Sean Bankhead Is Your Favorite Pop Star's Favorite Choreographer

Photograph by Joseph Bishop

When launching the career of an up-and-coming pop artist, labels and creative teams all seem to have the same secret weapon on speed dial: choreographer Sean Bankhead. From Lil Nas X’s steamy, internet-breaking “Industry Baby” video to Victoria Monet’s Grammy-nominated “On My Mama,” and more recently Tate McRae’s breakthrough “exes,” Bankhead knows how to create memorable moments for the internet age.

If you scroll down past his many credits on IMDb you’ll find that one of his earliest jobs was on 2009’s Hannah Montana. The site credits him as a choreographer, but he clarifies that he was a background dancer. “I was fresh-faced—just an ambitious, hungry kid wanting to be a part of any project that I could,” Bankhead tells GQ over Zoom. “But also, at the same time, I was creating my choreography name on YouTube.” Under the name @seanalator, Bankhead built a YouTube channel to showcase his unique style; a routine set to Beyoncé’s “Run The World (Girls)” went viral and reached 8.4 million views, and soon Bankhead was working with the likes of Missy Elliott and Katy Perry.

But before he became the go-to video and live-performance choreographer to A-listers and burgeoning talent alike, he was just a six-year-old dancing in the hallway of his grandparents’ home, trying not to make too much noise. He says the legendary music videos he was exposed to at a young age were a crucial part of his creative education.

“Michael Jackson’s ‘Remember the Time’ was the first video that I remember seeing and [being] like, ‘Whoa, this is incredible,’” Bankhead says. “I was too scared to digest it back then, but ‘Thriller’ was also one of my favorites. There are some Missy Elliott videos in there as well. There are definitely Aaliyah videos, there's Janet videos, there are Britney’s videos, there's Usher videos. I love music videos.” Now, Bankhead is helping restore music videos as an art form to their former glory, one pop diva at a time.

Before jet-setting to his next project, he gives GQ insight into his influences, embracing meme culture, the artists he’d love to work with, and his next collaboration with Lil Nas X.

GQ: Who are some of the choreographers that you have studied? Who’s on your mood boards?

SEAN BANKHEAD: The first choreographer that I saw who really changed my life and made me want to be in entertainment was Tina Landon, who choreographed the Velvet Rope tour. That was the very first concert I've ever been to. In the beginning, I was always obsessed with Tina Landon and then eventually Fatima Robinson, who did Michael Jackson and Aaliyah, and even back to Bob Fosse– they were all pioneers in making their own unique style of choreography.

Choreographers like Jamaica Craft and Aakomon Jones, who does Usher and Ciara, were kind of the forefront of the Atlanta choreography movement. I know my choreographers, I love my choreographers, and I respect them, especially the ones—like Brian Friedman and Laurieann Gibson—who were able to turn themselves into household names.

It seems like the people that you work with are often at the cusp of breaking out. How do you spot that talent?

I love to work with new artists and the underdog, if you will. I think there is a hunger, a passion, and a dedication that is still new and fresh to them at that point in their career.

Take Normani for example. I had worked with her when she was in Fifth Harmony, but as soon as she went solo, it was time to really kind of cultivate and figure out who she was as a dance artist. I think I got Lil Nas X when people were kind of figuring out what he was going to do next. He came out of the closet, but what does that mean, and what is his show going to look like? What are his music videos going to look like? I remember being like, I'm going to get that kid and I'm going to really get to turn him into a star. Even right now—Victoria Monet has been doing music for quite some time, has a lot of projects out, and also is known for writing hit records for Chloe x Halle and Ariana Grande, but I've known Victoria for years actually in the dance circuit. It was a full-circle moment to be able to work with her on her recent projects.

When you look at the people that you've worked with, they’re mainly women. Why do you think that men in music are hesitant to dance nowadays?

Right now the women in R&B and the women in rap are really dominating the performance space. They really care about their music videos. They really care about their awards-show performances. When my career started, early on, I did have a lot of feminine choreography, and a lot of my viral videos came from this group that I created called The Bad Girls Club. I don't want to say it kind of pigeonholed held me into that kind of world of just doing female choreography—I just never really got to work with male artists.

I think our fellas are kind of afraid to dance right now. They're kind of afraid to not look cool. I think the last artist that really did that successfully was Chris Brown and Usher, as far as guys. But then Lil Nas came around and he started to be like, Yo, I want to get better at dancing and performing. He kind of was the only male rapper that was really dancing. It's funny, I actually did a performance for Offset recently that we had to cancel, but when I tell you that man can dance…

We have some dope stuff, hopefully we get to bring it back on the table maybe for another award show or something.

I really loved the choreography for Victoria Monet’s “On My Mama” music video. I especially love how you incorporate memes into the choreography, like the Katie Got Bandz dance and the women dancing in their parking lot with their purses. A lot of people stay away from using the internet as inspiration—how have you navigated that?

Every single thing that I do is intentional. Every move, every reference is extremely intentional. Victoria and I both knew that we wanted to create a moment that was extremely encompassing of Black culture, internet culture, virality, viral dances, all of these things. We knew it, but we also kind of wanted to give an ode back to the early 2000s, which is my heyday. I was in high school doing the Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It and the Chickenhead. Then of course, being on Twitter and being in my early thirties and twenties, internet meme culture is such a big thing. I love having humor in my choreography. And Victoria does as well.

The “Bongos” video is bonkers. The moves are so subtle, but they're so addicting to watch. What was it like working with Cardi and Megan on their comeback song?

I love both Cardi and Meg. We already had a great working repertoire where they know if they're coming to rehearsal with me, they're coming to work, they're coming to dance, they're going to sweat, they're going to work extremely hard. We're extremely dedicated, especially when it comes to the music videos and the visuals.

Cardi will be in rehearsals for a month because she admittedly says she can't dance. The scene where we had them positioned on that metal structure– I call it the Adult Jungle Gym—those positions were hard, and they hurt after a three-day shoot. I think that was the last scene that we did. They're troopers and I love creating with them.

What do you think makes a performance or music video memorable?

You got to think outside the box. A lot of people just don't really care. I always like to try to break the rules and think outside the box. I’m like, Normani, can I drag you on the floor and have all these dancers flipping around? I promise it's going to be sick. And she'll be like, Okay. I try not to do the same thing twice.

I heard you have something new coming up with Lil Nas X. Are you also planning to work with Normani anytime soon?

Yes, I do have some Lil Nas X things coming up. Fingers crossed! I'll say life be lifeing. I love Normani so much and want to give her the time and the patience to figure out how and when she wants to come back. At the end of the day, no matter if it still takes two more years, people will still be waiting.

Yeah, I will still be waiting.

I'm excited. Yeah.

Are there any new artists that you are looking to work with? I remember there was a freakout on Twitter when you followed Flo.

I love them. I'm just a fan. I love Flo. I think they're great. I've done a couple of girl groups in my days. I did Omg Girlz, I did Fifth Harmony. I even did the girl groups on Star, the TV show. I also love Tyla. I was a fan of her before that whole “Water” challenge— but yeah, we'll see.

Originally Appeared on GQ