These days, Nia Sioux's pillowcases are feeling awfully dry.
Years removed from her time under Abby Lee Miller's tutelange, the Dance Moms alum has learned it's not necessary to save her tears for anything.
"It's OK for people to see your emotions," she acknowledged in an exclusive interview with E! News. "It doesn't mean that you're any less strong."
And while she now has a few less things to cry about, she admitted it's taken a bit of work to replace Abby's voice in her head.
As Nia detailed in her newly released memoir Bottom of the Pyramid, her former dance teacher "frequently called me fat, pointing out my big butt and hips. Her harsh criticism was then broadcast on the show for the world to see." (E! News has reached out to Abby for comment but has not yet heard back.)
And it wasn't just the insults themselves that stung the elementary schooler. "Even more hurtful," Nia detailed, "was the fact that none of the moms aside from my own came to my defense when Abby body-shamed me."
No surprise then that self-love was one of the hardest routines for the Pittsburgh native to get right.
"It took me a really long time to start loving my body," admitted Nia. Most dancers are already "super critical" about their bodies, she added. So to have those inner thoughts highlighted on a reality series that regularly attracted upwards of 2 million viewers, "It's very daunting. You feel exposed. So it's taken me a long time to get to a place where I love how I look."
But just like her signature death drop, she's nailed it.
"I truly, truly, truly am at a point in my life where I love the way I look, I celebrate it," Nia insisted. As a teen absorbing insults from an authority figure, "It definitely took a lot," she acknowledged. "It's a journey. But I can say, I finally got it."
And as with most of her victories, she credits her dance mom, Dr. Holly Hatcher-Frazier, for being her No. 1 fan.
"It helps that I have an amazing mom," Nia acknowledged. "She's literally my hype man."
The former educator was also Nia's sounding board as she navigated the seemingly endless racial microagressions she endured as the sole person of color for most of the Lifetime series' seven seasons.
According to Nia's book, during one particularly nasty fight, Abby detailed her vision for her Abby Lee Dance Company junior elite competition team.
"She wanted a line of skinny girls who were the same height, with blonde hair and blue eyes," Nia wrote. "She then proceeded to say that she didn’t ask for 'a Tootie,' referring to Kim Fields' character on the hit 1980 show The Facts of Life. The subtext of the statement—that she didn’t ask for a Black girl to be on her team of all-white dancers—hit hard."
And, yet, the UCLA grad has managed to take the good and take the bad.
You take them both and you have a 24-year-old who's already enjoyed a six-week run in an off-Broadway show, a 59-episode stint on The Bold and the Beautiful and a slew of impressive entries for her resume, like the time she interviewed Vice President Kamala Harris or enjoyed a tour of the Oval Office conducted by then-President Joe Biden.
"I don't have any regrets doing the show," Nia insisted to E!. "Honestly, I really don't. All of my experiences have led me to exactly where I am right now. I wouldn't change a thing."
Years removed from her seven-season reality TV run, "I have already lived so much life where I feel like I can take on anything," she explained. "So, yeah. No regrets at all."
Having checked off so many bucket list items as she climbed up her own personal pyramid, "I don't feel like I have anything to prove," noted Nia. But she's eager to keep telling stories, whether that's through music, acting or social media, where some 5.8 million fans double tap her posts.
"I have so much that I want to do, and that I know I can do," said Nia. "And no one's holding me back."
Of course, she's not the only Dance Moms alum living her best life off the dance floor. See how she and her former costars have fared as solo artists.
Maddie Ziegler
In the decade-plus since the Pennsylvania native pirouetted her way into our hearts as the unquestionable star of the Abby Lee Dance Company, she's jeted her way from electropop star Sia's music video darling to film actress with appearances in Sia's directorial debut Music, the 2021 West Side Story remake and the 2024 flick My Old Ass.
She also released a New York Times best-selling memoir, 2017's The Maddie Diaries, judged a new crop of talent on So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation and teamed with younger sister Kenzie Ziegler for their Take 20 With Maddie and Kenzie podcast. "I think we wanted to let our guards down and show something that wasn't so heavily produced," Maddie explained to E! News, "and, rather, just us having a pretty casual conversation."
For her next act, she's eyeing her own beauty empire. "I would love to do my own line one day," she said. "I think that would be so amazing and something that I've dreamt of doing forever."
Kenzie Ziegler
Fully graduated from her acro days, one of the singer's latest releases was 2023's "Anatomy," a very personal ballad detailing her relationship with her estranged father. "I definitely am stepping out of my comfort zone," she told People of the single, "and being authentic in a different way that’s not just on social media—I’m telling my story.”
And with all due respect to the more than 14 million Dance Moms fans who follow her on Instagram, she dug a little deeper for her third album, biting my tongue, which dropped in July 2024.
"I feel like this is just the first time where I can talk about things that have happened with my life and share some important things to me," the She Dances actress told E! News. "I just want people to take away something from it—whether that be happy, whether that be sad or that they can relate to it."
Chloe Lukasiak
Nearly a decade after she took her final Dance Moms bow, the trophy-collecting soloist was ready to start living on the dance floor again.
“I missed dance, and I wanted to find a way to get back to something I had loved so much,” the Girl on Pointe: Chloe's Guide to Taking on the World author explained of launching Elevé National Dance Competition with mom Christi Lukasiak and fellow mother-daughter duo Diane and Brittany Pent. “But I wanted to help create something that was the exact opposite of what I had experienced. Something positive. I challenged myself to develop something to reignite my love of dance.”
Though the competition took a bow after one year, the Pepperdine University grad is still making moves. Focusing primarily on content creation, the newly minted New York City resident has also been writing her "first fiction fantasy book," she told E! News in 2023 and putting some thought into her next chapter. "What I've learned the past couple of years is that everything works out exactly as it's supposed to do."
Nia Sioux
The OG company member continues to slay in music (she dropped her single "Low Key Love" in 2020) and acting, fronting the web series Sunnyside Up and appearing in 59 episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful.
And while wrapping up her day job as a UCLA student (she graduated with a degree in American Literature and Culture in June 2024), she was moonlighting in Hollywood, dropping her single "IMMA CATCH" and landing on Variety's 2023 Young Hollywood Impact Report.
Next up, was (death) dropping her memoir.
"Storytelling is so powerful, and that's something I'm really, really passionate about," she explained to E! News ahead of the November 2025 release of Bottom of the Pyramid. And while she still has a long list of career goals, acting will definitely be a part of her next chapter.
"My first love was always dance, but, in addition to that, theater," explained Nia. "So, at some point I want to get back into it."
Brooke Hyland
Trading in group numbers for group trips, the eldest of the show's OGs led a 2023 excursion to Costa Rica, sharing on Instagram in July that "7 days took us from strangers to friends crying in the airport having to say goodbye to each other."
Next up, was a six-day jaunt through Croatia inspired by the European backpacking trip she enjoyed after graduating from Ohio University. "I explored beautiful places and cultures, while making lifelong friends in the process," she shared. "It was the trip of a lifetime."
When stateside, the Pittsburgh resident—who got engaged to account manager Brian Thalman in May 2024—makes the most of her marketing degree, both with her Bite-Sized Foodie Instagram account and the Hyland Sisters brand she shares with little sib Paige.
Paige Hyland
The four-season vet has few tears to save for her pillow as of late. Since earning her degree from West Virginia University in May 2023 ("IM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! Congratulations," Christi Lukasiak commented on her graduation 'gram), the model and influencer has criss-crossed the country with stops in the Hamptons, Colorado and Wyoming.
Paige's No. 1 travel buddy (other than older sis Brooke): Her longtime boyfriend, former college football player Jayvon Thrift. "Adore you in every kind of way," she wrote of the fitness model in a 2022 post.
The pair marked five years together in July 2024 by signing their first apartment lease, Paige writing on Instagram, "new adventure coming soon."
Kendall Vertes
Up until recently, the James Madison University grad was still collecting trophies as part of the Virginia college's championship-winning dance team. "Younger me would be so proud," the political science major wrote in a September 2023 Instagram. (Naturally, her dance mom Jill Vertes chimed in, "I know I’m so proud of my little kendall.")
In addition to trying her hand at acting (including the 2019 movie Rapunzel: A Princess Frozen in Time and a live-action version of Anastasia) and singing (as Kendall K, she released several albums), the season two arrival has nabbed more than a few sponsorships, thanks to her 11 million Instagram followers.
JoJo Siwa
Despite appearing in just two seasons of the OG series (after a stint on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition) JoJo with a Bow Bow arguably stole the spotlight, going on to nab a massive YouTube following, an exclusive licensing deal with Nickelodeon, endless branded merchandise and a spot on Time's 100 most influential people of 2020.
"One of the biggest things that I ever learned from Dance Moms was either to sink or swim," she once explained to Kelly Ripa. "Not, like, physically, actually in a swimming pool. But to really just be able to survive and to want it."
These days, as she pals around with the likes of Miley Cyrus and Kim Kardashian, she's doing more than treading water. In 2021, the LGBTQ+ icon partnered with Jenna Johnson to compete as the first same-sex couple on the U.S. version of Dancing With the Stars.
Now she's eyeing an even bigger stage, telling Raven-Symoné and wife Miranda Pearman-Maday, "My dream, dream, dream, dream is the Super Bowl, to do the halftime performance." And once the singer—who dropped her debut EP Guilty Pleasure in July 2024—scores that gig, she told the duo on an August 2023 episode of The Best Podcast Ever, "Then I'll retire and have babies."
Kalani Hilliker
Back home in Arizona, the dancer, actress and entrepreneur is fully embracing what she calls "my health and wellness era" with the 2023 launch of her beauty line Kare.
"I struggle with anxiety," she explained to E! News of her inspiration. "And I really wanted to create a brand that was inclusive to everyone to be able to just relax and take time for yourself and have a solid self-care routine to help you get through your day."
And, yes, the season 4 arrival, who also got her start on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, is still nailing every last arabesque, having dipped her perfectly arched foot back into dancing and teaching. "I obviously have a very different teaching way than Abby does towards me. Or, honestly, most of my dance teachers," shared the dancer, who tied the knot with Nathan Goldman in September 2025. "I like to be very kind, but also you've got to push them to be the best they can be."
Asia Monet Ray
Consider Asia officially raised. Though the California native stepped away from TV cameras just before her 10th birthday—following one season each on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, Dance Moms and her own standalone series Raising Asia—"I genuinely had a great experience on it," Asia insisted to E! News in 2021, acknowledging that wasn't necessarily the case for many of her costars. "There was nothing that I would change on my experience whatsoever."
Wrapping up her high school career in June 2023 as a valedictorian, "I’m extremely proud of myself for achieving a personal goal," the model and artist wrote on Instagram, "and I can’t wait to see what’s next."
Thanks to a plethora of brand deals, invites to every it event and a recently released dance-ready single "Oh Boys" and eponymous album, her future seems bright.
As for her reality star past, "I really did enjoy the time I had out there and growing up on television," she told E!. "Even though it seems like a lot, it was something that really set me up for life that I would never take for granted."
Camryn Bridges
Since joining the team in season 7, the St. Louis native has been living on some much larger dance floors.
Between touring with Kendrick Lamar and performing in Usher’s Las Vegas residency and Super Bowl halftime show, she took to the Grammys stage with Missy Elliott. "Beyond blessed!!!" she wrote of the February 2023 experience.
And after gigs dancing in the 30th anniversary celebration of The Lion King at the Hollywood Bowl, alongside Chloe Bailey at the BET Awards and Tate McRae at the 2025 VMAs, she plans to keep climbing her own personal pyramid. As she put it in a December 2022 Instagram marking the end of her 76-show stint with Lamar, "I know this is only the beginning."
Brynn Rumfallo
When she exited stage left after a three-season stint that saw her trying to fill Maddie's ballet shoes, the Phoenix native "wanted to go back to high school and I wanted to just be normal and have my friends," she explained in a 2023 YouTube video with best friend Kelsey Millar. "High school sucked, but I’m glad that I did it. And now that I’ve experienced both lives, I know what I want. Which, there is a way to balance both of them in the middle."
For the 2021 grad, that's meant launching her and Millar's Out of Line podcast and documenting her trips to Coachella and Stagecoach for her three million Instagram followers. Plus, experiencing more than a few run-ins with fans when she takes her dance students to competitions.
"It's really cute," Brynn, who remains close to Kenzie, said of one encounter. "They're like, 'Miss Brynn, you're famous?'"