Teaching and Discipline: Proceed With Caution
“It’s all your fault that we lost today!” howls dance teacher Abby Lee Miller at her students. Staring at the floor, their faces blushing red, her dancers wait for the outburst to fizzle out. They are used to this by now; Abby screams at them on almost a daily basis. Their classes always proceed the same: “It’s your fault”, “Everyone’s replaceable”, or “Why can’t you be more like Maddie?” Screaming and yelling her way to fame, Abby Lee Miller has made herself and her television show, called Dance Moms, a nation-wide phenomenon through her infamous ways of teaching. It seems only logical to think that all this yelling Abby does may have a negative effect on her young dancers. Disciplining your students does not make you a bad teacher. The way you discipline, however, may become a problem when the yelling and screaming grow to be too much for the children to handle.

What Abby Lee Miller probably doesn’t know is how negatively her behavior influences her students. According to a 2004 article in the New York Times, children who constantly receive exposure to yelling, insults, harsh criticism, or humiliations could have significantly lower self esteem. They also may be more likely to suffer from depression. Even from watching just one episode of Dance Moms, a viewer would be shocked by Abby’s behavior towards her girls. Rather than correcting an error that a dancer has made, she criticizes her and singles her out in front of the whole class. The girls, embarrassed and frazzled, often can’t seem to shake off Abby’s cruel words. Should I find myself in that type of situation, I would be extremely embarrassed. I would do my best to fix the problem, but after my teacher’s tongue-trashing, my dancing probably would not look as good as before. This leads to more harsh criticism from my teacher, and more frustration from me.

Young children also have a need to feel secure, worthwhile, and an important contributing factor to whatever they do, says an article in Women’s and Children’s Health Network. But, the dancers at Abby Lee Miller Dance Company are constantly threatened with “probation” (being temporarily removed from the team), or actual expulsion. Eventually, the dancers, dejected and defeated, will come to class with a constant fear that Abby’s latest meltdown or correction could end it all. Dance should be the activity that the girls do for fun; something that they can look forward to. But, a fun thing that was once used to unwind and let off steam now becomes their source of stress. I know that for me, this situation would be a difficult one. I would feel that no matter how hard I tried, I would never dance well enough for my teacher. I would come to class unmotivated and irritated. I know that one shouldn’t have such a negative attitude when involved in a sport or other activity, but after a while it would prove hard to stay positive.

Women’s and Children’s Health Network also claims that constant comparison of children to others does not benefit them in the long run. “Why can’t you do what I tell you?” Abby screams daily. “Maddie can do it,” she might say, “so why can’t you?” The problem with all this comparison? After a while, the girls, feeling worthless, may end up dancing worse than before. All their hard work goes unnoticed because their dancing may not look “as good” as Maddie, or Chloe, or any other girl on the team. “Why should I even try anymore? I will never dance like them”, they’ll say. But, that is exactly the point! Everyone dances different. I understand that in competitive dance a team should move similar and in unison, but every girl has her own strengths and weaknesses. Abby should not punish her dancers for being their own unique selves.

I recently interviewed some of my fellow Orchesis company members on what they thought of Dance Moms and Abby Lee Miller’s teaching styles. “I think her attitude comes off very degrading,” says Samantha Parquette. “Dancing is supposed to be a fun activity for these girls, but Abby ruins it”. Dana Hawking adds “I could not handle having her (Miller) as a teacher. Instead of giving constructive criticism, she practically insults her students”. I definitely agree with what Samantha and Dana said. Having Abby Lee Miller as a teacher would prove very difficult.

While on the talk show The View, Abby Lee defended her actions. “If the nightgown or whatever is lying on the bedroom floor, and you say pick that up…the first time, you’re nice, you just say ‘Pick that up.’ The 20th time, you’re like, ‘would you just pick that up right now?!’ And then the 50th time, you want them to eat the nightgown. That’s what you’re seeing,” she explains. She then went on to say that sometimes the television show paints a bad picture of her. This is understandable; we all know that reality T.V. can appear a little dramatic. Unfortunately, if she acts anything like her T.V. “persona” in real life, then audiences might have a reason to be worried. I don’t think Abby understands how she could affect her dancers. I completely agree that teachers have the authority to discipline their students. It should not, however, end in tears from either the girls or their mothers. As a dancer myself, I don’t think I could handle all the harsh criticism and yelling from a teacher like Abby Lee Miller. She does produce beautiful dancers, there is no doubt about it, but the price her students seem to pay doesn’t look worth it. All those years of psychological damage could have a severely negative effect on them as adults.