I’m a backup dancer in song videos, and people have no plan how strenuous it is to be a backup dancer, especially if you’re in a movie! Imagine dancing a high-intensity routine 20 times in a row until the supervisor gets the perfect take, all while trying not to look like you were dripping with sweat! Music videos usually have a lot of fans going for exactly this purpose; when the supervisor yells “cut,” every dancer finds the nearest fan.
I was hired for a songs video gig last week, and it was the hardest job I’d ever done! The other dancers and I met early that day to learn the choreography, and the practice area was perfect! Someone turned the control unit down as low as it would go, and despite dancing for hours, I don’t suppose anyone broke a sweat! The cooling system was outstanding that time.
I didn’t have to lay over a vent during breaks as I usually did in practice spaces. It wasn’t even humid in that space, the cooling system took out so much moisture! Once it was time to get ready, the people I was with and I all opted to change and do our makeup in the practice space, all of us knew—or, at least the people I was with and I thought the people I was with and I knew—the heat that was in our future, and the people I was with and I wanted to soak up the frigid, dry air while the people I was with and I could. After the people I was with and I carpooled from the practice area to the set—a nearby aircraft hangar—we all shared despairing looks. The shoot was easily outside, in the summer, in a hangar with no ventilation! The worst part: there were zero fans in this outdoor hangar! It was so strenuous to stay pretty and dance our heart out without even a stitch of ventilation; but, our fellow dancers and I pulled through, and agreed that we’d learn the good print next time!