Big time, baby

When we last checked in on Ashley Everett, she was touring around the world with Beyoncé Knowles as one of her 10 dancers. That was more than a year ago. In the time since, the native Chicoan and former Chico Ballet and Full Force Hip-Hop & Jazz Co. dancer moved to New York City and toured tirelessly with the Rockettes troupe (inset photo). In her latest news, Everett finished a photo shoot last week for Discount Dance, a dancers’ catalogue. Those photos will appear on the cover and in a spread of an upcoming issue. The CN&R caught up with the 19-year-old literally as she pulled into the driveway of her parents’ house after a long trip home from the Big Apple. Exhausted but beautiful and sweet as ever, she beamed—but never bragged—about her opportunities.

What have you been up to this past year with dance?

I know how to do ballet and hip-hop and there are two different worlds: There’s the commercial world and the concert world. So when I’m in New York, I work with a modern/contemporary company that I like to perform with. That’s the concert side. But as far as working with artists like Beyoncé and Usher—I worked with Usher in 2008—that’s the commercial side of it. So, I worked with Beyoncé and I toured with the Rockettes’ Radio City Christmas Spectacular for four months—those were the main things.

Tell me about the Rockettes.

It was a four-month gig, but we were on tour for two months. So, two months of rehearsals and two months of tour. That was the hardest job I’ve ever had. But it was really fun. We did 98 shows in two months—up to four shows a day and traveling on top of it. We went all over the U.S.—but we didn’t make it to the West Coast.

What’s it like working with big stars like Beyoncé and Usher?

It’s actually really cool. They’re normal people. I’ve worked with Beyoncé enough to know her and be able to talk to her, but a lot of times they’ll distance themselves from their dancers or their musicians. Working with Beyoncé, I feel like I can talk to her. I don’t have her phone number or anything, so I couldn’t call her [laughs], but I can talk to her and we have a good friendship. It’s really good to see their work ethic—it’s inspirational.