Tonight is the Season 8 premiere of Dance Moms, and fans cannot wait to uncover what this season has in store.
Dance Moms debuted on Lifetime in 2011 and has been a hit ever since, with a number of spinoff series, like Dance Moms: Miami, and Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition.
The show follows the careers of those training under coach Abby Lee Miller, and details the interactions between the coach and her many dancers… along with some outspoken parents, too.
Abby Lee Miller is at the center of the show, and is the founder of the Abby Lee Dance Company. In June 2016, she pleaded guilty to felony bankruptcy fraud and was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison. After being released early, she continued filming season 8 of the show.
According to a recent Yahoo article, Miller’s net worth “isn’t what it used to be.” At one point in time, reports the outlet, she was making around $9,000 per month with the series.
The outlet also notes that Miller was diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, a rare form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma, in 2018. In May 2019, Women’s Health Magazine was among the first to report Miller saying she’s officially cancer free after more than a year of treatment. Speaking to People, the Dance Moms star shared, “The cancer is completely gone… I’m more than grateful. I’m thankful.”
She continued, “I was always grateful but I think I must say ‘Thank you’ a hundred times a day because I have to rely on strangers… Someone to open the door, someone to get the hanger off the rack at the department store, someone to pick up my phone if I drop it. How am I supposed to get it? I’m very grateful and thankful to strangers that have been so kind.”
Now, Abby says that she has big plans for the future: one of those plans is to be an executive producer. “I have three other shows and a cartoon that I’ve created. I want to do what I really do — I create. I can make something magical and wonderful out of nothing. I do it every week.”
Initially set in Pittsburgh, and later in LA, Dance Moms centers heavily on Miller, and the series follows the hard work and competitive nature of the young girls as they compete as dancers. It was during season 5 that Miller moved the company, and many of her dancers, to Los Angeles, in order to “build her reputation on the West Coast.”
Watch how the new season will pan out tonight on the premiere of Dance Moms at 8 am ET/PT.