Nia Sioux, BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID: A Memoir of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life
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[0:44]Nia Su is the author of Bottom of the Pyramid, and memoir of persevering, dancing for myself
[0:51]and starring in my own life.
[0:53]This is a non-traditional interview because two of my kids and one of their friends
[0:58]interviewed Nia with me, and then basically took over the whole episode, so I didn't even
[1:02]have time to ask all of the questions that I had prepared having read the book myself,
[1:07]but I hope that you will enjoy this for any dance moms, fans out there, or maybe your
[1:12]kids are, and you can listen, and I found this particularly charming myself, I hope you
[1:18]do too.
[1:19]Here's more about Nia.
[1:20]Entertaining the world since she was nine years old, Nia Su is continuing to grow
[1:24]and evolve as a performer, singer, actress, author, entrepreneur, and social justice advocate
[1:30]with over 15 million followers, and many facets of the entertainment industry already under
[1:35]her belt.
[1:36]Nia is truly a multi-hyphenate talent that is up for any challenge.
[1:41]With an already established and impressive resume, Nia's most recent projects include
[1:45]starring in the Lifetime Original Movie in Perfect High, as well as her critically acclaimed
[1:49]original Facebook Watch series Dance with Nia, which she executive produced.
[1:53]Finally, she teamed up with Add Council to bring further awareness to being vulnerable
[1:57]and open in discussing mental health with friends.
[2:00]In 2021, Nia released her first children's book today, I Dance.
[2:04]Nia has previously worked with brands such as Arie, Facebook Watch, Mark Jacobs Perfume,
[2:09]Doritos, Reebok, the 2018 Winter Olympics as an NBC musically correspondent, ABC Disney,
[2:16]and many more.
[2:17]In her free time, Nia loves watching the Steelers, going to a Broadway show, or reading
[2:21]a new book, she loves staying active through dance hot yoga, Pilates, and kickboxing,
[2:25]and is a huge foodie.
[2:27]Most notably, she starred in Dance Moms for many, many years.
[2:32]Welcome, Nia.
[2:33]Thank you so much for coming on Totally Buck to talk about Bottom of the Pyramid, a memoir
[2:37]of Persevering, Dancing for Myself, and Starring in My Own Life.
[2:41]Congratulations.
[2:42]Thank you so much.
[2:43]I appreciate it.
[2:44]I'm excited to be there.
[2:46]I have a couple special guests who are going to ask a question or two before they ski
[2:50]at all.
[2:51]Absolutely.
[2:52]Okay.
[2:53]So what was it like constantly being filmed while dancing and having your mom and other
[2:59]moms be not framed, but constantly talks about, that's a great question.
[3:04]Well, I guess you get used to being filmed on camera all the time.
[3:10]I feel like you're hyper aware of everything that you're saying, doing, because you're
[3:16]always kind of like being watched, so you always kind of have to be on in a way.
[3:21]But at the same time, it can also be very stressful when you're trying, when you're dancing
[3:26]and part of being in a dance studio is making mistakes and making mistakes on television and
[3:34]having those mistakes broadcasted.
[3:37]So you try your best, but the pressure is of everything.
[3:42]Sometimes, you know, gets in your head and, you know, we make more mistakes because you're
[3:46]trying to be perfect when you don't have to be because you're in dance class, so you're
[3:50]not, you're usually not perfect in dance class anyway.
[3:53]So that's the first part and how was it with, you know, being perceived by everybody.
[4:00]You know, it can be, it can be hard sometimes, but it's helpful to remember that even
[4:06]though you're being perceived by a lot of different people to say true to yourself.
[4:11]And the only, the only vision of you that really matters is yourself, you know, you have
[4:19]to make sure that you like who you are and no one could take that away from you.
[4:24]Wow.
[4:25]Excellent advice.
[4:26]Thank you.
[4:27]A quarter question over here to my right, was it fun being on dance bombs?
[4:34]Who was actually?
[4:35]It was.
[4:36]It got really crazy at times, but I did have a lot of fun while I was on the show as well.
[4:41]I did.
[4:42]And how old are you guys?
[4:44]I'm 12.
[4:45]I'm your 12.
[4:46]Now I'm 10.
[4:47]10.
[4:48]You're 10 too.
[4:49]Okay, I was around your age when I started the show was nine.
[4:53]So it's just like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[4:57]So if that puts things in perspective, I had a lot of fun, but it's definitely a different
[5:02]experience.
[5:03]While you guys act, no, that's exactly how it was, what I was not.
[5:07]No.
[5:08]Do you have a question?
[5:09]Sir, our family friend.
[5:10]Well, it's like your favorite dance that you did.
[5:14]Ooh, I have a few favorite dances.
[5:18]One of my favorite dances was called Goodbye Maya.
[5:20]It was a solo that I did.
[5:22]I won first place with it.
[5:25]And it was a beautiful dance routine, choreographed by James Washington, who was another
[5:30]dance teacher at the studio.
[5:32]And he's incredible.
[5:34]And that was one of my favorite dances.
[5:35]I felt like I was really hushed.
[5:38]I learned a lot from that week.
[5:40]And it was just such a such a beautiful dance.
[5:43]Me too.
[5:44]Her friend has a question too.
[5:45]I hope you don't mind all this.
[5:46]I just, oh, I don't mind at all.
[5:48]My friend wanted to be here, but she had dance class.
[5:51]So she couldn't.
[5:52]And I was wondering.
[5:53]That's important.
[5:54]That's important.
[5:55]It's like say hi.
[5:56]Hi.
[5:57]What's her friend's name?
[5:58]Can I say hi?
[5:59]My name's Julia.
[6:00]Hi, Julia.
[6:02]What's you were here, but I'm happy you're at dance class.
[6:05]It's important.
[6:06]Thank you.
[6:07]OK.
[6:08]Poor Evan.
[6:09]That's it.
[6:10]Yep, go ahead.
[6:10]Was Abby Lee like really mean like as mean is it like looked on the show?
[6:15]That's a great question.
[6:16]That is a really good question.
[6:17]And I get that question all the time.
[6:19]The thing is like the my experience with Abby is very different from a lot of people's
[6:24]experience with, I mean a lot of people have like similar, but I would say that the show made
[6:31]her likable for TV.
[6:33]That's the best way I can put it.
[6:35]Hmm.
[6:36]Yes.
[6:37]Reading between those lines.
[6:40]Exactly.
[6:43]What like got you into dancing in like the first place?
[6:47]That's a great question.
[6:49]That is a good question.
[6:50]I started dancing when I was two actually.
[6:53]And my mom signed me up for dance lessons because she was like, every girl she dance.
[6:57]So she signed me up for dance lessons because she used to do dance when she was
[7:01]younger and it was just recreation all at first because that's what she had done.
[7:07]And then once she put me to dance, I loved it.
[7:10]And I wanted to be a part of the competition team, which is completely different than what
[7:17]my mom had done.
[7:19]So she didn't really know anything about it.
[7:21]But I really wanted to be a part of the competition team when I was around like I want to
[7:25]say like six because I wanted to solo like some of the older girls at the dance studio.
[7:33]I wanted to be just like them and have a solo.
[7:35]So in order to have a solo, you had to be a part of the company, a part of the competition
[7:40]team.
[7:41]So yeah, that's kind of how I got into like competition dance though.
[7:45]I loved it so much and I just loved the stage.
[7:48]I loved being with my friends.
[7:50]I loved the glitz and glamour of it all.
[7:53]Yeah.
[7:54]My other friend is actually also dancer and she's on her dance team, but I have one last
[7:58]question.
[7:59]Yes, of course.
[8:00]Do you still keep in touch with the other like people who you danced with?
[8:05]Like, I still keep in touch with quite a few of the girls from the show.
[8:10]I mean, we grew up together.
[8:12]I've known a lot of them since I was like three years old.
[8:15]So I've known them like my whole entire life.
[8:18]So I feel like we have that connection, but yeah, like you know, I just I just saw Chloe
[8:22]like a couple of weeks ago in New York and she's doing great.
[8:26]She's a good friend of mine.
[8:27]And yes, it was like the height and sisters.
[8:29]Yeah.
[8:30]Nice.
[8:31]Were you sad once dance moms ended?
[8:33]Good question.
[8:34]Oh, it was kind of bitter.
[8:35]It was kind of bittersweet.
[8:37]Yeah.
[8:38]When dance moms ended, I was ready for it to be done.
[8:43]So as sad as it was because I was ending kind of like that era of my life and I knew
[8:50]I wasn't going to do dance competitions anymore, I still was very ready and I was ready
[8:57]to move on.
[8:58]But I would say the best way to describe it would be would be bittersweet.
[9:02]It was it was sad, but I also felt like I had my like my journey was over and in that
[9:11]capacity.
[9:12]Yeah.
[9:13]What advice do you have for kids this age about being sort of all the infighting and
[9:18]meanness to each other and between people, pitting people against each other, even though
[9:23]it wasn't always your fault, the grownups getting involved like, how do you get through
[9:28]that?
[9:29]And how do you not take it also personally all the time?
[9:31]Yeah.
[9:32]Of course.
[9:33]Well, I would say make sure that you know you have good people around you, make sure you
[9:38]have good true friends, you know, make sure you have people who you trust and who support
[9:47]you, you know, it's good to have good people around you always.
[9:50]They help you keep your head on straight, help you keep going in the right direction.
[9:54]That's what helped me like my mom, my family, they're the ones who really helped me.
[10:00]Um, like stay true to myself through everything.
[10:02]And then that brings me to my next point, be true to yourself,
[10:06]but also be kind to yourself and kind to others.
[10:10]You know, you never know what someone else is going through.
[10:13]And we all, I mean, especially as kids, sometimes people say things that
[10:17]you don't mean.
[10:18]So make sure to give yourself and sometimes other people grace,
[10:22]especially if they're, if they're your age, you know, and, you know, follow,
[10:27]follow good examples.
[10:29]And think else, thank you so much for, like, answering questions.
[10:35]Yes, absolutely.
[10:37]Can I ask one more on behalf of them?
[10:39]Yes, of course.
[10:40]Do you, do you ever feel stage fright and how do you get through it?
[10:46]Like, sometimes you can like to dance alone, but maybe not in front of other people.
[10:50]How do you get to that level?
[10:52]Yeah, I mean, I feel like I always get like some type of stage fright.
[10:57]And the thing about being scared or nervous about going on stage is that means
[11:04]that you really care about it.
[11:06]If you weren't scared, if you weren't nervous, it means that, you know,
[11:10]you don't really care or, you know, so having that feeling also, you know,
[11:16]it's not just nerves, but it's excitement.
[11:19]A lot of those nerves could also be excitement.
[11:22]It's kind of like the same, the same feeling.
[11:24]So sometimes they get confusing, but just know they kind of go hand in hand.
[11:29]And it means that you're excited to go on stage.
[11:31]Something that always helped me was like shaking, shaking everything out,
[11:36]having like a little routine before I would go out on stage so that it kind of like
[11:41]centered me.
[11:42]But yeah, you know, and the fun thing about going on stage is you never know what's
[11:46]going to happen.
[11:47]And I think that's the beautiful part about it.
[11:49]You never know what's going to happen.
[11:51]There's so much room for like little things to come up in whatever you're doing,
[11:57]whether it's a song, a dance, any type of performance, you know, it comes,
[12:02]it comes with the territory, but you never know what's going to happen whenever
[12:05]you perform for some type of audience.
[12:09]And you also talked about when your mom was spending a lot of time with you,
[12:13]she couldn't always be there as much for your brothers and how there was a little
[12:17]jealousy, how do you navigate being jealous of your siblings?
[12:21]Well, I think that for me, I feel like your relationship with your siblings.
[12:26]I mean, these are the people that you love the most, you know, and who love you
[12:30]the most, you're always going to have them to like lean back on.
[12:34]So no matter like what happens, if sometimes there might be jealousy or
[12:39]sometimes there might be times where someone's upset with you.
[12:43]But, or sometimes they'll lash out at you or take things out on you or say something
[12:47]that they don't mean, but at the end of the day, you know, they're your siblings.
[12:52]And they love you.
[12:54]You know, sometimes the people we love the most, you know, hurt each other.
[12:59]But it's not coming from a place of actually wanting to hurt them or being malicious.
[13:05]It's just how you feel sometimes.
[13:08]So I feel like giving your siblings grace and moments where, you know,
[13:13]I come up from a family of three siblings, you know, in a very busy household.
[13:18]So sometimes, you know, everyone has different opinions, whatever.
[13:23]But at the core of it, we know that we can always come back.
[13:26]We will always come back together as one, no matter what.
[13:31]And it might take time.
[13:32]And you also have to think about others, other people's feelings.
[13:36]I think growing up, it definitely like going through that with my family, you know,
[13:41]especially with my older brother.
[13:43]I feel like it made our relationship stronger because we were able to overcome that
[13:47]and able to work things out and really see each other from like our perspectives.
[13:54]And I think that really helped just kind of putting each other in each other's shoes.
[13:59]And I think that, I think that helped a lot.
[14:04]In the book you wrote about your horrible pain disorder and all of the physical symptoms
[14:10]that you had, how you found ways to manage it, how, how is that going now?
[14:14]How are you feeling?
[14:15]Yeah, honestly, like I don't, I haven't had like a flare up like that since since then,
[14:21]which I'm so grateful for, but every now and then, every now and then it's not very often,
[14:28]like, you know, sometimes my legs won't feel that great, but it's very like now and then.
[14:33]It just, it happens sometimes when I'm stressed, I'm really tired, but I have ways of coping
[14:39]with it and bringing myself down and calming my nerves definitely helps.
[14:45]I have like a, like a little routine that I do whenever I feel a little bit tense or feel
[14:51]any type of like discomfort.
[14:53]One of our last questions, it feels like today a lot of kids want to be youtubers or have
[14:59]social media accounts and become stars like early on and you had that experience, obviously
[15:05]on TV, but now can translate it to whatever you want.
[15:08]How do you feel about young kids becoming in the public eye and would you do it all over again?
[15:16]That's a great question actually.
[15:18]I feel like every kid is different because I know from my experience, like being in the public
[15:25]eye, being on stage, being in front of cameras, all of that, like I was drawn to that when I was
[15:31]very, you know, I've always loved that.
[15:33]I loved the stage.
[15:34]I loved microphone.
[15:36]Like anytime my dad was like, and then I tried to be up on stage with him.
[15:39]You know, like I, that was just like my thing.
[15:42]So my parents honed in on that and you know, and they encouraged me and they, and they
[15:48]stayed with me through all of it, but sometimes kids don't want to do that.
[15:53]And if they don't want to do that, I think that that should be respected.
[15:57]You know, I think being in the public eye and having so many different opinions,
[16:02]being an entertainment in general, it brings up a lot of different conversations about being
[16:08]a child in the entertainment field.
[16:11]And I think as long as you are like in like a safe environment, you know, you know,
[16:18]parents are on set, depending on what set you're on.
[16:22]I think having a child therapist on set is very important to make sure that kids actually have
[16:30]an outlet, a person that they can talk to about whatever there may be going on and having access
[16:36]to them and in their parents at any moment.
[16:38]I think it's really important, but also just making sure that when kids are working in those
[16:45]fields, that they're being taken care of in the ways that they need to be taken care of.
[16:50]You know, I know that I can't speak for all child, all children and entertainment because I
[16:55]know so many people have different stories.
[16:57]And my story is very different from some of the other people who have been, you know, child
[17:05]actors or child, whatever it is, but for me personally, I loved growing up and not not necessarily
[17:13]always that space, but I liked it.
[17:16]I didn't mind it.
[17:17]So this day I love performing.
[17:19]I love the stage.
[17:20]I like, I like doing this.
[17:21]I like being on camera, you know, but again, it's just, it's not for everyone.
[17:26]And kids should not be forced to do that because that's a huge responsibility.
[17:32]That's being put on them, you know, any last questions?
[17:36]No, thank you.
[17:37]But thank you so much.
[17:39]Thank you so much, Nia.
[17:40]Thank you.
[17:41]This was so great.
[17:42]Yeah, absolutely.
[17:44]It was so nice to meet you guys.
[17:47]Thank you so much.
[17:48]Your kid and friend, though adorable.
[17:55]Oh, what a sweet.
[18:02]That I love that your kids were able to ask kids and tell her.
[18:05]We're able to ask some questions.
[18:07]That was so sweet.
[18:08]Thank you so much.
[18:10]Thank you.
[18:10]Yeah, okay.
[18:12]Okay.
[18:13]Thank you for your time, Nia.
[18:14]Bye-bye.
[18:15]Of course.
[18:16]Bye-bye.
[18:16]Thank you for listening to Totally Booked with Zibi,
[18:19]formerly momstone have time to read books.
[18:22]If you loved the show, tell a friend,
[18:24]leave a review, follow me on Instagram at Zibi Owens,
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[18:29]Thanks so much.
[18:30]Oh, and bye the books.