10 Things You Want a Non-Dancer to Understand
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“Twerking” is not a real move. And no, we will not demonstrate it for you in the hallway.
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It’s not a “recital.” It’s a performance.
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It’s not “practice.” It’s rehearsal.
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Our ankles, knees, and hips crack when we walk down the stairs. *shrugs* It’s just how our bodies work.
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Yes, we can do the splits. No, it doesn’t hurt. Usually.
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Please don’t ask if we can do “that spinning thing.” We don’t know what that means.
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If you need makeup advice, come to us! We learned how to put on falsies when we were four.
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“I can’t, I have rehearsal” isn’t an excuse to avoid seeing you. We really do have rehearsal.
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We work out more than you.
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We love dance. It’s hard, it’s exhausting, and sometimes it really hurts—physically and mentally. But to us, it’s the most rewarding and most important thing in the world.
Elizabeth Shew is a Portland, OR native and a New York-based dancer, writer, and creator. She is a graduate of The Ailey School and Fordham University and holds BFAs in Dance and English/Creative Writing. She has danced for choreographers Cindy Salgado, Jae Man Joo, Brice Mousset, Christopher Huggins and Taryn Kaschock Russell, among others. Recently, she participated in Cherice and Charissa Barton’s summer program, Axis Connect, and performed alongside the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in their annual piece *Memoria. *She is a current apprentice with BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance.
