Meet Ryan Heffington
Meet the Grammy-nominated choreographer Ryan Heffington who built his career by following instinct rather than rules.
Originally from Yuba City, a small farming town in Northern California, he moved to Los Angeles at 18 and started dancing in nightclub spaces instead of formal studios. That unconventional beginning shaped the way he creates today: his performances often combine choreography, video, music, costume design, and visual storytelling into one immersive experience.
Over the years, he has worked with major artists including Florence + The Machine, Ellie Goulding, Sia, FKA Twigs, and Britney Spears, as well as appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race. His choreography for the music videos “We Exist” by Arcade Fire and “Chandelier” by Sia both earned Grammy nominations, helping cement his reputation in the music industry.
Ryan Heffington for Vogue Magazine in 2020 | Photo by Kira Lillie
Ryan is also co-artistic director of the Hysterica Dance Company, where his work received recognition from the Horton Awards with nominations for Best Male Performer, Best Small Group Ensemble, and Best Costume Design. Earlier in his career, he led experimental dance projects with the company that explored bold visuals, gender-bending costumes he designed himself, and sharp, expressive movements inspired in part by modern dance pioneer Martha Graham.
His performances have appeared everywhere from clubs and bars to major cultural venues like the MOCA, LACMA, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the UCLA Hammer Museum, as well as on Saturday Night Live and at the Coachella festival stage. For the Harry Styles fans, Ryan’s most recent work was choreographing the video of “Aperture” and it’s definitely a masterpiece.
Instead of pointing to one defining moment, Heffington says his path happened step by step, through constant creating and collaborating with people around him. Without a formal dance education, he developed his own way of working, guided more by feeling than by rules. For him, a piece is finished when it creates a strong physical reaction, not when it checks technical boxes. That instinct-driven method is what gives his choreography its raw, emotional edge.
More than anything, he believes community is what really builds a career. His journey proves that some of the most influential creatives in music don’t always come from traditional systems, they come from experimentation, persistence, and trusting their own voice. And in many cases, it’s artists like him behind the scenes who shape the moments audiences remember most.
Oh and also a fun fact, you know the dance scene that appears during the play written by Lexi in Euphoria season 2, when actors perform exaggerated versions of the boys from her school? Well, the choreography was created by Ryan Heffington. He designed the movement to feel intentionally over-the-top, almost like a parody, so the characters come across as dramatic and theatrical rather than realistic, matching Lexi’s point of view in the play.
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