Lucy Panush

Born: New York City, NY — 1997 / Living: Chicago, IL

Interview by Philo Cohen — May 2016

Philo Cohen: Tell us about yourself. 

Lucy Panush: I am 18 years old and a native New Yorker. I just finished my senior year at Professional Children’s School and will be attending Northwestern University in the fall.

PC: How did you get into dance? 

LP: Both my mom and older sister dance, so when I was around 2 or so, my mom put me into “Mommy and Me” classes -- I have continued ever since.

PC: What dance do you do? 

LP: I try to take on everything! It’s very important to be versatile. I do ballet, modern, character, contemporary, jazz, theatre dance, hip hop and tap!

PC: Who inspires you? 

LP: So many people! Of course all my teachers, but in terms of performers and choreographers: Jessica Lee Goldyn, Michelle Dorrance, Dormishia Sumbry Edwards, Sutton Foster, Annaleigh Ashford, Donna Mckechnie, Susan Stroman… and the list goes on.

PC: How do you deal with nerves before a show?

LP: I like to just keep to myself. I try not to get frenetic about the choreography because I like to put my trust into the hours of rehearsal I have gone through for the past 6 months and rely that my body will know what it’s doing.

PC: How has womanhood impacted your work?

LP: It’s interesting because our Steps Modern class is doing a women’s rights piece for our June Showcase. In class the other day we were discussing how far women have come in the past 100 years but also how much hardship we go through in current times. My teacher, the incredible Karen Gayle, pointed out that women are the majority in dance, so when a male dancer comes along, they are considered to be very special. It is up to us to set up ourselves as special as well. Today, women in dance don’t take on roles as choreographers or directors as much as men do. If you asked someone to name 5 famous female choreographers, it would take them at least 15-20 minutes to come up with an answer, when it would take split seconds to name ten male choreographers. I mean this year, the whole category for best choreography for the Tony Awards is all male. As a woman, I hope to take on such a leadership position. I love choreographing and directing, so being able to accomplish that as a strong female would be pretty awesome to achieve in the future.