A large crowd at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium was buzzing Saturday afternoon with excited chatter and “Dance Moms” merchandise. The theater was filled with anticipation to see the founder of the dance company behind the television show: Abby Lee Miller.
During Moms Weekend at Ohio University, it only made sense to bring in the face of "Dance Moms" herself. The show began with Miller telling the crowd, “We are going to have fun!”
Miller began to tell the story of how she became a dance instructor, telling a heartwarming tale about how she won a dance competition when she was 13 years old. She said after she had choreographed a routine for three of her friends and won first place, she knew right then she would become a dance instructor.
“I had that little plastic 12-inch trophy in my hand,” Miller said. “It was like suddenly I knew what I was supposed to do with my life.”
Miller looks up to and respects her mother, calling her a better businesswoman than she could ever be. Miller’s mother owned a dance studio and had built up a reputation. After Miller won the dance competition, she asked her mother if she could start a competition team at her studio. Ever since that team, Miller’s career as a dance instructor took off.
Beyond Miller’s journey to becoming a dance instructor, she discussed the making of the television show, Dance Moms, and gave some insights from behind the scenes.
“So the big misconception (is) the original cast never auditioned for the show,” Miller said. “They never auditioned. They sat in a chair next to their mothers on camera. So it's a really, really long story.”
Miller also explained how the start of the show would be hard on her studio. She said she had a choice to make when it came to deciding to do the television show. After weighing the pros and cons, Miller said the next step in her career would be to do the show, but it actually led to most of her dancers quitting.
Even though Miller lost out on the tuition from the students that year, little did she know how much the television show would grow into what it is today. She even thought, after watching the season one premiere, that no one would ever watch the show.
Beyond spilling the drama and talking about some of the famous moms and daughters on the show, Miller also discussed a lot of the personal events that happened in her life. From going to prison for one year and one day to a cancer diagnosis, Miller has been through a lot of obstacles but continues to conquer them with a smile.
The show ended with questions from the audience, ranging from which mom was Miller’s favorite to her favorite Baskin-Robbins flavor.
After the event, many students lined up to do a meet and greet and were thrilled to get to meet Miller. Many said they enjoyed seeing her and were glad they came to the event.
Isaac Kurtz, a junior studying sociology, said he had never seen the show before but thought Miller was entertaining to watch and promoted him to want to watch the show.
“I mean, especially talking to people and stuff, having them tell me some things about the show and funny memories from it, it seems entertaining,” Kurtz said.
Jenna Williams, a junior studying health services administration and applied nutrition, said she has always been a huge fan of the show and was very excited to see Miller.
“It was very cool to see one of the most, not just like most iconic TV stars, but also (one of the) most notorious and reputable dance instructors in the world like 30 feet in front of me,” Williams said. “Very unreal.”
Molly Brannigan, a junior studying education, said she loved how quick-witted Miller was and how sassy she was in real life. Brannigan also mentioned how cool it was to see what Miller’s thought process was like.
“She's so smart,” Brannigan said. “Her dance mind is just very impressive and very cool coming from somebody with a lot of choreography experience. She's just very clever with it.”
As the event wrapped up, attendees did not want the event to end, with many yelling out last-minute questions and invitations to grab drinks at the bar for Moms Weekend.
“I’m all in,” Miller said.
