ALL-NEW DANCE DOCUSERIES "STEP IT UP" PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 25 ON LIFETIME

Los Angeles, CA (August 27, 2015) - In the all-new Lifetime docu-series Step It Up, Traci Young-Byron, a former Miami Heat Dancer and longtime team captain, is the owner of the elite dance company, the Young Contemporary Dance Theatre (YCDT). Traci's competitiveness, especially her fierce rivalry with Bring It's Miss D and her Dancing Dolls, leads her to use unconventional methods to motivate her co-ed dance team. For this troupe, the biggest competition isn't other teams; it's each other, as they must dance their hearts out to earn a coveted spot in a high-stakes performance each week. Step It Up (#StepItUp), premieres Friday, September 25, at 10pm ET/PT following the Bring It! season finale. The following week, the series moves to its regular time period airing on Friday, October 2 at 9pm ET/PT.

Over the course of eight hour-long episodes, the YCDT dancers push themselves to the limit to perform at high-profile events. Traci's tough, no-nonsense attitude prepares her meticulously trained and always-on-point dancers, who vary in age, for the myriad dance genres they face, including ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, West African and hip-hop.

Step It Up is produced by Pilgrim Studios. Executive producers for Pilgrim are Craig Piligian and Derek W. Wan. Eli Lehrer, Mary Donahue and Colleen Conway Grogan executive produce the series for Lifetime.

ABOUT PILGRIM STUDIOS

Craig Piligian's Pilgrim Studios produces a wide variety of unscripted and scripted programming for television, including hit series Bring It! for Lifetime; Fast N' Loud, Misfit Garage, Street Outlaws and new series Cuban Chrome for Discovery; Ghost Hunters for Syfy; The Ultimate Fighter for FOX Sports 1; Swamp Pawn for CMT; Welcome to Sweetie Pie's and Raising Whitley for OWN; David Tutera's CELEBrations for WE tv; Wicked Tuna and Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks for National Geographic Channel; Somebody's Gotta Do It with Mike Rowe for CNN; My Big Fat Fabulous Life and the upcoming Big Kenny and Family for TLC; Treetop Cat Rescue for Animal Planet, Amazing America with Sarah Palin and Saving Private K-9 for Sportsman Channel, and new series Missing in Alaska for History. The company also is producing the new FYI talk show series Kocktails with Khloe, hosted by Khloe Kardashian. In the scripted realm, Pilgrim is currently in production on the new series Recovery Road for ABC Family. The company's original movies for Lifetime include Amanda Knox: Murder On Trial In Italy; Abducted: The Carlina White Story , which earned a 2012 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing In A Motion Picture; and the crime thriller Stalkers.

ABOUT LIFETIME

Lifetime is a premier female-focused entertainment destination dedicated to offering the highest quality original programming spanning scripted series, non-fiction series and movies. As a result of the network's aggressive programming strategy that has doubled the hours of its original programming, in 2014 the network reached its strongest ranking among the key Women 18-49 demo in six years and its youngest median age in 18 years. Lifetime Television(R), LMN(R), Lifetime Real Women(R) and Lifetime Digital(TM) are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A+E Networks. A+E Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group and Hearst Corporation.