Why Abby Lee Miller Sold Her Iconic Dance Moms Studio

From 2011 to 2019, "Dance Moms" chronicled the drama of the Abby Lee Dance Company, following a set of young dancers, their bickering mothers, and their authoritarian dance teacher. Led by Abby Lee Miller, the Lifetime reality series became known for the pressurized environment of the dance studio, originally set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later LA.

Miller opened the Pittsburgh location after founding the Abby Lee Dance Company in 1980. Through "Dance Moms," viewers witnessed all the harrowing routines, pyramid rankings, and problematic moments that took place within the walls of the dance company. The studio also became an important step in the careers of notable names like Maddie Ziegler and JoJo Siwa, cementing its legacy in the performing arts.

Despite this history, Miller took to Instagram in early 2023 to announce the decision to sell her Pittsburgh dance studio. While the reality star has continued to teach dance through the ALDC since the show's end, she will no longer be doing it through the original "Dance Moms" location.

In an Instagram video, Abby Lee Miller shared plans about selling her Pittsburgh dance studio, opening up about the motivation behind the decision. "I'm not in Pittsburgh teaching. I'm all over the world teaching. It was time, yes," she explains.

While the Pittsburgh studio may have been the original location of "Dance Moms" as well as an integral part of the Abby Lee Dance Company, the series transitioned most production from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles during the fifth season when Miller opened a new ALDC location. Her post-TV teaching career seems to have similarly kept her from the original studio, but that doesn't signal the end of her dance company.

"I sold my property. I didn't sell my name. I didn't sell my brand. I didn't sell my life's work. I sold brick, mortar, cinder blocks, and an amazing dance floor that is still in a mint condition. The best floors that I ever stood on," Miller says.

While Dance Moms fans will be sad to see the end of the original Pittsburgh ALDC studio, Abby Lee Miller shared that the building would be put to good use. In the same Instagram video, the Pennsylvanian native shares, "I'm very proud to say that my studio, my building, the property that my parents gave me their life savings to buy, is going to a very great business. That's right. It's going to somebody that needed it, somebody that wanted it."

Miller goes on to reveal that a neighboring school bus company is set to purchase the studio. "They are taking over my property and the dance studio will be used as a daycare center. So there will still be children," she says. "It will be happy, it will be fun, it will be a wonderful place for the community. And I could not be prouder."

So, while it may be sad to see the original home of the infamous "Dance Moms" TV show being repurposed, fans can be reassured that Miller is pleased with the building's fate and doesn't plan to stop teaching any time soon.