The battle of reality TV dancers and choreographers wages on!
The always outspoken Abby Lee Miller – from Lifetime’s “Dance Moms” and “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition” – stopped by Access Hollywood Live on Monday, where she weighed in on “smack” she said she’s received from “Dancing with the Stars” pros Derek Hough and Mark Ballas.
When Kit Hoover and guest co-host Alfonso Ribeiro asked Abby if she’d ever appear on “DWTS,” the Lifetime star explained why she’s refused so far.
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“Some of the ‘Dancing with the Stars’ dancers talked a little smack about ‘Dance Moms,’” she explained.
Back in July 2012, both Mark and Derek took to Twitter to slam Abby’s show.
“I’m sorry but this Dance mom show is straight up abusive,” Hough Tweeted at the time. “Kids Run !!!!!! It ain’t right. Child abuse isn’t right. I’m livid right now… [There’s] nothing productive about screaming and making little girls cry over being on the wrong foot.”
Mark also chimed in, writing, “Dance is meant to be fun and inspirational, not abusive. Kids are impressionable and I don’t want young children being afraid to take up dance because of this lady.”
“When it first started they thought, ‘She’s so mean,’” Abby said of her detractors.
She sidestepped using Derek or Mark’s names on Access Hollywood Live, but she made it clear who she was referring to.
“I’m not giving that little skinny blond guy any more credit,” she said with a laugh.
So would Abby ever compete in the ballroom on the ABC series?
“I would love to be on it, maybe I’ll just talk to those producers about another show, who knows?” she explained. “I just was never into performing. It’s just hard work. It’s hard work… I like to choreograph and create and design the costumes and do it all and then step back and watch it and then move on to the next project.”
Abby wasn’t shy about also explaining to Kit and Alfonso how a fellow Access Hollywood Live guest from Monday’s show, Mayim Bialik, was inspirational to her – in a roundabout way.
“I grew up watching television. I was an only child and I always [was] told, ‘You don’t know about TV’ and I’m like, ‘I watched TV my entire life,’ she said. “I watched ‘Blossom,’ I watched all these shows and I always used to say at the beginning of ‘Blossom’… If Blossom could have a TV show anybody could have a television show!”
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Abby was quick to explain herself further.
Adding, “I mean, at the beginning [during the show’s opening credit sequence]. They did that hooky promo entrance of her doing the wings on top of the piano and all the hooky dancing and I would always say to my dance students, ‘See? Look!’ That’s what I meant.’”
Catch “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition” Season 2 premiere on September 3 at 9/8c on Lifetime.
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