I’m a backup dancer in music videos. People have no idea how hard it is to be a backup dancer, especially if you’re on film. Imagine dancing a high-intensity routine 20 times in a row until the director 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 director yells “cut,” every dancer finds the nearest fan. I was hired for a music video gig last week, and it was the hardest job I’d ever done! The other dancers and I met early that morning to learn the choreography. The practice space was perfect. Someone turned the thermostat down as low as it would go, and despite dancing for hours, I don’t think anyone broke a sweat! The cooling system was outstanding. I didn’t have to stand over a vent during breaks like I usually did in practice spaces. It wasn’t even humid in there, the A/C system took out so much moisture! Once it was time to get ready, we all opted to change and do our makeup in the practice space. We knew—or, at least we thought we knew—the heat that was in our future, and we wanted to soak up the chilly, dry air while we could. After we carpooled from the practice space to the set—a nearby airplane hangar—we all shared despairing looks. The shoot was entirely outside, in the summer, in a hangar with no ventilation! The worst part: there were zero fans in the hangar! It was so hard to stay pretty and dance my heart out without even a stitch of ventilation. But, my fellow dancers and I pulled through, and agreed that we’d read the fine print next time!