Check Out Moriah Miller’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Moriah Miller.

Hi Moriah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My name is Moriah Miller I’m 31 from Dallas Texas born and raised but currently living in Los Angeles for 4 years now. I’m a dancer I’ve been dancing since the age of 3. My parents first put me in ballet and tap I didn’t really care for it and I would cry because I didn’t want to go but my mom said she saw the gift in me and still made me go. It’s kinda crazy how I didn’t like that but every time I was at home watching Barney I would go grab props and sing and dance at the house. I’m glad she did make me go through because around the age of 10 I was watching Chris brown , Ciara and Missy Elliott trying to do the choreography which caused me to really love hip hop around that time as well I started teaching myself how to freestyle as well because my dad use to be a bboy and he would dance around me as a kid so I naturally drew to that style of dance and he would have me watching movies like breakin and beat street to show me were it came from. Once my parents saw I was really into hip hop they took me to a studio named Dallas power house of dance and at that studio I would take hip hop, ballet and tap. I ended up on the hip hop company there and would do competitions, conventions and performances around the Dfw metroplex. At 13 was when my life was starting to change a lot because I did my first professional job for PBS kids for the show Angelina ballerina. It was a live segment and I had the opportunity to audition on the Barney set. I also ended up getting a mentor her name is comfort Fedoke and she was on season 4 of so you think you can dance. I took her class in south lake Texas and out of all the kids I was the one she notice and she took me under her wing and started training me and letting me assist her and come with her to different events in Dallas and Los Angeles introducing me to people I dreamed of meeting as a kid and giving me opportunities that has truly changed a lot for me in so many ways. Till this day she is still my mentor and has been for 18 years now. At the the age of 18 my mom became sick and was in the hospital. It was my senior year of high school so prom and graduation was coming up. She did end up passing away due to septic shock and pneumonia which caused me to become depressed not eating much and barely sleeping. I didn’t even want to dance anymore because the person who saw it in me was no longer here because after graduation we were planning to move to Los Angeles so I could dance. I would say around 25 was when I fully began to heal. What helped me was God and him sending people my way to tell me to keep going and keep dancing! So I did just that and at 27 was when I finally moved to Los Angeles and I’m so glad I did because it has changed my life and helped not only as a dancer but as a person and I can now say I’m in a better space mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Some of the struggles where losing my mom and having to go through depression and sometimes having thoughts of not wanting to be here. Because I was experiencing emotions I had never experienced before. But I can say the greatest thing that helped me was God.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Something that I’ve been recently doing is teaching a style of dance called dtown boogie it was created in Dallas Texas. One of the moves that comes from it is the dougie which a lot of people don’t know it comes from Dallas. But I’ve been able to teach it at Long Beach college and choreograph it in a MFA thesis for Cal Arts in my friend Friidom’s show.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Be patient and trust the process and trust God and know that what he has for you is for you and you only.

Image Credits
The ones that have the yellow jacket the photographer is @valencia.free