DD4L (Dancing Dolls for Life)!Lifetime’s “Bring It!” has been on the air more than three years. In a phone interview, Dianna “Miss D” Williams said that from what she has seen and heard, the hip-hop majorette competition docu-series appeals to “all races, all ages,” yet the hip-hop majorette dance artform is “not as respected as we think it should be.”
After going on the road last summer with a “Bring It! Live” tour, Williams has returned to the stage, along with 10 of her young Dancing Dolls, for “Bring It! Live” 2017, featuring two shows July 16 at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia, and a sold-out July 18 date at Reading’s Santander Performing Arts Center.
“Last year doesn’t even compare to what we’re doing this year. Some of this stuff is death defying,” Williams said.
Pressed to reveal more details, she was guarded. Besides offering that the stage show offers audience participation and more “up close and personal views” than the TV show, all she would say was: “You just have to come and watch. We have a lot of fun.” Check out www.bringitlivetour.com; www.kimmelcenter.org has a 42-second teaser video.
According to Williams, Lifetime discovered the Dollhouse Dance Factory (which now has a location in Birmingham, Ala., in addition to the original studio in Jackson, Miss.) on YouTube, as the cable network was looking to launch some competition-related reality shows. On “Bring It!” Williams said she teaches her students to “become unafraid,” persevere through adversity and to have positive self-esteem. Dancing since she was 5 years old, Williams has trained more than 2,000 dancers across America in various styles of dance.
The last tentative date she had on when new episodes of “Bring It!” would return to Lifetime on Friday nights was July 28. Check www.mylifetime.com.
