PORTLAND, Ore. - Pretty much everyone knows what it means to dance like Lady Gaga. Everyone's seen the videos, performances and parodies -- so with sharp, robotic movement and spastic clawing, anyone can dance like Gaga sometimes. But a select few do it every night. Crawling in and out of a lighted cage covered in crosses and dancers, dressed in ripped leggings, stiletto boots and a cutoff leather jacket, Montana Efaw is one of those few. For the past year, she has toured as one of Lady Gaga's 10 full-time backup dancers. You might recognize her tall frame and signature blond, french-braided pompadour mohawk from the "Today" show. Or from the "Telephone" music video. Or from Thursday night's concert at the Rose Garden. For Efaw, this show was different from shows in New York, Boston, Belgium and Japan. It was her first time home in more than a year. Efaw, 19, graduated from Lakeridge High School in June 2009 and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her passion: dancing. The next month, she turned 18 and could finally audition for professional dance jobs. In August, there weren't many opportunities, but she went to a few auditions. One of those led to her dancing with Lady Gaga at the MTV Video Music Awards in September. By November, she was embarking on a world tour with the world's biggest superstar. "I still pinch myself," Efaw says. "Sometimes I forget how big she is, because we're on the road all the time. I'm like, 'Wow. I get to dance for a pretty big star."' Efaw remains humble, according to her friends and family, despite her unusually rapid success. She can't say how much the job pays, but she says she no longer has to rely on her parents' financial support, and has even started to save money. As her Facebook status informed everyone hours before she performed for a hometown crowd of nearly 20,000, Efaw is "just a kid with a dream back home to make em proud. this ones for you portland!" Efaw has known for a long time that she wanted to be a dancer. Even though she didn't start dancing until age 10, her talent was obvious right away. "I uniquely remember this one particular instance when we were doing a private lesson," says Michelle McKinney, the owner and director of Dance Vision studio and Efaw's teacher since she was 13. "I was like, 'Oh my god, you are going to go so far.' "I just knew she was going to have amazing success." At Dance Vision in Clackamas, Efaw trained five days a week in jazz, ballet, hip-hop, lyrical, contemporary and technique. Though she was a good student and cared about her high school classes, she never considered college. "I had a great high school experience, and I worked my butt off for what I'm doing now at the same time, so I feel like I was working double-time in high school," she says. "I feel like my dance college was during high school because I was gone just training, training, training and now I'm, like, in life." Efaw traveled extensively to various dance conventions around the country, making connections with choreographers in the business and preparing for her career as early as age 13. She went from attending three to five conventions a year when she started out to 20 by the time she graduated. Efaw's talent and determination led to many pre-professional experiences before she was 18: She worked for a touring dance convention that paid her travel costs, taught at Dance Vision, worked as a choreographer for Radio Disney Portland, choreographed the Stumptown Stages production of "Dreamgirls," danced in a movie pilot for "Footloose" and performed as a junior Blazer Dancer. Efaw's parents were instrumental in helping her achieve her dream, and she credits them with her success. They accompanied her to conventions, spent weeks with her in L.A. during summers, and helped her form a plan for her future when others wouldn't take her seriously. "In high school, at least to my school counselors and other kids, I didn't really talk about it," she says. "Because it sounds crazy! Like, 'Oh, you're moving to L.A. to become a dancer?' -- it doesn't sound practical. But they don't understand that it's a legit career. You can make it happen." Efaw says she worked hard to maintain her 3.85 grade-point average in high school, and would finish homework during lunch or breaks so she could miss school and travel all weekend. "The other kids would ask, 'Why are you working so hard if you're not even going to college?"' she says. "It's important, you know? ... It's learning how to learn. ... I'm so glad I did, because I feel like today, that work ethic is with me." Efaw's stellar work ethic has not escaped notice. Her peers, family, teachers and friends all bring up how hard she's worked. "She's just inspiring," says Ali Fox, a recent Camas High School grad who danced with Efaw at Dance Vision. "She's motivated and she's focused -- really goal-oriented. And she's hilarious when you talk to her. She's one of the funniest people you'll ever meet." After an all-night bus ride from San Jose, Efaw got off the Gaga dancers' tour bus in Portland on Wednesday, went to her family's Lake Oswego home to change, and headed straight to her old dance studio. A handful of teens she used to dance with, dozens of new faces, and a few students from other local studios had gathered for the Master Class she was teaching. "I'm home! I'm home!" she yells, bouncing through the doorway to the small, nondescript studio in a strip mall off Southeast 82nd Drive. She makes her way through the studio, wearing sweats, a baggy tank top, a flannel shirt tied around her waist, and an armful of black studded bracelets. Older dancers squeal and hug her; younger students look attentive but nervously keep their distance. Slowly, everyone spreads out and gets ready for the class. Efaw introduces herself, the music booms through speakers and the dancers move their bodies in a familiar warm-up sequence. "Oh my gosh, I'm teaching here again!" Efaw exclaims. "It feels so good!" She leads the group through complex counts, explaining things in numbers, technical terms, sound effects and precise descriptions. She spends the next hour and a half guiding the packed room through a high-energy, minute-long routine she choreographed to a techno-rap song called "Steroids." McKinney, the studio director, and Efaw's mother reminisce while the group, tired and sweaty, sits in a circle and asks Efaw about Lady Gaga and life on the road. Efaw is strictly forbidden from speaking publicly about working with Gaga, but she is obviously happy to be on the tour. "It's fun to be part of such a production," she says. "It's more than steps. You're really performing your character and it's nice. It's cutting-edge, it's out of the box, it's something fresh. ... I couldn't even have dreamed of someone as cool as her." Efaw says her non-work life is laid-back. She likes sleeping on the dark tour bus, and is a self-described reality TV junky with a soft spot for "America's Next Top Model," "Jersey Shore" and Bravo's many "Real Housewives" series. She'd never want to be on a reality show herself, even a dancing one such as "So You Think You Can Dance?" -- though she assisted show choreographers in summer 2009. "I don't think I'd have the reality TV personality," she says. "I'm too, like, mellow. ... I wouldn't want to have to turn on an act for a camera." But Efaw doesn't need to worry about being on reality TV because she's content with the life she's leading. "Getting to do what I love to do every day, that's insane," she says. "And dancing for such a mass of people, that's insane. And getting to see the world ... just huge life experiences right now -- there's so much! "I'll take this ride as long as I can! ... I'm just trying to enjoy it while I'm in it, because I feel like I'll look back and say these were some of the best times."
