INPERSON
S H OOTING
S T A R
Murrysville’ s Maddie Ziegler conquers stage and screen. BY JENNIFER BROZAK
At age eight, Murrysville native Maddie Ziegler shot to fame as part of the Lifetime reality show“ Dance Moms.” At age 11, she was starring in the music video for
“ Chandelier” by singer-songwriter Sia. Today, Maddie is publishing a memoir, just finished filming two feature films and is working on a clothing line. And she’ s only 14. Maddie, who has been dancing since she was two, has become internationally famous for her talent both on stage and in front of the camera. Widely dubbed the“ breakout star” from“ Dance Moms,” she catapulted to fame when Sia contacted her for the music video.
“ She watched me on‘ Dance Moms’ and liked my dancing, so she tweeted me, asking me to be in her music video,‘ Chandelier,’” Maddie recalls.“ I flew to L. A. two weeks later.”
The video, which features Maddie performing a contemporary routine in a nude-colored bodysuit, has amassed more than 1.5 billion views on YouTube. It’ s won numerous awards, including Best Choreography at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. The video was also nominated for Best Music Video at the 2015 Grammy Awards.
Since that initial meeting, Sia and Maddie have continued their professional partnership, working together on additional music videos. Maddie starred alongside actor Shia LaBeouf in the 2015 video for“ Elastic Heart” and“ Big Girls Cry,” and has danced to Sia’ s vocal performances on“ Saturday Night Live,”“ The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and“ Dancing with the Stars,” among others. Last year, she also accompanied Sia on her North American tour, where she danced alongside the singer on stage every night.
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