Dianna Williams of Lifetime's 'Bring It!' talks about the touring live show
When you think of majorettes, you may imagine teens with a marching band, twirling batons. But Dianna Williams, a.k.a. Miss D, says the dance form is a sport all its own.
When you think of majorettes, you may imagine teens with a marching band, twirling batons. But Dianna Williams, a.k.a. Miss D, says the dance form is a sport all its own.
Williams stars on Lifetime's Bring It!, the reality TV show that follows the Dancing Dolls, a majorette team from Jackson, Miss. While Williams coaches the young women to victory time and time again, drama always seems to bubble up throughout the series, whether because of internal conflict or rivalries with nearby dance studios.
This summer, the cast takes its first national tour, including a pit stop tonight at the Merriam Theater. While making the rounds, Miss D caught up with the Inquirer to talk about her plans for Bring It! Live.
What can 'Bring It!' fans expect from the live performance that they wouldn't get from the TV show?
A lot of the stuff you see on the show is edited. But this is unedited. It's raw, it's real, and the girls are right there in your face.
How long have the Dancing Dolls been rehearsing the routines they'll perform on tour?
I can't give you details about how long they've been doing specific things, because that would kind of give the show away. But I can tell you that the girls have been working really, really hard to make sure the show has been amazing.
Practicing for this tour has been beyond intense. The girls are practicing from the early parts of the morning to the later parts of the evening. They're doing a lot of training, a lot of running, because the show is an hour and a half long, and it takes quite a bit of stamina.
Your program is often likened to 'Dance Moms.' How do you think the two shows differ?
[Dance Moms are] more of the contemporary, ballet, modern side, whereas the Dancing Dolls - being down South, we're kind of like a big pot of gumbo. We're everything. So there's modern, ballet, hip-hop, tap, jazz. There's acrobatics. There's gymnastics. There's a lot of different dance styles all mixed into one. We're happy to be compared to them, but we're absolutely nothing like them.
What are you looking for in your dancers?
We always look for the potential in anyone. We're never looking for perfection. As a dance teacher, my job is to teach the girls what I want them to know. No one is going to come through the door already being the perfect model of what you'd expect out of any dancer. Any real, great dance teacher is able to mold any dancer and get out of them what you want to get out of them. You get out of them what you put into them, basically.
You've had the dance studio the Dollhouse since 2001. Over the years, what's the greatest obstacle you've had to overcome?
When I first opened the Dollhouse, I never had any issues with the studio, with gaining clients, because everyone wants their daughter to dance. But when we started the TV show, a lot of people backed away and shied away from it, because not everyone wants their kid on television. And I get that, you know. I get that.
Why the name, Dancing Dolls?
As a child, I always played with dolls, and I wanted to build dollhouses. And I always danced. There was a conversation my mom and I had, and that was, basically, where it started.
You say you stress "high self-esteem, determination, persistence, high academic achievement, community involvement, and the importance of health" at your studio. Why?
The girls have to maintain a certain GPA [grade point average] in order to perform. Dance keeps the girls in shape. Dance keeps the girls motivated. It teaches the girls about responsibility, because they have to keep up with their costumes. The girls are determined to succeed, and they're never going to give up, because they want to make the cut.
SEE THIS
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Bring It! Live 8 p.m. Friday, Merriam Theater, 250 S. Broad St., $51.50-$61.50, 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.EndText