‘Dance Moms’ Star Nia Sioux Alleges Abby Lee Miller Made Racist Remarks in a New Memoir

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Nia Sioux, who rose to fame on the reality show Dance Moms, has stated that her former dance teacher, Abby Lee Miller, made racist comments and criticized her appearance.

Sioux was on the show with her mom, Holly Frazier, from 2011 to 2017. She started at age 9 and finished when she was 15.

In her new memoir, Bottom of the Pyramid, 24-year-old Sioux shares several difficult experiences. She remembers an incident from the show’s second season where she wore braids – a hairstyle that had been given the okay by the show’s producers.

Sioux, 60, claims Miller publicly criticized her appearance in a video. Sioux says Miller told her she needed to fix her hair, adding, “It’s like a log coming out of the side of her head.”

Sioux recalls a private conversation with Miller where Miller reportedly asked if she ever wished she had straight, white hair. Sioux firmly replied, “No.” Miller then questioned if it wouldn’t be “much easier” if she did. Sioux writes that no matter what Miller said, she was certain she didn’t want to be white, and this exchange, unlike another one they had, was never included in the aired footage.

The memoir details Miller’s continued negative comments about Sioux’s body. Sioux says Miller often criticized her feet, thighs, and legs, even making remarks about her heritage. According to Sioux, Miller once said, “You know your people have flat feet.”

I was shocked by how misinformed she was—I knew many Black dancers who had beautifully arched feet. But even though her idea was completely untrue, she’d threaten to punish me if I didn’t point my foot correctly. She’d say, ‘If you don’t point your foot, I’m going to break it!’

Sioux says Miller also criticized her legs and thighs, suggesting she was out of shape and not dedicated to her work. According to Sioux, Miller once commented on the size of her thighs in the dressing room during season 6, implying she was overweight because she wasn’t working hard enough. Sioux explains this was just one example of Miller’s attempts to portray her as lazy or a weak dancer, and that both viewers and some of her castmates readily believed it.

The memoir also discusses the subtle racial issues present in some of Sioux’s early performances directed by Miller, even before the movie was filmed. For example, one routine, called “Nattie of the Jungle,” depicted a child raised by monkeys, and another was titled “Satan’s Li’l Lamb.”

Sioux recalls her mother frequently questioning Miller about these performances, but sometimes she had to stay silent because she was too young to grasp the racial issues involved and was simply thrilled to be performing.

In her book, Sioux shares a revealing account of what it was like growing up on the reality show Dance Moms, and explores how young performers—especially children of color—were treated behind the scenes.

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2025-11-05 11:44