00:03The typical dancer is tall, skinny, long legs, long lines.
00:08It puts a lot of thoughts in your head like,
00:12I'm not good enough.
00:12Are this person's going to get the gig over me because she's skinnier?
00:17And I stopped caring about that by the time I was like 21.
00:27My name is Elena Lopez.
00:28I'm 5'5", I have short legs.
00:32I have tattoos on my body.
00:34I have, you know, big curly hair.
00:36When I got more into hip-hop dancing,
00:38I would see women with just all these curves
00:41and these beautiful shapes and being so confident.
00:45Rather than fighting the body that I was given,
00:49I just accepted it and embraced it and worked with it.
00:56When I dance, it's a fusion of all types of styles that I've learned throughout the years.
01:01Jazz tap, hip-hop, burlesque, vogue.
01:04If you think of yourself as a crayon, it's like, are you the brightest color in that box?
01:10There was times where I would go to a typecasting audition.
01:15You get to the next round based on how you look rather than being chosen based off of your talent.
01:21Well, why are you picking, you know, the prettiest girl rather than picking the best dancer?
01:27It took a big toll.
01:29It definitely, like, toughened me up.
01:31You can be your biggest enemy.
01:33But when you trust yourself and you love yourself and believe in yourself,
01:39you know, sky's the limit, I think.
01:44When I'm on stage, I'm just enjoying that moment
01:47and connecting with the people in the audience.
01:50But even though I'm performing for these people,
01:54mostly I'm just performing for myself.
01:56I think dancing is a form of therapy.
01:59If I can't say, I'm mad at you and I don't want to talk to you,
02:02instead of hurting someone's feelings,
02:04I could just take those feelings to the dance floor.
02:07Just going out there and owning it and not caring what anybody thinks,
02:11that's when people are like, oh, she's cool, like, or, you know,
02:14she's having a good time.
02:15I want to dance with her, too.
02:18You know, work with what God gave you.
02:20Take that and put it in your dancing and see what you can do with it
02:23and see how you can incorporate it.
02:26All I can be is, like, the best version of myself.
02:28I know.
02:33You know, I'm really good.
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