Nia Sioux is opening up about her formative years on Dance Moms and the behavior she says she endured behind the scenes. In her new memoir, Bottom of the Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life, the former Lifetime star recounts alleged racist remarks, body-shaming, and a culture she describes as toxic while filming the hit reality series.
Sioux, now 24, appeared on Dance Moms from 2011 to 2017 alongside her mother, Holly Frazier. She joined the show at age 9 and left at 15, coming of age under the watch of coach Abby Lee Miller. In candid passages, Sioux alleges that Miller repeatedly targeted her appearance and identity, comments she says were sometimes made on camera and other times never aired.
Nia Sioux Recounts Racist Remarks On Set
One moment Sioux revisits occurred during season 2, when she wore braids that she says were approved by production. “Abby told me that I needed to fix my hair because it looked awful,” Sioux writes, recalling Miller’s on-camera critique. “She said — on camera, no less — ‘It’s like a log coming out of the side of her head.’”
Sioux alleges that another comment, which she says did not make it into the show, crossed an even more troubling line. “Don’t you just wish you had white-girl hair?” Miller allegedly asked, according to Sioux. The dancer writes that she immediately responded, “No,” adding that Miller pressed further: “‘Oh really? Like you don’t think it would be much easier?’ Again, I told her no. It didn’t matter what she said — I knew I didn’t want to be white.”
Those remarks, Sioux claims, were part of a larger pattern that made the set an uncomfortable place to grow up. The memoir presents a view of Dance Moms where the narrative — both on and off camera — could be shaped by the coach’s words, and where a young performer had to navigate hurtful commentary while still being expected to perform.
Body-Shaming Claims & Harmful Stereotypes
Beyond hair, Sioux says Miller’s comments extended to her body and to racial stereotypes about her abilities as a dancer. “She would say, ‘Well, you know your people have flat feet,’” Sioux recalls in the book. Sioux calls the notion “ignorant,” adding, “I know plenty of Black dancers with perfectly arched feet!” She also writes that Miller’s criticism was sometimes framed as a threat tied to performance: “‘If you don’t point that foot,’ she’d warn, ‘I’m gonna come out there and break it.’”
Sioux contends that this rhetoric didn’t stop with Miller. According to the memoir, comments from the coach “trickled down” to peers and parents on set. “Comments came directly from Abby and trickled down to some of the girls and their moms, criticizing my thighs, my butt, and even my muscular legs,” Sioux writes. She points to a dressing room moment in season 6 when Miller allegedly discussed “the size of my thighs,” implying she was “fat” because she “was not working hard enough.”
For Sioux, those critiques helped fuel a narrative she says some viewers and castmates accepted too easily — that she was “lazy or just not strong as a dancer.” Her account underscores how reality TV editing and on-the-spot commentary can shape public perception of young performers, especially when delivered by authority figures.
Routines With Racial Undertones, And A Mother’s Defense
Sioux also revisits the solos she performed under Miller’s direction, writing that certain pieces carried troubling racial undertones — even before Dance Moms began filming. Her first solo, she says, was set to “Nattie of the Jungle,” a song about a child raised by monkeys. Another was performed to “Satan’s Li’l Lamb.” In the memoir, Sioux characterizes these selections as part of a pattern that made her uncomfortable in hindsight.
Her mother, Holly Frazier, frequently pushed back, according to Sioux, questioning choices that felt inappropriate or insensitive. Still, Sioux writes that her mom sometimes “had to bite her tongue,” balancing advocacy with the realities of being on a competitive reality series. As for Sioux herself, she explains that she was too young to grasp deeper implications at the time; like many kids on the show, she was focused on the chance to perform and improve.
Bottom of the Pyramid frames these experiences as central to Sioux’s personal growth. The book’s subtitle — “A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life” — reflects how she sees her journey: navigating intense scrutiny, confronting harmful stereotypes, and ultimately reasserting control over her story. Now, looking back as an adult, Sioux contextualizes the pressure-cooker environment of Dance Moms and the long-term impact of comments she says were made about her body and identity.
Over seven seasons, Sioux became one of the show’s most recognizable young dancers, and her memoir offers a rare, firsthand perspective on what growing up inside a reality TV machine can look like. The accounts she shares — from on-camera critiques to alleged comments that never aired — add complexity to the show’s legacy and to public conversations about how young talent is treated in high-stakes entertainment settings.
Sioux’s story doesn’t solely dwell on pain; it also emphasizes resilience. By documenting the language and decisions that shaped her early career, she aims to illuminate the challenges faced by Black dancers in predominantly white spaces and to advocate for healthier creative environments. Her reflections serve as a reminder that mentorship carries real influence — and that the narratives presented to viewers are not always the full picture.
Bottom of the Pyramid: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life is available now wherever books are sold.
