Sia with Mina Nishimura behind her
I recently signed up to receive news briefs from theSkimm—it’s an e-mail Listserv that sends you a short, clever e-mail Monday through Friday, skimming major news stories (yes, I know I’m basic). This morning, I found myself wishing I had a dance version of a news aggregator. So…I decided to do it on my own. May I present what I think is the coolest dance-related bit of news I’ve found from this past weekend.
November 7’s “Saturday Night Live” had notoriously disguised Sia as the musical guest. One of the songs she performed, “Bird Set Free,” featured butoh-inspired Japanese dancer Mina Nishimura. (If you’re not up on your Sia dance history, read about her obsession with Maddie Ziegler of “Dance Moms” fame here and how choreographer Ryan Heffington created those quirky moves here. Plus, for Sia’s last video, “Alive,” she featured 9-year-old mixed martial arts prodigy Mahiro Takano. Sia is nothing, if not surprising.)
It’s pretty out-there stuff for an “SNL” performance, no? But it’s powerful, especially when you keep in mind that Sia’s dancers are often stand-ins for the singer herself. (Plus, it was so much better than Donald Trump’s parody of Drake’s “Hotling Bling” dancing.) Watch it here:
