with Aubrey, and how Nia would get more involved in becoming a singer. And when word got around to Abby, she was livid. One day, after Holly had called her out on something, Abby sought some retribution by calling Aubrey, right there right then. In front of Nia, she proceeded to tell the singer that she was her manager and that her mother had used her contacts to make an “underhanded deal.” She then proceeded, astoundingly, to offer Aubrey $10,000 not to work with Nia. The edit, of course, cut the bribery out of the conversation, and re-edited the sequence to make it look like the moms were in the room with Nia, when it was actually just the kids. But, despite Abby’s desires, Aubrey soon contacted the family, saying her response made her want to work with them more. Nia credits her completely with getting her set up on her first song with everyone from a songwriter to a music video director. Abby denied Nia a hospital visit during her cancer battle In April 2018, Abby revealed that, after undergoing spinal surgery, she was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer. To say Nia responded to this news with mixed emotions would be an understatement. Though she felt at peace with her decision to abruptly leave the ALDC, there was still a part of her that wanted closure from a place that meant so much to her. And, after one of her previous acting teachers died suddenly of a stroke, she was inspired to reach out to Abby and try to schedule a visit while she was in the hospital. Unfortunately, while Nia was ready to have a highly anticipated conversation, Abby was not. She declined the visit, sending a text message in which she said she heard all she needed from a prior Instagram live. She took credit for getting Nia out of Pittsburgh, saying that she was responsible for every penny she earned and her and Holly should be grateful they aren’t shopping in thirft stores. She even took a potshot at long-time rival Holly, accusing her of being a parent who feels their child can do no wrong. “I will never reach out to Abby Lee Miller again,” Nia writes. “I try my best not to fill my heart with hate, but as far as I’m concerned, she no longer exists in my world, and I like it that way. I wish her no harm; I just want her out of my life.”
