Alice Teirstein! Dance teacher, body shaker, epic New Yorker of tiny stature. Who gave us all the gift of taking our young, creative ideas seriously. Who pushed against the commercial and the quotidian with such vehemence that it couldn’t help but rub off on her students. Sure, our dancing may have been un-hip for high school, but man, it was fun. And it was soul-expanding. I thank my lucky stars for her encouragement to get weird/be weird/stay weird. I love you, Alice, forever.