Zackery Torres is the Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition and Dance Moms alum. They came out as transgender in May and uses they/she pronouns. They spoke to Page Six about the difficulties of being a performer.
The 22 year old shared, “That was the first time I really understood what it meant to be bullied into dancing a certain way. I don’t really know whose fault it is. I think we have the system to blame, and I think that it’s something we all need to be aware of and continue speaking out about.”
“There’s a lot of detrimental moments that really kind of set me back as a young person and being on that TV show,” added the dancer.
“I started seeing all of the expectations that teachers—well-known dance teachers, and well-known choreographers—had for me as a male dancer growing up and at the time identifying as a boy,” explained Zackery in October 2020. “‘Oh, you’re too feminine, you need to dance like a man.’ Just having teachers tell you that on national television, all this stuff, it kind of really got to me.”
Even though Dance Moms wasn’t the easiest experience, Zackery also added that there were many “amazing” people in the cast.
