The Dance Moms Pyramid: A Humiliation Ritual
Graphic by Téa Sklar
As a young girl, my mom and I would stay up late every Tuesday night to catch the newest episode of Dance Moms. As screaming and crying would fill the television screen in front of me, I still hoped to one day become a dancer at the Abby Lee Dance Company.
The next day at school, my friends and I would discuss the episode from the night before and laugh about our favorite moments: what dance was the best, whether or not Kelly was leaving for real this time, if the Candy Apples would ever win or if Maddie deserved first place once again.
Being this young, I never saw this show as anything more than a fun, drama-filled escape where I would learn new dance terms. But, as I’ve gotten older, this show has become much more sinister and I don’t watch this show with a smile anymore. In fact, I can barely stomach making it through some episodes.
Over the summer I began to rewatch the early seasons in my down time. It felt nostalgic, reminiscing on the old dances and fights I witnessed in real time. But what always stuck out to me, despite the constant psychological warfare these children endured daily, was the concept of the pyramid.
For those who are unfamiliar, the beginning of each Dance Moms episode begins with the young dancers and their mothers filing into the dance studio for the pyramid. This is where the dance teacher, Abby Lee Miller, would have covered photos of each dancer in the shape of a pyramid. Whoever was at the bottom of the pyramid performed the worst, the middle was ok and whoever was on top (ahem…Maddie) was considered the best dancer of the week.
It became known who would be at the bottom and who would be at the top. On rare occasions, some of the “weaker” dancers would get a spot on top of the pyramid and face intense pressure from Miller all week. They usually only lasted that week on top and were immediately bumped down.
Rewatching these pyramid scenes, I felt disgusted by how these poor children were treated every single week. Forced to dance against each other every week, Miller would remind these girls that they were each other’s competition and nothing more. She held the top of the pyramid spot over everyone’s heads and would rip it away from them just as quickly.
Not only was this a complete destruction of self-esteem and confidence, these children felt as though they had to step on their own friends to reach the top. Their mothers would fight about spots on the pyramid and encourage their children to get to the top.
In what I believe to be the most diabolical scenes in the show, Miller had just brought on a new girl, Payton, to replace an older dancer, Brooke, on the team. After competing with the girls for a while, Payton started to feel comfortable on the team. During one pyramid, all of the girls are revealed and the only spot left is the top of the pyramid. Payton and her mother are smiling because her picture hadn’t been revealed yet. Then, Miller rips the paper off to reveal that Brooke is on top of the pyramid and she is replacing Payton with Brooke. We then see Payton break down into tears.
Why an adult would revel in committing such a cruel, humiliating way to kick a child off a dance team is beyond me. These children were broadcast on live, national television to be made fun of, ridiculed and ranked based on how well they could dance. Not only did they have to worry about their dance teacher mocking them, they now had to worry about the entire world thinking that they were a “lousy” dancer.
Dance is supposed to be an expressive outlet for children, a place where they can have fun and make friends. This studio destroyed little girls’ dreams and completely ripped away what they tried to work so hard for.
For the pyramid alone, Miller deserves more jail time.