Sofia Carson is no stranger to dance — after having starred in the Disney Channel’s popular music of the franchise to Descendants— but there is something very special about his latest film, Feel the Beat. The Netflix movie follows an aspiring Broadway dancer named April, who is back in his hometown, in Wisconsin, after an audition that goes terribly wrong. As she takes a job teaching young students at her old dance studio, she finally finds a way to pick up the pieces and reconnect with herself. In a similar way, the filming of the movie reminds to Carson why she fell in love with the arts in the first place.
“I fell in love with dance when I was 3 years of age,” the 27-year-old told POPSUGAR. “I remember the moment when I walked into my first pair of ballet slippers and I walked into my first dance class. I remember the moment so vividly when I first walked on a stage. It felt like home, and I felt free. All the things that April had forgotten, because she was so caught up in the attempt to be better, which is something that I struggle with, I have felt those things so vividly. Something about his story just felt so real to me. In the dance moments and more emotional moments, I felt like I was almost telling my own story. There’s something really raw and honest and vulnerable about that, and it was an incredible feeling.”
While Carson deeply refers to April, of the history, also love how much his character learns of the young students that she teaches. “April is so caught up in the attempt to be something other than itself, something different and better, because I don’t think that being herself was enough. These girls never pretended to be anything else, but exactly what they are, and we celebrate with them and all its quirks and imperfections in all their glory.”
“This cast, we were like sisters,” she continued. “I loved seeing how they loved and supported each other and how every day on the set was more magical than the day before. For me, even though I’m an adult and I’ve been doing this for a couple of years, I try to never lose the magic of being on the set all day, but the magic was even more of a high being around them, because it was like everything was so special for them. They were just these old souls trapped in the bodies of these young people. And I love to see their commitments to their characters and how I honestly wanted to tell their stories.”
“Your quirks and your imperfections are what make you beautiful.”
Coming from the Disney Channel, Carson added that she is very grateful to have a platform to inspire the next generation. “It is still surreal,” he said. “Everything from Evie, and how it changed my life and blessed me with a platform and a story that came to many of them. I have the gift of being able to influence and truly impact a child or young person to the life. And to do that, for the positive and for you to feel seen and loved and accepted and I hope empowered is the most important role I will ever play. Many of these young people, when they met me, that I knew of Evie’s and my work before Netflix. And that I say of themselves what Evie meant to them and what Descendants meant for them, and that is something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.”
In a similar way, she hopes that her character in Feel the Beat it helps the fans feel seen. “I hope you are inspired by April’s relentless determination and absolute love of what she does,” he said. “Never let anything get in your way. And I think that this is something really inspiring, but more importantly, I hope you’re seen in it. I hope you feel seen in all of our beautiful characters and at the heart of our story, that is you is enough. Their quirks and their imperfections are what make you beautiful. We need to celebrate who we are in all our imperfect glory. That is a very important message to never lose hope in ourselves and that we will always find a way back home.”
