Corey Baker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 June 1990 Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Career | |
| Dances | Classical, contemporary |
| Website | coreybakerdance |
Corey Baker (born 6 June 1990) is a New Zealand creative director, choreographer, filmmaker and former dancer. [1]
Baker was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on 6 June 1990. [2] He grew up in Hornby and attended Yaldhurst School. In his teens he attended Ao Tawhiti school, then known as Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti. [3] [4]
At age fourteen, he was aspiring to be a musical theatre actor. [1] His English teacher, who ran a ballet class in central Christchurch, 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. [4]
Baker has been Resident Choreographer at the Royal New Zealand Ballet [5] and Associate Artist of the Royal Albert Hall. [6] In 2018, Baker created the first professional dance performance in Antarctica, which was filmed for Channel 4 (UK) and aired on Earth Day 2018. [7]
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. [8] [9] The film was released in July 2020 and went viral, [10] with over 4 million views by the following month. [11] The film won the 2021 Prix Italia award for web fiction. [12]
In 2021, Baker created two dance films focusing on climate justice: Blown for the BBC [13] and Leaders of a New Regime, [14] which uses Lorde's track of the same title. Dance Race, a commission for the BBC's Dance Passion season, [15] was broadcast on BBC3 in March 2022. [16]
Baker was chief choreographer and movement director for the opening ceremony of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. [17] In 2023, he was creative director for the United Nations's Human Rights 75 Concert in Geneva. [18]
Baker created the "The Dead Dance" for Lady Gaga's song of the same name, originally created for season 2 of Netflix's Wednesday and later used for the music video of the single. [19] [20] His other TV credits include choreographing Julianne Nicholson's "Dance Mom" in season 4 of Hacks, [21] Strictly Come Dancing, Ru Paul's Drag Race Down Under, Joe Lycett vs the Oil Giant, The National Lottery's Paralympics GB Homecoming, [22] and advertisements for O2/Dua Lipa, Marks & Spencer [23] and EE. [24] He was choreographer of the 2024 Tim Burton movie Beetlejuice Beetlejuice [25] and movement director of the music promo for Lola Young's 2025 single "One Thing". [26]
Baker was in a relationship with American actor Jonathan Groff from 2018 to 2020. [27] [28] [29] [2] [1] [30]
Note: A short clip from the home movie was played for the television audience.