Abby Lee Miller
CLOSE UP: Dance sergeant Abby Lee Miller (inset) has a new show where, like “Idol,” she judges youngsters. (
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It should surprise absolutely no one that opinionated, tart-tongued “Dance Moms” doyenne Abby Lee Miller is very taken with herself on “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition.”
As fans of “Dance Moms” know, Miller’s self-confidence matches her larger-than-life frame and the situation is no different on “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition,” premiering tomorrow on Lifetime.
“When you see me sitting at the desk and judging and critiquing and telling [the dancers] what to do and how to get better, that’s really where I shine,” Miller says of “Competition,” in which she and the other judges — choreographer Richard Jackson and Pussycat Dolls founder Robin Antin — will choose one of 12 young dancers to win a $100,000 prize and a scholarship to the Young Dancer Program at the Joffrey Ballet School in Greenwich Village.
“I think that I come off as really knowing my craft, and I feel like this is my element, this is where I belong, this is what I was meant to do,” Miller says.
“I’m even referred to in an upcoming episode as ‘The Truth Fairy.’ ”
But unlike “Dance Moms” — in which the hard-nosed, hoarse-voiced Miller battles the opinionated, helicopter mothers of her young dancers — “Dance Competition” leaves the stage mom out of the equation.
And, for that, she says, she’s genuinely thankful.
The mothers on the new show “are scared of me,” she says.
“They might poke their heads out of the wings every once in a while and might ask a question. But otherwise, they’re 100 percent respectful.
“They’re like, ‘We’re not gonna get her worked up,’ ” Abby says, laughing. “I just need to tweak [the dancers] and fine-tune them to make them better.
“And if I don’t have to deal with the mothers, I love it. The mothers here deal with each other, and that’s what I love about it.
“It’s not like ‘Dance Moms’ where it’s just the stupidity with the mothers coming after me with ridiculous things.”
But if the mothers aren’t battling Miller here, it appears that she and Antin will mix it up on the show.
“We don’t clash so much in our opinions of the young ladies and gentlemen, but she just drones on and on and doesn’t put a period in her sentences,” Miller says, exasperated.
“That’s why I get on her — and, don’t forget, she’s pitching the Pussycat Dolls every sentence she can get [their name] in there.”