A young ballerina from Milford, Del. is getting a lot of spotlight from media outlets after she posted an Instagram video of her completing an elaborate turning sequence.
Lizzy Howell joins us in the studio to share her amazing story.
She started dancing when she was 5-years-old. Around that same time, she lost her mother in an automobile accident. Ten years later and Lizzy is still dancing.
At 15-years-old, Lizzy does ballet, tap jazz, contemporary and is in a variation class at In November, she posted a video on her Instagram of her doing an elaborate turning sequence and in January, a dance Instagram shared it and it went viral in no time at all.
“I didn’t send it to them or anything, they just shared it. Then they shared it on Facebook and that one video has 6 million views,” Lizzy says.
Lizzy says her whole world changed overnight.
“In a week I went from 1,000 followers to 53,000 on Instagram,” Lizzy says.
However, not everyone’s reactions to the video were positive. Many people called Lizzy a “plus-sized ballerina,” but it didn’t affect her.
“After the video went everywhere, somebody commented ‘and kids this is how hurricanes are made.’ My aunt and I laughed for like ten straight minutes and then we realized they meant tornadoes and not hurricanes, so I responded with that. Most of them I can laugh off or I just ignore it because they do not know me or anything about my story or my life, so it shouldn’t bother me. I don’t like particularly being called plus-size because if I can do everything anyone else can do, why should I be in a separate category,” Lizzy says.
Many of Lizzy’s new fans see her as an inspiration.
“Most people say that I am an inspiration and that if I was there when they were younger that they would’ve continued to dance,” Lizzy says.
Lizzy has plans of going to college at UCLA for forensic psychology, but she still wants to dance. She has dreams of being a dance teacher or on Broadway.
“You need to follow your dreams if that’s what you want to do for the rest of your life then you should do it, no matter what people tell you,” Lizzy says. “If it’s something that you love, then you should do it.”
Lizzy performs part of a ballet routine dedicated to her mother on the Mid South Audio Stage. Follow Lizzy’s dance journey here.
