A dance studio is in the spotlight after a mom posted a video on TikTok showing a coach hugging every member of a dance team except her daughter, the only Black child in the group.
Melissa Breglia shared the video on March 24, which was filmed at a dance competition in Plainville, Connecticut. It shows a coach from Dance Xpressions congratulating four young girls after they won an award. The coach hugs three of the girls, but not Breglia’s six-year-old daughter, Shaniah.
The video, filmed by another audience member and later sent to Breglia, has been viewed over four million times.
“I’m sad,” Breglia told NBC Connecticut. “I’m hurting for my children because I can’t fix it.”
Many people online were upset by what they saw in the video. One commenter said, “Wow, that was super disturbing to watch,” getting more than 12,000 likes. Another wrote, “Momma… please read the room,” adding that the coach’s actions were “a micro-aggression.” This comment got 31,000 likes.
Breglia said her daughter was crushed when she came off the stage.
“[Shaniah] said, ‘Mommy, how come she didn’t hug me?’ I leaned down to her level and gave her a hug and was like, ‘Baby girl, mommy gives you all the hugs you need. You don’t need anybody else to hug you.’”
Later, Breglia confronted the coach backstage.
“I immediately walked up to her and was like, ‘How dare you?’ She stiffened up and said, ‘Why are you yelling at me? I didn’t do anything,’” Breglia recalled. “I said, ‘I’m not yelling,’… I was like, ‘You made my child feel less than and she deserves more than that.’”
Soon after, Breglia got a letter saying Shaniah and her nine-year-old sister were being removed from the dance program because Breglia was “aggressive with staff.” Breglia says she never yelled or acted aggressively.
Now, her daughters no longer attend dance class.
“Shania is mad she can’t dance with her friends, mad she practiced the dance and she doesn’t get to wear her outfit again,” Breglia said. “My nine-year-old, who was also kicked out of the studio, is the one that’s actually being affected emotionally,” she added. “She’s the one that this is taking a toll on, because it’s a more impressionable age.”
Phyllis Boucher, owner of Dance Xpressions, told NBC Boston she was “deeply saddened” by the situation. She explained that the instructor believed she had hugged all the students, including Shaniah, and didn’t realize the mistake.
“Our instructor immediately addressed the situation by apologizing to Shaniah, expressing that the exclusion was unintentional and never meant to cause hurt,” Boucher said. She also added that the studio had always supported Shaniah and her sister, but after careful thought, they decided to part ways with the family to maintain a positive environment at the studio.
The studio was not available for comment, as their phone line was not working and their social media accounts have been removed.
More details from NBC Connecticut in the video below:
