Growing up, senior Elouise Nuo danced for none other than the Abby Lee Dance Company (ALDC) while the company’s second team performed on the well-known show, Dance Moms.
Elouise had watched the show when she was younger, and the group had come to California, where she was living at the time. She was then dancing for a smaller dance studio, MNR, and decided to audition for the big opportunity.
“I was like, ‘Okay, this is my shot,’” Elouise said. “I really wanted to try and be a part of the team because of the TV show, and I loved all of the girls and Abby Lee Miller; she’s a great dance coach. My mom was really supportive of it. [Then], we got a call, and I was on the team. I was freaking out. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness!’”
So, from then on, Elouise would practice dancing every day after school for hours and drive for hours-away competitions frequently.
The intensive practice was needed for the competitive dance team as she was a part of the popular company’s competing team. Because of the fame of ALDC, the expectations they were to meet were set high.
“The competitions were intense because everybody kind of had an eye on you,” Elouise said, “[thinking] ‘What’s their next move? What are they gonna do?’ We would feel a lot of pressure to uphold the ALDC name. There was a lot of stress, sometimes, but [also] a lot of great moments, being able to make our dance company proud.”
ALDC wasn’t just well-known to others—it was important to Elouise, too. Growing up, she often watched their reality TV show, Dance Moms. The show inspired her to pursue dance and even audition for ALDC.
“I was obsessed with [Dance Moms],” Elouise said. “I thought the girls were really cool. The dances were amazing. Although it is reality TV to some extent, I just thought it was so cool. So, yeah, there’s a lot of dance drama in it, but I think being able to be around those girls and seeing how they actually are in real life it says a lot about how reality TV isn’t truly all that. The girls were great. It’s just funny seeing it on TV and then being in it. I think it changes your perspective, for sure.”
Actually getting to live the dream of being close to one of her favorite childhood TV shows, Elouise had an exciting experience of dance as she got to continue one of her biggest passions.
With the opportunity, she also met with several of the girls on the show who became a part of her dance community.
“It was great to see the girls who were on the actual show who were amazing dancers and very lovely people,” Elouise said. “They got to guide us a little bit and show us the way because they were a few years older. So, they definitely inspired me and a lot of the girls on my team to be better dancers and work really hard. Overall, we had a great community, and it was awesome.”
With the plentiful time she spent with the team, she made many friendships and grew close to them from when she first joined the team to all of their big wins.
Throughout Elouise’s years of dance, her favorite memory remains the grand finale of winning Nationals, the payoff of all of their hard work.
“I could not believe it,” Elouise said. “I was so proud to stand up there, all my makeup and hair on. We were all so out of breath from the dance, and we were so proud to stand up there. I got a hold of the trophy, and I was just looking at it in front of everybody in the crowd, and I was so proud. I was looking at my mom, and then my coaches, and I was just so proud to be up there and all my friends—we just worked our butts off. We worked so hard that day, proved that we could do it, and we did. I was overjoyed. Definitely a top moment there.”
