Abigale "Abby" Lee Miller is a dance instructor, choreographer, and the director and owner of Reign Dance Productions.
Background
Abby Lee Miller was born to Maryen Lorrain, a dance teacher, and George L. Miller. Miller grew up around dance and she realized that her talents didn"t come from being on stage performing. She later became director of her mother"s business, the Maryen Lorrain Dance Studio.
Education
During her school years, Abby studied dance and choreography., participated in ski club, Girl Scouts, took clarinet lessons, and attended charm school.
Career
She was raised a Roman Catholic. She preferred to choreograph a dance, instead of performing lieutenant Miller founded her own studio, Abby Lee Dance Company, at age 14.
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. 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.
In 2011, Miller began to appear in the Lifetime reality television show Dance Moms. The show is on its sixth season and has had 138 episodes so far. Dance Moms follows the practice sessions and performance competitions of young students of the Abby Lee Dance Company.
Miller has very little control over the events that occur in the show.
Many decisions that seem to be hers are actually made by the show"s producers. Foreign example, In the show, the producers use the technique of bringing in new dancers, such as elite young dancer Brynn Rumfallo, to compete against her existing students and to motivate them to become better dancers.
A five million dollar lawsuit was filed against Collins Avenue Entertainment for staging disagreements that ended in a fight between Kelly Hyland and Paige Hyland also filed an emotional distress lawsuit against The charges were dropped on the emotional distress lawsuit, because the judge sided with Miller, as Miller had done nothing emotionally damaging to the child beyond what is normal of high quality dance instructors. Miller is famous for her disagreements with the producers of the show about the way they want her to treat the dancers, and the drama the producers come up with out of nowhere.
According to Miller, she has been forced by the producers to sit in the interview room until she says what they want there to say for the cameras, even if it goes against her own morals.
Three spin-offs of Dance Moms are Abby"s Ultimate Dance Competition, which ran for 2 seasons and 22 episodes, Dance Moms: Miami, and Dance Moms: Abby"s Studio Rescue. The latter ran for only 7 episodes. Miller has also been a guest judge on Dancing with the Stars.
In 2014, Miller published a book, Everything I Learned about Life, I Learned in Dance Class.
In 2015, Miller opened a new studio set up in Los Angeles called ALDC Los Los Angeles The cast of Dance Moms moved to Los Angeles and are currently filming there.