Ryan Heffington (born June 7, 1973) is an American dancer and choreographer based in Los Angeles. He was nominated for two Grammy Awards for choreographing the music videos for Arcade Fire's "We Exist" (2013) and Sia's "Chandelier" (2014), winning a VMA Award for the latter.
Early life Heffington was born in Yuba City, California. He has danced since he was young, but has never received any formal training. He moved from Yuba City to Los Angeles at the age of 18.
Career In the mid-1990s, Heffington co-created the sexy Psycho Dance Sho' with Bubba Carr, and in the late 2000s he was the artistic director for the experimental modern dance company Hysterica. From 2006 to 2009, Heffington lead the dance troupe Fingered, which combined fast-paced Martha Graham-style choreography with genderbending costumes designed by Heffington. He has performed at bars and clubs, as well as MOCA, LACMA, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Saturday Night Live, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the UCLA Hammer Museum and Coachella.
Heffington is best known for choreographing the music videos for Arcade Fire's "We Exist" (2013) and Sia's "Chandelier" (2014), both of which were nominated for Grammy Awards, and the latter of which won him a VMA Award. Other Sia videos that Heffington has choreographed include "Elastic Heart", "Big Girls Cry", "Cheap Thrills" and "The Greatest".Adams, Char. "Sia Releases Haunting 'The Greatest' Music Video: Is It an Orlando Shooting Tribute?" , People magazine, September 6, 2016 Sia and Heffington's collaborations have "done more to raise the standards of dance in pop music than nearly any current artist integrating the forms."Kourlas, Gia. "For Sia, Dance Is Where the Human and the Weird Intersect" , The New York Times, 19 July 2016, accessed 31 October 2016. He has also worked with FKA Twigs and Britney Spears, and made several appearances on RuPaul's Drag Race.
Heffington created the choreography for the science fiction series The OA, which debuted on Netflix in December 2016.Renfro, Kim. "The genius behind Sia's music video choreography is the man who created the movements for 'The OA'", Business Insider Australia, December 23, 2016.
More of his work can be seen in television, film and onstage around the world, including the first season finale of HBO's Euphoria, Prime Video's Transparent, Spike Jonze's commercials for Kenzo (winner of the highest honor, the Titanium Lion @ the 2017 Cannes Film Festival), Apple's “Welcome Homepod” featuring FKA Twigs, and Edgar Wright's critically acclaimed 2017 film Baby Driver.Murphy, Mekado (27 June 2017). "How They Pulled Off the Perfectly Timed Stunts in ‘Baby Driver’" , The New York Times. Retrieved 7 July 2017.Fear, David (28 June 2017). "'Baby Driver': How Edgar Wright Staged the Crime Movie's Musical Action Scenes" , Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
Heffington was the owner of The Sweat Spot, a dance studio in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The space offered classes for both professional dancers and beginners in a casual atmosphere. Heffington decided to open the studio after he had hosted a roving event called Sweaty Sundays. Although the studio closed in 2020, Heffington still hosts Sweatfest and Wet Wednesdays on Instagram to thousands of dancers live.
More recently, Heffington choreographed Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2021 film adaptation of the Jonathan Larson musical tick, tick... BOOM! and made his acting debut in Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza.
Filmography Music Videos Year Title Artist Notes 2012 "Fjögur píanó" Sigur Rós Choreographer 2014 "I Try to Talk to You" Hercules and Love Affair "Chandelier" Sia "We Exist" Arcade Fire "Gold" Chet Faker "Video Girl" FKA Twigs "Gunshot" Lykke Li 2015 "Elastic Heart" Sia "Big Girls Cry" "What Kind of Man" Florence and the Machine "Ship to Wreck" "St Jude" "Queen of Peace"/"Long & Lost""Anna"Will Butler "King" Years & Years 2016 "Worship" "Cheap Thrills" Sia "The Greatest" 2017 "Rainbow" "Destroyer" "TR/ST" 2018 "Thunderclouds" LSD "Colors" Beck 2020 "La vita nuova" Christine and the Queens 2022 "King" and "Free" Florence and the Machine 2026 "Aperture" Harry Styles"Dance No More"
Commercials Year Commercial Notes 2014 FKA Twigs #throughglass Commercial for Google Glass Choreographer 2016 Kenzo World Commercial for Kenzo2018 Welcome Home Commercial for Apple HomePod Tiffany & Co. Spring 18 Commercial directed by Francis Lawrence 2021 Chanel n. 5 Commercial for Chanel
Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Nominated work Result 2014 MTV Video Music Awards Best Choreography "Chandelier" (Sia) 2015 MTV Video Music Awards Best Choreography "Gold" (Chet Faker) 2015 UK Music Video Awards Best Choreography in a Video "Elastic Heart" (Sia) 2017 MTV Video Music Awards Best Choreography "The Greatest" (Sia) UK Music Video Awards Best Choreography in a Video 2022 Creative Arts Emmy Awards Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming Euphoria
References
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