Taylour Paige Interview; VH1's 'Hit the Floor' Star Gives Advice to Dancers, Shares Her Journey to Stardom and What She Learned While Training Under Debbie Allen [PHOTOS]
Choosing a career as an entertainer may seem glamorous to almost everyone. However the blood, sweat, tears and grinding it takes to make your dreams a reality is anything but glamerous. Often, it is about being in the right place at the right time.
Luckily for Hit The Floor star, Taylour Paige, enormous talent has always outweighed her need to audition with a rabbit's foot.
In the newest Enstars Exclusive, Paige iscusses her journey to her first lead role, her relationship with legendary performer and director Debbie Allen and gives advice for dancers who hope to take their talent to the next level.
"I am not even trying to be funny, but I actually can't believe what my life has done in the last two years," Paige told Enstars. "From just being in college, to dreaming of being on a show, to actually being on a show, it's just amazing."
Just two years ago, the 23-year-old Los Angeles native was graduating from college and walking across the stage. Now, the stage she appears on is on television, and has only made her commitment to being a standout dancer even stronger than it was before.
If you read last week's article, you learned that Paige actually was a Laker Girl before she was cast on VH1's hit series, Hit the Floor. This, coupled with her extensive training at The Debbie Allen Dance Academy made the role written for her. However, getting there was no easy task. Studying dance and competing with others for a top spot in a choreographed piece takes commitment, similar to Michael Jordan's dedication to being the greatest player on the court, showing up to the gym hours before the rest of the team to shoot around.
You work hard, you reap the results—and that is what Paige wants other dancers to know.
"At the end of the day, the root of being a good dancer, who is going far is to know as much as you possibly can. Whether you are doing hip-hop or jazz, the more you know and the more technique you have, the more people will see it," she said. "Point your toes and never give up!"
Paige's perfectly pointed toes came from years of training with the world renowned professors that Scandal director and woman of many hats, Debbie Allen gathers at her school. Ms. Allen, as the kids affectionately call her, has an unparalleled passion for ushering in the next generation of talent. While most of her students have gone on to become international back-up dancers, star in films like You Got Served, and win Fox's So You Think You Can Dance, Taylour is one of the first to have her face on a billboard in Times Square—and she is grateful to say the least, because without her guidance she may not be where she is today.
"When I was doing her musicals, and was too young to be the star of her shows, she always told me to learn everyone's part because at any moment, someone could get sick, and she would need me to go on," Paige recalled. "That's always inspired me."
One of the most cliché and overused words of advice warns entertainers to build a tough skin early on, but as most entertainers learn within their first audition, these words are exactly what you need to hear. There will be many times that newcomers will hear no before they hear yes, but it only takes one part to take you from Laker Girl to bonafide TV star. Before our conversation ended, Paige imparted the best piece of advice for anyone, from an entrepreneur, to a grad student, and of course, an entertainer.
"We grow the most when we face adversity and we rise above," she said. "When you read about successful people, they've usually had a lot of things that set them back in their lives. I think that people tell you no, that should be even more motivating to prove them all wrong."
Hit the Floor returns to VH1 tonight (May 26th) at 9/8c.