Corey Baker | |
---|---|
Born | Christchurch, New Zealand | 6 June 1990
Career | |
Dances | Classical, contemporary |
Website | coreybakerdance |
Corey Baker (born 6 June 1990) is a New Zealand classical and contemporary choreographer, film director and former dancer. [1]
Baker was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 6 June 1990. [2] He attended a rural primary school in Canterbury. [3]
At age fourteen, he was aspiring to be a musical theatre actor in high school. [1] His English teacher, who ran a ballet class in the center of town, saw him tap dancing in the corridor because of his interest and said, "Ballet will help with that." [1] Baker left high school at fifteen to join the International Ballet Academy (IBA) in Christchurch; he danced full time for a year. [1] His lead teacher at IBA was Carl Myers. [3]
In 2017, Baker became one of three resident choreographers at the Royal New Zealand Ballet. [4] In 2018, Baker created the first professional dance performance in Antarctica, which was filmed for Channel 4 (UK) and aired on Earth Day 2018. [5]
In 2020, Baker received a "Culture in Quarantine" commission from the BBC and remotely directed and choreographed a 3-minute film titled Swan Lake Bath Ballet, filmed by 27 elite ballet dancers in their homes during COVID-19 lockdowns. [6] [7] The film was released in July 2020 and went viral, [8] with over 4 million views by the following month. [9] The film won the 2021 Prix Italia award for web fiction. [10]
In 2021, Baker created two dance films focusing on climate justice: Blown for the BBC [11] and Leaders of a New Regime, [12] which uses Lorde's track of the same title. Dance Race, a commission for the BBC's Dance Passion season, [13] was broadcast on BBC3 in March 2022. [14]
Baker was chief choreographer and movement director for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. [15]
Baker was in a relationship with American actor Jonathan Groff from 2018 to 2020. [16] [17] [18] [2] [1] [19]
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Note: A short clip from the home movie was played for the television audience.