Maddie Ziegler, all of thirteen and four feet nine inches, is possessed by the ghost of Kazuo Ohno: that haunted Japanese Butoh dancer who seeped movement through his woeful chalked face alone, even before your eyes move to his folding frame or contorted arms. Maddie's similarly ghosted face and the carefully constructed erratic tantrums of her body in Sia's music video trilogy betray a similar sense of desperation and dread mixed with beauty and absurdly distorted play. When she's slamming her head on a school desk in “Chandelier,” sucking her thumb and continuously reassembling her face in “Big Girls Cry,” or moving from animal rage to tender need inside a cage with Shia LeBouf in “Elastic Heart,” it's as if she has taken the isolation, chronic anxiety, alcoholic delirium, and paralyzing trauma alluded to in Sia's lyrics and allowed these emotions to possess the smallness of her body and lived experience until it overflows and compels her to seize, quake, run, leap, and collapse.
She's dancing, always, and not usually on those macabre sets and black screens she inhabits in the videos alluded to above, but in competitions and on an over the top reality show where the dancing is minimized in order to make room for the squabbles, spats, and manufactured drama. That's where she started, but her concerns and goals as a dancer, as an artist, have already moved beyond those banalities.
She's a dancer. She's also just another pretty teenage girl with friends who acts silly and takes selfies and posts videos of herself lip sinking to top 40 hits. She's also that ghost of Kazuo Ohno. Also a blue-eyed doll with an endearing overbite that came pirouetting out from Hans Bellmer's surreal closet. - liquoredgoat
'Maddie Ziegler is 12. She's carrying an Edie Parker clutch, valued at upward of $1,000, but she's wide-eyed with surprise when told how expensive it is. And she stuffs her mouth with pizza, unaware that there's a splotch of tomato sauce on her cheek.'
'In other words, in many ways, Ziegler is your normal, average tween, freezing her way through Manhattan last month and exclaiming how excited she is to go to her first Fashion Week shows. Ask her about the past year, and she tells you about a few of the folks she has gotten to know as the leaping, jerking, jumping, twitching body interpreting the songs of singer Sia.'
'That's Ziegler, in a blond wig and nude leotard, making crazy eyes in the video Chandelier and in appearances on Saturday Night Live and the Grammys. She's a wunderkind on Lifetime's Dance Moms (Tuesdays, 9 ET/PT), but she has cut loose as the performer fronting Sia, who doesn't like to show her face.'
'Ziegler cavorted with Kristen Wiig at the Grammys: "It was the coolest experience, especially getting to do it with a non-dancer. She did really well. I think the crowd went really wild. That was definitely serious, and we put a lot of dedication and hard work into the piece. I thought she'd be doing funny things on the side. But no, she was full-on, full out."'
'She co-starred with Shia LaBeouf (they were caged together) in the singer's video Elastic Heart. "There was a lot of action, a lot of fighting going on with that video. (He) learned it really, really well," she says.'
'And she performed Chandelier with talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and his sidekick Guillermo, trying to teach them the routine: "They were very funny to work with. It was a more not-so-serious concept.''They had the leotards on. That was kind of, whatever," she says with a shrug.'
'The key to Ziegler's success, says Dance Moms instructor (and onscreen harridan) Abby Lee Miller, is that she's mature beyond her years.'
'"She's smart. She has great musicality. She's 100% focused on the task at hand, while other children — no names mentioned — may have one eye upstairs on the parents," Miller says. "Others may be socializing with friends. Maddie is focused on the teacher. Since the age of 4, Maddie's brain has kept her ahead of her peers. Maddie has had such a blast doing all these exciting things. I'm a little jealous I can't do them with her."'
' Ziegler connected with Sia in a very 21st-century way. '
'"She tweeted me. She tweeted that she's a fan of the show and I should be in her video. I thought it was fake. Who's Sia? She doesn't show her face. She doesn't put herself out there," Ziegler says. "She's so sweet. I was in L.A. at her house with her husband and her dogs. I'm like her family now. She treats me like a daughter. No one knows Sia is married. She has an Australian accent.” '
'Ziegler is adorably smitten when discussing their relationship.'
'"It's so cool. I don't even know how to explain it. After Chandelier— did you see my Dancing With the Stars performance? I was rehearsing for Ellen (DeGeneres) the first time, and Sia said, 'I want to make another music video, which was Elastic Heart, and I don't want to use anyone else.' We're all like a family."'
'She's a quick study: Ziegler took her first class at age 2 and recalls leaving a recital in tears because she wanted to be back on stage.'
'"They gave me three days to learn Chandelier. I don't need that long. I learned it in three hours."'
'She's less enthused about Dance Moms, where rivalry between kids and moms is as lurid as the sequined ensembles.'
'For fun, "I dance," she says. "I don't really do anything else. Or I hang out with my friends, all the girls on the show. They're my best friends."'
'Wait, what? On the show, they bicker constantly. There are tantrums, tears, outbursts.'
'“It's hard to do a reality show when there's so much crying and drama," she says. "The producers set it up to make us all yell at each other. You know how I said that moms do fight? The moms have a fake fight sometimes. Afterward they just start talking and laugh about it."'- USA Today
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STILLS
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TWEETS
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INTERVIEW
How did you and Sia get hooked up for a second video?
We've always stayed in touch ever since the first Sia video because we became really close and we have such a nice bond. Sia just said, "Well, I don't want to have any other team," so she just kept everyone — same choreographer [Ryan Heffington], same everything. Because we're like a family now so she liked it this way, just us.
What is it that created such a strong bond between you two?
She was a fan of our show and, I don't even know, we kind of just clicked when we met. By the second day we were already, like, bestie.
When she told you that you'd be shooting this video with Shia, what was your reaction?
I was like, "Wait, who's Shia?" So I looked up pictures of him and I was like, "Oh, OK, he's familiar." Then they were like, "He was in Even Stevens and the movie Holes and I was just freaking out. I was like, "Oh my god, I'm having a Disney moment here."
Did he fit into the family of the video? Because it sounds like you guys were pretty tight.
He really did. Before we started the video Shia took me and my mom out to eat just to get to know each other because it'd be awkward just being like, "Hey, let's dance together," the first day, you know? It's kind of weird. So you have to build that bond.
How good of a dancer is he?
[Laughs] I was confused [when they told me he was in the video], I was like, "Wait, does he dance?" And they were like, "Ehhh, no." To be honest, he wasn't that bad at dancing. He gets it because he's an actor so he needs to learn to remember lines so it's the same with learning dances. I mean, it wasn't full dancing for him and even for me it wasn't full dancing. We did a lot of acting and a lot of running around and chasing each other. It was definitely one of the most tiring things I've ever done in my life.
It seemed emotionally challenging as well.
Oh my gosh, yes. At the end of the video, I don't know if you can see, but Shia cried. You could see a tear run down his face.
Was it intense to film? Or were you guys having fun on set?
We had fun on set definitely, but when we got into it he got super-serious. He was running around, he was punching the cage and screaming and doing a lot of push-ups. He just kept doing it and I was just standing there like, Uhh, does he always do this? I don't usually just see people screaming and getting into character; I was a little intimidated but I understood.
What kind of direction did Sia give you?
She wanted me to imagine I'm a wolf, and we'd been living in the cage for a while. That's why I'm always hissing in the video and chasing and crawling. He's just normal. In the beginning of the video I am the strong one, trying to beat him down, and then toward the end when he lifts me and throws me around and stuff, that's when he starts to battle me back. But by the end we've become friends, I guess you could call it.
I heard rumors that the video might be about Sia's relationship with her dad. Has she mentioned that?
No, she actually hasn't. I mean, I could ask her. The first video was about her life, but the second one, I'm not so sure, because you never know with Sia. She has the craziest stories and most amazing ideas.
Are you and Shia buddies now? Do you guys keep in touch?
I would say so. I mean, he texted me today and told me, "Brilliant job on the video." And I was like, "Who is this?" I don't even know how he got my number! He's like, "Shia." And I felt bad. I was like, "Oops, didn't realize that."
How has your life changed since the "Chandelier" video came out?
It's changed in so many different ways. I mean, now celebrities know who I am. When I saw Miley Cyrus and J.Lo [on the red carpet at the VMAs] I was like, "Hi, um, I'm Maddie, I don't know if you know me, I'm in the Sia video." They're like, "We've seen it." And I was like, Whoa, that is cool. Because, you know, I'm just a girl that lives in Pittsburgh. It's not a big deal at all. (Cosmopolitan)
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CLIPS
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p.s. Hey. Your weekend in this realm is being extremely taken care of by the great creativity outsourcer and d.l. Liquoredgoat who has, courtesy of the divine intervention of his tastes and sense of fun, picked as his guest-post's star the rambunctious-seeming and talented charmer Maddie Ziegler. Please spend Saturday's best hours, and even Sunday's, using your eyes, ears, etc. as gobbling devices. Thanks. And thank you tremendously, Lg! ** Thursday ** David S. Estornell, Hello, lovely David. I feel like I have felt you out there. Oh, goodness, congratulations on your marriage! And to a French fella! Excellence through and through! Do let me now when/if you get over here, and hopefully I'll be there whenever that is. Love, me. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. He's not as trendy as Zizek, that's for sure. ** Tosh Berman, Hi, Tosh. I'm happy she intrigued you. Me too, re: eschewing headphones, not always, but selectively. I don't think I ever watch movies on planes where the plot is more complicated to figure out than how to comb your hair. ** H, Hi. I'm pleased that she seems worth looking into. I understand what you mean about Derrida, yeah, from my outsider perspective. ** Tomkendall, Howdy, Tom. Tortoise made a new album? I didn't know that. Weird. Good weird. I really like those opening two paragraphs, sir! I love your writing, and it seems like t's really flying and interstellar there. Awesome! ** Steevee, Hi. Seems that 'Son of Saul' is so divisive it even briefly divided the atmosphere in this cozy place. Curious to read your thoughts. Everyone, Steevee has weighed in on the hot-button film Son of Saul. I don't know that Edward Wang film at all. Huh. Exciting! ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. I wish a recording of what you hear during your MRI scans could be uploaded into one of my gig posts. Everyone, BLUE EYES has grown a little more. Make haste. ** Aaron Mirkin, Much, much better. 'Meadowland' sounds very vaguely familiar. I don't know why I can't come up with an example for you since, in my mind's eyes, I feel like there must be no end of examples. I do seem to have developed a head cold yesterday, so that might be a culprit. ** Postitbreakup, Hi, Josh! Always so good to see you on these sadly rare occasions. Thank you for scoring 'Gone'. I don't even know where I am on Twitter. Stuff's good here. Stuff good there? Love, me. ** Misanthrope, You're in NYC. You'll probably see this when NYC is in your rear view, not that I know your blog checking habits, mind you. I hope you had the blast of all possible blasts. ** Rewritedept, Well, hey there Chris! It has been what feels like ages! Great to see you, man. So you're in a crush-friendly phase. The creative power of the unrequited crush is very underrated. I don't know if the creative power of the requited crush is overrated. I'm real good, busy, fighting a head cold at the moment, but, yeah, good. 'LCTG' will be released on DVD in the US, tentatively in April, but the date isn't set yet. It's getting released on DVD in Germany this week. It seems quite possible that Yo La Tengo would play here. ... and Dave Schramm, I'm not sure. Ugh, kidney stone, never had that problem, no, ugh, sorry. Be more present, yes, if it suits your purposes, yes! ** James, Hi there, James. I read 'Sleepless Nights', but a long, long time ago. I hardly remember it. I do remember it was quite good. Mm, the film you described does found familiar. Jeez, but its title and blog location are escaping me. Let me think. Let me see if I can think far enough to follow up on those thoughts with a search of my blog's past. If so, I'll let you know. Oh, wait, I should ask everyone. Everyone, Here's a question from James. I'm spacing on the answer. Do you any of you remember? Here he is: '[DC] mentioned a film a while back, maybe a few months ago, that is recent but was made to look like it was filmed in the seventies, where a man is picking up women in his car, and then the women are never seen or heard from again. It was supposed to be a kind of pseudo documentary, if I remember correctly? Can you please tell me what the name of that film was? Thank you!' ** Bill, Hi, Bill. Oh, belated music faves, Hold on while I read them. I don't know some of those recordings. I've written them down re: pursuit. You did very well for yourself on the live gig front, whoa! ** Friday ** James, Hi, Thanks for ponying up with an outlay of your enthusiasm to our deserved guest-hosts of yesterday! ** David Ehrenstein, Ha ha, well, thank you for that little concert co-featuring someone I once knew very well! Too well, perhaps. That's very nice and sweet about Dallesandro's spot in the Jane/Charlotte retro. ** Bernard Welt, No small task that. ** Misanthrope, Shit, I waved temporary goodbye to you peremptorily. Well, I'll just do it again. Oh, oh, oh, and thank you for that extravaganza yesterday that was, and will ever be, so ... there are no words ... that it even blew Bernard's mind. Bernard's blown mind is legendarily the golden goose. ** Steevee, Hi, Steve. I'm going to see if there's enough available material online to put together a Mohsin Makhmalbaf Day over the weekend. It looks possible at an initial glance. Fingers crossed. ** Flit, Flit! It was genius. It truly was. I don't see any other way to describe it. It would change everything if everything would let it. ** Liquoredgoat, There you are. Thank you so much, Douglas. I'm very excited to know that the blog looks and reads the amazing ways it does this weekend. This is definitely a post where I wish I was a mind reader. Or at least a cam on the desktop/phone of this blog's visitors so I could see the looks on people's faces when they first see your post and then watch the looks evolve as their eyes become accustomed. Oh, cool. About your liking the Okokon and Shapednoise albums. Big up! ** _Black_Acrylic, Jedward! They never topped 'Lipstick', and, more particularly, their performance of 'Lipstick' at the Eurovision Song Contest, though, if you ask me. ** Kyler, Hi, K! Happy holidays! Even in Florida! Well, a bunch of Florida will be underwater in ten or fifteen years, if that's any consolation. Nice that your sister and you delocked horns. The Ramrod: subtle, ha ha. Happy Yule again and doubly to you, pal! ** Bill, Hi, B. Aw, you and your legendarily itchy attention span. What's not to love? About your attention span, not about the movie. Things are just things, ultimately. No? Yes, we finished editing what we needed to edit, hurrah. Thank you. ** Okay. Without further ado, I'll take my leave and let you guys commune one-on-one or, wait, one-on-two, with MZ and Lg until further notice. Further notice will be Monday. Not that you will need to stop your communing then, of course. Blah blah, have good weekends!