Not many people are in a position to call Janet Jackson by "Jan" but Alex Carson is, and she does it with a gold "Canberra" necklace hanging around her neck.
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The dancer may be early on in her career but she has already spent her time dancing in Jackson's most recent world tour and Las Vegas residency, Metamorphosis, as well as performing on stage and in videos with Cardi B.
Carson was also on stage for Rihanna's Fenty Savage New York Fashion Week show, and at the Grammy's alongside the Barbadian singer. She's also been a part of influential New Zealand dance crew, the Royal Family and next week will see her dance alongside Katy Perry for the final of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup.
"Every artist is different. I've been lucky enough to experience artists that are very loving and appreciative of their dancers," Carson says.
"Janet is the number one boss that you could ever have in the dance industry. She's absolutely amazing. She takes the time to get to know us outside of work and she genuinely cares for us.
"But then there's other newer artists. I've danced a lot with Cardi B in the last couple of years and she's still very pleasant to work with but she's not as interactive with her dancers as someone like Janet."
Carson is back in her home city of Canberra this month and in between different jobs in locations across the country, she's making sure to pass on what she's learnt to other aspiring dancers at the place where it all began, Dance Central in Phillip.
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"I never thought that I would be able to come back and be an inspiration to all of these people," Carson says.
"As a young Canberra girl you're just dancing for fun but maybe you do have that desire in you. I hope that I'm able to make these girls believe in themselves."
On March 14, the dancer will host three workshops for a range of ages through some of the different styles she's learnt from her time working overseas.
"I'm trying to make sure that I incorporate as much of the styles that I've learnt and teach a variety of it too," Carson says.
"Obviously I have learnt different styles from Janet to Cardi, which are on completely different parts of the spectrum of dance, so I want to be able to incorporate that and just pass on as much as I possibly can."
That includes her experience working in both music videos and live on stage, as well as what she has found to be challenging in both mediums.
"Obviously, for a music video your energy is just into a lens," Carson says.
"I feel like it doesn't take as much energy - although, of course, you need to go hard, but - opposed to a live performance when there are thousands of people and you just want to dance so hard and impress everyone.
"Also the things with music videos which is hard is that it happens very quickly. You don't get a month of rehearsal - you maybe get a week at the very most.
"And when you get there and you're just sitting around in a warehouse, and all of sudden they're like, 'OK, we're shooting, go.' You have to snap into this amazing performer when really you've just been sitting there eating popcorn."