{"id":119637,"date":"2025-11-05T17:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/119637\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T17:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:48:10","slug":"dance-moms-nia-sioux-gets-candid-about-racism-she-endured-during-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/119637\/","title":{"rendered":"Dance Moms’ Nia Sioux Gets Candid About Racism She Endured During Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Dance Moms star Nia Sioux is opening up about the racism she endured<\/a> during her years on the hit reality show.<\/p>\n

In her new memoir, “Bottom of the Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life,” Sioux recounts her experience as the only Black member on the show’s competitive dance team. <\/p>\n

Dance Moms viewers often witnessed tense moments between dance teacher Abby Lee Miller and the young students on the competition team. However, Sioux said the racism she faced<\/a> off-camera was far more severe. <\/p>\n

According to book excerpts obtained by PEOPLE<\/a>, Sioux writes that Miller once asked her, \u201cDon\u2019t you wish you just had White-girl hair?\u201d<\/p>\n

The then-teen dancer said she was taken aback but responded \u201cNo,\u201d to which Miller replied, \u201cLike you don\u2019t think it would be much easier?\u201d<\/p>\n

In another part of her memoir, Sioux recalls Miller saying, \u201cWell, you know your people [Black people] have flat feet,\u201d during a critique of her dance form, a comment the dancer said was \u201cignorant\u201d and \u201churtful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019d threaten punishment for my perceived shortcoming,\u201d Sioux writes. \u201c\u2018If you don\u2019t point that foot, I\u2019m gonna come out there and break it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sioux, who joined Dance Moms at just nine years old, has since become an actress, author, and advocate for self-empowerment. Her memoir sheds light on what she calls \u201cthe cost of perfectionism\u201d in the competitive dance world and how she learned to reclaim her confidence after years of being underestimated.<\/p>\n

“Bottom of the Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life” is out now.<\/p>\n

The Black Information Network is your source for Black News! Get the latest news 24\/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app<\/a> or click HERE<\/a> to tune in live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Dance Moms star Nia Sioux is opening up about the racism she endured during her years on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[20111,430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-119637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-bin","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}