‘Dancing With the Stars: Juniors’: Mackenzie Ziegler Breaks Down About Returning to Dance

Dance Moms alum Mackenzie Ziegler has finally found her love of dancing again on Dancing With the Stars: Juniors, she tearfully admitted on Sunday’s all-new episode of the ABC series.

During the “Juniors Choice” night of the competition, Ziegler and junior pro partner Sage Rosen (mentored by Gleb Savchenko) performed a cha cha to “What If,” a song Ziegler recorded herself. It’s very rare that a competitor gets to dance and sing their own performance, and the weight of being able to find her niche was clearly weighing on the 14-year-old, who broke down in tears while describing her journey to Rosen and Savchenko.

“I finally found something that I love to do, which is singing,” she said, wiping a tear away from her eye and continuing, “Sorry, I’m about to bawl my eyes out.”

She added, seemingly referring to her younger years as a dancer with Abby Lee Miller‘s elite company, “When I was younger, I was scared to put myself out there. I didn’t really have the confidence at all, so I finally found my voice by singing. Now that I actually get to pursue it and do it more, it means a lot to me.”

Although Ziegler sobbed she “can’t stop crying,” the tears appeared to be filled with joy. “It’s really awesome getting to do singing and dancing again at the same time, because I finally found that I love dancing again because of singing,” she said.

The singer/model hasn’t talked much about her time on Dance Moms throughout this time on DWTS: Juniors, but previously admitted that she is no longer in touch with her former dance teacher, who is currently battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after being sentenced to eight months in prison for bankruptcy fraud.

“Not really — but I wish her the best and she’s awesome,” she told Us Weekly in September when asked if she kept up with Miller.

The Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn star’s response was very similar to sister Maddie Ziegler’s, who told the publication in June, “We don’t keep in contact, but I wish her the best.”

Dancing With the Stars: Juniors airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo credit: ABC/Eric McCandless