Ally Brooke has learned an important lesson during her time on Dancing With the Stars: You can't let critics stop you from putting yourself out there. Brooke, who was a victim of online bullying that targeted her dancing abilities during her time as a member of the pop group Fifth Harmony, has been one of the top scorers on the show this season, and even earned the first perfect score amongst her competitors. And after nine weeks on the show Brooke, 26, says her confidence in dancing has skyrocketed.

“I feel like I’ve already come so far," Brooke told WomansDay.com. "I’m not a natural born dancer and the fact that I’ve done better than I thought I would in the past few weeks, and then to get the first 10s of the season that was, oh my gosh, it was so incredible, it was one of my proudest moments."

The ever-positive Brooke says that she took that hate she received online for her dancing and transformed it into motivation to improve, which was a big part of why she agreed to do the show.

"I saw this opportunity come my way and it was the right time and I jumped at it." Eric McCandless Getty Images

"I want to improve as a dancer because it’s not my strong suit and what better way than to go on this show?" Brooke said. "Also I was a super fan of Dancing with the Stars. I grew up watching with my mom. I love the show, the concept, what it does for people and I love all the pros and I saw this opportunity come my way and it was the right time and I jumped at it."

From week to week, Brooke has receiving increasingly high scores from the judges. And when she wound up in the bottom during two eliminations, the judges chose to save Brooke and her partner Sasha Farber because of their spectacular performances. Brooke says the experience has changed her in more ways than she could have ever expected.

"Now I feel like in a way, I feel like a dancer because I’ve learned so many different styles and my scores have gotten better over the past few weeks," she said. "This really showed me how impactful dancing really is, so it’s been such a phenomenal experience and I’ve gained so much confidence in my dancing and also just as a person, you know, kind of diving into something new and surprising."



"Don’t listen to the negativity because it could be one of the best things of your life and it could change your life." Kelsey McNeal Getty Images

The young singer now hopes that her experience will be able to inspire others who are struggling with their confidence or are afraid to try something new to put those negative thoughts aside and allow themselves the new experience.

"When this opportunity presented itself, I was nervous because I was putting myself out there again for dancing, something that I did get made fun of for, and I was scared that I would get made fun of again, but I chose to do it and not let fear stop me and I want to encourage others to do the same," Brooke said. "You know maybe they’re scared to try dancing or to try singing or to try engineering, you know whatever it may be, but they want to do it. I would say push yourself and do it. Don’t listen to the negativity because it could be one of the best things of your life and it could change your life. That’s what happened to me and now I feel so much more confident, I’ve learned so much and I’m so happy."

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Dancing With the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Laura Hanrahan Laura is a NYC-based freelance writer.

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