Work It

I remember watching Missy Elliott’s videos and there was always this kid dancing. She had moves that made you sit there thinking about how unfair it was that anyone could move like that. I must have watched those clips a hundred times, and she was always there, just completely in control. I didn’t know her name—just that she was impossibly good at something that seemed simple until you tried to understand it.

That kid was Alyson Stoner. Years later I found out she’d gone on to become a choreographer and director, the kind of person who translates that natural gift into an actual career. Not long ago she put together a tribute to Missy with her crew, and it was genuinely good.

There’s something about those Missy Elliott videos that feels untouchable now, sealed in a moment that won’t come again. But seeing Stoner return to that space, still moving like she always did—it made me realize why we were all watching in the first place. She still had it.