CHELSEA
THEDINGA

Chelsea Thedinga is a New York City based performer, choreographer, and movement educator. She grew up training in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts and Inspire Dance Company under the artistic direction of Robert Contreras. Upon graduation, she relocated to Los Angeles to further her training, and begin her professional career. There Chelsea began assisting choreographers Sonya Tayeh, Travis Wall, and Stacey Tookey on FOX’s So You Think Can Dance while pursuing performance opportunities in TV and film. She has danced in music videos for Christina Perri’s “Jar of hearts”, Carrie Underwood’s “Something in the Water,” Steed Lord’s “123 if you want me,” and is the featured dancer in Sara Bareilles’s “Fire.” She has completed 6 national tours with Travis Wall’s Shaping Sound, and has performed with Stacey Tookey’s company Still Motion Dance, that presented work in Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, and Jacob’s Pillow.

Chelsea relocated to New York in 2016 where she began dancing with Tayeh Dance as a principal dancer in Sonya Tayeh’s original works Foresight Hindsight at the Cape Dance Festival, and You’ll Still Call Me by Name at New York Live Arts, Hudson Valley Dance Festival, and Jacob’s Pillow. She was a featured performer in Al Blackstone’s Freddie Falls in Love. She's a founding member of Jenn Freeman’s Freemove Dance, and with Freemove, she has been a part of two original creations when and ..it’s time.., which have presented at the Palm Desert Choreography Festival, and the 14th street Y. Most recently, Chelsea performed with Peter Chu’s company chuthis.

As a choreographer and an educator, Chelsea combines her commercial and concert performance experience in an explorative style that translates in both spaces. Her classroom intention is to create space for dancers to explore movement free of judgement and full of texture and feeling. In 2021 she set work on Novea Linea dance company for their inaugural season, and was the associate choreographer to Will Loftis for a dance scene featured in The Girl from Plainville starring Elle Fanning. She has also set countless award winning pieces for prestigious dance programs across the country, as well as in Costa Rica. In New York City, Chelsea has choreographed solos for graduating seniors at NYU and Pace University and has been commissioned to set work for the Joffrey School. She is currently teaching contemporary on faculty at Adrenaline Convention and was recently nominated for “Convention teacher of the year” at the Industry Dance Awards.

New York City remains her home base, where she enjoys teaching guest classes at Steps on Broadway, CLI Conservatory, and Mark Morris Dance Center as well as collaborating with local artists to explore dance on film.