Kathryn Eaddy
The shape-cutting dancer’s sphere of influence has grown tenfold since stepping into her local EDM community, and she’s taking up every opportunity she can pull into its orbit.
A wintry afternoon calls for refuge in a Fairfax bar, where I meet with Kathryn. Sixties soul music booms from ceiling speakers, each classic tune firing up another grin behind her oversized scarf. The Virginia native admits she’s recovering from a cold after a recent music festival in New York City, but Kathryn—someone whose fervid anticipation for Christmas begins December 26—composes herself with enough energy to show the room that she’s still fully charged.
Kathryn’s penchant for people might be her strongest gravitational pull. In this age of online hyperconnectivity, where artistic content is shared daily and creative networking happens effortlessly, it was easy for a then-teenaged dance enthusiast to acquaint herself with other like-minded dancers all over the world. And by fate, Kathryn’s longing for kindred spirits and love for house music led her to one of the global phenomena pulsing at the heart of EDM culture: “cutting shapes,” a deviated substyle of the Melbourne shuffle dance coined for its razor-sharp footwork and Charleston-inspired crisscrosses.
Years after being adopted by the stomping grounds of DC’s own shuffling community, Kathryn just had one of her most fulfilling years to date, and she has no intention of slowing her momentum down.
Kathryn talks about her theatrical childhood, being invited to The Dr. Oz Show, and dancing with one of her longtime inspirations by growing her social platform.
I wanted to first set the record straight on something that’s not commonly known about you. Were you a singer as a child?
It was theater! I started doing theater in first grade. After that, I was homeschooled and did church musicals until eighth grade. Then, I went back to school and did high school musicals. So I was doing theater until after I graduated. There was that summer after, but there weren’t a lot of options for me as an adult unless I wanted to be an actor.
Was theater something your folks pushed on you, or was it something you wanted for yourself?
I loved it. I loved it. My entire family is musical—my two sisters sing, my dad sings—so I grew up with music. I just loved being on stage.
Fast forward to now, where your lifestyle is very much centered on dancing. Was dance directly inspired from your time in theater?
Yeah, it came from the theater background. In musicals, we’d have to do singing, dancing, and acting, and I always loved dancing. I would watch So You Think You Can Dance with my dad all the time and try to choreograph my own contemporary routines. I was maybe 14 or 15, but all the dance classes I could find at the time were for younger kids. So I was like, “I didn’t start dancing since I was two, I guess I’m not going to be a dancer.”
When I found cutting shapes, I was already into the EDM scene. I would see people at Echostage shuffling and gliding. When I first started, it was me and a friend, and we didn’t really know the difference between shuffling and cutting shapes. After a while, I started gravitating towards shapes, and that was when UK shapers were doing it more.
I just went on YouTube because I was able to dance and express myself without having to go to a dance studio. I would also do hip-hop choreo tutorials, but there’s a disconnect when you’re not being taught by someone. But cutting shapes was easy—I could go on Instagram, look at tutorials, and make it whatever I wanted. And I love house music.
“My entire family is musical—my two sisters sing, my dad sings—so I grew up with music. I just loved being on stage.”
What made you gravitate towards shape cutting more than shuffling?
It was easier, and it had a lot to do with my friend because we were watching a lot of shapers. It just felt like I could do more with shapes, like I could express more. The videos that I was looking at were from shape cutters, so I drew inspiration from all of them, learning all the combos. Then afterwards, that’s when I finally started to get into Melbourne shuffling a little bit more.
The community for shuffling and shape cutting is huge. When you first encountered serious dancers in the EDM scene, how did that affect your approach towards dance? Were you intimidated, or were you invigorated by how skilled they were at something you wanted to learn?
I guess it would be a little bit of both. I found the community all over the world before I found the community here in the DMV. I had friends on Instagram who would be from New York or Florida. When I saw the shuffling communities online, it was dope. I used to be intimidated to post videos, thinking I wasn’t good enough, but then I started seeing people posting videos just doing the Running Man, and saw that you didn’t need to be at a certain skill level to do it. That’s when I started.
But then I started going to house shows, which is when I met everyone in the DMV Shuffle Circle. That was in 2016. We started seeing each other at shows or pregaming before events, and that was really cool because I finally had this community of people around me. The outlet to dance didn’t just have to be at the club, I could just hit up people and go, “Hey, let’s have a dance meet.” Now you have people to learn off each other. I’m really grateful for the community of shufflers and shapers in DC because it’s not always like that in other places.
“I used to be intimidated to post videos, thinking I wasn’t good enough, but then I started seeing people posting videos just doing the Running Man, and saw that you didn’t need to be at a certain skill level to do it. That’s when I started.”
You used to be intimidated to post videos, but now that you’ve found your place in the scene, how has the intent behind your videos changed?
I guess the intent at first—back then, Instagram videos were only 15 seconds long—I would meticulously choreograph. I would spend hours doing the same 15 seconds again and again. Like, these videos had to be perfect. And I guess my dancing was more creative then because I was still learning. The repetition was good.
But somewhere along the way, once I got to a place where I was considered “good,” I kind of just stopped trying to learn new things. You can hit a wall easily. So I would just freestyle my videos instead—put on a song, go outside, and dance. I don’t really make videos as much anymore, but when I do, I can’t go back to that choreographing mindset anymore.
The popularity of shapes right now benefits largely due to the dancers constantly sharing themselves on YouTube or Instagram. When you’re cutting shapes, is it more of a personal expression for you, or is it something you enjoy more when you’re performing for other people?
It’s more of an internal release for me. Actually, I guess it can be both. When I hear a song—the way it makes me feel—I’m releasing an emotion that I’m feeling through dance. I did used to make videos that were more on the feels-y side, like finding a sad house song and just going outside dancing to it. So both. It always goes back to music. Whether it’s singing, dancing, or making a video, the root of everything always goes back to music.
What’s something you’ve achieved as a dancer that made you recognize its place in your life? That dancing is exactly what you should be doing?
It actually happened this year. With cutting shapes, I don’t see myself having a career with it. I never saw that path for myself. But what sucked is that I would want to spend time improving and getting better, then I’d be like, “Am I wasting my time when I could be working towards the career I could get to?” It was this back-and-forth because I loved the music and dance so much that I wanted to spend all my time on it.
But the way that dance connected me to people is so dope. I feel like [cutting shapes] is starting to become more respected in the dance community overall, and I was able to meet and dance with one of my longtime dance inspirations whose tutorials I used to look at online. If I didn’t know how to cut shapes, I wouldn’t have met him.
Which dancer are we talking about?
Matt Steffanina. It was his videos that I would look up on YouTube before I got into cutting shapes. It was just so crazy how in 2010 I’m watching his videos, and nine years later through a completely different dance style I’m meeting him and we get to dance together.
That was in August, so when that happened, it made me think, “I should just keep posting videos because I love it.” You should just do the things that you love without having an end game. I love to dance, so I can just do it, and look at all the things that might come from it.
Your passion for dance has started to sync with your interest in videography. What are some of the projects you’ve been working on?
I like making recap videos of the year right now. Like, I’ll make one for summer and one for the end of the year. I like shooting with other people, but I also like going out with my camera and just shooting little moments, then putting them all together. And that’s when I really try to learn more about video editing; it’s like putting a puzzle together. I recently shot my first fitness video, and I’m working on my end-of-the-year video right now.
“You should just do the things that you love without having an end game. I love to dance, so I can just do it, and look at all the things that might come from it.”
Two years ago, you opened up publicly about your excoriation disorder. Then, earlier this fall, you got invited to The Dr. Oz Show to share your story with the world. Can you talk about how that came to happen, and how that entire experience was for you?
It caught me completely off guard. I was sitting at work, and I got an Instagram DM from a producer from Dr. Oz. The post she saw [of me] was from 2018 that she found through the hashtag. From the time she emailed me and when I accepted was two weeks exactly, then I went to New York. It was the craziest thing that’s ever happened to me. They got me a train to go to New York and stay the night, and the next morning was the show. It was insane. I threw up.
Oh no.
It was at the end. [laughs] The whole time I was waiting before going out, I was trying not to freak out seeing photos of Dr. Oz with Oprah and Jimmy Fallon. I was losing my mind—like, I’m a hood rat, I shouldn’t be here.
The first time I met Dr. Oz was when I went out there. It was so easy; it was just me and him having a conversation. They actually paid for a psychologist to come, and she’s from Maryland, so they set me up to get treatment from her for free. It was really dope.
I still don’t know when [the episode] is coming out, but I would never have seen this coming. In all the years growing up—being teased, hating myself for it—I would’ve never guessed. It’s cool having that represented on TV, even if it hadn’t been me.
Going through that and having so many people learn about a very personal side of you, was there anything you learned more about yourself?
That I’m okay. That I can do things on my own. If I want to make a difference in the world, I can do it myself. I think going through that whole process on Dr. Oz—talking about [excoriation disorder], and then having people reach out to me—just taught me that vulnerability is such a strength. We’re all going through different versions of the same shit. I learned that I was able to have the independence to talk about it and do it myself.
“I think going through that whole process on Dr. Oz—talking about [excoriation disorder], and then having people reach out to me—just taught me that vulnerability is such a strength.”
You now have over ten thousand followers on Instagram. With everything you create, the stage has become a lot bigger. Knowing that you’re reaching more people, how has it affected your attitude towards creating videos?
What’s interesting is that reaching more people has made me want to not post as much. Because before, it was just like, post, post, post, get the content out. But I’ve learned that it’s more impactful to have one or two good videos that are well thought-out, and then maybe I don’t post again for a month. I have all these ideas for all these videos that I want to get done, but if I have the pressure of needing to post something, I’ll never be able to strategically plan the concepts out.
Even though it seems like it’s “just” Instagram, I got on The Dr. Oz Show through Instagram. I met Matt Steffanina through Instagram. There are so many opportunities through Instagram. When I was making 15-second videos, I would put Valencia on them and we’d be good to go. But knowing now that what I create can reach more people, it makes me want to take everything more seriously.
When you find yourself in the center of a shuffle circle and you’re surrounded by the crowd, every move you make is amplified by a thousand. On this journey you’re on, creating content, putting yourself out there, growing your audience, who do you have surrounding you to keep you motivated along the way?
My family. My best friends. It’s two parts. My parents don’t understand the world of social media as much or the power of it, but they’re supportive to help me with anything that I need to do to get to where I want to be.
Three of my best friends right now—Charly, Amir, and Tania—they’ve all been supportive in different ways, being my biggest cheerleaders, giving me critiques when I need them. And they’re all from different circles. Charly models, Tania does photos, and Amir dances. So it’s like having all the different aspects of my life with me all the time. I’d be a different person without their friendships. Your friends are a reflection of you.