By Ramona Prioleau
In their FIYAH TikTok video that launched the Cuff It Challenge; Kaitlyn Hardy Wiltshire and Maycee Steele’s impressive talent and gusto leap off the mobile screen. The duo has danced since they were children and met while they were dancers at the Pulse on Tour Dance Convention.
Fast friends, Kaitlyn and Maycee often collaborate, and they were inspired to create the Cuff It challenge while getting ready for a night out in the City of Angels.
Their TikTok dance includes two moves that are repeated to Queen B’s single, Cuff It. The video has garnered millions of views and has audiences, including celebrities, body rolling and lateral body rocking in a crouch.
@maycsteele @ogpartyhardy26 ♬ CUFF IT – Beyoncé
MOSAEC caught up with Kaitlyn for a wide-ranging conversation about her flourishing career as well as creating the Cuff It challenge with Maycee.
A graduate of the University of California, Riverside with a degree in Linguistic with a concentration in Speech-Language Pathology and a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Kaitlyn can just as easily translate for a world leader in Mandarin at the United Nations as she can flawlessly perform an intricate dance performance. Based in Los Angeles, Kaitlyn has appeared in film and television and has worked with artists such as Lil Nas X, Doechii, Jennifer Hudson, Doug E Fresh and recently performed in the BET Awards.
MOSAEC: How did you and Maycee meet?
Kaitlyn: Maycee and I met at a dance convention called the Pulse on Tour at the age of eleven.
MOSAEC: When you met Maycee, how did you know that the two of you had dance chemistry? Do you two share a love and appreciation for similar dance styles? Or do y’all just have fun together?
Kaitlyn: Because we met at a dance convention, we both knew that we had a love for dance. As far as our friendship chemistry, that was instant. We were inseparable throughout our adolescent years even though Maycee lived in Kansas, and I lived in New York.
We are both very passionate about all styles of dance. When we are together, we like to have fun and be kids again!
MOSAEC: What inspires your choreography generally? What inspired the choreography for the Cuff It challenge? Was it something particular in the lyrics?
Kaitlyn: Generally, my choreography is inspired by the 2000s era of music.
The Cuff It challenge was made on a whim. I was getting ready for a party and Maycee was watching me get ready. We had just listened to the whole Beyoncé album and continued to focus on Cuff It for some reason. We played Cuff It six times and decided to make a TikTok dance.
MOSAEC: The Cuff It challenge has struck a chord with audiences everywhere, what is it about that video, the choreography, the chemistry, the “dance narrative,” etc., that you think audiences are responding to?
Kaitlyn: I think people see themselves in Maycee and me through the challenge. Being with your best friend, getting ready for a party, and pregaming are the perfect ingredients for a good time. Overall, I think through the TikTok video audiences can see our genuine friendship and love for one another.
MOSAEC: What motivated you to start the Cuff It challenge? Tell me more about how the choreography, staging/setting, framing, lighting, costuming, & performance came together for the Cuff It video.
Kaitlyn: The motivation behind it was that we wanted to do something fun. We had no intention of it going viral which is why there really is no staging lighting or costuming, I’m in my pajamas and Maycee is in her workout attire.
MOSAEC: In what dance genre is the Cuff It dance?
Kaitlyn: I think the Cuff It dance is a modern mix. There are two general moves repeated that you can do literally anywhere.
MOSAEC: Can someone with two left feet and limited technique add the Cuff It dance to their personal repertoire :-)?
Kaitlyn: Absolutely! I feel like anybody could learn the Cuff It dance because it is such a community-based dance. Since it looks fun, I think it makes people more intrigued to learn the dance.
MOSAEC: As a professional dancer, how meaningful has it been (1) for your creation to go viral and (2) to see other celebrities and choreographers joining in on the challenge and crediting your work?
Kaitlyn: I think it is very meaningful that our dance has gone viral Maycee and I were just being ourselves…besties having fun creating a Tik Tok video.
To see celebrities and choreographers joining in on the challenge and crediting our work is AMAZING. As a professional dancer, you hope that people will see you as a dancer, see your choreography and credit you for what you have created.
@maycsteele The cuff it challenge tutorial you all have been asking for!!! @ogpartyhardy26 #cuffit #cuffitchallenge ♬ CUFF IT – Beyoncé
MOSAEC: A dance performance can elicit a range of emotions from the viewing audience, in thinking about your approach to choreography, how central is it that you convey a particular message and evoke certain audience reactions by your rhythmic body movements?
Kaitlyn: I think it’s very important what message you convey throughout the dance. Depending on the piece /choreography, it will elicit certain emotions in people whether that is good or bad.
MOSAEC: How does costuming and hair add to your dance expression?
Kaitlyn: I believe costuming and hair help add a certain persona within the dance expression. For example, when I take a heels class, I make sure my hair and makeup is impeccable. Both add to my overall look for the class and make me feel good while dancing in my heels.
MOSAEC: What sparked your interest in dance? When did you decide you wanted to be a choreographer as well as a dancer & why?
Kaitlyn: I became interested in dance at the age of five when my mom took me to an audition at the Dance theater of Harlem. I was selected to attend and remained in the program for two years. My interest continued as I progressed in my training at Alvin Ailey, for 7 years. While a student at Alvin Ailey, I started to attend the Pulse on Tour Dance Convention, which took my training and dance skills to a level beyond my imagination. I decided I wanted to expand into the realm of choreography/creating at the age of sixteen. I became interested in choreographing/creating because I wanted to see my friends hit some of my dance steps to be honest.
MOSAEC: As a child, when did you begin dancing, how important was it to your early childhood development?
Kaitlyn: I began dancing when I was two and half years of age at Garden City Dance Studio. It was very important to my early childhood development because dance was one of my main hobbies along with playing tennis. It has shaped me not only to be the dancer that I am but the person that I’ve grown to love.
MOSAEC: When did you know you would pursue it as a career?
Kaitlyn: I knew I would pursue dance as a career when I had to make the choice between tennis and dance at the age 0f 10, to fulfill my early childhood goal of being an NBA dancer which was achieved through the Philadelphia 76ers.
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MOSAEC: You have been trained in a variety of dance genres, what is your favorite and why?
Kaitlyn: My favorite dance genre would probably be hip-hop because aside from being girlie girl, an AKA and in a sorority and having the poise of such a young woman, hip hop helps me unlock and tap into an alter ego, which is grungier and more grounded with a little more umph so to speak.
MOSAEC: How does the hip hop genre express your true nature?
Kaitlyn: It encapsulates my entire personality as a whole because while I am a poised sorority woman that’s held to a high standard, but I am also from New York and my parents are from Brooklyn, so I have a certain type of edge that I can tap into when I dance hip-hop.
MOSAEC: As a college-educated, Mandarin-speaking sorority girl, do you put extra pressure on yourself to fully immerse yourself into the hip hop side of your persona when auditioning or performing?
Kaitlyn: It all depends on what the audition or performance is calling for. Since I am more of a girly girl when it comes to presenting myself in my sorority, my Jack and Jill sisters and brothers and the corporate world; I have to put extra emphasis on my hip-hop background when I dance. This is where the baggy clothes come into play and the fitted hats.
MOSAEC: Does your diverse background and educational experience impact your dance expression? If so, how?
Kaitlyn: I feel like my diverse background and education experience does not impact my dance expression, but it does impact my dance experience in the industry. Having knowledge educationally I can represent myself in the industry by putting my best foot forward; and knowing how to navigate through contracts, people, and events.
MOSAEC: Describe your choreography process: Do you hear music and decide which movements will match the music? Or do you sketch your choreography moves and find music to match it?
Kaitlyn: I do not sketch out my choreography. I usually listen to a song for a couple of days and see what part of the song I like and how I would interpret it in the best way visually.
MOSAEC: Which do you prefer and why – performance before a live audience or a recorded performance?
Kaitlyn: I prefer a live audience performance because the energy that the audience gives performers truly amps us up to exceed the expectations. You give energy and audiences feed off it and vice versa.
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MOSAEC: What is a typical day like for a professional dancer/choreographer?
Kaitlyn: A typical day in the life of a professional dancer includes gym workouts, dance classes and auditions. Most dance classes start at approximately 3 PM and I usually take two classes a day. For days when there are auditions, they can last all day or half of the day.
MOSAEC: As you pursue your dreams in dance, what keeps you striving to achieve greater success?
What keeps me striving to achieve greater success is to see how far I can go, in terms of my career. As a child I felt that many of the accomplishments I achieved were so hard to grasp; now that I am in the realm of all this greatness, all my dreams are closer than I think.
MOSAEC: To whom do you also credit for your success and why?
Kaitlyn: To name all the people that I owe my success to would be a book. But off the top of my head, I would credit Kelly Peters, Brian Friedman, Dave Scott, Gil Duldulao, Cris Judd, Ian Eastwood, and my parents. These choreographers have helped mold me into the Dancer that I am, and they continue to be in the industry. My parents have sacrificed so much physically and financially, providing a means for me to train with these choreographers, who are not only my dance teachers but my mentors as well.
(c) MOSAEC
