Tucked away inside a Drums dance studio, a class of about 50 was just starting their afternoon stretching session Saturday afternoon.
Except this wasn’t just any ordinary class.
“Your ankles are so sickled,” renowned dance instructor, choreographer, reality TV star and author Abby Lee Miller exclaimed before moving onto the next set of stretches.
Miller spent the day at Tracey’s Academy of Dance, offering a technique and acrobatics class, audition workshop, autographed photos, Q&A session and more to over 100 area dancers and their parents.
The event was open to area dancers, cheerleaders and gymnasts with the ability to purchase tickets via ShowClix. Events were split between two age groups: 12 and under and 13 and up.
It sold out within eight hours.
“I love it because nothing comes here, we’re such a small area.” said studio owner Tracey Smith. “I’m so excited, I think it’s amazing for the kids.”
The decision for Miller to visit Northeast Pennsylvania came after she met 15-year-old Mikaylee Zoeller, a Mountain Top resident who dances at Tracey’s Academy of Dance.
Zoeller decided to begin taking Miller’s Zoom classes, where the two first met.
“I was going to go to Ohio and I needed a demonstrator. So I asked her and her mom and her dance teacher if she could come to Ohio, and they said yes,” Miller said between posing for photos.
Following the Ohio event in April, Miller and Smith discussed holding another at the Drums studio.
“We got a date and made it happen,” Miller said. “So we’re here, and that’s how it happened. it was quick, it was great.”
Zoeller would again act as a class demonstrator Saturday.
“Meeting with Abby and really working with her has really impacted my life,” Zoeller said. “She has so much information and she’s so knowledgeable. I’ve learned so much from her taking classes with her.”
Once the first group made it through their photos with the “Dance Moms” star, it was time to head into the studio and work on legs and feet through a series of stretches and movements. Miller made her way to the front of the room, attentively watching the group and offering her infamous quick-yet-stern feedback, addressing any issues that may have caught her eye.
“Look at your own knees. What do the judges see? Flex and push through,” she continued, guiding the group to push their legs straight up towards the ceiling.
When working the class through a variety of splits, Lee had a demonstrator grab a toy car and try to roll it under some of the attendees legs, demonstrating how far off the ground they were during the splits.
“You cannot order it on Amazon,” Miller said. “The split does not get delivered to the house. You have to work on it. It hurts. It takes time, and effort, and energy. You need to do it every day because you want it so bad.”
For 15-year-old Avriella Forty, getting to work with someone such as Miller is a dream come true. The Drums resident has been dancing since she was 6, and said she was in disbelief when she heard the dance instructor was coming to the area.
“Now we get to see her and who is actually is, and not just off a reality TV show,” Forty added.
Miller said the event was made to assist in fundamental skills that can aid dancers for the rest of their careers, as well as provide a glimpse of what a real audition or gig looks like.
“I try to teach them things that they can continue to use throughout their dancing. I do a jazz bar and then I teach a quick little combo — but it’s an audition,” she said.
Miller continued, “I put them through the paces of what it would be like to audition for the TV show, and its fun and silly or life-altering … Then I narrow it down and start cutting, and then I kinda of hit them with a dose of reality of what it’s actually like. But the audition really started right now when they walk in the door.”
Zoeller hopes she can continue working with Miller in the future, and, like the line of local dancers who were waiting to get inside Tracey’s Academy of Dance Saturday, hope to obtain some of the star’s insider wisdom.
“I think it’s very important to take classes form her because she knows so much about the dance world and about getting jobs and how to be professional,” she said. “So taking classes from her is very important.”
