Step Up star Briana Evigan on ‘debilitating’ injury

Ask Me to Dance: Trailer for 2022 romcom

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Briana Evigan, 36, catapulted to fame in 2008 as she became the face of hit film Step Up 2 after over a decade of training as a dancer. Now, as Briana returns to the dance floor, she revealed exclusively to Express.co.uk the brutal toll that years of intensive dance has taken on her body, not that it stops the actress in the slightest.

In the world of dance, injuries are far from uncommon and Briana understands this completely as she powered through most of Step Up 2 with a torn knee.

Now, after decades on the dancefloor, the actress is starting to see far more serious repercussions of her intensive lifestyle.

Speaking to Express.co.uk ahead of the release of her latest film, Ask Me To Dance, the actress revealed she currently has a devastating injury that she is somewhat ignoring for the time being.

She shared: “I currently have an injury on my big toe and it’s sometimes debilitating.

“I just got it x-rayed and it’s like arthritis, bone spur, bone growing on bone, it’s a whole mess.

“I’ll have to get surgery on at some point but it’s not stopping me, it’s one of those things I’ll get when it’s a must.”

Briana first started dancing in primary school, dabbling in a “little bit of everything” before falling in love with the fast-paced hip-hop style that would garner her celebrity status years later.

While it’s been a few years since audiences have seen her talents in action, Briana still has a deep appreciation for all things dance, saying it “changed my life”.

She added: “It gave me purpose when I was a teenager which often is a time of struggle for a lot of young people.

“It flipped my life on its head when I was 20 in all the good ways.”

However, the actress seems to have an affinity for injury-inducing dances as she’s developed a love for a completely different type of dance in recent years.

Briana said: “I actually really love ballet as an adult.

“Sometimes when I’m working out and doing my exercises around the house I’ll get into a little sort of ballet/martial arts type of workout.

“Ballet will break your feet no matter what and it depends what type of hip hop you’re doing, breakdancing and stuff I can’t imagine doing, now.”

The 36-year-old added that she’s still keen on hip hop, saying: “Every once in a while I’ll be in a club or something and bust out a couple moves.

“It’s fun while you’re doing it but then I’m just miserable for three days.”

Briana’s new film may not be as fast-paced or injury-inducing as the role that catapulted her to stardom but it still challenged the actress.

She added: “It was a different type of dance for me, it was the emotional, slow, romantic, partner dancing which I had never done.

“It was just beautiful and fun and great to be back with other dancers, it made me miss Step Up days.”

Ask Me To Dance is available to watch on Amazon Prime.

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