Abby Lee Miller

Abigale "Abby" Lee Miller (born September 21, 1966) is a dance instructor, choreographer, and the director and owner of Reign Dance Productions. She is also the founder of the Abby Lee Dance Company.

Early life

Abby Lee Miller was born to Maryen Lorrain, a dance teacher, and George L. Miller. She was raised a Roman Catholic. During her school years, Abby studied dance and choreography.,^[1] participated in ski club, Girl Scouts, took clarinet lessons, and attended charm school.

Career in dance

Miller grew up around dance and she realized that her talents didn't come from being on stage performing. She preferred to choreograph a dance, instead of performing it. Miller founded her own studio, Abby Lee Dance Company, at age 14. She later became director of her mother's business, the Maryen Lorrain Dance Studio. The studio was renamed in May 1995 to Reign Dance Productions. Both studios are located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Through her studios, Miller taught thousands of students, some of whom have gone on to perform in Broadway shows. In December 2010, Abby Lee Miller filed for bankruptcy and owed more than $400,000 in taxes shortly before Dance Moms premiered.^[2]

On October 13, 2015, Abby Lee Miller was indicted in Pittsburgh on charges of concealing her income from her performances on the show in 2012 and 2013. She is charged with bankruptcy fraud, concealment of bankruptcy assets and false bankruptcy declarations in hiding some $755,000.^[3][4]

Career in reality television

In 2011, Miller began to appear in the Lifetime reality television show^[5] Dance Moms.^[6] The show is on its sixth season and has had 138 episodes so far.^[7] Dance Moms follows the practice sessions and performance competitions of young students of the Abby Lee Dance Company. In the show, Miller uses the technique of bringing in new dancers, such as teenage dancer Chloe Lukasiak, to compete against her existing students and to motivate them to become better dancers. In the show, Miller frequently interacts belligerently with the young dancers and their mothers.^[8] In February 2014, Miller was sued by the Hyland family for allegedly bullying Paige Hyland, a former student of Miller and a cast member on Dance Moms.^[9] A five million dollar lawsuit was filed against Miller and Collins Avenue Entertainment for staging disagreements that ended in a fight between Kelly Hyland and Miller. Paige Hyland also filed an emotional distress lawsuit against Miller.^[10] The charges were dropped on the emotional distress lawsuit, because the judge sided with Miller.^[11]

Three spin-offs of Dance Moms are Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition,^[12][13] which ran for 2 seasons and 22 episodes,^[14] Dance Moms: Miami, and Dance Moms: Abby's Studio Rescue. This show ran for only 7 episodes.^[15] Miller has also been a guest judge on Dancing with the Stars.^[16][17] In 2014, Miller published a book, Everything I Learned about Life, I Learned in Dance Class.^[12][18][19]

In 2015, Miller opened a new studio set up in Los Angeles called ALDC LA. The cast of Dance Moms moved to LA and are currently competing there, too.^[20]

References

External links

• Abby Lee Miller (July 15, 2014). Everything I Learned about Life, I Learned in Dance Class. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-230481-0.