Safe to say Nia Sioux isn't a save-your-tears-for-your-pillow type.
Because it was an enthusiastic yes for the Dance Moms alum when a pal asked if she'd direct a series of videos for the Ad Council's "Seize the Awkward" campaign, a partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and JED Foundation, showing that a check-in with a pal needn't be a whole, uncomfortable production.
"A lot of people struggle with their mental health, including me," she explained in an exclusive interview with E! News. "And it's a great message knowing not only are there people outside that can help you, but you can lean on a friend as well."
And the soon-to-be UCLA grad is lucky enough to have a great team behind her.
There's Kenzie Ziegler, a fellow Dance Moms OG, who agreed to appear in the campaign. "I'm really grateful for our friendship," said Nia, noting she can't actually remember life before they connected as kids. "And I'm happy that she was so open to talking about mental health. I know how this subject was so close to her heart."
And then there's the rest of the squad who would never have dreamed of knocking the Pittsburgh native, 22, down the pyramid for her decision to pass on the May 1 reunion.
"I'm still so close to all the girls," she said of Chloé Lukasiak, Paige Hyland, Brooke Hyland, Kendall Vertes, Kalani Hilliker and JoJo Siwa. "And they were so supportive of my decision of not doing it. They even texted me, like, we totally understand, it's a hard decision to make."
She, in turn, was proud of them for recounting their days of living on the dance floor "because that is hard," said Nia. "And so much of our lives were on television. But they were really respectful when it came to that. And I also respect their decision as well."
She remains tight with the team, excitedly RSVPing yes to attend Paige's birthday celebration the night before the November taping.
"It was really nice to get to see the girls," she recalled. "That almost never happens when we're all together." But when it does, it's as if no time has passed since they were all clad in matching sequins. "We were all friends before the show even started," she noted, "so getting together, there's something so heartwarming to know that we're all good now."
But she has no regrets about bowing out of the Lifetime reunion itself.
"Maybe at a later date, I would be open to talking about it," acknowledged Nia, "But I feel like it just wasn't the right time. And I'm really happy with my decision, too."
She's especially proud that her explanation of why she didn't attend—quite simply, she didn't want to and, as she put it in her April 30 TikTok, that's enough—has resonated with fans.
"I know people might want more answers," she allowed. "But, that's an answer. Just saying no, is an answer."
And her reminder that no can be a complete sentence has resonated with the 9 million-plus fans who follow her on TikTok.
"I saw some comments saying they were really proud of me for putting myself first, and that they need to remember that whenever there's something that they don't want to do, that they don't have to do it," explained Nia. "So that was really rewarding to see because I wasn't even expecting it to hit people like that. I'm at a place in my life where I'm trying to make sure I'm not doing anything that I truly don't want to do."
And that's just one way she's learned to prioritize her mental health in the years since she distanced herself from dance teacher Abby Lee Miller and her seemingly endless stream of critiques and insults.
"Just being a dancer in general, it can take a toll on your mental health," said Nia. "And that goes for any type of athlete, honestly." While she acknowledges that all sorts of people can struggle with any number of mental health issues, "I just know, as a dancer, it probably started when I was younger."
As she's matured, she's gotten better at shutting out the haters that now come in the form of nameless, faceless social media avatars "but I'm not going to lie, it still gets to me sometimes," Nia acknowledged. "I don't care who says that hate comments don't get to them, at some point they do. Not always, but every once in a while there's one that really hurts."
Still, she does her best to tune out the bad seeds and focus on the sweetness. "Not everyone has to have to like me," said Nia, "but just knowing in the back of your mind that for every one comment that someone leaves that's so negative and hateful, there's thousands of other comments that are so amazing and so lovely."
And it certainly helps that a lot of the people pumping her up are her old castmates, Brooke recently chiming in on a vacation snap to remind her that she's "STUUUUUUNNING."
No doubt they'll be posting all manner of congratulations when Nia collects her UCLA diploma next month.
And after that, she's hoping to "direct more and act more and sing more and just perform in general," says The Bold and The Beautiful alum. "Literally performing in any aspect." Even reality TV is on the table: "I'd probably do it in a different way." (And, no pressure, but should she and boyfriend of two years Gabriel Hawkins decide to take that next step at some point, she noted, "I love Say Yes to the Dress.")
Mostly, though, she has an eye out for projects like her Ad Council campaign that can really move the social needle.
Her aim is to let people know that you can do a quick check-in with a pal while you're driving, at dinner or just mid-hang. "It doesn't have to be so forced," explained Nia. "And then that way, it creates a better space for people to open up about their feelings."
If her directorial debut "helps even one person, I have done my job," she continued. "At the end of the day, I just want to help people."
Of course, she's not the only Dance Moms alum who's truly living on and off the dance floor. Check in on how she and the rest of the cast are handling their lives as soloists.
Maddie Ziegler
In the decade-plus since the Pennsylvania native pirouetted her way into our hearts as the unquestionable star of the Abby Lee Dance Company, she's jeted her way from electropop star Sia's music video darling to film actress with appearances in Sia's directorial debut Music and the 2021 West Side Story remake.
She also released a New York Times best-selling memoir, 2017's The Maddie Diaries, judged a new crop of talent on So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation and teamed with younger sister Kenzie Ziegler for their Take 20 With Maddie and Kenzie podcast. "I think we wanted to let our guards down and show something that wasn't so heavily produced," Maddie explained to E! News, "and, rather, just us having a pretty casual conversation."
For her next act, she's eyeing her own beauty empire. "I would love to do my own line one day," she said. "I think that would be so amazing and something that I've dreamt of doing forever."
Kenzie Ziegler
Fully graduated from her acro days, one of the singer's latest releases was 2023's "Anatomy," a very personal battle detailing her relationship with her estranged father. "I definitely am stepping out of my comfort zone," she told People of the single, "and being authentic in a different way that’s not just on social media—I’m telling my story.”
And with all due respect to the nearly 15 million Dance Moms fans who follow her on Instagram, she's looking to dig a little deeper for her forthcoming third album. "I feel like this is just the first time where I can talk about things that have happened with my life and share some important things to me," she told E! News. "I just want people to take away something from it—whether that be happy, whether that be sad or that they can relate to it."
Chloe Lukasiak
Nearly a decade after she took her final Dance Moms bow, the trophy-collecting soloist is ready to start living on the dance floor again.
“I missed dance, and I wanted to find a way to get back to something I had loved so much,” the Girl on Pointe: Chloe's Guide to Taking on the World author explained of launching Elevé National Dance Competition with mom Christi Lukasiak and fellow mother-daughter duo Diane and Brittany Pent. “But I wanted to help create something that was the exact opposite of what I had experienced. Something positive. I challenged myself to develop something to reignite my love of dance.”
Among the other loves of the actress’ life: The Lifetime series’ OG squad. Sharing a May 2023 get-together with Nia Sioux on Instagram, the Pepperdine University grad wrote, "One of my sisters from another mama."
Nia Sioux
The OG company member (and death drop enthusiast) continues to slay in music (she dropped her single "Low Key Love" in 2020) and acting, fronting the web series Sunnyside Up and appearing in 59 episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful.
And while her day job is senior at UCLA, she moonlights in Hollywood, recently dropping her single "IMMA CATCH" and landing on Variety's 2023 Young Hollywood Impact Report. Next up, following her June graduation, "I'm just so excited to focus on my career and my craft," she told E! News in May 2024. "Now I can go off and live my life and experiment and try new things and hopefully direct more and act more and sing more and just perform in general."
Brooke Hyland
Trading in group numbers for group trips, the eldest of the show's OGs recently led an excursion to Costa Rica, sharing on Instagram in July that "7 days took us from strangers to friends crying in the airport having to say goodbye to each other."
Next up, she'll oversee a six-day jaunt through Croatia inspired by the European backpacking trip she enjoyed after graduating from Ohio University. "I explored beautiful places and cultures, while making lifelong friends in the process," she shared. "It was the trip of a lifetime."
When stateside, the Pittsburgh resident makes the most of her marketing degree, both with her Bite-Sized Foodie Instagram account and the Hyland Sisters brand she shares with little sib Paige.
Paige Hyland
The four-season vet has few tears to save for her pillow as of late. Since earning her degree from West Virginia University in May 2023 ("IM SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! Congratulations," Christi Lukasiak commented on her graduation 'gram), the model and influencer has criss-crossed the country with stops in the Hamptons, Colorado and Wyoming.
Her No. 1 travel buddy (other than older sis Brooke): Her longtime boyfriend, former college football player Jayvon Thrift. "Adore you in every kind of way," she wrote of the fitness model in a 2022 post.
Kendall Vertes
These days, the James Madison University junior is still collecting trophies as part of the Virginia college's championship-winning dance team. "Younger me would be so proud," the political science major wrote in a September Instagram. (Naturally, her dance mom Jill Vertes chimed in, "I know I’m so proud of my little kendall.")
In addition to trying her hand at acting (including the 2019 movie Rapunzel: A Princess Frozen in Time and a live-action version of Anastasia) and singing (as Kendall K, she released several albums), the season two arrival has nabbed more than a few sponsorships, thanks to her 11 million Instagram followers.
JoJo Siwa
Despite appearing in just two seasons of the OG series (after a stint on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition) JoJo with a Bow Bow arguably stole the spotlight, going on to nab a massive YouTube following, an exclusive licensing deal with Nickelodeon, endless branded merchandise and a spot on Time's 100 most influential people of 2020.
"One of the biggest things that I ever learned from Dance Moms was either to sink or swim," she once explained to Kelly Ripa. "Not, like, physically, actually in a swimming pool. But to really just be able to survive and to want it."
These days, as she pals around with the likes of Miley Cyrus and Kim Kardashian, she's doing more than treading water. In 2021, the LGBTQ+ icon partnered with Jenna Johnson to compete as the first same-sex couple on the U.S. version of Dancing With the Stars.
Now she's eyeing an even bigger stage, telling Raven-Symoné and wife Miranda Pearman-Maday, "My dream, dream, dream, dream is the Super Bowl, to do the halftime performance." And once she's scored that gig, she told the duo on an August episode of The Best Podcast Ever, "Then I'll retire and have babies."
Kalani Hilliker
Back home in Arizona, the dancer, actress and entrepreneur is fully embracing what she calls "my health and wellness era" with the 2023 launch of her beauty line Kare.
"I struggle with anxiety," she explained to E! News of her inspiration. "And I really wanted to create a brand that was inclusive to everyone to be able to just relax and take time for yourself and have a solid self-care routine to help you get through your day."
And, yes, the season 4 arrival, who also got her start on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, is still nailing every last arabesque, having dipped her perfectly arched foot back into dancing and teaching. "I obviously have a very different teaching way than Abby does towards me. Or, honestly, most of my dance teachers," she shared. "I like to be very kind, but also you've got to push them to be the best they can be."
Asia Monet Ray
Consider Asia officially raised. Though the California native stepped away from TV cameras just before her 10th birthday—following one season each on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition, Dance Moms and her own standalone series Raising Asia—"I genuinely had a great experience on it," Asia insisted to E! News in 2021, acknowledging that wasn't necessarily the case for many of her costars. "There was nothing that I would change on my experience whatsoever."
Wrapping up her high school career last June as a valedictorian, "I’m extremely proud of myself for achieving a personal goal," the model and artist wrote on Instagram, "and I can’t wait to see what’s next."
Thanks to a plethora of brand deals and invites to every it event, her future seems bright. As for her reality star past, "I really did enjoy the time I had out there and growing up on television," she told E!. "Even though it seems like a lot, it was something that really set me up for life that I would never take for granted."
Camryn Bridges
Since joining the team in season 7, the St. Louis native has been living on some much larger dance floors.
Between touring with Kendrick Lamar and performing in Usher’s Las Vegas residency, she took to the Grammys stage with Missy Elliott. "Beyond blessed!!!" she wrote of the February 2023 experience.
And she plans to keep climbing her own personal pyramid. As she put it in a December 2022 Instagram marking the end of her 76-show stint with Lamar, "I know this is only the beginning."
Brynn Rumfallo
When she exited stage left after a three-season stint that saw her trying to fill Maddie's ballet shoes, the Phoenix native "wanted to go back to high school and I wanted to just be normal and have my friends," she explained in a 2023 YouTube video with best friend Kelsey Millar. "High school sucked, but I’m glad that I did it. And now that I’ve experienced both lives, I know what I want. Which, there is a way to balance both of them in the middle."
For the 2021 grad, that's meant launching her and Millar's Out of Line podcast and documenting her trips to Coachella and Stagecoach for her three million Instagram followers. Plus, experiencing more than a few encounters with fans when she takes her dance students to competitions.
"It's really cute," Brynn, who remains close to Kenzie, said of one recent encounter. "They're like, 'Miss Brynn, you're famous?'"