Lorde’s choreographer got his start in area dance classes
It was one of the coolest moments of the MTV Video Music Awards last August.
Awash in mellow blue light, Lorde knelt down to a boombox by her feet. “Homemade Dynamite” started playing. Instead of singing, she danced. Her arms jerked, she stomped the stage to the beat, and dancers emerged to carry her through the air.
The piece was staged by Milwaukee-born, Elm Grove-raised Andrew Winghart, marking the beginning of a creative partnership with the pop star that includes choreographing her North American arena tour — which happens to kick off in Winghart’s hometown Thursday at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.
“We have similar takes on what constitutes good work and a similar appreciation for things that we’re passionate about,” said the 26-year-old Winghart, now based in Los Angeles. “There’s an ease about the way she responds to the type of movement that I naturally do.”
His journey began 20 years ago, when a 6-year-old Winghart would be carted to his sister’s dance classes.
When he was 8, Winghart would lock his parents in a room to watch his first self-choreographed performances.
“I’m sure they were hilarious to watch, but I was very serious,” he said.
They nurtured his gift, signing their son up for classes at Accent on Dance in Waukesha. Winghart credits teachers Kellie Plath and Kate Carpenter for being especially influential, giving him the chance to choreograph and teach classes during his early teen years.
“Growing up in Wisconsin, most boys aren’t going to take dance classes, and it’s not necessarily encouraged,” Winghart said. “I was bullied in middle school, and it felt so earth-shattering at the time. Part of the reason I focused so much on my training is it became my outlet and my safe space from other things that were happening at school or in my life.”
After he graduated from Brookfield East High School in 2010, Winghart studied business and film at the University of Southern California on a full academic scholarship.
He continued to choreograph in his spare time, and throughout college, Winghart taught dance workshops across the country with traveling dance convention JUMP.
By the time Winghart graduated from USC in 2014, he had developed a distinct, highly technical contemporary style.
“I met with some talent agencies in L.A., and one told me to give up entirely and be a producer, because my work has no commercial kind of application,” Winghart said. “It was the kind of grind that every artist kind of goes through, but I couldn’t stop making work.”
So Winghart spent $15,000 to choreograph and direct an ambitious dance video set to Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River,” created around the concept of using 36 dancers (mostly women in muted blue dresses) resembling flowing water.
Winghart posted the video on Jan. 31, 2017 — unbeknownst to him, on Timberlake’s birthday. The video took off, generating more than 3 million views on YouTube.
The opportunities have been flowing since. Less than a month after posting “River,” Winghart was choreographing a performance of “How Far I’ll Go” from “Moana” for the Academy Awards.
And with the Lorde work, Winghart’s choreography will be staged in some of the largest venues in North America.
“It’s hard to put into words,” Winghart said. “I don’t think it will set in until we drive to Milwaukee and load in and I can walk up to the Bradley Center and be someplace familiar.”
“My whole family will be there, my friends, some of my dance teachers,” he continued. “I’m so happy my parents are going to be there. They’ve been supporting me for so long, and they can see the monster they created.”