Many people know Maddie Ziegler from the reality TV show Dance Moms, which launched her career. But not as many know that she appeared on another reality show when she was 13, and that time she starred alongside Paula Abdul, who shot to stardom herself in the late 1980s as a singer, dancer, choreographer, and former Laker girl.
Ziegler served as a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance when she was barely a teenager. She told ET that the experience was surreal. “It’s weird for me, because I’m not the one competing. I’m the one giving feedback to the kids. I’ll just be honest and give them my feedback — in a nice way though, because I’m not an adult, so I really can’t be rude to them, and I would never be rude to them anyways.”
She was also pretty excited to serve as a judge alongside Abdul, Jason Derulo, and Nigel Lythoe. ET asked Ziegler what she thought about Paula Abdul, and she couldn’t help but gush. “I met her when I was little, but this is the first time I actually met her, met her. She’s so sweet, and I think I’m taller than her too, which is great because I love being tall.”
That's not the only show Paula and Maddie worked on together
While that SYTYCD experience was incredible for Maddie Ziegler, it’s still not the only time she and Paula Abdul worked together! Ziegler also appeared on Paula Abdul’s short-lived series Live To Dance. In fact, she was on this show well before Dance Moms.
Unfortunately, the series only lasted seven episodes, but Abdul was excited about what the show could have turned into. In 2010, she told The Denver Post that she was excited to be working in dance again. “I felt strongly that when I left American Idol, I really needed to take time to rediscover where my passion lies. … For me, if I didn’t check off one of the boxes on my bucket list that I was involved in a dance show, I don’t know if that would sit really well with me.”
Abdul also spoke about the power dance has to enrich and influence young children. “We’ve had amazing 5-, 6- and 7-year-old dancers all the way up to beautiful dancers in their 60s, 70s and even 80s that still live in that passionate, unique place where dance inspires them. If you get to do that life, your life is so much richer.
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